Louisiana Grassroots: Growing up in Northeast Louisiana in the Great Depression and World War Ii

By May Shadoin

A first-hand account of the way it was for a young girl growing up in the deep South during the Great Depression and World War II.
Louisiana Grassroots aims to pass on something of the courage and determination of the grassroots men and women of my childhood in Northeast Louisiana. Unsung heroes, they endured the hardships of the Depression in the rural South, and for an encore, they fought a world war to defend our freedom.
These events may seem far removed from the present, but for those of us who lived them, they are a part of the sum total of our lives the same as the happenings of today, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, or LSU Tigers Football.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Apr 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781489701473

May Shadoin

May Shadoin is a retired administrative staff member from the College of Engineering, Louisiana Tech University. Previously, as a legal secretary, she worked with the longest serving District Attorney in the U.S. She currently lives in Ruston, Louisiana, where she serves on the library staff of the First Baptist Church.

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Copyright © 2009, 2014 May Shadoin.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-0146-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0147-3 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 4/15/2014

Contents

A Remembrance

Preface

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Introduction

Part One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Part Two

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Part Three

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Epilogue

Bibliography

A Remembrance

Of the grassroots men and women

of my childhood in rural

Northeast Louisiana

during the

Great Depression and World War II

Preface

T o mark my seventy-fifth year, for my family I wrote about my early life as a child growing up in rural Northeast Louisiana during the Great Depression and World W ar II.

There were things I wanted to pass on to those who were born after those times. Would they be interested in things that happened so long ago? I didn’t know.

Their response was immediate; they were interested, enthusiastic even. They wanted to know more and urged me to publish my account of those times. Others joined in. This book is the result of their encouragement.

The true heroes are the grassroots men and women of my childhood who withstood the hardships of the Great Depression with strength and determination and who answered the call to defend our country in World War II. Their lives give a glimpse of the fiber of a nation.

Perhaps the events told about here seem far removed from the present, but for those of us who lived them they are a part of the sum total of our lives the same as the happenings of today, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, or LSU Tigers Football.

Acknowledgements

I owe sincere thanks to a number of persons for encouraging me in the writing and publishing of L ouisiana Grass roots.

I owe my thanks to friends and family members who saw something in what I wrote, especially my grandchildren, who are young adults; their interest and enthusiasm counted in a big way. Thanks to friends who saw their own stories in it.

Thanks to my sister, Katherine, for being glad I was telling a story she always wanted told.

I’m grateful to another Northeast Louisiana native, the late Howard K. Smith, network news anchor. Recalling an earlier offhanded comment of his about my