Trip Down Memory Lane

After I left my brother's house on Mother's Day, I drove through downtown Lafayette on my way to the cemetery to visit with my dad and leave flowers on his grave.

I took the opportunity to snap some photos of some places that were part of my day-to-day life, when I was much younger.

The original home of Gillis Tile. The building was just a few blocks from our house and it had an office in the front and lots of storage space in the back for Dad's tile and supplies. I know it had an upstairs, but I can't recall what it looked like.

St. Boniface School has changed a bit since I attended. They've added landscaping where there used to be concrete. I went to St. Boniface from first through eight grade. For most of those years my class was a tight-knit group of 13 kids.

Mrs. Ross was my favorite teacher. I had her for both 7th and 8th grade. Ms. Bates was my least favorite teacher. She was somewhat radical and supported McGovern for president -- the entire class rooted for Nixon even though we were much too young to vote. Thinking back on that 5th grade year, I have to give Ms. Bates credit for getting the students interested in government. Sandy, Theresa and I lived closest to the school so on the last day, Ms. Bates asked us if we'd stay late and help her clean up the classroom. Afterward, she took us to the Frozen Custard for a treat of our choice. I ordered a 7-dip ice cream cone. She didn't even flinch at my greediness. It sort of made me feel guilty for being so mean to her the whole year.

We lived about four blocks from school so we walked to and from each day. I gave my little sister the nickname "Poke-Along Peanut" because she always lagged behind as we all walked to school together.



St. Boniface Church is where I received my first communion, was crowned May Queen, celebrated my confirmation and went to mass for nine years. Ft. Ray was my favorite priest. He came to St. Boniface, as Friar Ray, when I was in the sixth or seventh grade. He started a guitar mass and most of the girls in my class were in the band -- Martha May, Sandy Hinton, Theresa Baker and I all played guitar.


O'Rear's Pastry Shop is right across the street from St. Boniface Church. My Mom and Dad would give us money on Sunday morning to get treats for the family. And, my brother and I often stopped there after we were finished with our paper routes.

There were quite a few incredible donuts and pastries at O'Rears that I've not come across anywhere else. My favorites were butterscotch brownies, cherry turnovers, long horns, Bavarian creme donuts, tractor tire donuts and their glazed donuts were even better than Krispy Kremes.



The Lafayette Theater looks exactly the same now as it did when I went there as a child -- on the outside that is. On their website, you can see the inside has been renovated. I remember seeing most every James Bond movie and all of the Disney movies here. It was just around the corner from the Mars Theater which is now the Long Center. I saw my first rock concert at the Mars Theater -- it was Cheap Trick on their In Color In Black and White tour.





McCord Candies was a great place to satisfy a sweet tooth -- and what kid doesn't have a giant sweet tooth. McCord's has a soda fountain and not sure if they still have the same counters, but when I was a kid, the counters were higher than I was tall. They were glassed-front and full of all sorts of chocolates and penny candy.