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Life and Times Before Sunshine ~ A Memoir |
Helen Valentine Ambeau
(Class of 59)
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I have spent my entire life in Saint Gabriel, and to this very day, I continue to admire with fascination, the same streets and highways I've traveled year after year, the same levy system that protect our community and homes from the force of the Mississippi river when nature causes the water to raise above its bank. The bayous are as necessary to the community as is the gray moss hanging from stately looking oak trees here and there around the area. I remembered, along Highway 75, a little street called Sarah Lane Road, where there once stood a small red building where I attended primary school. Sarah Lane is now called Williams Street and the small red building has been replaced with a playground.
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We walked approximately 3 miles to get to Sarah Lane Road to attend school. Kind-hearted residents such as Ms. Ruby Lee Videau, who owned a large Ford Coupe, would offer the Valentine children rides to school on occasion with her siblings. Mr. Videau, called Uncle Bro by everyone in those day, drove a work bus and in the event he had free seats, would offered them to us, he would take us up to half a mile per trip, debussing us at or near Mr. Alphonse Williams or Ms. Patsy Williams house. Miss Patsy was kind to all children and provided us with lemonade in the summer and hot chocolate in the cold months to ease the trip to and from school. The primary school covered kindergarten through third in one section of the schoolhouse and grades four (4) through six (6) in another section of the schoolhouse. Teachers during my primary school years were Ms. Scott and Mrs. Bell. The school cooks were Olivia Schultz and Ceola York.
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I attended middle school in Sunshine on Jake Lane. Mr. Snell was my 7th grade teacher and the class size was approximately 50 pupils. The school was referred to as the Room Boogie Inn, which is another story in itself. In the 8th grade, my teachers were Reverend Scott and Mr. James Arnett. Ms. Betty Ambeau presently resides on the property on which the schoolhouse was located. The eighth grade class was approximately the same size as the 7th grade class. Mr. Lawrence Abrams drove the school bus when I began attending school in Sunshine.
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