2015 Reunion Recap
10 OCTOBER 2015
by Marty Guidry
We all had a great time at our seventh Guédry et Petitpas Reunion in Henderson, Louisiana on Saturday, 10 October 2015. With over 200 attendees we reunited with many old friends and cousins and found several new ones. Most folks hailed from Louisana and Texas; however, we had a nice representation from throughout North America.
Held at Henry Guidry Memorial Park in Henderson, this Reunion had a slightly different format that previous reunions with less formal presentations and more time for everyone to talk with cousins, share genealogy and pictures and mingle. Be sure and view all the photos of our reunion below.
"Chère Mom" with Christine Guidry Law and her family Wallace, LeeAnn and Taylor provided outstanding Cajun music throughout the day. It was special having a Guidry family band set an outstanding atmosphere for the reunion. Thanks for playing all day for us.
During the day we inducted six new members to the Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur Circle of Distinction. They were Rebecca "Becky" E. Boggess (our longtime Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur webmaster), Oran "Doc" Guidry (Cajun Hall of Fame fiddler), Colonel Roland David Guidry (retired USAF Special Operations), Roland J. Guidry (retired Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator), Clement "Clem" Walter Labine (professional baseball pitcher) and Leo F. Pettipas (renown Manitoba anthropologist and Canadian naval air historian). Biographical summaries for each are provided separately in this issue of "Generations".
At noon everyone enjoyed a wonderful dinner supplied by our superb chefs - Barry Guidry, Randy Menard and Ron Guidry. Barry prepared a great gumbo while Randy and Ron fixed us an outstanding jambalaya. Our premier sponsor - St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission - provided us with loaves of French bread and a beautiful cake that not only was very tasty, but also had our reunion logo on it. Many photos were taken of the cake before we could slice it. Bayou Teche Brewing along with Floyd and Rose Knott supplied excellent locally-brewed beer for all. And, of course, soft drinks, tea and coffee were available.
Throughout the day we drew tickets for the numerous door prizes provided by our many local sponsors. Folks were thrilled to receive the gift baskets, restaurant and shopping gift cards, family-related books and many other gifts. We sincerely thank the many grocery stores, restaurants, local government officials and local tourist commission for their generosity.
Horace Guidry, a long-time Cajun accordionist, brought several of his Cajun accordions and talked one-onone with folks about the accordion, its history and how it's played. Wayne Simoneaux, a Petitpas descendant, had his spinning wheel and loom set up and demonstrated the old Acadian method of spinning thread and weaving cloth.
A special treat for all was our Reunion pin designed and produced by the St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission. All attendees received the free pin as a token of their attending the Reunion. As the day wound down, folks said their good-byes and departed Henry Guidry Park knowing that our eighth Guédry et Petitpas Reunion will be in Prince Edward Island, Canada in August 2019. We do, however, plan to have several smaller events in the next 2-3 years in Louisiana.
