Alcee Guidry - February 1881 - 15 July 1908

Biography from 'The Historical Encyclopedia of Louisiana' Vol. 1

Alcee Guidry, owner of the Nehi Bottling Company at 720 Lafayette Street, and the Guidry Brick Factory, has been a resident of Lafayette for twenty years, having come here in 1919 from his former home in Broussard, Louisiana. Mr. Guidry opened his brick plant in 1919 and has built up his plant and business to where it now has a capacity of 65,000 bricks per day. The plant employs fifteen men and sells practically all of its output locally. In 1930, Mr. Guidry purchased at trustee's sale the bankrupt Nehi Bottling Company which he reorganized and remodeled and built into a large and profitable concern which for several years has manufactured an excellent line of soft drinks which are distributed over seven Parishes of Southwest Louisiana, Lafayette, Iberia, St. Martinville, St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia and Vermilion. Mr. Guidry is the sole owner of the Nehi plant. The plant is modern in every respect, has ten employees and utilizes five high-speed delivery trucks and has an annual capacity of one hundred thousand cases.

Alcee Guidry was born in Broussard, Louisiana, on the eighth of February 1881, a son of Alexander Guidry, a planter and cotton gin owner, and Eugenie (Landry) Guidry. He attended school in Broussard and after leaving school learned the carpenter and brick mason's trade, worked at both and did some contracting in a small way until 1919 when he came to Lafayette and established the Guidry Brick Factory. On July 15th, 1908, Mr. Guidry was married in Lafayette to Miss Hilda Mary Beadle, member of a pioneer family of Lafayette Parish. (Laf. Ct. Hse: #8516, Fr. Hebert SWLA, Vol. 40, p. 368)

Mr. Guidry is well known in the civic and fraternal circles of Lafayette and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Masonic Lodge. Religious affiliation is with the Methodist Church. He is a thorough, capable businessman and manufacturer and has made an outstanding success of his two business ventures in the city.