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Pete Fountain: Lord of the Plantation
Pete Fountain
BY ED LEPOMA
The star atop the pier across from his palatial home gives the only hint that a major celebrity resides in Bay St. Louis.
But there?s no pretense to the warm, smiling man who extends his hand out to yours and welcomes you to his Cedar Point Plantation.
?I was a skinny kid with weak lungs and I?d go breathe in the clean, pine air...I love ' to come out here...It?s so peaceful and beautiful...You forget any cares you might have...?
Pete Fountain
Pete Fountain, who has been named the International Ambassador of New Orleans music, is dressed casually in khaki pants and an Hawaiian shirt opened at the collar. The
trademark goatee and mustache are graying now, but the jazz legend gives no hint that he?s anywhere near slowing down.
Fountain has lived on South Beach Boulevard in Bay St.
Louis since right after Hurricane Camille. Although he also maintains a house in New Orleans, his compound on nine acres here is the place he comes most Sundays through Tuesdays to recharge his bat-
teries, take in the cool, clean air and spoil his grandchildren.
Fountain?s roots and family come from the Back Bay of Biloxi, and he spent summers there with his grandparents.
?I was a skinny kid with
weak lungs and I?d go breathe in the clean, pine air,? said Fountain.
?It was Judge Steven Plot-kin from New Orleans who introduced me to the Bay,? he recalled. Plotkin had a compound further down the beach, and after Camille struck, Fountain bought a home that
"Good feet and a good liver...?
Pete Fountain on requirements to join his Half Fast Walking Club
had been heavily damaged by the brutal storm.
He and Beverly, his wife of 46 years, brought enthusiasm and some doubts to the new fixer-upper project.? ?It was so beat up, I wondered what we got ourselves into. I thought I painted myself into a corner.? Fountain recalls. ?Everybody
FOUNTAIN?PAGE 10A