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sister, Eva, who was with her future husband, Emile Manieri. Emile and my dad were boyhood friends, and it was Emile that first introduced Carl and Velma. Carl was living in California at that time and was on a visit home. Emile had a date with Eva that evening and when he picked her up at her home in Bayou La Croix, Emile asked Velma if she would like to go out with his friend, Carl. She said yes. Emile was driving his father's car when they picked Carl up that evening. They drove around Bay St. Louis, Waveland, and Pass Christian, and brought the girls home around 11:30 P.M. Carl was so impressed with Velma (and her red hair) that he told Emile that ?Velma was the girl he had been looking for all his life.? He was so impressed that he never returned to California. They dated several months, and Carl unsuccessfully tried to get Velma to elope with him.
Carl left for Europe in July 1942, and they never saw each other for three years, but corresponded regularly. Finally in July 1945, Carl was home on his first two week leave, and they decided to get married. On August 7, 1945, they were married in the little Catholic Church in the Bayou La Croix community. Carl returned to the military and was discharged on November 29, 1945.
The first place they lived was in an apartment on Main Street that was owned by his brother, Roger. They lived there for about 14 months, then with the help of family and friends, they built a small home at 337 Demontluzin Avenue in Bay St. Louis. They stayed there until 1953, then bought another home on Keller Street. After several years, they built a house at 406 South Beach Boulevard and moved in. This is where my brothers and I grew up and many fond memories were made. The house was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina.
Carl had dark-brown eyes, dark-brown-wavy hair and was 5'6? tall at 1221bs. He wore glasses most of his adult life and always seemed to be in good health until cancer took its toll. He and Velma were relatively short compared to their three children. Carl had a beautiful handwriting and had a good business sense based on some of his investments. He loved to hunt, especially doves and squirrels, while most of his time away from work was spent with his family.
Carl died of lung cancer on July 29, 1963 in Bay St. Louis. He and my mother are buried in a tomb in St. Mary's Cemetery. He was a ?three pack-a-day? smoker and Lucky Strike cigarettes was his favorite brand. I was only 16 when he died, and my mother was left with three teenage boys to raise. At first I thought he wasn't really gone
-	it was all a bad dream? As time passed, reality set in, and we went on with our lives. While there were some sad times growing up without a father, life has left me with many happy memories growing up. Being a teenager in the 1960s was probably the best time a person could ask for ? the economy was strong, the music was great, and there was plenty of fun to be had! I have many stories about the things we did during those years that I hope to put them into writing before I die. While some may seem too bizarre to be true, they are true - sad, funny, scarey, but true!
Carl and Velma Heitzmann had three sons:
1. Jerry David Heitzmann - born October 15, 1946 in King's Daughters and Sons Hospital in Bay St. Louis. Dr. M. J. Wolf attended the delivery, as he delivered most of the children in this area in the 1960s and 1970s. When my mother went into labor, my dad had to drive to Bayou La Croix to get Dr. Wolf out of a duck pond where he was hunting. My mother said my dad was so proud to have a son - especially his first bom. I graduated from St. Stanislaus in 1964, and later graduated form the
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