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River a fresh water paradise - snakes, lizards, turtles, squirrels, birds, swinging vines. Can you think of a better atmosphere for boys to grow up in? Papa worked for the Chalmette Laundry in New Orleans. Every day Papa made a round trip to New Orleans and back, 87 miles each way. The roads in those days were washboard and gravel. Those roads could tear up a truck and your insides too. Papa's workday started at 7:30 a.m. and ended, if he had no break downs, at around 10:30 or 11:00 at night. I realize now the stress he was under - raising his family, wife and six children's shoes, clothes, food etc., etc. Yet, I never ever heard him complain. To him, it was his responsibility - and he always met his responsibilities. He also found time to perform as "End Man" on Minstrels and Musicals sponsored by the church or the city to raise funds for one charity after another. He also helped his brothers and sisters during these times of need. Where he found the resources and means to do all this, I don't know. He later bought a small laundry here in the "Bay". And true to form he hired his sister Edna, his brothers Zief, Jeff, his cousin, Leon Perre and his Uncle, John Seuzeneau. However, the laundry being small could not support all this overhead and failed in 1938.
The family was the cornerstone of his philosophy of life. "Everyone contributed what he could to the family and the family would come to your aid." In 1938 we moved to Algiers, Lousiana, and Papa got into insurance until he went to help his sister Lucy and her husband E Van Whitfield operate a cafeteria on Alabama State docks at the Aluminum Ore Co., in Mobile, Alabama in 194 3.
I	left the family in January, 1942 and went into the air force, married Myrtle Church, had three children and made the air force a career. I retired from the air force, and we came back south in 1968. Papa was now retired and interested in rock hounding. He went headlong into this new interest of his. He traveled all over the country digging rocks and meeting people. He was absolutely in his element. He later became interested in making sand bottles of the various colored sands from different locations around the globe. His entire outlook began to change, no stress - doing what he wanted when he wanted. The older he got, the mellower he became. Mama became fully dependent upon him about this time, and he took care of her every need. He stayed close to home now and spent more time now with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He now was the patriarch of the entire 0. J. Blanchard, Sr. clan, and members of all the Blanchard families then had a reunion every year on Papa's birthday in April. After Mama died in 1982, Papa became more and more attached to his children. When he got into his nineties, he gave up his home and lived with first one and then another of us. He was a pleasure to keep. He never ever complained and ate everything put in front of him. He is gone now at 99 years old, quite a life for quite a man.
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