92nd Birthday With Memories of Life
July 7, 1977 St. Tammany Farmer
Under the cool shade of several pecan trees, Mary "Mamaw" Landry of Covington celebrated her 92nd birthday Sunday with a number of family members and friends attending. The get-together took place at the home of her daughter, Mrs. W. Donice Bulloch Sr.
Five generations of children and grandchildren were on hand for the festivities. All total, she has 11 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
Mrs. Landry was born in Shubuta, Miss., and came to Covington in 1924. She recalls her childhood days in Shubuta well, saying that her parents did not keep her tied down like a lot of parents did. "They let me get out. I had a lot of friends." She especially enjoyed visiting an uncle who had an old colonial home in Mississippi. His kids called her Aunt Mary on her many frequent visits, she remembers.
"I really had a happy life," she said Sunday. "It was pretty tough raising my kids, but I enjoyed them, too."
Her father, although suffering from rheumatism, ran a boarding house after they moved from Shubuta to a sawmill town where the timber industry was big. She recalls going to a girls boarding school in another town when she was a teenager. The school dormitory housed a good many girls, some from out of state, and she recalls that she would return home almost every weekend, sometimes riding the caboose of a freight train on Friday.
"We always had a way to get home," she commented. She also remembered that boys were allowed to date girls at the school, only at certain times and under strict rules. "The boys used to serenade us with guitars and sing," she fondly recalls. "It was a whole lot different then than it is now."
"They didn't have a lot of rowdy parties and drinking parties or anything like that. We didn't know anything abut those such things," she noted. But life there was not monotonous, she said, there was always something new to do.
She first married Luther Gavin and lived in Mississippi a while, while he served as doctor under contract with some sawmill concerns. She remembers a movie screen built next to her house at one time, and she would watch the shows free.
She has gone to the movies when ever she got the chance, seeing her favorites Bing Crosby and Abbot and Costello. "I liked the funny ones," she said, commenting on the movies. "They didn't have much shoot-em-ups like they do now. I think those shows today are a bad influence on the young people," she commented.
Doctor House Calls
Her doctor husband used to take a horse and buggy to make calls in winter, keeping a blanket over him on the coldest days. In summer, he would ride horseback to visit his patients. He kept his own horses. He would even deliver babies at the homes, since hospital delivery was out of the question in many cases. "Sometimes I think the women having their babies at home got along better than the ones who have them at the hospital now," she noted. If hospitalization was needed, people would have to travel quite a ways.
"Doctors paid more attention to you then," Mrs. Landry said. "They would sit down and talk to you. If a patient was real sick, the doctor would stay with them. "Her husband stayed with a patient there days and nights one time until the critical illness eased.
"But I don't care how old or how sick you are today, you've got to go down to the doctor's office, " she noted. "They need some old-time doctoring in this country now."
Preachers
The country also needs some old time preachers, she feels. "We need some preachers who will get up and tell folks the truth about all this business," she stated. She told the story of how a friend of hers asked a preacher why he didn't preach about fire and brimstone any longer. The preacher's reply was that he would lose his congregation if he did that. Mrs. Landry felt it may do some good, however.
"Morals have gotten pretty low in these United States," she said. "It started happening after World War Two." She agreed with the recent decision of a Wisconsin judge who was speaking about a youth convicted of rape. "That judge could not really blame the kid," she said, "what with the way girls dress today. Well, girls today don't dress decent. Back in the days when I was a girl, we didn't go around half naked like they do today. Boys had more respect for girls back then, too."
Covington
Her Covington memories include her time operating the boarding house on Gibson Street where Hebert's cleaners is today. She recalls the long trains bringing in hundreds of weekend visitors, many of which stayed at her boarding house. She remembers the dirt roads in Covington, the schooner loading dock on the Bogue Falaya River, the lack of sidewalks and the lack of electric fans.
She remembers hot weather, the same as today, but "we got accustomed to it," she said. "We didn't have air conditioners back then." She remembers seeing the first automobile in town, using the first telephone, and clicking on her first electric light.
She made a home for herself and her three children in Covington beginning back in 1924. Besides Mrs. Bulloch, her children include Mrs. Victor E. Bradley of Covington and C. Burr Gavin of Evanston, Ill. Her second husband was the late Alphonse Landry.
Among those on hand to help her celebrate her July 5th birthday this week were Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Bulloch Sr., Mrs. Victor Bradley Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Allen R. Bruhl and their son Jeff, Mr. and Mrs. Leon C. Buras and Sherrie, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Buras and Allen and Ryan, Mr. and Mrs. Leon C. Buras III, Mr.and Mrs. W. D. Bulloch Jr. with Adrianne, Donice III and Andrew, Mr. and Mrs. H. David Bulloch with Brian and James, Michael Bulloch, Mr. and Mrs. Gary E. Nordgren with Melissa, Gary Jr. and Cynthia.
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