Les Vieux Temps

Fabio George Halphen, the son of Joseph Oscar Halphen and Amelie Deblanc, was born in St. Martinville on July 3, 1890. The Halphen family originally came to St. Martin Parish from Jefferson Parish. The Halphen’s had come to the New Orleans area from France.

In the early 1930’s Fabio Halphen and his wife Louise Fuselier lived south of the city of St. Martinville in the Keystone community. One of the Fabio children remembers that although she was only five years old at the time that it was near Pardee’s place. She also remembers that there was a turn table (locks) on the bayou on which the children played.

At the time of the 1930 census the family already had 13 children and the family needed a larger house. Fabio was an engineer for J. B. Levert but later became an engineer at the Breaux Bridge sugar mill. His wife Louise had a brother, Ernest Fuselier, living just south of the large Huron home so they knew of the availability of the house - which they acquired in January 1939 from the Billeaud’s.

While daddy worked at the sugar mill, mom and children tended the farm. Neighbors still remember Mrs. Fabio as an excellent driver of that “old tractor” that she used to bring food and water to the workers – her children. That tractor had been bought new and used for the family farm but also contracted to neighboring farmers who still used mules to plow their fields.

It was not all work on the farm. Some of the older children remember having a basketball court in the front yard and at one time a tennis court, “ HYPERLINK “http://webmail.aol.com/31509-111/aol-1/en-us/Suite.aspx” We used to make ice cream every Sunday.  We also played baseball on Sundays.  Our parents would play along with us.  They would take their turns at bat and the older children would run the bases for the small ones.”

There were many children and grandchildren on the plantation. Fabio and Louise had a total of 21 children of which seven boys and twelve girls lived to adulthood.

All the boys; Fabio Jr., Lawrence, Clarence, Dalton, Leonard, and Joseph Oscar, and Alvin are deceased. Leonard was a casualty of World War II. Fabio Jr., Lawrence, and Joseph Oscar had moved to Baton Rouge, Clarence and Dalton had settled in Cecilia. Alvin moved to New Iberia after his marriage and raised his family there.

Six girls are still alive. Living in California are Louise, age 94, Mary Theresa, Goldie, and Barbara. Rita currently lives in Georgia. Gloria, Jackie, and Romona, my former classmate at Cecilia High School, live in Lafayette. Sandra Guillotte lives in New Iberia. I still remember that Jackie and Sandra worked at Penn Morrow’s drugstore after they graduated. Goldie worked with the St. Martin Parish Health Department before her marriage. Oline, Mary Alice, Lily Bell, are deceased

The Halphens were a very close knit family and their children were not allowed to go to visit neighbors. Mom and dad wanted family to remain intact and play together. The house was very large and hard to patrol. The children were very energetic and would sneak outside of house at night to play.

After the death of parents attorney Jack Huval drew up succession papers. Eighteen plots of land, each approximately 8-9 acres were surveyed. There were two in St. Martinville and sixteen on the Huron Plantation, eight on each side of Bushville Highway. It was decided to draw lots and the order of drawing was agreed upon. Romona was destined to have the which included the house. One brother, Joseph Oscar, was overly anxious and pulled his number out of turn. He then forfeited his number to Romona and the lucky person got the house and lot.

Romona Halphen Cole is an amazing person who inherited her work ethics from her parents. She still works at Hub City Ford after fifty three years and has made no plans to retire.

After inheriting the house Romona allowed it to become a gathering place for family. It was used as a camp where family gathered to play cards, enjoy the fireplaces, and reminisce about old times. Romona had many offers for the house and property. Some of the original offers were in the $200,000 range but she decided not to sell.

Years later the property became difficult to maintain and the house began to deteriorate. An offer was made by retired house builder R. J. Roy to purchase the home. In November 1994 Roy purchased the house and acreage from Romana Halphen Cole for about a third of its estimated value but his promise to restore the home persuaded her to sell.

Comments about Les Vieux Temps articles are always appreciated. Please call 337-754-9980 or e-mail yknott123@aol.com

(Comments about Les Vieux Temps articles are always appreciated. Please call 337-754-9980 or e-mail yknott123@aol.com.)