Catherine Blanchet Day declared in Maurice

MAURICE — Mayor Wayne Theriot has declared Wednesday, March 23, 2022, as Catherine Brookshire Blanchet Day in Maurice. The Maurice Museum will host a public celebration of Catherine’s contributions to Vermilion Parish from 10:00 until noon. There will be singing and dancing in the round.
As music supervisor for Vermilion Parish schools in the 40’s and 50’s, Catherine saw the value of the folk music and customs she discovered as she traveled from school to school. She documented and preserved folksongs and the round dances in French by recording children and adults. In 1955, she published Les Danses Rondes, an instruction manual for singing and dancing. In 1970, she gathered all of her research in her master’s thesis, Louisiana Folksongs among Children in Vermilion Parish, 1942-1954. Catherine learned from her students and then passed on that knowledge to many more.
“Our goal is to encourage Mrs. Blanchet’s many students to once more sing the songs she taught them, especially for their grandchildren,” says Earlene Broussard, one of the facilitators. Broussard, a native of Kaplan, studied with Blanchet when she taught French at Abbeville High School in the 1990’s. “We are also wanting to connect with the descendants of Catherine’s informants, the children who sang for her, the ones she recorded,” adds Broussard. “More than sixty people from Vermilion Parish are documented in Catherine’s research. We want to connect with their families.”
The Acadian Museum of Erath is sponsoring this Passing It On program in Vermilion Parish. There will be more celebrations in Gueydan, Erath and Abbeville. These are funded by the Louisiana Folklore Society, the National Endowment of the Arts, the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
“We are very excited to recruit a new generation from Vermilion Parish,” says Warren Perrin, president of the Acadian Museum of Erath. “We need young Cajuns to learn the songs and dances Catherine saved for us. Vermilion Parish is the most Cajun place in the world and still has many people who speak French. Plus, there’s French immersion in school. We can pass on our traditions.”
Catherine Brookshire Blanchet documented over sixty Vermilion Parish children and adults in her two publications. A list of her informants follow.

Abbeville

Ernest Bellanger
Pries Bourque
Mrs. Asa Broussard
Lucia Broussard
James Broussard
Mrs. Antoine Frederick
Joe Harrington
Lelia LaBauve
Blanche Miller
Raywood Morvant
Mrs. Sylvan Romero
Roy Theriot
Robert Trahan

Erath

Isabelle Barras
Roland Desormeaux
Allen James Dronet
Francis Gaspard
Lilly Mae Gaspard
Jeuneus Richard
Betty Lou Robert
Annie Lee Romero
Liben Simon
Emery Toups

Forked Island

Nunia Abshire
Ophelia Bourque
John Duhon
Oscar Joseph Foster
Barbara Dean Frederick
Marlin Hargrave
Jennie Lee Hebert
Purvis Hebert
Burton Lemaire
Thomas Lemaire
Geneva Nunez
Agnes Saltzman
O’Neal Suire
Isidor Touchet
Roland Touchet

Gueydan
Evangeline Saltzman

Kaplan
Virgie Adams
Amy Broussard
Ann Katherine Broussard
Mrs. Isaac Foreman
(student) Foreman
Huey Hebert
Marie Lange
Laines Lapointe
Adam Meaux
Yvonne Meaux
Sydney Romero
Mildred Ann Simon
Mabel Touchet
Felix Trahan
Lillian

Leroy
Caesar Vincent
Meaux
Catherine Duhon
Velma Hebert
Clédus Touchet
Mrs. Clédus Touchet
Freda Touchet
Marie Hebert Touchet
Simeon Touchet
Marjorie Toups
Sidmay Touchet Trahan
Ernest Viator

Milton
Josie Mae Hidalgo