Caddo Parish

We got up and had breakfast in our hotel. We left the room around 10:30 a.m. and went to pick up Kay and Arlena. Mom rode with Linda and Jerry, and Tommy rode with them too. We met up near the Jimmy Davis Bridge. First we went to pick up some McDonald’s coffee and then we drove to Coushatta to try and find Charles Guilliams’ gravesite. It was a mystery, because we found his parents headstone, but there was no headstone for Charles. We found out later that Charles is buried in an unmarked grave to the right of his parents grave. We are still looking into why he doesn’t have a marker for his grave. Charles was a close friend of ours and he lived in Campti, where June and Margie lived.

We drove to Campti next. Our first stop was the Catholic Church we remembered from the past. Tommy was an altar boy at this church when he was growing up. We walked around the grounds of the church and could see the swamp near the back of the church and cemetery. It is an eerie place!We wanted to go inside the church and were fortunate that the priest (from India) was there and he let us go inside and take some photos. He was very sweet and allowed us all the time we wanted. After we left we drove by Charles Guilliams old house and the site of the old railroad depot where Uncle June used to work. We have many fond memories of being in Campti as children, and we spent many hours playing at the railroad depot. Tommy told us the depot building itself was moved to another location.

We left Campti and drove to Jamestown and Heflin. Mama and Arlena sat together in the backseat chatting and talking about old memories the whole time. We drove by the small country store (Delois’s Store at that time) we used to go to buy penny candy, and then we drove by the Toms’ house, the location of our gray house across the street from the Toms’ (which is no longer there), the location of the ”Bill Cook” house we lived in as children (no longer there), the location of Aunt Feb’s house on Watts Road (also no longer there), and then Black Lake swamp where Mama and Arlena used to swim. They said one time they were swimming there without permission. The water was high and dangerous and Momo drove down there looking for them. She was apparently pretty angry with them for swimming in those dangerous (snaky!) waters. We went by the location of Uncle Tim’s place (on the road behind Bill Cook’s place) and we drove to Nebo Lake where we used to swim as kids. We all got out of the vehicles at Nebo and took some pictures. Then we drove To Bisteneau cemetery, where Momo and Papaw are buried, as well as my great grandparents and other relatives. We then drove the short distance to to Heflin, where Mom was born. The house she was born in is no longer there, but we did see the two huge trees where Momo and Papaw got married so long ago (Momo was 15 when she got married). I was surprised that the trees are still there. There is a dilapidated house near the trees and when I asked Mom who that house belonged to, she said she assumed it must have been just the house of some friends of Momo and Papaw.

By now the sun was dropping in the sky, so we headed back to Shreveport to Tommy’s house. Rena had made and frozen some Nachitoches Meat Pies a few months back, and we had those with salad, chili and a “Catholic” cake as she called it — which was Rum Cake. It was real good.

It was pretty late when we left. Ed and I drove Kay and Arlena home and then we went on to the hotel.

Another full day!Read more