Hurricane Rita, Cameron Parish, Louisiana
The Cameron Parish Pilot, Cameron, La
Submitted by Kathy Tell
Date 25 Jan 2006

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Where are they now?
Report on the evacuees

By NELL COLLIGAN 
Page 9, The Cameron Parish Pilot, Cameron, La., December 22, 2005


GARY BENOIT
Gary and Becky Benoit, owners of the Outriggers Restaurant in Cameron have opened a restaurant, also called
Outriggers, at the truck stop on the corner of Shattuck and 1825B I-10 in Lake Charles. Its menu includes all
the same good home cooked meals and seafood that the Benoits provided in Cameron. They would be happy to see
some old customers from the parish.

Mary Arceneaux called inquiring about her cousin, Lana Willis. Lana, if you get this message, please let us
know how you’re doing and if you can be reached by phone or e-mail. Mary now lives in Branch. 
this is a request unrelated to Mary: if anyone has a mailing address for Betty Savoy or Diane Price, please send it.

HAZEL DRONET
I touched base with Hazel Dronet this week. She and Pamme are living in Lake Charles.
When I called, Hazel was busy painting the interior of her new home.

LALANDE
Hazel provided some news of old friends from Cameron. Several LaLande families are living with Jena Kay
LaLande in Crest View subdivision in Lake Charles. Included are Peggy LaLande and Parry Dean, Parry Sr. and
Natalie, as well as Alfred and Claire and their children.

HELENA SKIPPER
Mrs. Helena Skipper called from Fernandina, Florida yesterday. Many Cameron residents will remember Mrs.
Skipper as one of the first people who came to Cameron when the menhaden industry was in its infancy. As a
teenager, Helena’s husband, Bill, worked on shrimp boats in the Florida area, and later, on menhaden boats
there. In 1942, the Skippers migrated to Cameron where he continued work as a shrimper. While fishing, Bill
noticed the abundance of pogy fish in the gulf waters off of Cameron, and contacted his friends in North
Carolina who were in the menhaden business. His friends came to Louisiana to investigate his claim, resulting
in what very well may have been the early beginning of the menhaden industry in southwest Louisiana. Mr.
Skipper passed away some years ago, but Mrs. Skipper remained in touch with many Cameron residents through the
years. Among these were the Steeds, the Colligans, the Fletcher Millers, and the Buster Rogers’, and the
Blakes, among others. She said she talked with Roberta Rogers since the storm, and told me that Roberta is in
Dry Creek with Braxton and Norma Jean Blake. The Rogers’ and the Blakes’ homes were destroyed in Cameron. She
asked about the Dysons and said that her son went to school with Gay and Larry. Mrs. Skipper is now 94 years
old and troubled with arthritis, but still lives in her own little home with the help of friends who bring her
where she needs to go. She is an avid reader of the Cameron Pilot and looks forward to the news. She
communicated regularly with Old Mamma (Gertrude Colligan) as well as the others listed. In return, the
Colligan family always saw to it that her Cameron Pilot subscription continued so she could keep track of the
little town. 

SUSAN WOODGETT SAIKIN
EDWARD PETERSON
Susan Woodgett Saikin sent a long e-mail with news of her family and the others who lived in the neighborhood
when we lived on Henry Street at the intersection of Kerney. The households on Kerney were those of Limey and
Elsie Woodgett, Lucy Peterson and her son, Edward, and Robert and Barbara Doxey, with Mrs. Emma and Sam
LeBoeuf right on the corner of Kerney and Henry. It was “Barbie Doll City” on Mrs. Emma’s back porch when all
of those little girls were around. Susan said she went to the old neighborhood three weeks after the storm,
and that nothing could prepare her for the devastation she saw. The house she grew up in is still standing but
will have to be demolished. The only area of the house that wasn’t damaged was the attic, giving Susan and her
sister Mary access to many of the memories of their childhood. She said it was hard to leave that attic filled
with memorabilia, but almost impossible to bring things out through the mud below. Her brother, Richard, was
living in the house before the storm, but is planning to get a trailer as the house cannot be saved. Susan
went on to say that Mary’s house in Grand Lake had very little damage, so their cousin Edward Peterson and his
wife Ethyl are staying there with her. Edward is working hard with the parish crew to repair the parish water
system.

D.L. BRASSEAUX
Her sister Elizabeth and D.L.’s Brasseaux’s house in Grand Chenier was demolished. Both of their sons had
major damage to their homes in Grand Lake. Elizabeth and D.L. were fortunate because they were building a home
to retire in on their land in DeRidder, so they are living there now.

DARILYN DOXEY CANIK
JAMES DOXEY
TOM ROLAND
Susan also passed along news of Darilyn Doxey Canik whose home in Grand Chenier was flattened by the storm.
She and Richard are living in a trailer in Lake Charles. Susan visited her there on her 50th birthday, but it
was hard to celebrate under the circumstances. Darilyn is teaching school with Susan’s sister, Elizabeth, in
Grand Lake. Debbie Jo and James Doxey as well as Tom and Kathy Doxey Roland are also living in Lake Charles
now as their homes in Cameron were badly damaged. Kathy was teaching at Cameron Elementary, so I am assuming
she also is at Grand Lake School. She didn’t mention whether Kathy and Tom, and James and Debbie Jo are going
back to Cameron to rebuild. Susan closed by saying her heart and prayers go out to all of the people of Cameron.

To everyone in the parish, wherever you are, we send our best wishes for the Christmas season. For the New
Year, we wish you the blessings needed for each day ahead, namely faith, hope, courage, strength of mind and
body and the wisdom for the decisions, large and small, that you are facing. I know this it probably the
hardest winter of your lives. Just know that all of us out here have you in our prayers.

Please mail me at: 302 Trailwood Lane; Lafayette, La. 70508. My phone is 337-988-5395 and my e-mail address
is: nnadc67@aol.com.  NELL COLLIGAN 

The CAMERON PARISH PILOT- Weekly Publication
Jerry and Joy Wise, P.O. Drawer 1486, Cameron,La. 70631-8998