Gloria Chatelain, 77, unofficial historian
Submitted by N.O.V.A. July 2006
Times Picayune 	07-18-2006


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Gloria Chatelain, who during four decades as manager of St. Bernard Parish's community
development office became a steady, guiding force in the parish's transformation from a
series of rural villages to a suburban community, died Saturday at NorthShore Regional
Medical Center in Slidell. She was 77.

Mrs. Chatelain was born in New Orleans and lived in St. Bernard from 1953 until she
moved to St. Tammany Parish after Hurricane Katrina.

'She was a wonderful lady and I shared a good portion of my life with her,' said Mike
Hunnicutt, who joined the parish's Department of Community Development in 1990 and
became director in 1996. 'I learned a lot working with her.'

Mrs. Chatelain 'was just a book of knowledge' and a historian of property transfers and
subdivisions in the parish, Hunnicutt said.

Mrs. Chatelain retired at age 75 in July 2004 and was honored by the Parish Council.

She began her work with parish government in the Levee Board office in 1964, and
transferred in March 1973 to the Police Jury, where she worked under all five parish
planning directors, running the office and providing advice and guidance as she watched
the parish implement its first land-use plan and zoning code in the mid-1960s,
officials said.

'I enjoyed my job,' Mrs. Chatelain said when she retired in 2004. 'I truly loved
planning and zoning. There are more regulations now and it's easier to govern with the
regulations that have been passed.'

Mrs. Chatelain worked as office manager with the first planning director, Angelo
Chetta, before Jack Stephens became planning secretary in the mid-1970s, a post he held
until he was elected sheriff in 1983.

'Gloria taught all of us our jobs,' Stephens said of the parish planning directors when
Mrs. Chatelain retired. 'She had as good a functional working knowledge of the parish's
land-use plan and regulations as anyone there. I relied on her heavily.'

Over the years, Stephens said, he would often go to Mrs. Chatelain for advice because
of her historical knowledge of the department.

Mrs. Chatelain is survived by two children, Deborah C. Smith of Slidell and Richard B.
Chatelain Jr. of Breaux Bridge; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

A graveside service will be held today at 11 a.m. at St. Bernard Memorial Gardens, 701
W. Virtue St., Chalmette. Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home is in charge of the
arrangements.