Grandmother Love

Last night I had a dream. Its central focus was my grandmother. I pictured her wearing the faded yellow apron that she used to wear, the kind of apron that was square and tied around her waist at the back, with a faded floral design on the front. 

While most of the dream consisted of me driving her around New Orleans, passing through Audubon Park, taking her to visit with her friends, the end result of the dream was a reinforcement of the power of grandmother love, the genuine family-nurturing love she radiated throughout a room.

The details of the dream aren't important, but what was important was the steadfast, healing, comforting love she had towards me and towards all her grandchildren, even the children of her next door neighbors.

The faded yellow apron was a symbol of that love. It's hard to describe the peaceful, calming, and encouraging effects derived from the dream reminding me of how I looked forward to visiting with her every Saturday, experiencing that rich outpouring of grandmother love, accompanied by a cookie or two.

It was just a dream, of course. Or was it?

Construction News Reporting

For a couple of years back in the late 1970's and early 1980's I was a field editor with Construction News magazine. The publication was based in Little Rock, Arkansas, and covered several states. My territory for news coverage was all of Louisiana and southernmost Mississippi.

There were several interesting experiences while I worked for Construction News, and I thought I would share some of them with you here.

Digging The Swamp Trench

The most memorable, I suppose, is the time I was taken out into the middle of the Louisiana marshlands on an airboat to take pictures of a backhoe that was digging a pipeline trench through the swamps. I wrote a blog item about that three years ago, so to read more about that, CLICK ON THIS LINK.   

But I also wrote numerous other articles about less environmentally impactful projects.

There was the time my car got stuck in the deep sand of a construction driveway. I was visiting the project manager for an interview about the construction project, but the whole site was dirt and sand. To get my car out of the sand, I had to get a nearby bulldozer operator to give me a push/shove that literally lifted me up enough to get my tires back on the driveable surface so I could get out of there. If you ever need a push out of the mud or sand, I recommend that you get a bulldozer behind you to make quick work out of it.
 
 The Two Foot High Wall

Then there was the time I was visiting a construction site near the Mississippi River in Jefferson Parish. It was located on the other side of the levee next to the Mississippi River near Oschner Foundation Hospital. The construction project was a gigantic deep hole in the batture alongside the edge of the river. We are talking about a concrete lined square hole, about 60 feet by 60 feet wide, and some 40 feet deep. It was part of a water intake chamber for some kind of water purification plant.

So I parked my car on the dry land side of the levee, walked over the top of the levee to where the construction site was, and saw the top rim of the concrete structure. But the top of the retaining wall was only about two feet above ground level from my point of view. I had no idea that the on other side of the short concrete wall, it went 40 feet down into the mud.

So, when I saw the project manager standing on the top of the wall, I went over and jumped up on the two foot concrete ridge and almost fell over onto the other side, which would have been a heck of a fall. Fortunately I caught myself at just the last second, and managed to balance myself on the foot wide concrete ledge. Although I think I managed to keep my calm,it was a shock to find out that the wall was two feet tall on one side and forty feet deep on the other side. 

I managed to talk to the project manager calmly for a few seconds and casually stepped down off the ledge (back down on the two foot tall side). It was great to get on solid ground again, and look back over the two foot wall into the giant 60 foot by 60 foot wide and 40 foot deep hole. Took a few pictures and got the heck out of there. I couldn't imagine the water pressure being held back by a 40 foot deep wall dug just yards from the edge of the Mississippi River but that's what design engineers do. 

A Lock and Dam Project

Another story assignment brought me to the construction of a lock and dam on a huge irrigation canal off the Atchafalaya River near Krotz Springs. It was a similar project to the one alongside the Mississippi River, so I was ready for it. After I drove to the middle of the Atchafalaya swamp, turned onto a levee top gravel road, and drove another several miles. Sure enough, there was the giant concrete box being built alongside the irrigation canal. I parked my car, walked up to the two foot high concrete ledge, and, when I looked over the ledge, there was the 40 foot deep concrete-lined box.

There was also a story that involved a new construction technique in Lafayette where a six story office building was being built around an extremely strong central concrete core. The core was to give the building much better survivability in a hurricane situation. That was very interesting, a merging of conventional building techniques with prestressed concrete boxes.

Cranes, Bulldozers, and Backhoes

Other stories would involve hydraulic elevators in short-rise office buildings, the driving of sheet piling to re-inforce the levee on the Atchafalaya River somewhere down in Cajun country, and numerous visits to construction equipment sales outlets for information about Caterpillar, Case, Manitowoc Cranes, Ditch Witch, Bobcat, Grove and John Deere equipment. Part of my job was to write articles about new kinds of construction equipment that may be of use in Louisiana and Mississippi construction projects. 

Inside the Chemical Plants

The two least favorite story assignments dealt with articles telling about how construction equipment was used inside chemical plants. I spent a day inside a chemical plant on the river near Baton Rouge, talking to the project manager about the use of hydraulic cranes within extremely complex piping environments. I also spent a day inside a chemical plant way over in Lake Charles gathering information on new techniques being used in fitting new processing units within existing complexes.

While both articles were interesting, the atmosphere environment inside the chemical plants did a number on my lungs (and also on my car's finish, even though it was parked out in the parking lot.) I feel for the people who work inside chemical plants every day, hopefully they are wearing breathing masks by this time.

There were other chemical plant based articles, one in the Shell refinery in Norco, and another in the same general area, but I had, by that time, learned to drive in, get the interview, take a few pictures, and get out as quickly as possible. 

Computers in Construction

I especially enjoyed helping to write one article which was telling about the introduction of computers into the construction project offices. Remember, this was back in 1980, and computers were just entering the work world. Previous to that they had been gigantic boxes with flashing lights in university research centers. The new construction computers were beginning to help contractors keep track of all kinds of things, from materials, to project scheduling, equipment allocations and, of course, work crew payrolls. Helping explain the possibilities of using computers to contractors in the construction field was quite a challenge. 

Working for Construction News was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything, because in addition in doing information gathering and taking pictures at construction sites all over the state, I also got to go to group meetings and annual parties for the two major construction contractor associations. While doing that was fun, it was not as much fun as taking pictures of bulldozers, cranes, pile-drivers, front end loaders and backhoes in action.

The contractors were great people doing important work, and I was proud to write articles and take pictures showcasing their skills and expertise in meeting the challenge of building stuff in Louisiana soils. The next time you drive on a highway, visit a high rise office building, or see a flood wall made of sheet piling with a re-inforced concrete cap, think of the folks who made all that happen.

 

I even wrote an article about a sewerline construction project in Covington, not far from my house.

Los Islenos Museum

Recently I drew a pictorial map of the Los Islenos Museum and Cultural Heritage Center on Bayou Road in St. Bernard Parish. 

Click on the image below to make it larger. 

 

See also:

St. Bernard Parish Bird's Eye View Map 

St. Bernard Parish - A Historian's Delight

Dan Ellis Writes History Books

History book publisher Dan Ellis writes extensive histories of area communities, using the power of social media and community pride to bring it all together. In 1999 he wrote a history of the City Of Slidell.  He was glad to be able to provide a thoroughly documented history book for the community, as he has done for numerous other communities across the area that also needed their histories to be researched, verified, and published. 

He's self-published 39 books in total, preserving in print the community histories of dozens of towns across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Louisiana and even Eureka Springs, Ark., where he lived for nine years after evacuating for Hurricane Katrina. 

While in Eureka Springs, he started an annual Mardi Gras parade and a couple of other festive events that he had been involved with on the Gulf Coast. "They are crazy about their Mardi Gras now," he said. Just a few weeks ago he went back to Eureka Springs to enjoy their Mardi Gras parade. 

 

The Pass Christian Historical Society honors Dan Ellis (with sunglasses)

But he recently returned home to Pass Christian to attend a special reception paying tribute to his history gathering and book writing expertise. A group of his friends at the Pass Christian Historical Society showed their appreciation for his work and accomplishments. 

Three years ago, he returned from Eureka Springs and moved to Gulfport, but all his friends were glad he came back to the Pass to be honored and thanked for his efforts to preserve history and keep it available via print. "He has done so much work to help Pass Christian and the Coast," said one society officer. 

Dan recalled how he got started in public writing back in the 1980's. He began writing a column in a business journal called City Business News. He was in the computer industry at the time, so he wrote about computers.  "People at that time didn't know what computers were or what they could do," he said. "The first computer I had was a big, big thing and cost $20,000 a month just to rent. You couldn't even buy it. And talk about memory? I had a big box that held the memory, 4K of memory."

 "Nowadays computers are everywhere. We don't even know them anymore. They are in our refrigerators, in our phones, in our automobiles. When I retired here in Pass Christian, I decided to write books," he explained. He wrote his first history book in 1995 about Diamondhead, a community on the north side of Bay of Saint Louis. It was the first in a series of what he called 'Discovery Books.'

"Not too long after that, I started work on a history of St. Paul Parish - Jubilee 3," telling the story of St. Paul Church in Pass Christian.  That's when he started getting involved in printing his own books by taking the manuscripts down to Kinko's copying service. It was a challenge to print, collate, and attach the covers to the books, so he didn't print many copies at first. He referred to the process of printing his books at Kinko's as "getting kinky."

Publishing 10 at a Time

 He'd sell the ten or twenty books that he had produced, then go back to Kinko's to get another 20 printed up. For the printing of the St. Paul's book, he came up with the idea of having people donate an amount to have a "memorial" printed up in the ads section of the book, and that's how they paid to have it printed and published. 

After the Diamondhead Discovery book, he wrote several other discovery books: Pass Christian in 1996, Bay St. Louis in 1997, and the Gulfport Centennial in 1998. Each of his early books was revised and reprinted after he returned from living in Eureka Springs in 2013. 

During the revision, he combined some books together. The original Pass Christian book was a thin volume, but the revised Pass Christian book was fattened up a bit when he included large passages of local history that he had researched for other area books. He calls the new edition "Pass Christian Omnibus."

 

The Pass Christian Omnibus

  The early editions still have their integrity, he said, but the expanded revised books are much more comprehensive. "You know what I tell people about my books? You don't pick one up and read it from page one til the end. You open it anywhere in between and start reading whatever you find of interest," he said. "That's how easy it is to become informed about your community."

It was fun to write the book about Pass Christian, he said, but he is also proud of his books on the entire Gulf Coast. "These books have more information about the Gulf Coast than any other book anywhere," he stated. He mentioned that several of his books had cover art done by one of the members of the historical society. 

 

One of his books tell all about the old hotels along the Gulf Coast, another tells about the impact of Hurricane Katrina. There are books about all the lighthouses, and stories about individual lighthouses are included in all the communities that have a lighthouse.

He is now writing his 40th book. Of the 39 books for sale on Amazon, 13 of them are also available as Kindle e-books, he said. 

Historian or Historiographer?

Ellis denied that he was a historian, but instead he considers himself a "historiographer," someone who writes history. "That's what I do," he said. Historians research, learn it, share it, preserve it, keep history close to their hearts. "In my case, I did a lot of reading, weeks and weeks of it,  months and months of it, and this was before the internet where you can now pick up your phone and ask it any question in the world," he explained. 

Much of the information in the books he published is now available on the internet due to the way Google has penetrated so much in the world, he commented. "Almost any source out there is now available on the internet," he said. 

In the beginning, he became a self-publisher because  "the big publishers aren't interested in books that are only going to sell 100 copies. I had to become a self-publisher. Lo and behold, 15 years after I started doing it with Kinko's, Amazon comes along and offers do-it-yourself self-publishing through instant printing on demand." Through Amazon, anybody can become a publisher, with good quality books being the result, he feels.

The Process of Doing a Book

 "So before the internet, I did a lot of the research on my own.  I talked to people, I read old typewritten reports from years ago, went to library research rooms," he said. He named several well-known Gulf Coast historians who laid the groundwork for today's history gathering and collection. 

"Personal interviews and community contacts were wonderful," he recalled, citing the many people who invited him into their homes to view their collections of old books, scrapbooks, postcard collections, and the telling of the "real stories" of the people involved in history.

He encourages people to get together, hold meetings, talk to each other about the old family histories, share memories, share pictures.  It is this kind of gathering first-hand knowledge from the people whose families had lived the history that makes the difference. They need to share anecdotes, take notes, and start making the inter-connections of local history, he feels.

 "And the local historical society should give them a certificate or something to show its appreciation of them for sharing their information," he added. He belongs to about six different historical societies,  and he encourages all members to step up and work with the societies to preserve area history.

Social Media

Over the years, as the internet became more available and as the social media phenomena Facebook was joined by older members of the community, Dan would create a Facebook page or a webpage that invited visitors to share their stories and their pictures of their special community. Having people come to him via Facebook was helpful. "It ended the drudgery of research work," he said. He has since closed down some of the community websites he created since people aren't using them any longer.

The most used Facebook pages he created are the ones for DeLisle and Henderson Point. "They love it," he stated.

It was a template he would follow down through the past decade to acquire a wealth of information that, with some effort, resulted in books that will be passed on from one generation to the next. 

Old Spanish Trail

One by one, historical society members gave their testimony of how important Dan's work was, in encouraging memories to be shared, in writing down those memories, and digging out the old photographs and postcards to be scanned and printed in his books. He worked with fellow society members on the 'lighthouse committee' and the Bicentennial Committee, as well as his premier effort to resuscitate interest in the Old Spanish Trail, a coast-to-coast highway program that pioneered family motoring 100 years ago.

"Putting information together about the Old Spanish Trail was my most interesting project," he commented, "and it's still ongoing." 

Ellis attended several Old Spanish Trail  rejuvenation conferences and then put on a couple of conferences himself, one in Pass Christian in 2017 and another in Bay St. Louis in 2018. I was a speaker at the Pass Christian conference, and it brought several speakers from across the region together to remember the great new key to adventure: the family automobile. 

Through Dan's efforts, signs designating the Old Spanish Trail's route along the Mississippi Gulf Coast scenic beach highway have been produced and installed, and more are on the way.

One of his published works is a reprint of a book that was originally written and printed in 1889. "It is a beautiful book, and I didn't want to put in it anything of mine, so I just reprinted it, and put in a few pictures," he explained. It was difficult for him not to put any of his words into it, but it is a beautiful book as it is so he left it alone, he said. 

"He's a promoter," one society member said, "and he makes things happen." That together with his computer knowledge and working with printers to get the books produced, it has meant a lot to the communities that his talents have touched. He was a motivating force as well, inspiring others to get involved in researching history. The society has benefited greatly from his encouragement, guidance and perseverance. 

"Dan stimulated our curiosity and our imaginations to find out more about our little community," another member stated, thanking him for his diligence in pestering people, annoying people, and doing whatever he had to do to get the key historical information and photographs that now mean so much to the community. 

He admitted that he has written an autobiography, a "kiss and tell" book about his life and times. "But I don't recommend anyone buy it and read it," he laughed.

He is planning to write a book about his early life in New Orleans, but it's about a New Orleans that isn't there any longer. When asked if he ever wrote poetry under a different name, he answered no. "If I'm going to write anything, it's going to be under my own name. I'm too proud of myself to do anything else."

 

He gave a flash drive with all of his files and information on Pass Christian history to the president of the historical group. 

 

There was even a cake!

 

A display of some of his books

 

A quilt that was given to him in honor of the occasion

 "It's good to be here, back with all you folks," Ellis told the crowd at the meeting. "It's overwhelming, and makes me feel good. I loved it here, and I always tell people that if they want to make friends, they just need to go to Pass Christian." 

Among his book titles on Amazon are  "All About Camille: The Great Storm of 69," Images of Pass Christian, Slidell - Camellia City, Bay St Louis Discovered: Hancock County, Pass Christian Discovered, Japanese Gardens of Pass Christian, Henderson's Point,  Trinity and Live Oak: Pass Christian, MS, Jazz in the Pass, Lady in Red: As it Came to Pass, and Histoire Noir "Black Heritage of Pass Christian."