Back Home In Catahoula—“The Good Times Roll!”
By FELICIA BUTSCH
Progressive Farmer, July 1977
Jackie and Sue laid this brick and sand patio themselves just outside the family room. It's a favorite play area for Monique, 11; Nicole, 8; Luke, 4; and Jude, 3
Sue Theriot will tell you in her delightful Cajun French accent that she is married to a very versatile farmer and teacher. She has watched husband Jackie Theriot raise sugarcane, supervise the building of fish hatcheries and irrigation ditches, drill wells, and repair foreign-made machinery, all with equal ease. He’s taught others his skills in such faraway places as Togo, Niger, the Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Puerto Rico, and the Island of Guadeloupe. Jackie Theriot has truly been an international farmer. He will tell you that Sue is as versatile as he is. “She has always made our home a pleasant place to be no matter where we have been stationed,” he says.
The Theriots have settled in back home in Catahoula, La., after living six years abroad and spending about 18 months stateside teaching youths in New Mexico from 80 different countries of the world how to get the most out of their land through the Sports International.
Scenes like this outside Catahoula were special reminders of home for the Theriots
Why did Jackie Theriot teach farming in Africa? His versatility and background in agronomy made him a “natural” for the Peace Corps. He applied and was selected for one of the first groups of Peace Corps volunteers to be sent abroad. This was in 1962, right after he received his degree in agronomy from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette. His fluent French, plus his mechanical ability and the farming techniques he learned while helping his dad in their sugarcane fields, made him an outstanding member of the Corps.
Sue, a soft-spoken brunette who talks more slowly than her fast-speaking husband, said, “We wouldn’t take anything in the world for our people-to-people experiences abroad. But when the time came to leave and put down permanent roots, it was back to home for us.”
Crawfish are cleaned ahead of time
Home for the Theriots is a new house in their old neighborhood in Catahoula. The house was designed for easy care, with plenty of closets, a bedroom apiece for our four children, and two large baths—one upstairs and one down,” Sue told us.
“Another thing I wanted,” Sue added, “was a one-woman kitchen. And a sewing room in combination with our washer-dryer room. AIthough two can get in my kitchen, I usually like to work alone.” The kitchen overlooks a covered play area next to the patio. The Theriots designed their own two-story brick home with the help of an architect. Jackie and his brother did 50% of the construction and, as he figures it, “saved about half of the building costs.”
Into the pot they go! Crawfish are always boiled live and will turn bright red when they're done. Allow about five pounds per person for serious crawfish eaters. Fresh corn on the cob is also added to the pot.
“We could have built a new house out on the canefields,” Sue said, “but with two children already in school and boys soon to enter, we felt it would be better to live among our good neighbors in our little town.”
The waiting is almost more than a fellow can stand!
Sue and Jackie’s roots are irrevocably tied to St. Martin Parish, where their little town of Catahoula numbers some 400 families, all descendants of French-Canadian settlers. The Theriots are kin to about 100 of these families, and as Sue puts it, “Clan gatherings on holidays and special occasions are like some big homecoming!”
A special spirit of fun and good food are always a mark of Cajun country life. A frequently heard phrase in South Louisiana is “Laissez les bons temps roller”—let the good times roll! And picnicking is one way the Theriots have fun.
Come and get it! Boiled crawfish are best when served piping hot with corn on the cob, a tossed green salad, crusty French bread, and blackberry cobbler. Mossy oaks and a lazy bayou provide a perfect background.