PAULINA TOWN HISTORY

A long stretch of the Mississippi river provided a spectacular view from its western bank, whish let the place name of La Longue Vue, one of the oldest place names in St. James Parish.� Legend however takes charge here and the story is told of a nun named Sister Paulina who lost her prayer book here. The place where it was found was named for her.

Area residents found it increasingly difficult to attend services at St. James and a chapel was built around 1840 and named St. Joseph de la Longue Vue.� Reverend Abadie, S.J., and a noted Jesuit missionary dedicated it.� In 1877 during the administration of the Reverend O. Renaudier, an expanded chapel was built for the then mission of St. Michaels'.� In 1900 the church was established as an independent Marist parish, with father Raymond Plassmans as the first pastor.� A new rectory was built in 1908 under reverend Remy and his successor reverend Cassagne, directed repair of the assembly hall and decoration of the church.

A disastrous fire destroyed that church as well as the rectory and the other buildings on June 29, 1920, wrecking 40 years of toil.� Rebuilding immediately began and on December 10, 1921 the new Roman style church was blessed along with a new rectory.� The new rectory though burned in April 1926 and the present rectory was soon built.� Lifelong residents Marguerite Poche Chabaud and her brother, Robert Poche, remember wonderful days growing up in Paulina.� "I was one of 13 in the family," Chabaud said, "seven boys and six girls.� I was the oldest."� Chabaud, 78, the wife of Hickley Chabaud, recalled that her grandfather, Louis Omer Poche, was a pharmacist in the area.� The Poche family itself traces its origins to Jacques Poche, born in 1679 in France, who came to St. Charles Parish where his son, Francois, was born in 1730.

Their parents, Tom and Lima Carmouche Poche, ran the Poche Dairy Farm from the 1920's to the early 1940's.� "I remember so vividly, my job at 6 years old was to load up the milk truck, loading quart bottles on the shelves." Robert said. Marguerite recalled, "We were the first family in town to get electricity, one drop light.� All the neighbors came to see.� And we got the first radio and the first Christmas tree in the neighborhood, with paper chains and wax candles."� The elder Poche delivered milk and was a strong patron of the church and the Manresa Retreat Center, where he would enjoy a retreat twice each year until his death in 1991 at the age of 96.� "He paid for the education of seven priests during his lifetime," Robert said of his father.� The dairy was shut down in 1944, reopened in 1947 and shut down again in 1951 while he went into cane farming.

Marguerite recalled when every block in Paulina had its own little store.� Between her present home on River Road to St. Joseph Church a mile downriver, there were the stores of Clarence Pollet, Noe Deslatte, Hennis Louque, Gaston Bourgeois, Louis Madere and Louis Brady.� Robert remembered when he and friends Richard Roussel and Dudley Petit would each stop at the Madere Store on their way to school.� Each had a nickel and one would buy bread, one would buy bananas and one would buy a quart bottle of "Gimme Pop" soft drink.� Madere would contribute peanut butter and all three boys had lunch.� They also remembered the day their parents' home burned down in 1931.� When their father was heating up tar on a kitchen stove, it caught on fire and he spilled the burning tar while trying to run outside with it.� He was rescued by an employee, Adam, "Poor Me" Washington, who dragged him out, and also rescued one of the children also in the house.� Marguerite also remembered buying dresses, three for a dollar, from the Montgomery ward Catalog, and also of making dresses from feed sacks, which her dad sold for 10 cents each.� Robert also recalled wanting to buy a bicycle when he was about 12 years old that he saw in a catalog.� He scrimped and saved for three years and came up with $18 toward the $25 bicycle.� Finally, his father kicked in the difference and he got his bike.

"It was some good old times," she said.� "We were happy in those days." The children attended Paulina School and Lutcher High School. Robert entered the military as did all his brothers, and from a Navy ship, witnessed the Japanese surrender sighing in 1945.� He later worked at Pan-American Refinery and Kaiser before retiring.

Marguerite worked at Colonial Sugar during the war filling sugar bags.� She married Lawrence Chabaud of Wallace when she was 27 and has been "just a homemaker ever since."

The children, including Marguerite, Robert, Ruby Ordeneaux, Bernice Bourgeois, Harold, Paul, Wilmer, Marie Kliebert, Geraldine Bienvenue, Janet Cantillo, Wayne, Carol Amato and Charles, generated 70 grandchildren among themselves and 120 great grandchildren.� The siblings get together once a month and "take over" a restaurant, reminiscing about the old days.

Robert recalled old days in Paulina and said, "People believed in one another, they trusted each other."