Do you ever think back and remember exactly where you were and what you were doing at a certain time in your life? The year was 1971, I was 10 years old, my mom called me into the kitchen, she said that she needed to tell me something important. She said, your daddy is very sick and since you’re the oldest, I need you to be strong for me and help me with your brother and sisters. My father’s name was Francis, but everyone called him Fezo.  My Daddy was a man that could do just about anything he set his mind to do, and do it well. I’d always call him whenever I wasn’t sure about something. He could fix just about anything. I’m the oldest of 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls.

Francis & Darrell

Back then, my mother was pregnant with my youngest sister. My mother let me know that my father had been diagnosed with Leukemia. I was 10 years old and had no idea what leukemia was. What she didn’t tell me was that the doctors said the type of leukemia he had was the worst possible form, and that he had been given only 2 weeks to live.

Daddy was 33 years old at that time and worked for a chemical company.

The chemical plant where my dad worked processed what is known as salt cake (Sodium sulphate produced industrially by the reaction of magnesium sulphate with sodium chloride in solution followed by crystallization, or by the reaction of concentrated

Jane

sulphuric acid with solid sodium chloride).

One day before all of this happened he came home from work covered from head to toe with some sort of powdery chemical. He had fallen from a platform into a chemical. It wasn’t very long after that he got sick. I often wondered if that accident had anything to do with his sickness. My mom packed our clothes and shipped us off to my grandparent’s house in a nearby town.

My father was in M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston Texas, while my mom was giving birth in a southern Louisiana Hospital to their 5th child, my youngest sister.

The doctors wanted to try some new types of treatments for leukemia that wouldn’t cost my family anything. Since he didn’t have much to lose at this point, my dad agreed to these “guinea pig” test and treatments. For a long time he was kept in a germ free room (bubble), everything that went in had to be sterilized, even the food. He said it removed all of the taste.

MD Anderson Hospital

That’s twice as hard for a Cajun man to endure than just a regular Joe because Cajuns “live to eat” not “eat to live”.

The treatments for leukemia caused many side effects, one of which big blisters would break out all over his hands whenever he went out in the sun. He couldn’t do much work especially in the sun, and if he’d accidentally hit his hand a huge blister would break out (in just a few seconds). He carried a small pocket knife sharpened to a sharp point to bust the blisters as they formed. We did a lot of fishing and trawling for shrimp after he was halfway back to normal.

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As a family, we did a lot of camping. I remember one summer we traveled to Illinois to visit a cousin. On the way we didn’t make many stops, and we visited for about a week. On the way back to south Louisiana we took our time and stopped at every campground we came across. That summer we spent exactly 22 days at home, the rest were spent at campgrounds. My dad had a rough life, but nobody enjoyed life more than him.

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Camping

I remember back when the government was forcing people they decided shouldn’t be on disability to go back to work and he was one. Today I see young people that messed themselves up by taking illegal drugs such as ecstasy and crack sitting around all day waiting for their check and probably using the money to buy drugs. (Dopes on dope) Later on my dad developed severe pain in his side and back and tried different doctors and even surgery to cut a nerve to stop the pain. He may have even had another form of cancer.

Four months after his 49th birthday he took his 16 gauge shotgun, drove to a secluded area and killed himself. I was 26 at the time.  Time passes quickly, it’s hard to believe that I’ll be 49 this year.

I have a big problem when I see healthy young people on welfare that could be working, but are just lazy. That’s another subject altogether.

This page is a work in progress, and is updated as time allows…..

Francis & Jane - 1960	The Francis Paul	The Fezo
Lester, Francis, & Paul	Lakeview Campground	Fezo - Pegs Club