My special friend Kendal’s hometown is Bogalusa, Louisiana. It is about an hour from my home in Amite. He asked if I wanted to take a ride to Bogalusa to see his hometown. I said yes, so off we went!
There were lots of places to see in the quaint town of Bogalusa. We enjoyed all of it! It’s been many years since Kendal was there and a lot has changed.
We started at Cassidy Park where Kendal remembers smooching with his honey Jan whom he married!
Kendal went to First Baptist Church shown in the photo below. It was two and a half blocks from his home. This is where Kendal made his profession of faith in Jesus and was baptized around 12 years old. There was only the sanctuary building on the right when Kendal went there. They’ve since added more buildings, some seen in this photo.
Next, we visited his elementary school, Pleasant Hill Elementary. It was closed in 2021. His first grade teacher was Ms. Bankston who use to spank him on the hand with a ruler. He showed me where he and his buddies would shoot marbles at recess. Can you picture little Kendal playing marbles in the dirt!!??
His childhood home was at 621 Avenue D. He lived there until he went off to college. We found the house and met the nicest people who live there now. They were delighted when Kendal told them he was raised there. The color of the house had changed and it looked different but he confirmed the address with the mom and it was the right house!
From there we went on to Bogalusa High School, home of the Lumberjacks! Kendal was in the first graduating class there. He showed me the original high school which has grown and grown to the enormous school it is today. The original high school is shown in the first photo below.
This is the current day school built around the original one where Kendal went.
We went to where his late wife grew up and the house was no longer there. The church must have expanded it’s parking lot and that is where the house used to be.
The Bogalusa YMCA was where Kendal spent a boatload of time in his youth. His girlfriend (later his wife) Jan’s dad was the YMCA manager. Kendal was there all the time and made so many wonderful memories. These two pictures were taken outside the buildings because they were closed and we couldn’t go in. I was really glad he showed it to me.
Kendal worked at the Paper Mill and the Box Factory in the summers while he was in college. The majority of his daddy’s working life was spent working at the Paper Mill.
We stumbled upon a parade getting started in downtown Bogalusa on the main street, Columbia Street. Seems a new mayor was being inaugurated that day and a parade was being held in his honor. We saw a lot of Corvettes on the parade route so we parked and enjoyed a small hometown parade! Lots of candy was thrown all around us from the cars and floats. The family next to us saw us old folks and started giving candy to us. The lady told the little girl to not pick up the candies that came our way, to let us have them. It was such a pleasant experience and we came home with a bunch of candy!
We ended this trip down memory lane by eating lunch at a restaurant that wasn’t from Kendal’s past, Ramie’s! Delicious fried fish, gumbo, and french fries. Get this, dessert was “beignets.” It was a very nice place to eat!
On our way back to Amite we went through Covington and into Folsom where we shopped at Main’s Market. I recommend that store highly. It has items I haven’t found anywhere else.
From Rosalyn and Kendal, Have a Blessed Week!
BECAUSE HE LIVES 