Ada Marie Babineaux and Geraldine Marie Babino

[00:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Okay. My name is Ada Marie Babineaux. I am 58 years old. Today is November 30, 2022, and we are live in San Antonio, Texas. My partner today is my madre, my mother, who's 88 years old. Okay, mom, take it away. Give me your name and your age.

[00:32] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: My name is Jodine M. Babineaux, and I'm not 88.

[00:41] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You are 80, 819 34.

[00:45] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I'm 88 years old and I'm the mother of five kids who give me hell.

[00:54] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That is not true. That is so not true. So I want to interview mom today because we are. We're actually both the youngest. We have so much in common.

[01:06] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: We're both Aquarius.

[01:08] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: We're 30 years apart. We're both the youngest of our families. She comes from a family of three, two boys and one girl from Opelousas And I come from a family of five, four girls and one boy. San Antonio is where I was born. So I want to just, first mother, talk about.

[01:33] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Tell us, tell us where.

[01:34] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Where you're from and how you grew up in Opelousas I know you're from. I just said that.

[01:41] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Where you were from? I'm from a little country town in Louisiana. Opelousas Louisiana. I had a mother and father and three, two brothers. I was the youngest and I guess the most mischievous.

[02:06] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: I don't believe that.

[02:07] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: But I'm here. My brothers are gone. I'm still here.

[02:13] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You're actually the only one that is left out of your family?

[02:17] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I am.

[02:18] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Your mom and dad were 84 and 86, I think, when they died in Opelousas And your brothers passed on as well. So I don't believe you were the most mischievous knowing them, too. I doubt if you were the most mischievous. Your mother raised you and loved them, as they say, because she loved her boys.

[02:41] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: That's it.

[02:42] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So how did you feel growing up with two brothers in your place, in the family? How were you treated with.

[02:47] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, I didn't feel neglected or anything like that, because all my aunts was great. They love it. My father had a. My father's mother had a house full of girls, so I always had company, doing my hair, sewing, cooking. I always had a partner. Whatever I tried to do.

[03:20] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Was that anchucci at the girls? Yeah. So growing up, what are some of the things that you used to do that made you happy? What were some things that were fun growing up?

[03:34] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, at the age of six, my mother had a cousin. She had a house full of kids, and to get out of the house, she used to take us to the cotton field she'd bake cookies, we'd make ice cream and sit under the tree in the field, cotton field, and have a picnic. And after we have the picnic, nobody wanted to do anything. So we packed up and go back home and play in the backyard.

[04:11] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So you, so you grew up picking cotton?

[04:14] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Not really. I grew up going to the cotton patch, but I didn't pick enough cotton to talk about.

[04:22] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, so you didn't do a good job today?

[04:24] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I didn't do a good job, no.

[04:27] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So. So that was just you because I know your father didn't, didn't, wasn't into picking cotton.

[04:32] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, no. My father worked at an oil mill from the time he married my mother until the time he passed. He worked at that oil mill for.

[04:43] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: What, 63, 65 years?

[04:45] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: About 65 years. And my mother used to make potato pies, sweet potato pies. And I would take them to the oil mill and sell them. And this is the way she would meet her bills, some of her bills, like the water bill, the gas bill, you know, and then the guys talked her into cooking meals. So. Plus she had a job, a domestic.

[05:24] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Right.

[05:25] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: She worked as a nurse for adoptive with two kids. And she would cook lunch for most of the men at the meal where my father worked. The job was to get the food to the men after she fixed it. So my father would come from work and we'll pile plates up on the tray and we just walk about a block and bring the guys there at lunch. And my mother after that, she makes sweet potato pies for dessert, and I would go and sell them after lunch.

[06:20] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Taka, I want to, I want to hear, can you tell us your mother's name and your grand, your father's name? What were their names?

[06:26] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, my mother's name was, or is Savannah Frank. And my father was Nathan Frankenhein senior.

[06:40] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Savannah was a former. Her maiden name was Weather boy.

[06:44] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[06:46] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So she was. She was a pistol.

[06:49] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: She was a walker. She was a pistol.

[06:52] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: She was, she was. Somebody didn't take no shit from nobody, huh?

[06:56] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, no. Oh, no. She believed in pulling her pistol out of her breast and cocking it on you in a minute. But she's, once you get to know her, she's the sweetest person you want to meet. Just don't get her angry. That's, that's all I can say about her.

[07:19] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So you all, you grew, you grew up just with the whole value of just work. Work. You all are some, you come from a long line of people that worked.

[07:30] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Hard and very hard. I see that now. That my mother and father works very hard. When my mother sees something she wants, she go get it. She love her mink coat, and she had a hat to go with the mink coat. And, honey, when she walked in church, everybody got to church. Is that savannah? So hilarious.

[08:00] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So tell us about how she got a mink ho. She was domestic. So tell us how. How all that happened in terms of stuff that you used to get, clothing and all that.

[08:08] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, she worked for a doctor, and in his family, they had two girls. And when the wife wanted to get rid of something, she didn't give it away. She sold it to Savannah sole.

[08:24] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: It?

[08:25] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[08:26] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Wow.

[08:26] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: My mother paid for everything she got, honey.

[08:29] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Wow.

[08:30] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And, um, this is why when she walks in church, everybody turned around and look at her, and she would do extra work or chores for clothes for me. They had two girls, and I could wear both their clothes. I might have to him one, but I wore both their clothes. And my mother would work and call herself paying for what she gets.

[09:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yeah. So what was important for her more? Just with her morals? It was important. I know land was important. So tell us about how she got her first land, her first property that they lived on for 60 something years.

[09:22] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: You won't. I'm glad she's not here to hear the story. The doctor had a card party once a week, and he asked my mother, when you put the girls to bed, would you come down and serve drinks for my guests? Oh, sure, doc. So that's what she did. She would make sandwiches and serve drinks to his guests. And if he had a winning night gambling, I mean, big money. I don't mean no $5, $10, right?

[10:10] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Right.

[10:11] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: When he have a big night, that mean he didn't want in the thousands of dollars. And he would always roll it up and stick it down her dress.

[10:23] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, my gosh.

[10:25] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And the first time he did that, my mother gave it back to him. She said, I can't accept this. He told her, why? Nothing. I gave it to you. And she. She was so afraid that she would lose her job, but my father convinced her, you work for it, you know. She made sandwiches and served drinks to the guys. I didn't know how many there was at the party, but this happens every month. So my mother had bought property from his wife, and he and his wife had a misunderstanding because he told his wife she had charged my mother too much. So every time my mother would work for him on his card night, he'd put $1,000 in her bosom, and that thousand dollars bought every week, paid for the property that she had just bought from his wife. Then we had to worry about putting a house on the land. So he told her that one of his guest had a sawmill, sold lumber. And he introduced my mother to the man that sold lumber to build a house. And my father didn't want my mother to get in debt. He said, you know, we. We can't do this. She told my father, well, if you buy the groceries, I can build a house.

[12:30] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Wow. So they had that deal, huh?

[12:33] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So by her selling pies and Dennis and her job, she could meet the payment every month. So my father was shocked to.

[12:47] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: She does what she says.

[12:50] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: He bought the groceries every week. He got paid every week. She got paid every week. But she didn't bring any money home. She put the money in the bank, and every time the note came up, she had money to pay the lumberman for the lumber for the house.

[13:14] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Wow.

[13:15] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Okay. Then when she paid for the house, the lumber, she had to break up money to pay the carpenters. So Doc told her, don't worry, you make it Savannah. He was trying to help my mother.

[13:34] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Because his wife was paying too much.

[13:36] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah. Because his wife had charged retribution. My mother too much for the property. And this is how we got our home.

[13:45] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Wow. What, you actually stayed until, what was that, 60 something years on that property on the corner, Washington street, Napoleon, Louisiana. So what are some things that you admire most about your mom and your dad that you did that's in your heart, that's sung with you?

[14:03] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: One wouldn't go no place. The other one couldn't go.

[14:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You admired that?

[14:09] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I would have been like, bye. No, you know, my father liked to drink, and my mother figured if she was with him, he wouldn't act a fool. This is how she was thinking. And my mother loved cigars.

[14:28] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, my God.

[14:30] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: She would smoke cigars. How'd she start smoking cigars? Well, I don't know.

[14:35] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: I mean, from her brothers or.

[14:37] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: No.

[14:38] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yuck, huh?

[14:39] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: She. I guess it, with all those guys gambling at the doctor's house, smoking cigars, all that smoke.

[14:47] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[14:47] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Got to her, I guess. I don't know.

[14:49] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That's interesting. I didn't know.

[14:50] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: But all the grocery stores in the neighborhood during the war, this is. Cigars were hard to get.

[15:01] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Well, this is World War one.

[15:04] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: World War one? I guess so.

[15:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, Vietnam? No, she was born in 1900, so I don't know.

[15:15] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Go ahead.

[15:15] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: I'm sorry.

[15:15] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I don't know either. World War one, World War two. I don't know. But when she would run out of cigar. She get on the phone and call each other, each grocery store. You all got anything for me? No. Savannah, the truck gonna come in sitting city time, you know, she go to her friend Doc. Man, I done rain on a cigar. So he'll take a handful of his and give it to her until she gets some cigars. She and Doc was good because whatever he asked her to do a favor for him, she would do it. And he does the same thing.

[16:04] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That's an interesting relationship.

[16:06] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: How did you.

[16:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Cooking was huge in our family. Not daddy's side and your side. So who taught you how to cook out of your mom and dad. And what are some good dishes that used to cook? Louisiana dishes. Oh, not used to. I still give them.

[16:22] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, I bring up dishes nobody know nothing about. Who taught?

[16:27] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: I mean, how did you, were you learning, were you, like, five in the kitchen cooking with her or six years old? How old were you when you started cooking?

[16:34] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I was about five because I would have to go and get the wood and put in the wood stove so the oven can get hot. The boys, their job was to get the wood ready to bring in the house. And it was hell keeping the house up, you know, bringing this wood in, sweeping the trash out.

[17:02] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You didn't have the bathroom. The bathroom wasn't inside initially, right? Did you? You all were the first with the bathroom in your. In your.

[17:08] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: But in the house that mom had built, we had a bathroom.

[17:13] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, you're talking about before that house.

[17:14] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I was talking about before. Oh, honey. When we got that house, we were rich. Everybody thought we had money, but what we had, we worked as a family for it. We all worked for it. Then when school let out, the boys would get a part time job delivering groceries for the little stores in the neighborhood. But I still think we had a. We had a good time.

[17:48] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Had a good life.

[17:49] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah. Very good life. We never wanted for anything. All we had to do was mention it, and my mother and father would try to get it.

[17:58] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Mm hmm. And farming. Farming seemed to be something that's in your blood. Farming, gardening.

[18:05] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, we always hate a garden. We always had a garden.

[18:10] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Why was that important to have a garden?

[18:14] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: You know, being run into the store every time you want something. Every time you want something, all you have to do is go out the back door, particularly pertaining to vegetables. My father, he likes to raise turnips and white potatoes and mustard rings. Those were his favorite. And my mother, when she had the chance, she would plant, like, cabbage and the other greeneries.

[18:55] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: She was always working, though, so he pretty much did most of the farming. Papa Frank. Yeah, we called them Mama Frank and Papa Frankenhein. Savannah was Mama Frank Nathan, Papa Frank. How did that Mama Frank, Papa Frank come about? Cause when you were little, you didn't call them that, did you? You call them Mama and daddy. That was when the grandkids came.

[19:15] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: My mother and father had a friend who lost his wife. And he had two boys, AJ. Aj and sam.

[19:26] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Okay.

[19:28] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And on the weekends they would come to the Opelousas They were living on a farm, but they would come to Opelousas And their father used to gamble with my father, with my daddy gambling his spirit. And my daddy told him, bring the boys over because he had two boys. But sam and Aj was much older than my brothers. But anyway, they used to babysit us. They came to town. They was living in the country. They came to town, get a hair cut and they would sit around the house and maybe cook if they felt like it. But they were like babysitters. And they grew up to be men and got married. Sam became a minister. Aj came up, became a bus driver and farmer. And we used to go to their house during the summertime. And their father used to butcher, butcher, butcher. Maybe a cow and hog. And that was a big day. Honeydehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe oh, my God, I love hog cracklings. I love what? Boudin.

[20:55] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Boudin, yeah.

[20:56] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, and they would make homemade sausage.

[21:00] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, no. Just thinking about it, huh?

[21:02] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Just thinking about all that good food.

[21:04] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: But Gumbo was a mainstay in our family, too. Gumbo.

[21:08] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, everybody learned to make gumbo. Yeah, that was.

[21:14] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That was especially on traditionally. Now it's so funny because now that's like a rainy day or cold weather thing that. Yeah, you can call any of my sisters and they're making gumbo. Or having traditions like popcorn balls on a rainy day. You know, things like that were handed down pretty much.

[21:33] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So let's talk about.

[21:35] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Okay, so you were. You were just. You were the first to graduate to make it to the 12th grade grade in your family.

[21:42] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Right? Right.

[21:43] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Cause your mom and dad couldn't read.

[21:45] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: No.

[21:46] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Or write.

[21:47] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I taught my mother how to write her name. I had an insurance guy came to collect the premium and my mom had to sign something. And he called me in the room and said, you should be ashamed of yourself. You can read and write and you haven't taught your mom how to write her name, right? Then, honey, I start, you know, showing my mom how to write her name. And she was so proud because the insurance man had a premium to give her. And he said, savannah, you have to write your name for that to get your money. She said, you know, I can't write. He told her, well, the only way you get this money, you gonna ask. Sign your name. So he called. I was out playing with some friends, and he called me in the house and told me, I want you to teach your mom how to write her name. So, honey, mom and I fussing. She cussed me out and everything.

[23:03] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: I know she did, but she.

[23:05] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Before that man left, she was writing her name.

[23:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Aw.

[23:08] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And ever since, she.

[23:10] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: She didn't do x anymore. It was just she.

[23:12] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: No, she wrote her name out completely.

[23:15] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That's awesome. Yeah.

[23:17] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And she's so proud.

[23:20] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Cause you went to school. You got. You got to the 12th grade. Beyond the 12th grade, you didn't want to go further. What was. What was your aspirations? What did you want to do?

[23:29] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: How did you get married and have kids?

[23:32] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That was the profession you wanted. That's what you wanted out of life.

[23:35] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: That's what I wanted. And. And do you realize I. I got out of school in 53. June 53 August.

[23:51] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: When did June, what, usually graduate? May or June. So probably. Probably.

[23:56] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: No, no, no. You be quiet. You got me rolling now.

[24:02] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Go ahead, girl.

[24:06] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I got out of school June 53.

[24:09] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Mm hmm.

[24:10] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: July 7. I was married.

[24:15] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Damn.

[24:17] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I met your father in three days. We were married.

[24:22] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: That's cray cray.

[24:25] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, you had no.

[24:27] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You did not know him. Tell us that story. Tell us the story about the meeting of Romel Babineaux

[24:32] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: He came to my house to use the phone because we were the closest one with the phone in that neighborhood. And he. His sister told him to stop at my house because I had a phone.

[24:47] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Your mama, not you, but go ahead.

[24:49] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: No. Um, so he came and asked my mom could he use the phone. So my mom showed him where the phone was, and she went and sat on the porch. I was in the bathroom taking the shower, and I got half dressed and went to my room, and I saw this man sitting at the phone. I didn't know it. I had never seen him before, but he was in his army uniform. So I went to my room and got dressed. And when I came out, I spoke to him, and he said, look like you gone somewhere. I said, yeah, I gotta go to work. He said, well, I'll walk you. I said, no, I didn't want him to walk me because that's the first thing people will say. Jared got her a new man.

[25:49] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: The town was small and gossipy, huh?

[25:51] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah. So he. He walked me to walk anyway.

[26:04] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: He walked you anyway? You didn't want.

[26:06] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah, I didn't want him to.

[26:07] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Okay.

[26:08] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: But he just walked anyway.

[26:11] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Nothing to do. Okay, go ahead.

[26:13] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So when I got off from work, my father usually picked me up at night and bring me home.

[26:24] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: I worked and you worked at the movie theater?

[26:27] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[26:27] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Segregated at the time.

[26:28] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[26:29] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Opelousas So, okay.

[26:31] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So my father was waiting at one door, and he was waiting at the other door. And I'm looking. I'm confused. And he said, mister Frank, I walk your daughter home. I said, no, you both can walk me home. Cause we have to pass by church. And the church had two big trees right at the sidewalk. And every time I pass those dorm trees, I just know somebody gonna jump out at you.

[27:08] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You were scared and scared me.

[27:11] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So I told dad, I said, you gotta come and pick me up. So this is why daddy start picking me up.

[27:19] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Okay.

[27:20] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: But Romel Washington theater. So I had two men to walk me home. So I asked him, would he like to come in. He said, no, we can sit here on the porch. So we sat on the porch and talked. And I know. I know some of his relatives. So that's what we talked about. His relative. And then he asked, did I have a boyfriend? I said, I have a friend. Boy.

[27:59] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Make that distinction.

[28:00] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Go ahead.

[28:03] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: But he really was your boyfriend.

[28:07] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So he started talking about marriage. And he said, his father said that there was a lot of nice young women in Opelousas that he could find to get married. So I didn't comment. I just let him go ahead and talk. So he asked me that, was I serious with the young man that I was going with? He hadn't met him. No, we went to the same school. He was in my class, and he likes walking with his friend. He had a friend with him. His friend. Go and see his girlfriend.

[28:57] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Mister. One you talk to now. Your classmate.

[29:01] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Clay.

[29:01] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Mister Clay.

[29:02] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Mister Clay. Went to see his. Went. And then I always had something sweet. That's why they liked my house. I always had either some of Mama Frank's potato pies left over or make fudge or popcorn. That's why they like coming to my house.

[29:25] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: And they could drink, too.

[29:27] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: They didn't drink. The boys didn't drink. But I forgot to tell you. My mother and father made homemade wine and beer. Homemade beer and homemade wine. Whiskey, not whiskey. And my mother gave us permission that we could drink, you know, have a glass of wine? As long as we don't give it to our friends. So they can act the fool.

[30:03] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Mm hmm.

[30:05] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So this is why the boys stopped at my house. They thought what?

[30:13] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Go ahead. They had. They had. They thought you'd have some wine. So this tells about dad. Now, how did that whole three day thing happen so quickly and why?

[30:23] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, the night he walked me home with Daddy, we sat on the porch in a swing, and he started talking about women. You know, he had a girlfriend, but his girlfriend had children. Well, I said, that's nice. Are they yours? He said, oh, no. He had just gone into the army. And I don't know why he was asking me questions about marriage. I didn't think about it. So I told him, I said I prayed to the blessed mother that I could find a good husband, but I said, there's nothing good here. Where, you know, in Opelousas young men are trying to find work, and, you know, things like that. There was no work for them. They had to leave town to go to get a good job.

[31:30] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So how did y'all do that in three days? That's what I want to jump to.

[31:33] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, my goodness. The next day, he said he would have to marry me before Monday.

[31:45] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Ooh. Get an ultimatum.

[31:48] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, no, wasn't an ultimatum. No, because, Sam, he had to be at full. So he said, tomorrow I can. I can go look at rings tomorrow. And he asked what I like. I said, no, I don't want to go.

[32:08] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Well, back. Back up. Because you didn't even know him. There was no love because you just met. How could you just marry someone that you don't love, that you don't?

[32:16] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Because I wanted to get away from my beloved.

[32:19] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So was it a good choice?

[32:20] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Very good choice. My. I told him that I used been praying to the blessed mother to help me find a good man, good husband. And he says, I've been doing the same thing, praying to the blessed mother, hoping I can find a good wife. Because the girl that he was going with, she had three kids, and she was not married. Had not been married. And his father told him that there was a lot of good girls or women in Opelousas You just have to know where to go to find him.

[33:09] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So you all ended up preparing. You got the ring, you got your blood test, you got your certificate, and bam, you had the wedding at your mom and dad's house.

[33:20] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: We sure did.

[33:21] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: June 7.

[33:22] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: June 7, 1950.

[33:28] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Something. 54. 54.

[33:30] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, anyway, so.

[33:33] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So out of that marriage.

[33:35] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Mm hmm.

[33:36] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You all. You talked about wanting a lot of kids.

[33:39] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And so I talked about that before winning intermarriage. You talk about things like that before you go into it. You don't go into it, and then you're sorry. So he said he wanted kids. I told him I did, too, but I didn't want a house full of kids that I couldn't take care of. I ended up with a house full of kids.

[34:04] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: But you took care of.

[34:06] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Well, I took care of you all. So he was with me, right? He helped me all the way. Anytime the army sent him someplace, he sent for me. He get a house for us. But we got married, and he went to Korea. He stayed in Korea a year. When he came back, I had worked and he had saved his pay, and we got married.

[34:46] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: One of the things that I think is critical is that you got married, but you took in his baby sister.

[34:54] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, I forgot about Gloria.

[34:56] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Took in his baby sister. And that was, like, part of your daughter.

[35:00] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: That's.

[35:01] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: She called me mom because her parents had died. So you took her.

[35:04] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: His parents had died.

[35:06] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[35:06] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And his father had raised.

[35:08] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[35:09] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Start raising glory, and he died.

[35:11] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So you really had a kid before you got married. But teenager. Teenager.

[35:16] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: She. She was no problem at all.

[35:20] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: And she ended up calling you mama.

[35:22] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: She did, yeah, she did.

[35:24] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[35:25] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: But. And she. She stayed with us until she was 18. She was nine. She stayed with us nine years.

[35:37] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Wow. Followed us to Germany.

[35:40] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: It. While we were in the service, she followed us. She was with us everywhere we went.

[35:45] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: And through all of our births. Huh.

[35:48] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Oh, yeah, honey. And, um. What?

[35:54] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Hmm. So she ended up. She ended up really following you, and they went on that. They're successful. She married a gi as well, I remember.

[36:03] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: And so are you going too fast?

[36:06] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: No, because I'm just trying to bring it all home. So you had five kids.

[36:12] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[36:13] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: And were you, how has that been for you since that was your aspirations to be a mother and a married wife? How has that been for you to live out your aspirations of. Well, I guess your career as a housewife and a wife. A mother and a housewife. How has that been for you in terms of your life?

[36:32] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Great. I wouldn't change it for nothing. I wouldn't. Gloria called me mom, that I stuck my chest out. Cause nobody believed she was mine. We traveled all over Europe as mother and daughter. Then I start having you all. She was big sister. And after she met an airman here in San Antonio, and she got married to him.

[37:10] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: And some of her kids are our age, and so. But we were the first to go to college. And all your girls went to college, got master's degrees. So we're the first generation. Lucius went military. Your son went military. How has that been for you? To witness all of your children growing up very proud of grandkids.

[37:31] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: One mother wouldn't be proud of that, honey. I was very proud. It worked the hell out of us, but I was very proud.

[37:40] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: How would you like to be remembered? You're a mother, you're a grandmother, you're, you know, wonderful. How would you like to be remembered.

[37:49] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: By you as a mother, a hard working woman? And that's exactly what I did. Every time we went to Europe. I got a job. I got a job when my husband left here. When we first got married, I worked. And the money that Uncle Sam was sending me, every penny of it was here when he got home. And we went and bought our first house, a trailer house. And we lived in that trailhouse for about five years. Four years we lived in that trailhouse four years. Resold it, and we were stationed in clean Texas.

[38:45] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: How to get to San Antonio. How did you all get to San Antonio and settle? We've been in this house for 60 something years. How did you all get here and settle?

[38:56] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Daddy, he wanted to get a different job. He was in the kitchen in the army. So somebody offered him a job for working for a general. And everybody told him that that was too strict, you know, and confining. So he said, I've never done it before. I'll try, mama. I said, okay. He said, that meand that mean my owl is going to be different.

[39:32] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Mm hmm.

[39:34] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: So he did, and he, he enjoyed it.

[39:37] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: And that got you to San Antonio, the general's job?

[39:41] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: No, they got me back to Europe. This is my second.

[39:47] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Oh, you went to Europe and then you came back here?

[39:50] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[39:50] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: So let me ask you this, because we have to. Um, so now at 88, you're going to be 89 in 2023. How are you feeling? You still love, you still do your gardening, you still do your cooking. Sunday is always a special day. You cook for your son and his wife. On Sunday, you cook for your nephew. How are you feeling at 88, ada?

[40:20] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I thank God for my years because he's given me everything I've asked him for. So what? Why should I be upset about anything?

[40:36] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: You're blessed.

[40:37] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: I'm blessed. Thank you very much. Okay.

[40:42] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Thank you for this interview. I mean, our lives, 30 years apart, are so different. And, oh, girl, I never wanted to get married. I do have a daughter named Savannah, named after your mother. But I never wanted to get married. I'm happy to have gone on to college, live the entrepreneurial life. So, yeah, I'm happy, too. I'm blessed, too. Different roads, different agendas. But I think the morals, the values, the culture, the custom that you put in us have made us whole.

[41:13] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Everybody don't want. Doesn't want the same thing. And I feel fortunate because I got everything I asked for. I'm very fortunate.

[41:24] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Yeah.

[41:26] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: That pretty much does it.

[41:28] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Miss Babineaux. Thank you.

[41:31] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: You're welcome. Can I go have a drink? Ten minutes.

[41:39] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Come in.

[41:39] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Let me. She heard me. Quiet. I need something to build my strength back up. Okay. You gotta be quiet.

[41:56] ADA MARIE BABINEAUX: Ten minutes of silence.

[41:58] JODINE M. BABINEAUX: Okay? Okay.