Wanda King and Joyce Melancon

[00:03] WANDA KING: Hi, my name is Wanda King. Today's date is November 29, 2023. The location is Lafayette, Louisiana. And my partner that I interviewing with is Miss Joyce Melancon Miss Joyce relationship to partner is co worker.

[00:31] JOYCE MELANCON: Hi, my name is Joyce Melancon Today's date is November 29, 2023. I'm in Lafayette location. The name of the interviewer is Miss Wanda King, and she's also a co worker and a friend.

[00:52] WANDA KING: Okay. Well, Miss Joyce, how was it growing up? How was it when you was growing up with your family? I remember you saying you had a large family.

[01:02] JOYCE MELANCON: Oh, okay. We had a very large family. We were ten and a family, siblings, and we had a wonderful time growing up. My dad, mom, they both work. And most of the time, we had problems even trying to make ends meet, even though both parents worked. I can remember, like, most of the times that my father would go out first in the morning and he wake up real early, and mom would be right next to him. Like, they would go their separate ways. And most of us, well, we had older brothers and sisters, so we would take care of each other, and we would make sure that we were on time for school and everything. But it was so hard making ends meet that mom did most of her baking and cooking, you know, and she was, like, a very good baker. I can remember the times that she would try to fill in for dad, you know, when, like, he did not work and something would happen, and she would, like, do bakery and stuff like that, and kind of sell and make things for the family.

[02:16] WANDA KING: Okay, I remember that because my grandmother used to do the same thing. And I remember she used to get up and she had these big old bowls, and we would all gather in the kitchen, and she would tell us, y'all go on and pick mama some blackberries. I'm gonna mix y'all some BlackBerry jams and stuff like that.

[02:40] JOYCE MELANCON: I can remember that also. It was like, during that time, it was like, figs and jam and just a whole bunch of canning that went on in the family. That's how they provided for us. And I can remember also, like, early morning when Mama would get ready to do her canning or her baking, that she would gather all of her equipment, you know, early mornings. That's how it works to get everything together before they could, like, make the bread. That was her favorite thing. And being it's the holidays now, it brings back to my mind with deity and, you know, to kind of survive and bring us through the holidays. I remember her doing the bread, and it's called a yeast bread.

[03:29] WANDA KING: Right.

[03:30] JOYCE MELANCON: And I could remember how she would get her ingredients together, and she would mix it all together. She needed the yeast, she needed water, she needed oil, her pan, her pot, all these things, you know? And while she was gathering all that, she made sure she was ready, you.

[03:51] WANDA KING: Know, right before she get. She got started.

[03:53] JOYCE MELANCON: That's correct. And then the next day is when the bread got made, which was the best part to me around the holidays, to smell that good aroma of breads and stuff like that.

[04:05] WANDA KING: Right? Oh, it did. It made the house smell so good.

[04:08] JOYCE MELANCON: It didn't. It, though. It makes you want to, like, just eat. Yeah. And then I remember the bowls that she used. Those were like big, heavy bowls.

[04:18] WANDA KING: Yes.

[04:19] JOYCE MELANCON: They were kind of like ceramic. Ceramic type bowls. And just. So it happened, I was digging through my drawer, and I came across one of the pictures. Okay. And it was like a set. Did your mom use something like that?

[04:33] WANDA KING: Yes, that's it. I remember they had come in four.

[04:39] JOYCE MELANCON: And the extremely large. Well, we used the extremely large.

[04:42] WANDA KING: Yes, that's it.

[04:43] JOYCE MELANCON: That is because we were a bunch of kids. But she would put that yeast in water, like, and then she'd use her pans. Okay. And she would roll her flour, her yeast, the oil together, you know, and make kind of like a soft batter. And then she would put that into this big old bowl. And then the next morning. The next morning, that bowl of yeast had risen so big, you'd wonder, how in the hell could something get risen that big, you know? But, yeah, these were good times.

[05:27] WANDA KING: It were. Because, like I said, my grandmother did the same thing. And like I said, I remember, you know, her, like you say, getting up early and getting it done, and, you know, and then she would. She would go and get. She would go get her little pecans and all that, too, and, you know, make cannies and pastries and all kind of stuff with the little bread. Like you said, once she did the. She would cut it in four once they once had risen and stuff like that. And then she would make, like, peach, them little cups, you know, tart, what you call them.

[06:07] JOYCE MELANCON: Sweet tarts.

[06:08] WANDA KING: Sweet tarts. That's it. Yeah.

[06:11] JOYCE MELANCON: And then the other thing I can remember is the fig, what we ate with that bread. Sometimes she would do bread for other people also. You know, she would have. In fact, everybody was going through the same problem with working and trying to provide for families and, you know, just making sure everybody got fed. Especially around the holidays when you need to, you know, look after each other. Like, we had figs. Mama would can figs. Jars of figs. And that's what we ate with that bread. You know, breakfast was the fig, the canned figs as a preserve. We also did blackberries, like you said. That was one of the things that we did during the summertime. We'd pick the blackberries and we made jam out of that, and we ate with that bread.

[07:04] WANDA KING: And we had a. My grandmother had a peach tree, so we would pick the peaches and she would can them. Like you said, you know, all that was preserved, you know, they cook it down and they were like you say, we eat it with bread, you know. Cause like you said, things was hard back then. And, you know, she would have all our. Well, we was like, twelve grandkids. So she would keep us, like you said, while my parents would go to work. And she had us all. So she was making everything stretch.

[07:35] JOYCE MELANCON: Stretch. Yeah, that's what they call it back then. It was called stretch. Making things last. Or, you know, just having enough for us the next day.

[07:45] WANDA KING: Right, exactly. And then I. She would say she made sure she put my parents overside, you know, whatever she would make, make sure they had. Because they work all day, you know. Cause sometime there would be supper with a good clothes, and then they would make homemade hot chocolate or cocoa for us to go with that, you know. So that was the. Like you said, that was the days, you know, I miss them so much, but I.

[08:18] JOYCE MELANCON: And all this. The ingredients, you know, even though they weren't expensive, it was still hard trying to have money to buy these extra things. It was like just trying to get through the next day, you know, sometimes.

[08:37] WANDA KING: Just try to get through the whole week.

[08:40] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah.

[08:40] WANDA KING: You know, because, like I said, things were stuck.

[08:45] JOYCE MELANCON: So how often did your mom make the bread? I know my mom made bread, like, around the holidays, special days and stuff like that, you know.

[08:52] WANDA KING: Well, my grandmother was doing, I remember, at least once a week or, you know, because it would last. She would make it, you know, last. So we had so many mouths to feed. Cause like I said, my parents and then my uncles and my aunts, you know, we would all. She would make enough for everybody, so.

[09:17] JOYCE MELANCON: Well, that's what they did. They shared. And they look after each other, you know, no matter how big or small. They always shared. Yeah.

[09:27] WANDA KING: Oh, yeah. Yes, ma'am, they did. Because I. And then another thing I remember them doing was bushiri. They would do cracklings and boothang and stuff like that. Stuff like that. And then I. They would share with all the neighborhood. Everybody would come. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[09:51] JOYCE MELANCON: So they kind of like, cooked together and had supper together.

[09:55] WANDA KING: Exactly. Oh, yeah. It was like a big old. A gathering. Yeah. So. And that's how they made it back then. And then I remember us having our. Well, my dad had a cow, so they would go and milk the cow, and I remember us not wanting the milk because we knew where it came from.

[10:18] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah. But that was good, because that was a way of providing for the family.

[10:23] WANDA KING: Right, exactly. Exactly.

[10:26] JOYCE MELANCON: Something they didn't have to buy.

[10:29] WANDA KING: Right. I can't remember much. They used to go to the store for. Because everything.

[10:36] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah. They kind of grew themselves and.

[10:39] WANDA KING: Right. You know, because they harvest corn, they harvest potatoes, squash, you know, eggplants.

[10:48] JOYCE MELANCON: And in fact, they did their own gardening, too. They plant most of their stuff.

[10:54] WANDA KING: Right. And that was a big help right.

[10:56] JOYCE MELANCON: There, you know, even though they were not financially able to buy all this extra stuff. Yeah.

[11:03] WANDA KING: Right. So. And that's how we made it, you know? And then.

[11:10] JOYCE MELANCON: And getting back to this bowl, I wonder if that's what made the bread so good.

[11:15] WANDA KING: Right.

[11:16] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah. Because that was the heaviest bread bowl.

[11:19] WANDA KING: Can you imagine? Can you imagine trying to mix in.

[11:21] JOYCE MELANCON: Holding that bowl, holding that bowl and stirring at the same time? That was absolutely.

[11:27] WANDA KING: She wouldn't let.

[11:29] JOYCE MELANCON: This is a medium sized bowl, and the next size is even bigger. And the next size was even bigger. Yeah. It was kind of made of ceramic, it looked like.

[11:40] WANDA KING: I remember her telling us, don't touch my bowls because you're gonna break my bows.

[11:46] JOYCE MELANCON: It was like a souvenir. That was their way of surviving, I guess. And if they. If that was broken, then they had to go out and spend more money for it and get them another one.

[11:58] WANDA KING: Exactly. So when I understood, you know, believe me, we didn't touch it either.

[12:04] JOYCE MELANCON: Well, it just so happened I took my mom's set.

[12:10] WANDA KING: Okay.

[12:11] JOYCE MELANCON: I have three. You said they had four. We have three of them.

[12:16] WANDA KING: Okay.

[12:17] JOYCE MELANCON: I think we're missing that really huge.

[12:19] WANDA KING: That big one. They. Right. Okay.

[12:21] JOYCE MELANCON: I don't know what happened to it. Maybe someone else has it.

[12:24] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am. That brought back a lot of memories.

[12:28] JOYCE MELANCON: Yes, it did. And especially around the holidays when. That's when we used to.

[12:37] WANDA KING: How much? Your mom used to make just one.

[12:41] JOYCE MELANCON: Big one or she would always do little ones once a week. Yeah. A lot of people make, like, the loaf.

[12:47] WANDA KING: Okay.

[12:48] JOYCE MELANCON: But she would make, like, little bread, more or less like a little biscuit.

[12:53] WANDA KING: Right. Okay. So I bet you that was so good, though, the little small one. Everybody had their own little personal one. Yeah.

[13:06] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah. It's not like today where you can make it in these fancy machines. And I think the fun part is, like, having to make it with the old fashioned way.

[13:17] WANDA KING: Right?

[13:18] JOYCE MELANCON: And it tastes better.

[13:21] WANDA KING: How do you used to say that? That's. You made it with love.

[13:24] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah, exactly.

[13:26] WANDA KING: You made it with love.

[13:27] JOYCE MELANCON: That's what happened. That's where. That's why it was so good. Because they made it with love and time. They cared.

[13:35] WANDA KING: And then I remember one time, my brother, my grandmother had made one, and it just came out the oven. And my brother and my cousins, they said, are we hungry? You said, I'm gonna go get one of those dumb breads. And it took my grandmother, and she looking all over.

[13:56] JOYCE MELANCON: They had already eaten it.

[14:01] WANDA KING: She was mad they stole her bread. I said, y'all wrong for that. Y'all gonna get in trouble. They sure did too. But like I said, that's good times. You know, it's memories that's gonna stay for. With us for a long time.

[14:21] JOYCE MELANCON: Every holiday, I try to make it. I try to make them, too.

[14:25] WANDA KING: But, yeah, yeah, I would have to get with my mom. I remember. Cause I was small. Not really small, but young, you know, I understood. But I, you know, as a kid, you know, you don't really be paying attention to how they did it, how they made it. Right.

[14:46] JOYCE MELANCON: So what they use to make it with you.

[14:49] WANDA KING: Right. But my mom knows, so I can get the recipe from her and she try to make it myself, you know. And that was something. That's something I would like to learn, so I can learn. Teach my niece. Right.

[15:07] JOYCE MELANCON: How to do it.

[15:07] WANDA KING: How to do it and stuff.

[15:10] JOYCE MELANCON: Martin Baker and the family, my little grandson, and he. He's interested in stuff like that. So we're gonna hand it down to him, the recipe. I mean, it's not a hard thing to do. It's a very simple way to make bread.

[15:24] WANDA KING: Right, right. And it's not. The most thing is to stirring it up and, you know, paying attention to the ingredients you put in it and letting it be impatient. That's the thing.

[15:39] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah.

[15:39] WANDA KING: Being patient to do it. Right, right. So. But, you know, it's a good thing for. For young kids to get into.

[15:49] JOYCE MELANCON: You have to learn what how to do, how to survive.

[15:52] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am. And, you know, like I said in the pastries, we used to. And biscuits, too.

[16:04] JOYCE MELANCON: Biscuit is pretty much the same way.

[16:06] WANDA KING: We do the bread. Now, Miss Joyce, what tradition have. Have been passed down to you and your family?

[16:17] JOYCE MELANCON: Well, basically, we were close family.

[16:23] WANDA KING: Okay.

[16:23] JOYCE MELANCON: And going to mass, going to church.

[16:28] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am.

[16:28] JOYCE MELANCON: Was one of the main thing we. Mama taught us with how to go to mass. Thank God for what we had.

[16:36] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am. That was number one on all of this.

[16:39] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah. And every Sunday we did not miss with my father and my mom, we had to go to church. So that's kind of. I still do it every Sunday. I will attend service.

[16:50] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am.

[16:51] JOYCE MELANCON: That was one of the main things.

[16:54] WANDA KING: Okay. And what is one of your best memories of childhood?

[17:02] JOYCE MELANCON: Just having time together. The holidays was my best time. Just having to.

[17:10] WANDA KING: Being together and loving on one another.

[17:14] JOYCE MELANCON: Sharing things, sharing old memories was one of the great thing that I cherish, really.

[17:23] WANDA KING: Right, okay. And what's the proud, though? What are you. What are the proudest moment in your.

[17:30] JOYCE MELANCON: In my lifetime?

[17:31] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am.

[17:32] JOYCE MELANCON: Oh. My proudest moment is when I got married. It was. When I got married, it was like, you know, getting into a new life, a change of life. But we always stayed together. We always visit.

[17:50] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am.

[17:51] JOYCE MELANCON: But that was one of my happiest moments. Is my marriage.

[17:55] WANDA KING: Mine, too. Unfortunately, I lost him in 2018, you know, due to aneurysm, and he had medical issues, too. But I do understand, you know, we gotta move on and, you know, do the best we can. Do the best we can, right. So. And that's why I try to cherish the people around me, you know, my siblings and my mom and, you know, and family altogether, cousins and, you know, the best we can, so.

[18:31] JOYCE MELANCON: Well, you kind of like me. Miss Wanda. I, too, lost my husband in 2020. Yes, ma'am. He had Alzheimer's, and that was very hard because we were close family there, too. That's not a nice sickness, you know, it's kind of hard. And seeing people that you love and have good times with and just being together for so long, you know, and to lose someone for that long of a time.

[19:02] WANDA KING: Yeah. Cause we was married for 20 years, and when you seen one, you seen the other. That's what was working, you know? And it's like, when I lost him, you know, it's like I was a lost puppy, you know, so. But. And my family, they worry about me, but I told him I'm good, you know, I had my good days and my bad days.

[19:26] JOYCE MELANCON: We all do.

[19:27] WANDA KING: Yeah. So. But like I say, I made the best of it, and I just try to keep it moving, but, yeah. So are there any funny stories your family tells about you that's.

[19:48] JOYCE MELANCON: Kind of serious? I mean, we gathered and we listened to music and we watched television back then.

[19:55] WANDA KING: Okay.

[19:55] JOYCE MELANCON: You know, but no, nothing funny that I could remember. We were always serious. We were just trying to make it back in the days.

[20:04] WANDA KING: Right. You know, my siblings, we always, you know, took care of one another.

[20:10] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah.

[20:11] WANDA KING: We try to, you know, if one of us feeling bad, we would all be there, you know, trying to comfort that, you know, trying to comfort the one that's feeling bad, so.

[20:22] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah, but the times have changed, really, from the time, you know, that when we were children and our.

[20:29] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am.

[20:31] JOYCE MELANCON: We used to make sure that we were all. Well, you know, stayed well.

[20:37] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am.

[20:38] JOYCE MELANCON: Because we had. We couldn't go to the doctor because that was costly there.

[20:43] WANDA KING: Well, I was just saying that to one of my friends, and I said back in the day, we wouldn't go to the doctor. We had home remedies and.

[20:53] JOYCE MELANCON: Exactly.

[20:53] WANDA KING: You know, they would give us, like.

[20:57] JOYCE MELANCON: And we actually knew what we were eating because most of our food came from the garden.

[21:02] WANDA KING: Right.

[21:02] JOYCE MELANCON: And we baked it and we cooked it and stuff like that.

[21:05] WANDA KING: And it's so true, you know. Now today, you don't know what you're getting.

[21:09] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah.

[21:10] WANDA KING: You know, so. But you just gotta pray and hope for the best. Yeah. So. But. But, you know. So where your family is from, Miss Joyce?

[21:27] JOYCE MELANCON: We're from Lafayette.

[21:29] WANDA KING: That's right.

[21:29] JOYCE MELANCON: We live Lafayette all our days. I've been married to my husband, 47. And we're from the north side of town.

[21:37] WANDA KING: Okay. And, yeah, my family. My dad's family is from Simoneville, and my mom's family is from Broussard.

[21:46] JOYCE MELANCON: Oh, okay.

[21:47] WANDA KING: Yeah, that area.

[21:50] JOYCE MELANCON: So you're staying in Lafayette or bersa?

[21:53] WANDA KING: I'm staying in Carroncro.

[21:54] JOYCE MELANCON: In Caranco.

[21:55] WANDA KING: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. So that's why I want to be closer to my sister. So, you know, because we didn't have. Unfortunately, we didn't have any kids, so, you know, so I'm by myself, so I live alone. So if anything happened, you know, you.

[22:14] JOYCE MELANCON: Have someone close by that would reach out to you.

[22:17] WANDA KING: Exactly.

[22:18] JOYCE MELANCON: So what did y'all do for vacation? I mean, as a family, as a large family?

[22:23] WANDA KING: Well, we went to the beach. Cause, like you say, everything back then was, you know, when you had five or six kids, it was kind of hard, you know. So we. They did the best they can. We did. Took us to the beach. They took us, you know, we. To the parks, you know, and we had, like, family picnics or.

[22:43] JOYCE MELANCON: Yeah.

[22:44] WANDA KING: And, you know, we played Frisbee barbecue. Yeah. Barbecued and stuff like that. That's how we did it, you know, mama always try to make it fun for us because she knew, you know, the money they made had to go.

[22:58] JOYCE MELANCON: On bills for bills.

[22:59] WANDA KING: Right, exactly. But she knew. She also knew. She tried to keep us busy as well, you know, so. And then we went to the museum, the different museums and stuff like that. Stuff that was kind of interesting. Yeah. So. And then when we was at home, we. We made stuff fun, like we played store or we played school or.

[23:32] JOYCE MELANCON: We made our own toys.

[23:34] WANDA KING: Right. Yeah.

[23:35] JOYCE MELANCON: Besides making our own food, we made our own toys.

[23:39] WANDA KING: Exactly. You know, and, I mean, we would get. Mama would give one of her old dress. Somebody was the teacher, somebody was the principal.

[23:51] JOYCE MELANCON: And, you know, we talking about this, and this is actually, like in the, what, 60, 50, 48 that. 1948 and a little bit earlier. Yeah.

[24:03] WANDA KING: Yeah. So. But, you know.

[24:15] JOYCE MELANCON: Maybe to close, I. Can I ask you both a question, if that's okay? Maybe I'm wondering if you could to ask each other maybe, what are some of the values that came out of your upbringing? Because you both talked a lot about, you know, the importance of growing up and having these kinds of, like, tight knit communities. For me, love. Love was the most thing, most passionate thing in my family. How we had to make sure that we took care and made sure that, you know, we weren't in trouble.

[24:48] WANDA KING: Right.

[24:49] JOYCE MELANCON: We always look after each other. That was the most important thing for us in my life.

[24:55] WANDA KING: Mine, too. That's the value they gave us, that we always have to stick together. You know, don't leave. You know, don't just leave your sibling hanging.

[25:06] JOYCE MELANCON: Hanging.

[25:07] WANDA KING: You know, just try your best to be there for them as much as you can.

[25:17] JOYCE MELANCON: So I'll record about 10 seconds of silence, and then I'll.