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RAYNE - The aroma of sweet potatoes baking in the oven on a chilly fall evening -- something Acadiana is experiencing at this time of the year.
For one particular Rayne resident, that sweet smell brings back more memories than most.
Judy Broussard Gautreaux of Rayne remembers that sweet smell very well as her maternal grandfather, Will J. Angelle, was the owner and operator of Angel Brand of Louisiana Porto Rican Yams.
The potato farmer and potato kiln of Angelle Farms was located in Cecilia and served the Cecilia and Carencro areas by providing Louisiana-grown yams/sweet potatoes.
“That’s me,” stated Gautreaux while pointing at the Angel packaging label which includes the picture of a dark-haired little girl. “Yes, that’s me. I think I was about three years old in that picture.”
Gautreaux recently had copies of the Angel label made for erveryone in her family, including her two children, Judd Gautreaux and his wife Jami, daughter Angie Trahan and her husband Ryan, along with her four grandchildren, Madeline and Nick Gautreaux and Angelle and Ava Bourgeois.
“This is part of their history, just like mine,” she continued. “Most kiln of that time had pictures on their labels and I ended up on my grandfather’s label. I would say that’s a part of our family’s history.”
“We have such a beautiful and talented little family and I’m so proud of them, Gautreaux concluded.”
Gauutreaux, who was raised in Lafayette, attended The University of Southwestern Louisiana (ULL) where she graduated in 1969 in mathematics.
She married Harold “Bud” Gautreaux of Rayne and the couple recently celebrated their golden (50) wedding anniversary.
In the 1980s when her husband was very involved with the Rayne Chamber of Commerce and the annual Frog Festival, Judy was named winner of the 1984 poster contest with her artistic adaptation of a “oua oua ron” scene.
Her parents were Wilson Antoine “Big Bruce Broussard and Louella Angelle Broussard and her siblings are sister Marie Janice Broussard, an artist who resides in Galveston, Texas and brother Dr. Wilson Antoine “Tony” Broussard of Sarasota, Florida.