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PeopleA look at some of the people who make the Teche Area unique.
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6 02.07.13 PROFILE/PEOPLE
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Page 6 / Thursday, February 7, 2013 / The Daily Iberian Profile 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
Proof in the cookin’After 40 years of cooking for charities and nonprofi t organiza-tions, Kernis “Big Lou” Louviere has carved a niche in the Teche Area. The food he cooks tantalizes the taste buds.
Plant shutterbugGlenn Stokes’ knowledge of plants and photogra-phy have combined to capture some colorful and beautiful images in his career.
BY SARAH BLANCHARD
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Studying architecture in Manhattan and teaching in Bangkok was not enough for Phanat Xanamane to feel fulfi lled. The
artist had to return to his home-town for a project he said he felt compelled to complete.
The 31-year-old New Iberia native has dedicated himself to revitalizing and improving the West End through art and com-munity involvement.
Xanamane earned his mas-ter’s degree in architecture and urban design at Columbia University after earning his bachelor’s degree in architecture at the University of Louisiana at
Lafayette. He said his love of the West End community and his de-sire to help it reach its potential through urban design and art is what brought him back for what he calls an “odyssey.”
He moved back to his home-town after being away from the community for almost a decade to co-found the nonprofi t organi-zation Envision daBerry with his friend Amelia “Mimi” Cronan.
“It’s been quite a struggle, but it’s been really great,” he said. “There have been a lot of sac-rifi ces, but meeting people and establishing relationships with people in the community has been really great.”
Cronan said working with Xana-mane, whom she has known since the two were in seventh grade, has been a great experience.
“There’s just a chemistry there. He’s just an enthusiastic and pleasurable person,” she said. “His heart is very pure, and he’s just a pleasure to be around.”
The organization’s fi rst project was a series of abstract art in-stallations made of PVC pipe and white plastic fabric along Hop-kins Street, which were created to draw attention to the neighbor-hood and to market its potential.
“I’ve been working in the West End because I’m from there, and I believe it has a lot of potential and I want to help it meet its potential,” he said.
Xanamane said he decided to move back to New Iberia two years ago to embark on his 10-year journey.
“I thought it would take at least that long to get anything substan-
tial done because things just move at a very slow pace here, and so I’m sort of on an odyssey and I’m only two years in,” he said.
It was for this work and dedica-tion that he was selected by The Daily Iberian as the 2012 Citizen of the Year.
Xanamane said he would like to see Envision daBerry help to break down the cultural barrier he said exists in the city. He said through his work in the West End and in the Main Street area, he has noticed a racial divide in the city.
“I think art is going to help us move in that direction, and we can integrate other things,” he said. “My job and my fi rst role in coming back here was always to be an artist.”
people / neighborsa look at some of those who make the teche area unique
Profi le 2013
Celebrating Our Community
INSIDE
Chuck Ashley suffered a life-changing accident when he was young. He overcame paralysis of his leg and limited use of his hands, graduated from college and today works as a volunteer at the Iberia Parish Courthouse.
XFACTOR
THE
ANAMANE
Citizen of the Year
Two years into ‘odyssey,’ he helps West End
a special section of The Daily Iberian / Thursday, February 7, 2013
LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN
Phanat Xana-mane has been a driving force behind revitalizing and improving the West End, where he grew up. Xanamane and Amelia Cronan’s Envi-sion daBerry project was designed to help break down the cul-tural barriers he said exist in the city. His passion for the ongoing project is one of the reasons he was chosen as the Citizen of the Year by The Daily Iberian.
‘I’ve been working in the West End because I’m from
there ...’
Phanat Xanamane
Citizen of the Year■SEE THE X FACTOR, PAGE 4
• Page 2• Page 4 • Page 5
‘Mr. Chuck’ makes ‘social adjustment’
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BY KARMA CHAMPAGNE
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Kernis “Big Lou” Louviere has a love for cooking, but even greater is his love for promot-
ing his Cajun culture and helping the less fortunate.
Louviere, a salesman for Weather-ford and owner of Big Lou’s Catering, is always ready to take on a cooking challenge, especially if it’s to benefi t a nonprofi t organization or a fund-raiser to help a person in need who has faced a tragedy in their life.
At the early age of 14, Louviere be-gan cooking for his younger siblings and parents.
“I knew then that the love of cooking Cajun food had overtaken me,” he said.
As time went on, he began cooking for company functions and private parties. The thrill of seeing his friends enjoy the Cajun cuisine moti-vated him to the next level — cooking competitions which have resulted in nearly 40 years of cooking for chari-ties or nonprofi t groups.
“I still believe a way to a person’s heart is through his stomach. Cook good food and they will come to any fundraiser,” said Louviere.
Louviere has proven that time and time again. When word is out that “Big Lou” is cooking for a fundraiser, tickets are sold out fast. It’s a two-fold win — Louviere has an opportunity to share his Cajun cuisine and the less fortunate benefi t from the donations.
Many of the trophies that fi ll his New Iberia home represent his involvement in Acadiana competitions and other charitable cookoff competitions that has taken him across the United States. While traveling to competitions such as The Houston Rodeo Barbecue Cookoff, World Duck Gumbo cookoff in Arkansas, Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cookoff, he seizes every oppor-tunity to promote his Cajun culture.
The New Iberia native enjoys cook-ing to help raise funds for Teche Area local organizations such as the Boys and Club of Acadiana, the Junior Diabetes Foundation, Council for Development of French in Louisiana and local sports teams.
Among all of the cookoff awards he has acquired throughout the years, the New Ibe-ria native speaks most proudly of the seven trophies he holds for the title of the world champion gumbo-maker garnered at the New Iberia World Championship Gumbo cookoff, a project of the Greater Iberia Chamber of Com-merce that he has been involved with since 1993.
Louviere said it is nice to capture the top award at the cookoff, but most importantly is having an opportu-nity to help promote the Teche Area and draw crowds to the community to enjoy
some of the most authentic Cajun Gumbo around. Louviere also serves on the Chamber’s gumbo cookoff core committee to help organize the event.
“It is people like Kernis Louviere that makes this event so successful,” said Debbie Romero, who has served as chairperson of the event for the past 18 years.
“We rely on people like Kernis for the success of the cookoff. He is
involved in all of the aspects of the event and is one of our key people because he has so much knowledge about cooking and so many resources. He is more of a chef than a cook.”
Many of his cooking ventures were extended to the St. Louis area after going into a joint business venture to open Louisiana Cajun Cafe with friend
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Page 2 / Thursday, February 7, 2013 / The Daily Iberian people / neighborsProfi le 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
INDEX■
Bringing Cajun cooking to the table
SUBMITTEDWhen it comes to cooking and carving, Kernis ‘Big Lou’ Louviere is regarded highly in the Teche Area.
SUBMITTEDKernis ‘Big Lou’ Louviere slices pork medallions stuffed with sausage.
‘Big Lou’ just loves to cook ... and it shows
SEE COOKING, PAGE 3
‘I still believe a way to a person’s heart is through his stomach. Cook good food and they will come to any
fundraiser.’
Kernis ‘Big Lou’ Louviere
Big Lou’s Catering owner and a salesman for Weatherford■
Wesley takes dedicated service to the topWhat once was “leisure time” became a consuming project for Patricia Wesley. Introduced to the VFW in 1998, Wesley will become president of the Ladies Auxiliary VFW Department of Louisiana in July.
— PAGE 3
Enjoying a home away from homeSvitlana Patout has found several similarities, including religion and seafood, between the Teche Area and her native Ukraine, which she left to be with her husband.
— PAGE 3
Robison guiding community program Iberia on Tap is cultivating new generations of local leaders under the direction of Wess Robison, who works in the oil eld and has been a Life Teen director.
— PAGE 4
Good perspectiveChuck Ashley’s life changed the day he dove in the wa-ter and hit bottom. His volunteer work at the Iberia Parish Courthouse has been invaluable, many say.
— PAGE 5 1331 E St Peter Street New Iberia 337-364-0495
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The Daily Iberian / Thursday, February, 7 2013 / Page 5people / neighbors Profi le 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
Despite accident, good perspective
BY HOPE RURIK
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Around the Iberia Parish Courthouse, everybody knows “Mr. Chuck,” and
with good reason. Chuck Ashley has been a fi xture
at the Sheriff ’s Offi ce since 1987.Ashley, 55, grew up in Center-
ville. As a senior at Centerville High in 1975, Ashley was going to school half the day and working in the sugar cane fi elds the other half.
He’d received a car in advance of graduation that he planned to pay for himself.
Ashley said he only got to drive
the car for about a month.One day, he and friends were
swimming at Burns Point when Ashley dove in and hit the bottom.
“I just misjudged the water,” he said.
Ashley broke two vertebrae. While recovering at Lafayette General Hospital, Ashley began developing spinal complications and had to be moved to Houston where he stayed for fi ve months.
The accident left him without the use of his legs and limited use of his hands.
“It was a big social adjustment,” he said.
But Ashley said when he real-ized the mobility wasn’t coming back, he knew the only way he was going to do anything with his life was if he used his brain.
So he enrolled at the Univer-sity of New Orleans in business administration.
“I would’ve never gone to college
if I hadn’t broken my neck,” he said.
Ashley’s father died while Ashley was in college, and after graduation, Ashley moved into a nursing home in New Iberia to have the help he needed.
But he needed to stay busy so he started volunteering at the Sher-iff ’s Offi ce.
Three sheriffs and 25 years later, he’s still there, running errands around the courthouse and help-ing where he’s asked.
“I’m very thankful to be allowed to be here,” Ashley said. “All the people are so good to me.
Judging from the number of “Good morning, Mr. Chuck” and “Hey, Mr. Chuck,” the feeling is mutual for courthouse employees and regular visitors.
Janelle Rose, deputy clerk of court, started out working in the Sheriff ’s Offi ce and met Ashley in the 1980s, she said.
“We just became friends,” Rose said. “We all love him to death.”
Rose still sees Ashley daily as he brings paperwork to the Clerk of Court’s Offi ce from the Sheriff ’s Offi ce across the hall.
“He has an awesome personali-ty,” Rose said. “He’s always bubbly even if he’s feeling bad.”
Of course, Ashely doesn’t spend all his time at the courthouse.
He’s reduced his volunteer hours so that he’s only there Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When he leaves, he goes home to the wheelchair accessible home he built in 1992, which allows him to live alone.
He said he mostly likes to listen to music — ’70s music — and look up music videos online.
Overall, Ashley said his accident has given him a good perspective.
“A lot of good has come, as mor-bid as that sounds,” Ashley said. “I don’t take life for granted.”
Chuck Ashley, right, delivers paperwork to Angela Westcott, deputy clerk in the Clerk of Courts Offi ce, while volunteering at the Iberia Par-ish Courthouse, where everybody knows his name. ‘Mr. Chuck,’ as he is
called, has been volunteering at the courthouse for 25 years, running errands and otherwise helping out. Ashley has persevered after suffer-ing paralysis in his legs and limited use of his hands in an accident.
Iberia Parish Courthouse volunteer Chuck ‘Mr. Chuck’ Ashley gets around in a wheelchair with paperwork for Clerk of Court and IPSO.
HOPE RURIK / THE DAILY IBERIAN
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The Daily Iberian / Thursday, February, 7 2013 / Page 3people / neighbors Profi le 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
Veterans come fi rst for herBY ZACK LASALLE
THE DAILY IBERIAN
On July, 1, Patricia Wesley will take over as president of the Ladies Auxiliary VFW De-
partment of Louisiana, continuing her dedicated service for veterans.
“What I’m most looking forward to in going in to be the state presi-dent is doing as much as I can for wounded warriors,” said Wesley. “That would be my special project this upcoming year.”
Wesley, 60, is an Alexandria native who attended Peabody High School before moving to Flint, Mich., where she graduated with bachelor’s degree in marketing management from Mott Community College. After 30 years in Michigan, Wesley moved back to Louisiana in 1997 to work for her brother’s substance abuse clinic in New Iberia.
In January 1998, Wesley met her future husband Fred Wesley, a Vietnam War veteran who was train-ing to become a deacon at the time. He introduced her to the VFW. The meetings were the couple’s “leisure time” said Patricia Wesley. Shortly after her initiation, she bought a life-
time membership to the VFW and has remained active ever since.
“Her heart is all in it for the veter-ans and their families,” said Wilda Hite, a close friend and colleague of Patricia Wesley. “She’s so conscien-tious. Anything she does, she’s very involved.”
In 2007, she created the Ladies Auxiliary VFW Post 12065 in 60 days, an accomplishment of which she said she is very proud. The post has more than doubled its member-ship since its inception.
“The Veterans of Foreign Wars is not just a group of retired veterans coming together to sit around and drink and talk about old times like younger people probably view the VFW,” said Patricia Wes-ley. “We really are about giving back to the community, taking care of the veterans, taking care of our youth, taking care of our military when our soldiers return from the war. So, we’re doing things in the community, not just sitting around having a good time.”
Perhaps because of the 10 children and 20 grandchildren the Wesleys have between them, Patri-cia Wesley has gravitated toward
youth opportunity programs. She said helping the youth inspires her and that the teachings of her church, Solid Rock Baptist, further inform her service.
“I became obsessed with the youth programs in the beginning, because they offer scholarships to continue students’ education,” said Patricia Wesley. “I’m all for our young people to go forward in getting their education and VFW offers excellent scholarships.”
When her husband was named the fi rst black commander of Loui-siana’s VFW in 2011, Patricia Wes-ley traveled with him on various speaking engagements and appear-ances as the junior vice president of the Ladies Auxiliary VFW of Louisiana. She remains vigilant and passionate in her efforts to secure support for veterans as she nears her July appointment.
“It’s a shame we have to fi ght for the benefi ts of military,” said Patri-cia Wesley as tears began to swell. “They come back so broken and they still have joy on their faces. I want to let them know we’re still fi ghting for them. They fought for us, now it’s our time.”
SUBMITTEDPatricia Wesley, right, the next president of the Ladies Aux-iliary VFW Department of Louisiana, is shown in August 2010 at a national VFW convention in Phoenix, Ariz., with Sgt. Valverde, who had just returned from a tour of duty.
BY HOPE RURIK
THE DAILY IBERIAN
The culture of South Louisiana is unique and for
some transplants, it can be jarring.
Svitlana Patout, origi-nally from Ukrainian Odessa, is all too familiar with the adjustment. She and her daughter An-astasiya moved to New Iberia in 2009 to be with her husband, Ric Patout, a local businessman.
Svitlana Patout said she was a staffi ng manager at a shipping company when a friend connected she and Ric Patout. She said she and Patout hit it off and decided to marry and live in New Iberia where Ric Patout had family and had established his business.
Svitlana Patout, 44, said she’s been able to fi nd several similarities between the two cul-tures.
The fi rst has been the religion.
She said she’s felt comfortable as an Orthodox Christian in an area that’s predomi-nately Catholic, but for some holidays, Patout said she still visits an Orthodox church in Lafayette.
Growing up in Odessa where people thrive on agriculture and fresh seafood, Patout and Anastasiya, who’s 19, agreed the food was not
a problematic adjust-ment.
“We love the food,” Anastasiya said. “This is the best.”
Patout said she’s been pushing her husband to host a crawfi sh boil now that the season is under way.
But Louisiana’s sea-food is as famous as its weather is infamous, and Patout said there’s nothing about those midsummer days when the highs are above 95 degrees that she fi nds pleasant.
She said living in
coastal Odessa, even when the city was warm, there was always a sea breeze to keep things comfortable.
But, Svitlana Pa-tout said, at least the weather isn’t as bad as Brazil.
“Thank God it’s better,” she said. “And there’s good air condi-tioning.”
One Americanism Pa-tout has not warmed to has been the overall diet that causes people to, as Patout said, “mush-room.”
Part of Patout’s course-
work during her universi-ty studies in the Ukraine centered on nutrition, and she’s passionate about eating foods that not only sustain the body but help heal it.
Borscht (beet soup) for antioxidants, oranges for the liver, grapefruit for the heart and the list goes on.
Patout keeps all of these things close at hand with fruit trees at the pe-rimeter of their property, vegetables in a small greenhouse and herbs in plots in the yard.
She said none of this
would be possible in Odessa, where most people live in apart-ments with only the very wealthy able to afford private houses.
Patout said she pre-fers her own vegetables or vegetables from other organic growers to fruits and vegetables from the store.
“In the supermarkets, (tomatoes) are big, but they have no taste,” she said.
She said with the availability of home-grown produce and proximity to water-
ways, she doesn’t understand why there aren’t more fresh mar-kets to buy just-caught seafood and fresh-picked produce.
The memory of div-ing for mussels as a girl and then going home to steam them is still fresh for Patout.
When she’s not tend-ing to her many plants, Patout likes to design and sew clothing.
She said in the Ukraine, women are very fashion conscious in a way that’s different from the U.S.
But Patout said one of the most refreshing differences between Odessa and her new home is the family dynamic.
“Ric is a very good cook,” she said. “Rus-sian men are bad cooks.”
She said men typi-cally leave all house-hold responsibilities to women in the Ukraine. Men here, she said, are typically more involved.
“It’s better to raise children together,” she said. “This is good for me. I like it.”
and Hall of Famer Jackie Smith, which eventually led to a stay in Ellisville, Mo., for nearly three years.
One of the 15 original Jackie Smith Hall of Famer autographed cards is tucked away among the mementos and trophies that Louviere has collected from competitions throughout the years. “When Jackie Smith heard about our gumbo cookoff and called to ask if I could him get a good recipe for gumbo, I immediately put him in touch with Kernis and a friendship developed,” said Romero.
His next cooking venture took him into barbecue. Louviere competed with Super Smokers World Championship cooking team, helping to capture awards in Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.
“I learned about the fi ne art of grilling and smoking. The restaurant cooked over 1 million pounds of pork yearly,”
he said.Among the largest cook-
ing event Louviere pulled off was a dinner for the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis where 8,500 people attended.
When the Cajun cook is out promoting his culture, he offers samples of the traditional Cajun food, but unique and many unique dishes he has created.
“People are very recep-tive of trying boudin, hog head cheese, jambalaya, carrot beignets or any-thing made with crawfi sh, but they are also open to
trying something differ-ent,” said Louviere.
Louviere’s jambalaya with stuffed crawfi sh heads, or debris jam-balaya made with beef tongue, liver, heart and kidney, draws attention at the cookoffs. Grilled chicken neck skin stuffed with a banana pepper and pork fi lling, or beef tongue stuffed with a banana pepper fi lled with pork stuffi ng served with brown gravy and smoth-ered potatoes, are among some of the unique dishes that has come out of Louviere’s pots during competitions. “We made 250 servings of the stuffed tongue for the Black Pot Cookoff at Acadian Village and it was gone within 30 minutes,” said Louviere.
“I like to be creative and prepare something different for the cookoff competitions. I just love to cook. Both of my par-ents were good cooks, but my mother cooked out of necessity and my father cooked out of love.”
COOKING: Has cooked for 8,500FROM PAGE 2
Our classifi ed ads sell • 365-6773
Finding some of Ukraine in Teche Area
HOPE RURIK / THE DAILY IBERIANUkrainian native Svitlana Patout has a small greenhouse fi lled with vegetables at her home in New Iberia.
Wesley, a lifetime VFW member, rising to top post
‘I like to be creative and
prepare something different ...’
Kernis Louviere
Big Lou’s Catering owner and a
salesman for Weatherford■
‘This is good for me.’
Svitlana Patout
Ukrainian native■
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The organization often faces negativity, Cronan said, but she said she and Phanat hope to change the negativity and inspire people.
“People don’t think they can make a difference, and we want to show that they can,” she said.
No matter the path the organization takes, Xana-mane said art will always be involved.
“I fi nd that art has been a key factor in the success of what I’ve been doing and I think it will be a continued center-piece in how I move on,” he said. “When I have my mind set on some-
thing and when I commit to something, I see it through.”
Since his return, he
also has volunteered with the Iberia Parish Performing Arts League as an actor and dancer
and with the Buddies Program as a mentor to at-risk youth at Johnston-Hopkins Elementary.
Xanamane’s continu-ous efforts to revitalize the West End led him to be selected as this year’s
Citizen of the Year, Will Chapman, publish of TheDaily Iberian said.
The honoree said he appreciates the recogni-tion for his work in the community, specifi cally because it shows people are noticing, and it may be making a difference.
“It’s nice, the recogni-tion. If it means I have made an impact on people and a difference in people’s lives, I think that’s nice and it vali-dates the struggles for the past two years,” he said.
Xanamane will be honored at The Daily Iberian’s open house scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m.Feb. 20.
Page 4 / Thursday, February 7, 2013 / The Daily Iberian people / neighborsProfi le 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
THE X FACTOR: He’s hopeful of changing any negativity to a positiveFROM PAGE 1
THE DAILY IBERIAN FILESOne of the many faces of Phanat Xanamane ... He dressed as Michael Jackson recently to help ‘A Night at the Museum.’
THE DAILY IBERIAN FILESIDF’s Mike Tarantino, left, meets with Envision daBerry’s Phanat Xanamane at an event in October 2011.
Stokes’ lens fi nds beauty in nature
BY ZACK LASALLE
THE DAILY IBERIAN
New Iberian Glenn Stokes has parlayed an expert knowledge of plant and
insect life into a fl ourishing photography career.
“My philosophy is there’s no such thing as a perfect picture,” Stokes said. “There’s only a bet-ter picture that can always be made of the same subject.”
Stokes, 74, owns Mosquito Con-trol Contractors Inc., a mosquito control service, Stokes Tropicals, a tropical plant store that grows many of its plants in Florida and sells them online, and runs stokes stokesbotanicalimages.com, a site that sells his plant photography.
According to his website, Stokes has more than 5,000 slides and 120,000 digital images saved, adding approximately 2,000 new “keepers” a week.
“I think every shot that you take, you should make it as artis-tic as possible,” Stokes said. “The more pictures you take, the more good one’s you’re going to get.”
He’s taken many of his photos while working around the world, often on mosquito-related jobs. The worldwide exposure has allowed him to capture and cultivate many unique plant species.
“I have traveled with Glenn on several occasions to visit gar-dens and photograph plants,” said renowned garden writer and photographer Derek Fell. “It is always a pleasure to see how enthusiastic he is at explor-ing every little nook and cranny. I doubt that there is anyone who has as extensive a collection as he has from travels throughout the tropics.”
Stokes grew up mostly in For-rest Hills. It was there, through the pages of National Geograph-ic and Life magazines, with his mother’s Kodak Brownie camera in tow, that he was fi rst
introduced to photography. At the time, he said the tenuous pro-cess of traveling in a rural area to have fi lm developed initially deterred his interest.
He attended college at the Uni-versity of Southwestern Louisi-ana, now called the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, on an athletic scholarship and gradu-ated with degrees in zoology and chemistry in 1961. Because of his exemplary academic performance, Stokes said he had the opportunity to attend Cornell and Harvard universi-ties, before fi nally landing at the University of Florida in Gaines-ville, Fla., with his wife, Yvonne, and three children, Sandra, Leif and Glenn Jr.
There, in addition to his schol-arly pursuits, Stokes worked as the outdoor editor for the Gainesville Sun and bought his fi rst camera — a Nikon F2. In exchange for the use of extra lenses, a press pass and a virtu-ally unlimited amount of fi lm, Stokes would help photograph athletics with two other photog-raphers.
“A photograph is nothing more than a person’s interpretation of their light,” said Stokes. “It actually reveals a person’s inner-psyche. In other words, the way you take a photograph and what you’re taking pictures of can tell you a lot about a person and their personality — I mean what is interesting to them, the type of light they use and all kinds of things.”
For the past 31 years, New Iberia has been Stokes’ base of operations. In that time he’s co-authored “Bananas You Can Grow,” a banana cultivation book, with James W. Waddick. He’s also entered and placed in multiple photography contests.
Most recently, he sold 33 of his images to Cool Springs Press to be featured author Nellie Neal’s book “A Gardener’s Guide to Tropical Plants.”
Putting ideals to workBY JESSICA GOFF
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Now in its second year, Iberia On
Tap is cultivating new generations of local leaders, and as executive board president, Wess Robison is at the helm.
Robison, 33, works for Superior Energy Services in Lafayette and lives in New Iberia with his wife, Erin, and their 3-year-old son John-Parker.
A native of Bald-win, Robison said he has been heav-ily involved in the Roman Catholic Church his whole life and served for 10 years as a Life Teen director. Involving youth in ministry and com-munity programs has always been important, even as a student at Hanson Memo-rial, he said. He was also the music minister for St. Peter’s Catholic Church.
“I grew up in Catholic school and church was always important to my family, so it was just a good natural fi t,” he said.
In 2010, Robison joined the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce’s program Lead-ership Iberia, an 11-month networking program aimed at strengthening community leadership.
It was there, he said, where he met several others who shared the same ideals to en-hance New Iberia and Iberia Parish.
“I was in Leadership Iberia Class 12 in 2010 and a bunch of us of in that course were all around the same age had the same drive,” he said.
Not long after, Chamber CEO and president Janet Faulk-Gonzales said she was introduced to a organization tailored for young profes-sionals in the Houma area during a statewide confer-ence.
Developing a similar pro-gram for locals was something Iberia Parish needed, she said, and Robison was the ideal candidate to spearhead the project.
“He has such a tremendous positive energy and desire to make our community better,” she said.
After pitching the idea over lunch Robison agreed to take on the project, she said.
Fifty-one weeks later Iberia On Tap was established.
“We got a group of people together and we formed our board. We did all the legal requirements to form a nonprofi t and then we started forming our mission state-ment and our vision and our executing of our years and then we did an appeal to get members at our kickoff,” Robison said.
“We have been maintaining membership since then,” he said.
Now with approximately 70 members, On Tap is going full steam ahead in 2013 with a full list of community initia-tives, including establishing a “Movies in the Park Se-ries” and “Downtown Music Series.”
The minimum age to join On Tap is 21 and much of the organization’s member-ship consists of thirty-some-things.
“There is no cap on it. We have everyone from their early 20s up until their 50s and 60s,” Robison said. “Medium range in the 30s. “We have a wide range of memberships and all of them are equally as valu-able.”
On March 23, On Tap and the New Iberia City Park Play Ground Enhancement Proj-ect will hold their fi rst major event, the Acadiana Dragon Boat Festival.
The festival this year, which will be held a Bou-ligny Plaza, is another one ofOn Tap’s initiatives, Robison said, will serve as a fund-raiser for the Enhancement Project.
“We have decided to work with the park in helping them make this a success for them in their fundraising efforts. After that, the event will be wholly On Tap’s event to help raise funding for all of the community initiatives that we are trying to accomplish,” he said.
Faulk-Gonzales said Robison’s dedication to On Tap is what is making the professional organization as success.
“He’s put a lot of hard workinto this project,” she said.
Aside from serving as On Tap’s executive president, Ro-bison also is involved heavily with Catholic High School andis on the committee for “Danc-ing with the Stars Panther Style.”
Above anything his wife andare “his life,” he said. “Family is always fi rst,” he said.
For more information about Iberia On Tap visit .www.iberiaontap.com.
SUBMITTEDWess Robison, left, a Baldwin native and Hanson Memorial High School graduate, has taken a leadership role in New Iberia and Iberia Parish. He is the executive board president of On Tap, a program designed to develop local leaders.
‘He’s put a lot of hard work into this
project.’
Janet Faulk-Gonzales
Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce
CEO and president■
‘We have decided to work with the park in helping them make this a success for them in their fundraising efforts. After that, the event will be wholly On Tap’s event to help raise funding for all of the community initiatives
that we are trying to accomplish.’
Wes Robison
Iberia On Tap executive board president■
Robison leading way for community initiatives
ON THE ’NET■
For more information about Iberia On Tap visit .www.iberia-ontap.com.
ZACK LASALLE / THE DAILY IBERIANGlenn Stokes has captured nature at its best with the business end of a camera. The photographer snaps 2,000 ‘keepers’ each week.
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BY KARMA CHAMPAGNE
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Kernis “Big Lou” Louviere has a love for cooking, but even greater is his love for promot-
ing his Cajun culture and helping the less fortunate.
Louviere, a salesman for Weather-ford and owner of Big Lou’s Catering, is always ready to take on a cooking challenge, especially if it’s to benefi t a nonprofi t organization or a fund-raiser to help a person in need who has faced a tragedy in their life.
At the early age of 14, Louviere be-gan cooking for his younger siblings and parents.
“I knew then that the love of cooking Cajun food had overtaken me,” he said.
As time went on, he began cooking for company functions and private parties. The thrill of seeing his friends enjoy the Cajun cuisine moti-vated him to the next level — cooking competitions which have resulted in nearly 40 years of cooking for chari-ties or nonprofi t groups.
“I still believe a way to a person’s heart is through his stomach. Cook good food and they will come to any fundraiser,” said Louviere.
Louviere has proven that time and time again. When word is out that “Big Lou” is cooking for a fundraiser, tickets are sold out fast. It’s a two-fold win — Louviere has an opportunity to share his Cajun cuisine and the less fortunate benefi t from the donations.
Many of the trophies that fi ll his New Iberia home represent his involvement in Acadiana competitions and other charitable cookoff competitions that has taken him across the United States. While traveling to competitions such as The Houston Rodeo Barbecue Cookoff, World Duck Gumbo cookoff in Arkansas, Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cookoff, he seizes every oppor-tunity to promote his Cajun culture.
The New Iberia native enjoys cook-ing to help raise funds for Teche Area local organizations such as the Boys and Club of Acadiana, the Junior Diabetes Foundation, Council for Development of French in Louisiana and local sports teams.
Among all of the cookoff awards he has acquired throughout the years, the New Ibe-ria native speaks most proudly of the seven trophies he holds for the title of the world champion gumbo-maker garnered at the New Iberia World Championship Gumbo cookoff, a project of the Greater Iberia Chamber of Com-merce that he has been involved with since 1993.
Louviere said it is nice to capture the top award at the cookoff, but most importantly is having an opportu-nity to help promote the Teche Area and draw crowds to the community to enjoy
some of the most authentic Cajun Gumbo around. Louviere also serves on the Chamber’s gumbo cookoff core committee to help organize the event.
“It is people like Kernis Louviere that makes this event so successful,” said Debbie Romero, who has served as chairperson of the event for the past 18 years.
“We rely on people like Kernis for the success of the cookoff. He is
involved in all of the aspects of the event and is one of our key people because he has so much knowledge about cooking and so many resources. He is more of a chef than a cook.”
Many of his cooking ventures were extended to the St. Louis area after going into a joint business venture to open Louisiana Cajun Cafe with friend
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Page 2 / Thursday, February 7, 2013 / The Daily Iberian people / neighborsProfi le 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
INDEX■
Bringing Cajun cooking to the table
SUBMITTEDWhen it comes to cooking and carving, Kernis ‘Big Lou’ Louviere is regarded highly in the Teche Area.
SUBMITTEDKernis ‘Big Lou’ Louviere slices pork medallions stuffed with sausage.
‘Big Lou’ just loves to cook ... and it shows
SEE COOKING, PAGE 3
‘I still believe a way to a person’s heart is through his stomach. Cook good food and they will come to any
fundraiser.’
Kernis ‘Big Lou’ Louviere
Big Lou’s Catering owner and a salesman for Weatherford■
Wesley takes dedicated service to the topWhat once was “leisure time” became a consuming project for Patricia Wesley. Introduced to the VFW in 1998, Wesley will become president of the Ladies Auxiliary VFW Department of Louisiana in July.
— PAGE 3
Enjoying a home away from homeSvitlana Patout has found several similarities, including religion and seafood, between the Teche Area and her native Ukraine, which she left to be with her husband.
— PAGE 3
Robison guiding community program Iberia on Tap is cultivating new generations of local leaders under the direction of Wess Robison, who works in the oil eld and has been a Life Teen director.
— PAGE 4
Good perspectiveChuck Ashley’s life changed the day he dove in the wa-ter and hit bottom. His volunteer work at the Iberia Parish Courthouse has been invaluable, many say.
— PAGE 5 1331 E St Peter Street New Iberia 337-364-0495
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The Daily Iberian / Thursday, February, 7 2013 / Page 5people / neighbors Profi le 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
Despite accident, good perspective
BY HOPE RURIK
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Around the Iberia Parish Courthouse, everybody knows “Mr. Chuck,” and
with good reason. Chuck Ashley has been a fi xture
at the Sheriff ’s Offi ce since 1987.Ashley, 55, grew up in Center-
ville. As a senior at Centerville High in 1975, Ashley was going to school half the day and working in the sugar cane fi elds the other half.
He’d received a car in advance of graduation that he planned to pay for himself.
Ashley said he only got to drive
the car for about a month.One day, he and friends were
swimming at Burns Point when Ashley dove in and hit the bottom.
“I just misjudged the water,” he said.
Ashley broke two vertebrae. While recovering at Lafayette General Hospital, Ashley began developing spinal complications and had to be moved to Houston where he stayed for fi ve months.
The accident left him without the use of his legs and limited use of his hands.
“It was a big social adjustment,” he said.
But Ashley said when he real-ized the mobility wasn’t coming back, he knew the only way he was going to do anything with his life was if he used his brain.
So he enrolled at the Univer-sity of New Orleans in business administration.
“I would’ve never gone to college
if I hadn’t broken my neck,” he said.
Ashley’s father died while Ashley was in college, and after graduation, Ashley moved into a nursing home in New Iberia to have the help he needed.
But he needed to stay busy so he started volunteering at the Sher-iff ’s Offi ce.
Three sheriffs and 25 years later, he’s still there, running errands around the courthouse and help-ing where he’s asked.
“I’m very thankful to be allowed to be here,” Ashley said. “All the people are so good to me.
Judging from the number of “Good morning, Mr. Chuck” and “Hey, Mr. Chuck,” the feeling is mutual for courthouse employees and regular visitors.
Janelle Rose, deputy clerk of court, started out working in the Sheriff ’s Offi ce and met Ashley in the 1980s, she said.
“We just became friends,” Rose said. “We all love him to death.”
Rose still sees Ashley daily as he brings paperwork to the Clerk of Court’s Offi ce from the Sheriff ’s Offi ce across the hall.
“He has an awesome personali-ty,” Rose said. “He’s always bubbly even if he’s feeling bad.”
Of course, Ashely doesn’t spend all his time at the courthouse.
He’s reduced his volunteer hours so that he’s only there Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When he leaves, he goes home to the wheelchair accessible home he built in 1992, which allows him to live alone.
He said he mostly likes to listen to music — ’70s music — and look up music videos online.
Overall, Ashley said his accident has given him a good perspective.
“A lot of good has come, as mor-bid as that sounds,” Ashley said. “I don’t take life for granted.”
Chuck Ashley, right, delivers paperwork to Angela Westcott, deputy clerk in the Clerk of Courts Offi ce, while volunteering at the Iberia Par-ish Courthouse, where everybody knows his name. ‘Mr. Chuck,’ as he is
called, has been volunteering at the courthouse for 25 years, running errands and otherwise helping out. Ashley has persevered after suffer-ing paralysis in his legs and limited use of his hands in an accident.
Iberia Parish Courthouse volunteer Chuck ‘Mr. Chuck’ Ashley gets around in a wheelchair with paperwork for Clerk of Court and IPSO.
HOPE RURIK / THE DAILY IBERIAN
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Page 6 / Thursday, February 7, 2013 / The Daily Iberian Profile 2013 / Celebrating Our Community
Proof in the cookin’After 40 years of cooking for charities and nonprofi t organiza-tions, Kernis “Big Lou” Louviere has carved a niche in the Teche Area. The food he cooks tantalizes the taste buds.
Plant shutterbugGlenn Stokes’ knowledge of plants and photogra-phy have combined to capture some colorful and beautiful images in his career.
BY SARAH BLANCHARD
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Studying architecture in Manhattan and teaching in Bangkok was not enough for Phanat Xanamane to feel fulfi lled. The
artist had to return to his home-town for a project he said he felt compelled to complete.
The 31-year-old New Iberia native has dedicated himself to revitalizing and improving the West End through art and com-munity involvement.
Xanamane earned his mas-ter’s degree in architecture and urban design at Columbia University after earning his bachelor’s degree in architecture at the University of Louisiana at
Lafayette. He said his love of the West End community and his de-sire to help it reach its potential through urban design and art is what brought him back for what he calls an “odyssey.”
He moved back to his home-town after being away from the community for almost a decade to co-found the nonprofi t organi-zation Envision daBerry with his friend Amelia “Mimi” Cronan.
“It’s been quite a struggle, but it’s been really great,” he said. “There have been a lot of sac-rifi ces, but meeting people and establishing relationships with people in the community has been really great.”
Cronan said working with Xana-mane, whom she has known since the two were in seventh grade, has been a great experience.
“There’s just a chemistry there. He’s just an enthusiastic and pleasurable person,” she said. “His heart is very pure, and he’s just a pleasure to be around.”
The organization’s fi rst project was a series of abstract art in-stallations made of PVC pipe and white plastic fabric along Hop-kins Street, which were created to draw attention to the neighbor-hood and to market its potential.
“I’ve been working in the West End because I’m from there, and I believe it has a lot of potential and I want to help it meet its potential,” he said.
Xanamane said he decided to move back to New Iberia two years ago to embark on his 10-year journey.
“I thought it would take at least that long to get anything substan-
tial done because things just move at a very slow pace here, and so I’m sort of on an odyssey and I’m only two years in,” he said.
It was for this work and dedica-tion that he was selected by The Daily Iberian as the 2012 Citizen of the Year.
Xanamane said he would like to see Envision daBerry help to break down the cultural barrier he said exists in the city. He said through his work in the West End and in the Main Street area, he has noticed a racial divide in the city.
“I think art is going to help us move in that direction, and we can integrate other things,” he said. “My job and my fi rst role in coming back here was always to be an artist.”
people / neighborsa look at some of those who make the teche area unique
Profi le 2013
Celebrating Our Community
INSIDE
Chuck Ashley suffered a life-changing accident when he was young. He overcame paralysis of his leg and limited use of his hands, graduated from college and today works as a volunteer at the Iberia Parish Courthouse.
XFACTOR
THE
ANAMANE
Citizen of the Year
Two years into ‘odyssey,’ he helps West End
a special section of The Daily Iberian / Thursday, February 7, 2013
LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN
Phanat Xana-mane has been a driving force behind revitalizing and improving the West End, where he grew up. Xanamane and Amelia Cronan’s Envi-sion daBerry project was designed to help break down the cul-tural barriers he said exist in the city. His passion for the ongoing project is one of the reasons he was chosen as the Citizen of the Year by The Daily Iberian.
‘I’ve been working in the West End because I’m from
there ...’
Phanat Xanamane
Citizen of the Year■SEE THE X FACTOR, PAGE 4
• Page 2• Page 4 • Page 5
‘Mr. Chuck’ makes ‘social adjustment’
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