| Noah Reon Mandeville, LA. |
After graduation I attended McNeese, carpooling with Earn Jolet, Jimmy Provost and Bob Loomis.
It was a riot. During my junior year I was involved in a head on collision with a motorcycle just
south of Sulphur with the bike driver being splattered on my windshield before my eyes like a bug.
I began drinking heavier and simply could not concentrate. I had experienced a life flash at the
time of the accident. Strange how one’s life can be compressed to such a short time.
I flunked out that semester and joined the Army Reserves with the stipulation that I would be
sent on active duty immediately. Two weeks later in boot camp, at Columbia South Carolina I
realized why I was attending college and did not go into advanced ROTC. I simply hated taking
orders from someone I considered a dumb ass. Six months later I was back enrolled at McNeese
and my grades improve dramatically. I graduated with a B.S. in horticulture.
My first job out of college was in New Bern, N.C. with Farmers Supply House where I achieved
a wonderful working knowledge of farm chemicals of all types. It was not an area to make a
decent living in that it being low wages and rather laid back living.
After three years I interview for and took a job with Magnolia Horticulture Center in Baton Rouge,
La. as a Consultant Horticulturist. After about a year our landscape foreman abruptly quit before
completing a large job near Lake Charles, landscaping along I-10 to the Cloe Exit. I was sent out to
complete the job and ended up absorbing the foreman’s duties. A year later the lawn maintenance
foreman abruptly quit and I put on a third hat. I was also doing appraisals for the firm in my little bit
of spare time. My secretary encouraged me to bid on the landscaping at the Louisiana National
Bank going in downtown Baton Rouge. I bid and got the job. The largest contract our firm had
handled.
Being pre-occupied, my boss Lavern Harper took a call from the architect at the bank and they
decided to change the type of tree’s to be put into the planters at the bank. When told of the
choice I objected but was told that it was a done deal, and that we had a good source for the trees
and could even afford to replace them and still make money. My suggestion of a substitute was
sitting in a field of plants we had bought and the boss had forgotten about. The trees selected
would have been easy to establish in N.C. but in Baton Rough La., a tall order. The tall bank building
and the Mississippi river near by turned out to be my undoing. Strong winds and air currents around
the building simply pulled up stakes or broke wires, knocking the trees over. Each week we were
at the bank trying to establish these trees and make the landscape presentable. I began going by
each Monday morning before work to straighten things up.
Lavern meanwhile hired a college friend to run the center whom had just gotten out of the service
as a lieutenant. Unknown to me he became my direct boss. Early Monday morning I am busy
setting up all the crews before the days appointments, when I hear my name call over the speaker
to come to the office. Upon arriving I was told that the bank had called and while trying to explain
that I had just taken care of the problem, I was ordered to go to the bank and stake those trees
and that he did not want to have to send me out there again. Just like my previous military
commanders. At that moment I realized he was my boss. I said, “You got it,” turned and left. On
my way to the loading area figuring furiously, everything going out of the firm was shut down
except deliveries. Boards were cut to my specifications and all hands were routed to the bank.
Each tree was nailed into place with four boards from the planter inside surface to a uniform height
on the tree trunk. They were lined neatly in rows and perfectly straight. My crew lowered me
personally into the two planter wells just outside the main banking lobby and the president’s office,
where I nailed the trees up in the same fashion.
The following morning Lavern called me and simply stated that he hated to let me go but he had no
other options. I received two weeks advanced pay, a favorable work recommendation and a
promise of no contest to unemployment benefits if I had trouble finding a suitable job.
I took a job in Dallas the next week and during the interview I let it be known the types of work that
I would NOT DO for the firm. I left at the end of that week after being sent on the very types of work
I had vowed to NOT DO. At this point I concluded that I would become self employed and never be
fired or take orders from someone who I did not respect. . I went back to Baton Rouge and took one
of the appraisal jobs I had been doing for Magnolia Horticulture Center, cutting my workload by
98.9 percent and boosting my salary by 30 percent. Two weeks later the trees in the planters had
been replaced with the ones I had originally suggested. Six months later the center was being
dozed for a subdivision. I felt somewhat vindicated though saddened
From there I began chasing hurricanes doing cleanup contracts through the Corps of Engineers
and later contracting home repairs. Carpet being the hardest thing to get completed in home
repairs attracted me and I began laying carpet, evolving into Noah’ Carpet Service. I remained in
the carpet business twenty-four years around Baton Rouge until I retired in. I have been working
harder ever since just not being paid.
Having chosen to not marry because of personal inner conflicts, and a conscience decision to
father no children allowed plenty of time for snow skiing in the winter and scuba diving in the
summer, along with a lot of deep sea fishing.
I met J.E. “Bill” Hancock, my companion of today in 1981. What could be called our honeymoon was
spent in the Galapagos Islands. He retired from the medical profession in 1984. We built our
present home in Mandeville, La. in 1983 to be close to our sailboat and left on it shortly after his
retirement spending about six months at a time during the fall and winter. Over the years we have
spent two winters in the Virgin Islands. Six winters in the Bahamas and sailed the entire gulf coast
and most of the Eastern seaboard including the Chesapeake Bay on up to Baltimore and
Washington. We completed two river trips up the Tennessee Tom Bigbee Waterway. We came
down the Mississippi entering it at Ohio River on the first trip. The second trip we went to Knoxville
by way of the Tennessee River to attend his fifty-year homecoming at U.T.
We do a lot of camping, sailing, traveling and, entertaining. We both enjoy excellent health; he
approaching 80 is active as a volunteer for Hospice and tutoring students in Math. I remain busy
keeping everything functioning along with helping a number of disabled around our community.
Guess I will call this complete and heard out into the yard with a chain saw and cut up some more
tree debris still there from Katrina and Rita. Looking forward to seeing you all again. Noah
It was a riot. During my junior year I was involved in a head on collision with a motorcycle just
south of Sulphur with the bike driver being splattered on my windshield before my eyes like a bug.
I began drinking heavier and simply could not concentrate. I had experienced a life flash at the
time of the accident. Strange how one’s life can be compressed to such a short time.
I flunked out that semester and joined the Army Reserves with the stipulation that I would be
sent on active duty immediately. Two weeks later in boot camp, at Columbia South Carolina I
realized why I was attending college and did not go into advanced ROTC. I simply hated taking
orders from someone I considered a dumb ass. Six months later I was back enrolled at McNeese
and my grades improve dramatically. I graduated with a B.S. in horticulture.
My first job out of college was in New Bern, N.C. with Farmers Supply House where I achieved
a wonderful working knowledge of farm chemicals of all types. It was not an area to make a
decent living in that it being low wages and rather laid back living.
After three years I interview for and took a job with Magnolia Horticulture Center in Baton Rouge,
La. as a Consultant Horticulturist. After about a year our landscape foreman abruptly quit before
completing a large job near Lake Charles, landscaping along I-10 to the Cloe Exit. I was sent out to
complete the job and ended up absorbing the foreman’s duties. A year later the lawn maintenance
foreman abruptly quit and I put on a third hat. I was also doing appraisals for the firm in my little bit
of spare time. My secretary encouraged me to bid on the landscaping at the Louisiana National
Bank going in downtown Baton Rouge. I bid and got the job. The largest contract our firm had
handled.
Being pre-occupied, my boss Lavern Harper took a call from the architect at the bank and they
decided to change the type of tree’s to be put into the planters at the bank. When told of the
choice I objected but was told that it was a done deal, and that we had a good source for the trees
and could even afford to replace them and still make money. My suggestion of a substitute was
sitting in a field of plants we had bought and the boss had forgotten about. The trees selected
would have been easy to establish in N.C. but in Baton Rough La., a tall order. The tall bank building
and the Mississippi river near by turned out to be my undoing. Strong winds and air currents around
the building simply pulled up stakes or broke wires, knocking the trees over. Each week we were
at the bank trying to establish these trees and make the landscape presentable. I began going by
each Monday morning before work to straighten things up.
Lavern meanwhile hired a college friend to run the center whom had just gotten out of the service
as a lieutenant. Unknown to me he became my direct boss. Early Monday morning I am busy
setting up all the crews before the days appointments, when I hear my name call over the speaker
to come to the office. Upon arriving I was told that the bank had called and while trying to explain
that I had just taken care of the problem, I was ordered to go to the bank and stake those trees
and that he did not want to have to send me out there again. Just like my previous military
commanders. At that moment I realized he was my boss. I said, “You got it,” turned and left. On
my way to the loading area figuring furiously, everything going out of the firm was shut down
except deliveries. Boards were cut to my specifications and all hands were routed to the bank.
Each tree was nailed into place with four boards from the planter inside surface to a uniform height
on the tree trunk. They were lined neatly in rows and perfectly straight. My crew lowered me
personally into the two planter wells just outside the main banking lobby and the president’s office,
where I nailed the trees up in the same fashion.
The following morning Lavern called me and simply stated that he hated to let me go but he had no
other options. I received two weeks advanced pay, a favorable work recommendation and a
promise of no contest to unemployment benefits if I had trouble finding a suitable job.
I took a job in Dallas the next week and during the interview I let it be known the types of work that
I would NOT DO for the firm. I left at the end of that week after being sent on the very types of work
I had vowed to NOT DO. At this point I concluded that I would become self employed and never be
fired or take orders from someone who I did not respect. . I went back to Baton Rouge and took one
of the appraisal jobs I had been doing for Magnolia Horticulture Center, cutting my workload by
98.9 percent and boosting my salary by 30 percent. Two weeks later the trees in the planters had
been replaced with the ones I had originally suggested. Six months later the center was being
dozed for a subdivision. I felt somewhat vindicated though saddened
From there I began chasing hurricanes doing cleanup contracts through the Corps of Engineers
and later contracting home repairs. Carpet being the hardest thing to get completed in home
repairs attracted me and I began laying carpet, evolving into Noah’ Carpet Service. I remained in
the carpet business twenty-four years around Baton Rouge until I retired in. I have been working
harder ever since just not being paid.
Having chosen to not marry because of personal inner conflicts, and a conscience decision to
father no children allowed plenty of time for snow skiing in the winter and scuba diving in the
summer, along with a lot of deep sea fishing.
I met J.E. “Bill” Hancock, my companion of today in 1981. What could be called our honeymoon was
spent in the Galapagos Islands. He retired from the medical profession in 1984. We built our
present home in Mandeville, La. in 1983 to be close to our sailboat and left on it shortly after his
retirement spending about six months at a time during the fall and winter. Over the years we have
spent two winters in the Virgin Islands. Six winters in the Bahamas and sailed the entire gulf coast
and most of the Eastern seaboard including the Chesapeake Bay on up to Baltimore and
Washington. We completed two river trips up the Tennessee Tom Bigbee Waterway. We came
down the Mississippi entering it at Ohio River on the first trip. The second trip we went to Knoxville
by way of the Tennessee River to attend his fifty-year homecoming at U.T.
We do a lot of camping, sailing, traveling and, entertaining. We both enjoy excellent health; he
approaching 80 is active as a volunteer for Hospice and tutoring students in Math. I remain busy
keeping everything functioning along with helping a number of disabled around our community.
Guess I will call this complete and heard out into the yard with a chain saw and cut up some more
tree debris still there from Katrina and Rita. Looking forward to seeing you all again. Noah
| Noah had some friends come by for visit. |
