Harlan Kirgan
“She really was one of us,” said former Eunice Mayor Curtis Joubert of former Gov. Kathleen Blanco who died Sunday after a battle with cancer.
Joubert, former Mayor Lynn LeJeune and former Alderman at-large Jackon Burson remember Blanco as a warm leader who often spent time and helped Eunice.
Blanco and LeJeune shared a political bond. Blanco was the first female governor of Louisiana. Lejeune was the first female mayor of Eunice.
Blanco was elected in 2003 and served one term.
Where there was a celebration in January 2003 of LeJeune becoming mayor, Blanco was in attendance.
“She loved Eunice. She loved all the culture and music and food and she visited Eunice quite often,” LeJeune said of Blanco.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the New Orleans area and southwest Louisiana, yet LeJeune recalls Blanco reaching to help Eunice.
There were 3,844 evacuees registered at Eunice, she said. Gov. Blanco helped with food, supplies and getting the children back into school, she said.
“She was one of the strongest, spiritual people I ever met,” she said.
Joubert recalled that when the inauguration party was held for LeJeune, Blanco attended a gumbo at his house and announced her candidacy for governor.
Joubert thinks it may have been one of Blanco’s first public declarations of her plan to run for governor.
“She was a very nice lady and meant well and people always tried to help her,” he said.
Blanco helped Joubert as he served as interim Public Service Commissioner. “She was very friendly and very gracious to me.”
Blanco, who was on the commission, left a golf tournament to have lunch with him and help sort out Joubert’s first meeting as a commissioner.
“I left feeling good about that,” he said.
Later when Blanco was lieutenant governor, Joubert worked for her promoting tourism.
The Scenic Byways was started then.There were promotions for senior citizens, French language signs and FrancoFéte.
All three Eunice leaders noted Blanco was dealt a bad hand by Hurricane Katrina.
Burson said, “I supported her when she got elected governor. I thought she was a good governor. She had the misfortune to be in office when those two historic hurricanes hit. But I think she did the best she could with the help she got from Washington, which was way less than it should have been.”
Blanco always served with competence, he said.
“I think the key decision she made after those storms was giving priority to rebuilding the Superdome ... I can’t imagine what it would have been for the city if that had not been done and she got criticized for it at the time,” he said.
Burson also cited personal connections to Blanco. She was three years behind him at the university in Lafayette and in the same class as his sister and late first wife.
“I remember running into her at homecoming at UL. We wound up talking for the better part of an hour. She was that kind of person,” he said.