Darrel LeJeune / The Basile Weekly
Welcome to the Stone Motel. Check-in anytime 24/7 with the Ardoin family at your service 365 days a year with “towels, soap, sheets, and toilet paper.” The roadside Stone Motel was available to short term and long term guests and also served as home to Zanny and Eliza Mae Ardoin and their eight children, who owned and operated the landmark inn located between Eunice and Lawtell just off Highway 190.
Morris, one of the Ardoin siblings, shares the ups and downs of living and working at the Stone in his first book entitled Stone Motel: Memoirs of a Cajun Boy, recently released by the University of Mississippi Press.
There is no shortage of laughter in the reading of Stone Motel, but there are also many tears as Ardoin shares his quest to live out his true self amidst the difficulties of time and place.
The story should be relatable to many families living at the time in southwest Louisiana even though the setting is a most unusual place. At the Stone, the reader will experience and likely understand the family’s life that centered around the demands of a stern father, the love of a sweet mother, and the rivalry between brothers and sisters.
Beyond the author’s personal reflections, the memoir presents a slice of rural south Louisiana life as it was in the 1970s. This includes vivid descriptions and the retelling of stories using the local Cajun dialect, the traditions of traiteurs (faith healers), and the Catholic teachings that surrounded so much of the culture.
When half of the motel burns in a Christmastime fire, the family experiences the difficulties of rebuilding and added work as everybody pitched in to get things back to normal. The fire became a marking place in the history of the family events are remembered by the phrase “before the fire” or “after the fire.”
The fire rekindles the father’s long-repressed violent mood swings. He attacks several of his children but reserves his most ferocious beatings for young Morris who he feels needs “fixing.”
Year around the Ardoin children were busy with motel work in addition to their school work. This included cleaning toilets, stripping and making beds, washing linens and towels, and cleaning and furnishing the rooms with toiletries, etc. This also enabled them to interact with many of the guests, especially those who lived long term in the kitchenette apartments that were part of the property. Several of those guests helped Morris develop a sense of empathy as he was able to compare his torments at school to the difficulties experienced by others.
Beyond the confines of the Stone, Ardoin shares his relationship with his grandmother and grandfather in Ville Platte and pulls excerpts from the young life of his parents before their marriage. Life in the communities of Eunice and Ville Platte and of school culture expands the story beyond the walls of the motel.
For those over 50, reading it will lead you back to simpler times. For those younger, you may wish to have lived such a life.
Coincidentally, the Stone Motel still stands today (now under the name L’ Acadie Inn) and is being operated by another large family.
Morris Ardoin graduated from Eunice High School in 1977 where he was editor of the school paper. He attended LSU Eunice for two years where he was the editor of The Bayou Bengal, leading him to a B.A. degree in journalism at the Baton Rouge campus. He went on to receive a master’s in communication from the University of Louisiana. A public relations practitioner, his work has appeared in regional, national, and international media. He divides his time between New York City and Cornwallville, New York, where he does most of his writing. His blog, “Parenthetically Speaking,” can be found at www.morrisardoin.com.
The author plans to visit several distribution sites in Louisiana this summer for book signings. Dates and places will be announced after the pandemic social distancing restrictions have been lifted.
A reading of several monologues from the book is being planned by local actors. The event will be held at the Eunice Players’ Theatre.
Stone Motel: Memoirs of a Cajun Boy is available locally at Beaucoup in downtown Eunice. Online orders can be made through Barnes & Noble, University Press of Mississippi, and Amazon.com.