Pat Huval, Henderson’s first mayor whose famed Pat’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant has been drawing customers for more than 60 years, died Saturday, January 6 at St. Martin Hospital in Breaux Bridge. He was 88 and had been in poor health for some time.
Funeral services are set for 11 a.m. today (Wednesday) at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.
A colorful and mostly self-educated Cajun entrepreneur, Huval went into the restaurant business in 1948 with a rented hamburger stand that over the years expanded to one of the most popular seafood restaurants in south Louisiana. After his expanded restaurant located on the west side of Bayou Amy was destroyed in a fire in the mid-1980s, he opened the current restaurant and large dance hall on the levee side of the bayou.
Working with a group of fellow Henderson residents, Huval was instrumental in the establishment of the town through an act signed by Gov. John McKeithen on Jan. 15, 1971.
McKeithen appointed him the first mayor and he was subsequently elected to five terms, serving from 1971 to 1988 and again from 1992-96.
“He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten,” says current Henderson mayor and long time friend Sherbin Collette. “I served on the council for 10 years with Pat and learned a lot from him, and was still learning.
“He lived for politics and asked me to keep him informed about the town he helped build. We would often meet for long talks about politics and the future of our town.”
“When I was first elected mayor,” Collette recalled, “Pat told me I had some big shoes to fill and I replied that I would put on several pairs of socks, and as I grew I’d remove a pair. When I got the town to a good financial position, Pat told me ‘now you can through away those old shoes and buy your own pair’.”
“I respected the man dearly,” Collette added.
Cecilia native and former state senator/ secretary of state/lieutenant governor Paul Hardy was involved in the legal work of setting up the town back in the 1970s.
“Pat was a real living legend, a self-educated entrepreneur, a premier restauranteur,” he recalled upon learning of Huval’s death.
“He orchestrated the incorporation of his town, loved his people and was loved by his multitude of friends. He was quick to remind some of us that ‘You educated boys study history, but I made history.’ He loved politics and was unconditionally loyal to the candidates he supported. Pat left a legacy of pride and distinction to his fellow Cajuns.”
