We started our Faces From the Album series in 2017 as an opportunity to present images of individuals and groups from yesteryear in a format other than our more extensive full-length articles. In this installment, we share two groups of New Orleanians who made their livings in the related fields of undertaking and life insurance.
Crescent City Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association
Pictured here are members of the Crescent City Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association who attended its monthly meeting in June 1963. The location was Hilda’s Restaurant at 751 North Claiborne Avenue (corner of Orleans), owned by Hilda and Leon Ferrier. The host for the meeting was the Calvin J. Young Funeral Home. The president at the time was Mr. Lambert Charles Boissiere, Sr., of the Carr & Llopis Mortuary.
The Crescent City Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association was founded on 3 May 1909 as the New Orleans Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association – Colored, with ten charter members (nine men and one woman): Duplain Rhodes, Oscar Louis Muh, Daniel H. Henderson, Mandeville Adrien LeBlanc, Charles Medley, Emile Labat, Henry Mansion, Thomas Alexander Carr, Clement Joseph Geddes, and Mrs. Ella Philomene Stansbury Taylor. It changed to its present name on 2 August 1938.
Crescent City Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association
Pictured left to right (Standing): Calvin J. Young; Cleophas Drake; Edwin Romain; Duplain Rhodes; Jesse W. Cook; George Elum; George Llopis; Joseph Osceola Misshore, Jr. (Seated): Mrs. Jessie Ellis Arceneaux Labat; Mrs. Naomi Veronica Geddes Green; Miss Zenobia Elenor Lockett; Lambert C. Boissiere; and Ferdinand H. Dominique.
New Orleans Insurance Executives Council (NOIEC)
The highlight of the April 1966 meeting of the New Orleans Insurance Executives Council was the installation of its new officers. The luncheon-meeting was held in the Downtowners’ Motor Inn at 3900 Tulane Avenue. The New Orleans Insurance Executives Council (NOIEC) was the local affiliate of the National Insurance Association, which was formed in October 1921 in Durham, North Carolina, by representatives from thirteen Black insurance companies. Past presidents of the NOIEC include Dr. Percy P. Creuzot, Clennen L. Dennis, Haidel J. Christophe, Everett Newman, Marcus Neustadter, Benjamin J. Johnson, Elliott J. Keyes, Jesse W. Cook, and Mrs. D. Joan Rhodes Brown. In 1966, Mr. Elliott Keyes of the Douglas Life Insurance Company turned over the president’s gavel to Mr. Marcus Neustadter of the Keystone Life Insurance Company.
The NOIEC’s membership drew from the executive ranks of nearly two dozen Black insurance companies in the city: Liberty; Good Citizens; Unity; St. John Berchmans; Monarch; People’s; Safety; Venus; Supreme; Louisiana; Keystone; Majestic; Standard; Progressive; Victory; Gertrude Geddes Willis; National Service; Pyramid; and Douglas.
New Orleans Insurance Executives Council
Pictured from left to right (Seated): Benjamin Johnson; Gustave C. Chapital, Jr.; James L. Petivan; Marcus Neustadter; Harold Rouzan; Emile Moses (Standing): W. J. Irons; Cecil W. Carter, Jr.; Irvin Gayle; J. A. Blaine Dejoie; Herman A. Gilliam, President of the National Insurance Association; Elliott J. Keyes; H. R. Radford.
Photo Source: The Louisiana Weekly, 29 June 1963; 30 April 1966.
Jari C. Honora
Love this!
Thank you…
An opportunity to post pictures, comments and remember our loved ones.
More importantly, to recognize the heritage and where we come from. To share with others and hopefully, reunite with family & friends. God bless
This is a part of world and African-American History as well as Creole History and Business History. The Noble and Kelsey Family always took good care of my dad’s family when the time came. Mr. Hooch Kelsey and my Uncle, the late John Q. Steele, were lifelong friends and both graduated from J. C. Price High School in Salisbury, NC. Mr. Hooch’s family started Noble and Kelsey Funeral Home in Salisbury, NC and the funeral home is still in business. Finally, I have always loved the history of the Creole Community in NOLA and have a great aunt who is the late Sephrona Steele from Shreveport. This article is lovely.