Henry Nicholas Roussel

BIOGRAPHY: from daughter Marjorie Roussel

Born in St. Gabriel, LA. Lived there until his Dad died then he and Mother and Aunt Ruth moved to New Orleans. Lived with extended family at Grandma Engler's home. Visited his aunt in Ponchatoula often. Met Hazel there. Asked her out on a dare - everyone thought Tuggie wouldn't have enough nerve to face "Cap" Pusey. That's how it all began. Hazel and Tuggie were married June 15, 1927 at six in the morning. The old spanish priest said that was when he said Mass so be there. They had a wedding breakfast and then boarded the train for Biloxi. The only route in those days was through New Orleans (no roads) so it took hours.

When the Depression came, Tuggie was laid off from the New Orleans furniture company. Moved to Ponchatoula and never wanted to live anywhere else after that. He got a job with Marion Fannaly and continued to help the business grow from a strawberry shipping and ice company into a food processing company. Tuggie was General Manager. When Marion died, a New York firm bought the business. Tuggie couldn't see himself working with them so he opted to start a bookkeeping business but that was short term and he became the bookkeeper for the Nehi Bottling Co. Again after about ten years the owner died and the business was closed. Tuggie then became the Clerk of Court for the Town of Ponchatoula and kept the books for Bohning Grocers also. He retired after his stroke.

Tuggie loved Ponchatoula and was active in civic organizations such as the Fire Department and the Kiwanis (He was a charter member of both). He also loved his Church and belonged to the Knights of Columbus and the Holy Name Society. He served as trustee for the Church for years. There was nothing he liked beter than a good argument and would somtimes take the opposite side (not his own opinion) just to get something started. In his retired years, he loved to visit the Fire Department each day for a game of cards.

He loved his family and was proud of his wife, children, Nancy and Bucky (niece and nephew who lived with him at different times), and his grandchildren. He was one man who loved his Mother-in-Law , called her Mother. He was a real character or to use his favorite expression, "Something else!"

Ponchatoula Enterprise, February 20, 1942, "PONCHATOULA DOUBLES IT QUOTA IN RED CROSS DRIVE... One of the features of the drive was the contest between Henry Roussel and W. B. Ross to see who would secure the greater amount of donations, the loser to roll a peanut a distance of 40 feet with his nose. This contest was confined to the Marion T. Fannaly plant employees with a toatl of $300 was turned in from that source. Ross won the contest with $131 and Tuggie was a close second (but the loser) with $127.

The peanut rolling was scheduled at 12:45 Friday afternoon and the employees gathered to watch Tuggie dirty his nose. Those who watched paid a nickel to see him do the trick and then Bill Fannaly auctioned off the peanut for $9.75 which the admission price and further donations made up to $300..."

In a separate article, the paper noted: "TUGGIE'S NOSE BRINGS IN $300 IN RED CROSS RELIEF DRIVE...It all happened when the war relief drive was started for the Red Cross. Henry "Tuggie" Roussel and W. B. "Bill" Ross entered into an agreement when they were to solicit donations from the employees of Marion T. Fannaly Inc. for the Red Cross.

When he completed the rolling Miss Vera Poche presented him with a beautiful bouquet of broccoli in honor of his sportsmanship...The auctioning of the famous peanut was handled by W. T. "Bill" Fannaly who used the progrssive method and realized a total of $9.75 with Eugene Perrin making the final bid and getting the peanut...."