About Me
Born and Raised in New Orleans, LA
Attended The Holy Cross School in New Orleans, LA
Attended University at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA
Worked as an Engineer in the Defense Industry for 42 Years
Now happily retired and teaching two Engineering courses within a Masters Degree program in Systems Engineering
Antequam Existentiam
My father, Henry Artus, and my mother, Rosita Artus resided at 1713 Tennessee Street, in the Lower 9th Ward, of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The small, 2-bedroom house was situated within sight of the Judge Perez Bridge that spanned the Industrial Canal.
Our little house survived several hurricanes. Betsy put four feet of water inside the house (which was up on two-foot piers). But the little house was not strong enough for Katrina. The house was completely wiped away. Now, the place is just an empty lot.
Henry graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans with a degree in Accounting. He became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and started an accounting service of his own, serving several private and commercial businesses in the New Orleans area. Henry also operated a public storefront offering income tax return filing services.
Rosita was born and raised in the Central American country of Costa Rica. She moved to the US after her first husband died during the very brief Costa Rican Civil War of 1948. In New Orleans, Rosita became a seamstress, eventually starting a successful small business designing and creating elaborate custom bridal party gowns for wedding parties.
Henry and Rosita met through Henry’s involvement with the Loyola University Pan-American Club, a club for those interested in learning about the Hispanic culture in the Americas.
My father loved to go hunting, and dragged me along with him when I was old enough. He was an excellent shooter. He could swing that double barrel 12-gauge shotgun around like nobody’s business. He was a dead-on shot when hunting squirrel, rabbit, dove, and duck. He also loved to go out and catch some crawfish. When we were crawfishing at one of my father’s client’s commercial crawfish pond, we would typically come home with about 6 or 7 onion bags full of crawfish. My father could cook up a delicious batch of boiled crawfish.
After we moved to the suburbs, my mother became a member the neighborhood garden club. She enjoyed socializing and meeting people from other area garden clubs. She kept up the front garden of the house, but especially liked participating in the club door decorating contests. She had quite the knack for door decorating, especially for Christmas time, and would frequently win awards for her work. She was always after the coveted Rosetta award. My mother did not return to her home of Costa Rica for a very long time. But, she was happy to send my sisters and I to go meet our several aunts and uncles and many, many cousins.
I enjoyed growing up in New Orleans. The city has (or had) a laid-back charm that I appreciated. Not to mention the cuisine, which is unique and wonderful. Unfortunately, a lot of the old charm has been lost to Katrina. But there are still some pockets of charm and beauty that the city has to offer the visitor.
I was born with “Club Feet” – a common disorder in which a newborn baby’s feet are turned inward and downward. But a newborn’s feet are very flexible and can easily be straightened with bracing, physical therapy, casting, or surgery. Here, I have bracing applied to straighten out my feet.
My Childhood Years
I spent my childhood years growing up on Tennessee St. This was a fun community of young families within which I found three close friends my age: Lloyd Gremillion, Michael (Mikey) Arnold, and David (Davie) Bougardrey. I attended St. Cecilia Catholic School though the 6th grade. Some of my best memories of this time are:
Halloween – during which ALL the kids in the neighborhood came out to go Trick-Or-Treating
Riding bikes up and down the sidewalks (nearly) all day long
Digging mud holes in the backyard garden, filling them with water, then soaking in a mud bath
Throwing thick clay mud balls at the passing city busses and watching them stick to the windows, and seeing the faces of surprised passenger (hilarious)
“China Ball” wars (using fruit from the poisonous China Berry Tree), except for the ones launched by slingshots – they REALLY stung
Building tree houses, club houses, climbing trees, playing marbles, playing with empty appliance carboard boxes, etc
Multi-family crawfish boils in our next-door neighbors’ back yard
My Adolescent Years
After the sixth grade, my parents moved me to The Holy Cross School (all male) as my father felt I wasn’t getting enough “male influence” at an elementary school run by nuns and in a house with two sisters. I started at Holy Cross in the seventh grade. Holy Cross was a college prep school and I had to pass qualifying exams to get in. I only remember feeling pretty good after taking the entrance exam, and I did well enough to get in.
The school offered electives, which I had never heard of before, so I selected “band”. I had never played an orchestral instrument before, but knew that I only wanted to play the trumpet. So, play I did. I loved playing the trumpet for the six years I was in Holy Cross. I played in the Cadet Band (beginners) the Tiger Marching Band (football games and Mardi Gras parades), the Tiger Concert Band (orchestral music), and the Tiger Stage Band (jazz). We had a very good program run by Mr. Frank Mannino, and each year we entered local, state, and regional competitions, and received top honors in every event we entered for every type of musical activity we entered. In 1971, I was selected to play in the Louisiana All-Star Stage Band.
I also joined two area drum & bugle corps organizations – part of Drum Corps International (DCI). I joined the Stardusters for just a few weeks during the 1971 Mardi Gras season with my friend Chuck Sabadie. When Chuck found out that a new corps was starting up, we switched over to join the Bleu Raeders drum corps. Both Chuck and I were brought in as First Soprano players. At that time, DCI rules only allowed Soprano players to play a two-valve bugle. In the year 1972, as part of the Holy Cross Band and the Bleu Raeders, I marched in a total of eight Mardi Gras parades – and these are not your typical 4-block Anytown USA parade, these parades typically go from 3 to 5 miles long.
My Sisters and I
Aylie thought it would be a good idea for the three siblings to have a portrait taken to give to our parents for Christmas. We all agreed and met at the photography studio. While I loved my life at Holy Cross with the Band and all, I just hated my life at home. And it shows in this photograph. Aylie begged me to do one photo with a smile. I agreed. When the proofs came around, I realized how odd I looked, being the only one not smiling, and agreed with my sisters that the one with me smiling was the best photo after all. We had a large print of that photo framed for our parents.
My College Years
My Adult Years
My Retirement Years
Services
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Study Nature, Love Nature
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Autumn Is a Second Spring
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Just Let It Rain
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A Light Wind Swept Over The Corn, And All Nature Laughed In The Sunshine.
Projects
Forest Wilderness
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