SHERIDAN ELDERS
This picture was taken by a professional photographer at Albert Winston Lang’s 80th birthday celebration. The date would be 1949.
Front left to right: Warren McNeese, Norman Lang, Marshall Richardson, Albert W. Lang, John “Red John” Thomas and Willis Q. McKenzie.
Back row left to right: John Simmons, the Rev. Guy Barkdull, Frank Douglas, Lucious (Lucius) Simmons and Wyman Lang.
Bob Ann Breland comments (also saying not everyone was of Sheridan):
“Warren McNeese was a very respected head of the McNeese clan at Sheridan. He had a great big old house that sat at the top of a hill that was fun to go and visit. He and most of his children are buried in the McNeese Cemetery at Sheridan, which was close to his home.
“Norman Lang, one of my Dad’s brothers, lived at Varnado.
“Marshall Richardson was from a very distinguished family, early settlers of the Bogalusa area. He has a street in Bogalusa named for him. His wife was named Maggie and I think she was an Ard, another large parish family, also early settlers. Their daughter, Hebe Yarborough, just died this past week (Dec. 2001) in her late 90’s.
“John “Red John” Thomas, so called because he had a red face and very pale skin, was a very good friend of my grandfathers’.
“Willie Quitman McKenzie was my mother’s step-father, and was also a very stern man. He was the only father my mother ever knew and he raised her from about the age of 10. Her father died in the great flu epidemic of 1918 when she was only a year old.
“In back, John B. Simmons, brother to Lucious. He and Aunt Daisy (Bookter) were some of my favorite people. We called all these cousins aunt and uncle because they were all so much older than we, and my mother had a dim view of calling them “Cousin John” etc. She thought aunt and uncle was more respectful for children.
“The Rev. Guy Barkdull was a Pentecostal preacher who often preached at the little church Lucious established in Sheridan. He was the father of Louree Barkdull Lang, who was married to Iva’s oldest son, Alton Lang.
“Frank Douglas was our neighborhood curiosity (character). Frank lived in a little one-room shack on an abandoned highway right-away near the store at Sheridan. He was sort-of a handyman in the community, but was noted for being slow…not slow-witted, just slow moving. My dad had dozens of stories about Frank Douglas and his mother, Mag Douglas, who was also very slow, but alas, most of them died with him.
“Next is Lucious Simmons, and this is really a good picture of him.
“The last person, Wyman Lang, wasn’t old, but just got on the picture. He is the son of Iva, my Dad’s brother.”
Images courtesy of Bob Ann Breland.
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