The text message came in about the fifth inning of a Major League Baseball exhibition game April 3 in Houston.

It came in on my son Jacob’s cell phone because I had left mine in my pickup truck in the parking lot of Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, who were playing “our” Kansas City Royals.

June, my wife, sent the text message to my number first, then Jacob’s. It started “omg.”

The news was as stunning as it was tragic. Everybody’s friend, my friend, Loreauville Mayor Al Broussard, had been killed in a head-on collision on Louisiana 86, a highway he traversed so much in his life as an outdoorsman, official and proud resident of the Teche Area.

We all were affected, devastated, everyone who knew him. 

I texted my brother, Bill, a lifelong Kansas City resident, because Mayor Al, as we call him, was kind enough in October 2012 to take him and my son speckled trout fishing while my other brother, Keith, of Belton, Missouri, and I fished with a friend of his, Paul Bergeron of Jefferson Island, all in and around Vermilion Bay. 

That and other memories of Mayor Al, an all-around outdoorsman, cook, sailing enthusiast and conservationist, flooded my thoughts the rest of the spring baseball game and on the long ride back to New Iberia.

I wasn’t alone. Hundreds turned out to say goodbye to Mayor Al during visitationMonday and at his funeral servicesTuesday.

We all prayed for him, 65 at the time of his death, and his fiancée and Loreauville town clerk Phyllis Savoy, who suffered critical injuries when the car she was driving was smashed by an oncoming, large pickup truck on the evening of Good Friday. They were traveling to eat supper in New Iberia.

Mayor Al and Phyllis stayed in contact often over the years. He was pleased especially with a Christmas wish in my Dec. 21, 2014, column, that read, “Prospective times in your village, good cookin’ in and out of competition and red-hot speckled trout fishing each trip.”

He was active in the Sugar Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana. Some might call him the backbone of the group because of his efforts.

Don Naquin, who fished a handful of times with him but side by side in respective boats more often while chasing speckled trout, talked about his friend Friday night while relaxing at his home in New Iberia.

“Al loved CCA. He made everybody happy. He was just an upbeat guy and he made everybody feel like it was great,” Naquin said. “He always took care of the Loreauville area. We’re going to miss him.”

Mayor Al’s personality was one-of-a-kind. 

Naquin agreed, noting the avid gardener frequently gave his wife, Valerie, plant cuttings from his “beautiful” garden.

“Every time you’d talk to him, he was always positive. He never had a bad thing to say about anything or anybody,” he said.

My heart and condolences go out to Phyllis, Mayor Al’s family, countless friends and Loreauville residents. His legacy won’t be forgotten.

 

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.