Delcambre resident Ruth Pitre, who gets up early, slaps on her gloves and slips on her Delcambre Reeboks, continues to work in the shrimp industry at age 75. She is being honored as Madam Ambassador.

DELCAMBRE — With more than 50 years in the shrimping industry, Ruth Pitre has garnered respect from her colleagues and an entire city. 

Pitre will be the first holder of the title “Madam Ambassador” for the Delcambre Shrimp Festival. Former president of the Delcambre Shrimp Association, Connie Landry, said the post is meant to honor women who have contributed to the shrimp industry in meaningful ways. 

“We’ve always had a Shrimp King, but it’s been called to our attention that there women in Delcambre who have contributed a lot to the industry,” Landry said.

Landry said choosing Pitre was easy. 

“She’s been a part of the shrimping industry ever since I can remember,” Landry said. 

Pitre, 75, is a native of Golden Meadow but moved to Delcambre at 17 with her family. After gaining employment at what was then Southwest Pass, Pitre would continue working there after the business changed hands. Her primary duties then included unloading boats, shucking and packaging oysters and processing and packaging shrimp. 

“I did a little bit of everything,” Pitre said. 

The business, now called Ocean Harvest Wholesale, has had Pitre as an employee since its renaming in 1995. Pitre now works as a manager for the shrimp company. 

According to an information release from the Delcambre Shrimp Festival, each morning “Mrs. Ruth wakes up, slaps on her gloves, kicks on her Delacambre Reeboks and gets at it despite her age.”

Pitre said she has seen considerable changes in the industry since her days as a 17-year-old working in the industry. Pitre said there has been a decline in numbers of both fishermen and amount of shrimp, but technology has made the job a little easier. 

“Everything used to be manual. I tell these boys who complain that they have it easy. When you stack shrimp and wait for trucks sometimes until 1 in the morning, it’s hard work,” she said. 

Despite the labor, Pitre said she has enjoyed her time working in Delcambre.

“You see changes as time goes on,” Pitre said. “When the older fishermen got out, you would see their sons working. Now you start to see their grandkids start working. It’s a family business. That’s kind of nice.” 

That rule has held true for Pitre’s own family. Pitre’s four children — Mary, Zachary, Patrick and the late David — have spent their time working with shrimp in one way or another. Pitre said she has one grandchild working there during the summer before he heads off to college. 

Despite recent health problems, Pitre has been at the job doing the usual day-to-day work at Ocean Harvest. LeBlanc said some workers have tried to scale back Pitre’s work load to no avail. 

“That’s the only problem,” Pitre joked. “They’re trying to hold me back.”

Overall, Pitre said her profession has been satisfying. 

“I’ve always looked at it as a job,” Pitre said. “I’ve always been lucky that I had good bosses. The current boss comes every once in a while, but me and my kids mostly oversee it.”

 

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