Johni Hudson Miles-Blount:  

I am originally from Berwick, LA, where I attended school grades 1-9. At the end of my freshman year, my family moved to Livonia, LA, where I graduated from High School in 1967. During the time that I was at Livonia, I enjoyed sports and was a cheerleader. The principal at that time was Mr. Fontenot and the girls' basketball coach was Mr. Chauvin. My very best friend was Connie Prestenbach and I dated Steve Talbot. After high school, I attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA where I graduated with a B.A. and Masters Degree in Secondary education. I also attended Tulane University where I received an Associate Degree in Paralegal Studies. I have resided in Bogalusa, LA for 45 years and, after teaching in the public school system for 5 years, opened my own private preschool which I closed in 2010. I'm now retired. I was married to John E. Miles for 8 years and then to Danny Blount for 4 years until he died in 2012. I have been involved with many organizations: Rotary Club, Cassidy Park Museums, YMCA, LSU Bogalusa Medical Center Board, Camp Fire, CASA, United Way, Bogalusa Beautification Committee, Bogalusa Civic League, Washington/St. Tammany Youth Service Board, LA Municipal Association Mentoring and Economic Development Committees, and National Leadership Training Institute Board of Directors and Scholarship Committee. I am a Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary), Bogalusa 2013 Citizen of the Year, and a 2007 Louisiana Heroine Award Nominee. In 2002, I was elected Councilwoman At Large to the Bogalusa City Council and served until 2006. At that time I ran for Mayor of Bogalusa and, not being elected, ran again and won a position on the City Council in 2010. In 2011, I resigned from the Council due to my husband's terminal cancer diagnosis. Because my husband was a helicopter mechanic for off-shore helicopters, we moved to Bayou Vista, LA where he was closer to his job and could do all of the fishing that he wanted to do. I have since returned to Bogalusa, retired, and am purposely not involved in a lot of activities so that I can travel and visit my grandchildren in Jackson Hole, WY. Recently, I drove out there and spent 2 months with them. God has been good to me! Life has been good to me! Okay, folks, what I am referring to as the "last phase of my life". I've moved back to my hometown of Bewick, Louisiana, where I attended elementary school and my 1st year of high school. It was a very big move since I had lived in the same house in Bogalusa for 40 years. Anyway, I have been working on my "last phase" plan for several years, but I now have a little detail to take care of before I can start "living the plan". I've agreed to help my younger brother open a cafe in Morgan City (across the bridge from Berwick). I've been "chosen" to help because my ex owned a restaurant/bar and my son is a chef who has owned his own restaurant. Thank goodness my son will be coming down from Wyoming to advise. Hopefully, the restaurant will be up and running by the end of this year and I can then proceed with my plans to travel. Ecuador, Portugal, Italy, and Greece are places that I have on my list - - - hoping to live 3 months in each place. After that, I will buy a houseboat and live my remaining years on Bayou Teche. I'm hoping that I will see some of you again. I really enjoyed seeing my Livonia friends at our 2017 50th class reunion and my Berwick friends back in 1997 at our 30th reunion. It would be nice if we could have a 55th reunion in Livonia involving several classes before us and several classes after us and a 55th class reunion in Berwick with the same set-up. The reunion I attended in Berwick in 1997 involved the classes of 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969. It was well planned and included 3 days of unforgettable fun culminating with another mini-reunion 4 months later at a dude ranch in Texas. One of the teachers that taught all of us said that our reunion was the best Berwick High School class reunion that he had ever attended. Anyway, it would be nice to reminisce with you again . . . in this "last phase". Later, my friends!!! Well, even though I had planned to travel before buying a houseboat, it hasn't worked out that way. I recently purchased a 24' x 48' houseboat. I am currently looking for a place to park it on Bayou Teche and will move on the boat when I find that place. I still plan to travel but, because of Covid, that's on "hold" right now. So, I will let you know more as life unfolds for me. I'm back! I have finally found a place to park my houseboat. The new address is 337 1/2 Hwy. 182 between Bayou Vista and Patterson in the short section of Hwy. 182 that parallels Hwy. 90. The boat is scheduled to be moved from Bayou Sorrell to that location on 9/29/21. Meanwhile, a deck and wharf are being built, an electrical pole installed, and a water line run from the highway to the boat. It will be quite a while before I can actually live on it because there is a lot of work that needs to be done on it to keep the gators and snakes from making it THEIR home. I'm not too fond of sharing my space when it comes to those critters being on board. As I progress with the renovation, I will keep you informed. Consider this your invitation to come and "check it out". So this houseboat thing is going slower than I thought it would. Even though I was prepared to begin the work on my houseboat as soon as it was moved to the Teche, it hasn't happened that way. I have just finished (3/4/22) having the pilings drilled for the permanent location of the boat and the boat is now parked in its' new home. Most of the things, walkway, electrical, plumbing, etc., that I thought would have been done by now had to be put on "hold" until the boat was in its' permanent location. It was such a hassle getting someone to even drive the pilings because of Hurricane Ida. "She" has everyone working to rebuild Grand Isle, Houma, and surrounding areas. Now, it's like . . . what's next? I need gravel hauled in for my driveway, water run to the boat, a walkway so that I can get on the boat, and an electrical pole for electricity, which I am unable to get until I install a sewer treatment system on the boat. Heck!! Real busy tomorrow and "playing" out of town next week, so let me get back with you at a later date. This is a work in progress even if it is slow progress. (My sister keeps saying it's not the destination that counts, but the journey that it takes to get there......I'm supposed to be enjoying that journey and I really am!) Finally! The posts have been put in place for the walkway and work on the walkway is scheduled to begin this coming Monday 5/2/22. I will get back to you when there is more progress to report. Later Gator! (Literally, gators everywhere!) Okay. I'm back (literally). Just got back from my niece's wedding in Deer Valley, UT (in the mountains above Park City, UT). Quite an event. I think that she wanted to have this "destination" wedding because it was a place that we skied for several years. We always stayed at the Stein Eriksen Lodge and this is where the wedding was held. We arrived on Tuesday, 5/24, and left on Sunday. On Thursday night there was a Welcome Party. On Friday I attended a 12:00 Bridal Luncheon. That evening at 6:00 we were shuttled further up the mountains to a distillery for a Rehearsal Dinner. Then she was married early Saturday morning, 5/28, in a Catholic Mass in Park City with only immediate family attending. The culmination occurred that evening at 5:00. On a patio at Stein Eriksen Lodge overlooking the mountains and in front of about 150 guests, her wedding was blessed by the priest who had married them that morning. The ceremony involved 7 bridesmaids and 7 groomsmen and was absolutely beautiful. Then I spent the rest of the evening at a reception, dancing to the music played by a 15-piece band with 3 on-stage dancers. WOW! Her dad and mom, my sister and brother-in-law, really know how to throw a party. Okay. Back to the houseboat! The walkway to the boat is, basically, finished except for a few things that need to be done. My brother, sister (Interior Architect), and myself will meet with the carpenter Friday to "trouble-shoot" exactly how we plan to connect the walkway to the boat. Hopefully, within a couple of weeks, I will have all of my furniture on the boat and will be working on my driveway, sewer treatment system and water and electric lines to the boat. I'll let you know if this happens in a timely manner. Talk with you later!! Okay! I'm back! The guy who did the walkway for my boat did not complete it and probably won't complete it, so that won't be addressed right now because I am busy working on the inside. A lot has been done inside and I plan on posting before and after pictures when we're finished and the furniture is on the boat. Although there is no permanent connection from the walkway to the boat and from the land to the walkway, I am able to board the boat via a "rigged up" connection at this point. After tearing down walls and putting up other walls, the boat now has 2 bedrooms, a bedroom that has been turned into a storage room, a small efficiency kitchen (I'm not the best cook), and an enlarged bathroom. There is a big living room/dining room area with a cathedral ceiling, but that room is currently filled with boxes and won't be completed and used until sometime in the future when I can go through the boxes and probably have 10 garage sales. Did I mention that I have also filled up my brother's garage and storeroom with "junk"? So, I will have to go through that stuff and add it to my garage sales! Oh, and by the way, I have two storage units to empty out. Fortunately, those contain mostly furniture that I will use on the boat. But some of it will probably make it into one of the garage sales. My plan right now is to finish the two bedrooms, bathroom, storage room, and kitchen and move on to the ...Expand for more