[StBernard] GERMANY NATIVE RETURNS TO NEW IBERIA AFTER STORM

[Westley Annis]

GERMANY NATIVE RETURNS TO NEW IBERIA AFTER STORM
Saturday, September 16, 2006 10:01 PM CDT
By Alicia Duplessis The Daily Iberian 

Frieda Lafont sat in her New Iberia townhouse this week looking at salvaged
photos from her home in Chalmette. The home was destroyed in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina.

Her 80th birthday was celebrated Thursday with a traditional Louisiana
seafood boil, a far different ritual than seen in her original domicile in
Germany.

Lafont said she was very fortunate to come out of the disaster with the
support of her family and friends. She evacuated in the early morning on the
day the hurricane made landfall. A neighbor who was tracking the storm
called and told her she couldn't sit this one out. She and her dog Lita came
to New Iberia before the storm and stayed with her in-laws, Mr. and Mrs.
Darrel Lafont, for nearly two months until she found her current residence,
where she plans to remain. "I went to my house in Chalmette, and I wanted to
cry because everything was gone," said Lafont. "The only thing that survived
was a picture of Jesus on the wall, and that was my sign that God had
watched over me and got me out of there just in the nick of time."

Frieda's home was one of many completely flooded by the storm surge. Not
only did she have water damage, but her belongings were covered in oil as a
result of spillage from an above ground oil tank at Murphy Oil overturned
due to rising floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 1,700 homes in an area of
about one square mile was affected.

Lafont first arrived in New Iberia in 1954 after meeting her late husband,
Howard Lafont of New Iberia, while he was stationed in Germany with the
United States Army. Not only did Howard return to his hometown with stories
of oversees adventure, he returned with a bride. She left Germany at age 22
to join her soon-to-be husband in America. Upon her arrival in Canada, the
two were married and moved to New Iberia.

She worked at the Rosary House until 1957, when she and her husband moved to
Chalmette so he could take a job at Kaiser Aluminum.

At the time of his death in 1999, he and Frieda Lafont had been married for
49 years.

"God has truly blessed me. I don't know how many more birthdays I will have,
but New Iberia was always good to me and I plan to stay here," said Lafont.