[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish civic activist Alberta Retif Lewis dies

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish civic activist Alberta Retif Lewis dies

Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 6:30 PM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

Alberta Retif Lewis, a civic activist in St. Bernard Parish and the woman
behind Haydel's Bakery's collectible porcelain king cake dolls, died Sunday
of cancer at the River Region Hospice in River Ridge. She was 79.

A longtime St. Bernard Parish resident, Mrs. Lewis was well-known for
preservation and civic activism and for owning and renovating the Sebastopol
Plantation along with her family. She was a member of the St. Bernard Parish
Tourist Commission, the St. Bernard Battered Women's Program and the Rotary
Club of St. Bernard, and was a published author and a certified herbalist
who practiced homeopathics, said her son, Mike Meitin.

Born in the Lower 9th Ward in 1923, she attended Tulane University and was a
member of and rider in the first women's Carnival krewe, the Krewe of Venus.
And for the past 22 king cake seasons, Mrs. Lewis, a ceramic artist,
designed the porcelain king cake dolls that reflected local Carnival
traditions.

She told The Times-Picayune for a story last year that sometime around 1990
a friend introduced her to the Haydels, who were interested in "re-creating
the little bisque dolls that used to be the cakes back in the '20s and
'30s."

And from then on, she carefully researched the inch-and-a-half-tall Mardi
Gras-themed cake favors. First came a king, then a queen, then a flambeau
carrier. Other designs over the years ranged from a Lucky Dog dealer to the
Roman candy wagon to a FEMA trailer.

Last season, three dolls commemorated the Saints' 2010 Super Bowl victory.
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans displays a collection
of Lewis' dolls, each coming with a history of the figure and its relevance
to local culture. The museum also has featured one of her ceramic oyster
reproductions, which were used in Oysters Rockefeller demonstrations at the
1964 World's Fair in New York.

Along with her husband, Jim Lewis, and son, Mrs. Lewis breathed new life
into the Sebastopol plantation in eastern St. Bernard. The elegantly
furnished antebellum home dates to the 1830s and is one of the oldest
buildings in the parish.

Her husband died in 2008.

After Hurricane Katrina, Mrs. Lewis relocated to her home in Arabi, which
was closer to her children, Meitin said on Monday.

Survivors include two sons, Mike and Charles Meitin; a daughter, Suzan
Higgs; a sister, Anna Esler; three grandchildren; and three
great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the
Sebastopol Plantation, 721 Bayou Road in Poydras.

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