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Gulf Coast Bank Promotes Brooke Pridgen
to Assistant Vice President/Auditor

Brooke Pridgen, CCBIA has been promoted to Assistant Vice President/Auditor. Brooke has worked at Gulf Coast Bank for 11 years and in banking for 19 years. She started in banking as an assistant branch manager. During her career with Gulf Coast Bank she worked in loan operations, specializing in loan review for 9 years. Her latest and current role is Auditor. During her career she has received the distinctions of NAGGL Fundamental Lender (SBA) and Certified Community Bank Internal Auditor. Brooke is a graduate of Delcambre High School and received her associate degree from Louisiana Technical College in Accounting. Brooke expressed, “I am very excited for this opportunity to grow my career at a locally owned company in Vermilion Parish.”

Gulf Coast Bank Promotes Shannon
Motty to Assistant Vice President

Shannon Motty has been promoted to Assistant Vice President. She currently serves as Commercial Loan Portfolio Manager. In her role she oversees Gulf Coast Bank’s loan processors and loan assistants to maintain clear communication and ensure a streamlined experience for customers. Previously Shannon served as Loan Assistant and Processor. Before joining the Bank, Shannon was a Store Owner, Accounting/Account Representative, and served as an Executive and Legal Assistant. Shannon is a graduate of Abbeville High School and Southern Technical College with an associate degree in legal office administration and paralegal certification. “I am humbled and truly grateful for this wonderful opportunity and foresee a future full of possibility and excitement. I look forward to the growth of my career with a business in my hometown, as I continue to work hard to maintain the confidence and trust of leadership, my peers, and our customers. Thus far, it has been a pleasure to serve our customers, create strong relationships, and be a part of community efforts with the bank. I am proud to be a part of Gulf Coast Bank, and I look forward to many more years as a team member!” Shannon expressed.

Gulf Coast Bank Promotes Kelly
Brasseaux to Security/Fraud Officer

Kelly Brasseaux, CCBSO has been promoted to Security/Fraud Officer. She has successfully met the requirements of the ICBA Community Bank Security Officer certification program and was designated a Certified Community Bank Security Officer (CCBSO). Her previous role at the Bank was Security & Fraud Assistant. Her 17 years of experience in the banking industry ranges from loan operations to electronic banking and fraud. She has eagerly stepped into this role to help protect customers, employees, and the organization. Kelly graduated from Westgate High School in New Iberia and then received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. “I am excited to be a part of the Gulf Coast Bank team because from day one, everyone has been so kind and respectful. I am grateful for the opportunity to grow with the bank and accomplish great things,” Kelly stated.

Gulf Coast Bank Promotes Kayla
Stoulig to Human Resource Manager

Kayla Stoulig, SHRM-CP has been promoted to Human Resource Manager. Kayla joined Gulf Coast Bank as a talent acquisition specialist, bringing extensive recruitment and human resources experience with her. She has since eagerly stepped into her new role to help support the organization, its employees, and strategic goals. She recently met the requirements of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) certification. Kayla is a graduate of Lafayette High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts at UL Lafayette. “I am thrilled and excited for the opportunity to work in this new capacity for a locally owned business that puts people and service at the forefront of every initiative,” Kayla said. “I feel that my strong background in HR and Talent Acquisition has truly primed me to take on this role as a strategic business partner for the bank, and I’m looking forward to our continued success and growth.”

If you read enough stuff that was written a good while ago, you will eventually run across the claim that Bayou Teche was named for Edward Teach, the infamous pirate better known as Blackbeard. I most recently came across it in an 1868 piece in the New Orleans Crescent describing the discovery of salt at Avery Island, which was then called Petite Anse Island, for its little wooded coves.
The unidentified writer claims that the island “was inhabited at an early period in the history of Louisiana … when Teach (or Black Beard, as he was called), the celebrated pirate traded up Bayou Teche (which was named after him}. … It was well known and inhabited by quite a number of persons — fishermen, smugglers, and pirates.”
A version of that story had appeared in the Opelousas Courier in 1859, claiming that “the noted pirate … is said to have had a rendezvous on Berwick’s Bay.”
I wouldn’t wager the ranch on the truth of either of those stories.
To begin with, it is unlikely that Blackbeard ever heard of Bayou Teche, let alone traded on it. He was notorious in the West Indies and lower Atlantic Coast, not the Gulf of Mexico. Second, he was killed in North Carolina in 1718, which was about 50 years before the Acadians began to settle around St. Martinville (1765). There would have been precious few people to trade with.
The historian George R. Stewart, who was a founding member of the American Name Society and authored books such as Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (1945), theorized that “Teche” is, “probably a French rendering of Deutsch, the name by which the German colonists of the area would have named their stream.”
The problem I have with that is that the Germans who came earliest to Louisiana lived on the Mississippi River (mostly at or near Des Allemands), and didn’t come in any large numbers to the Teche country early enough to give it a name.
Local historian Shane Bernard agrees with that assessment in his history of the bayou (Teche: A History of Louisiana’s Most Famous Bayou, University Press of Mississippi, 2016). “The numbers of Germans living on the Teche was always negligible,” he points out. He does note that an early name for the Teche community of Patterson was Dutch Settlement, but that “Patterson’s Dutch founders did not arrive on the bayou until the early 1800s, after the waterway’s name had been firmly established.”
I like the hypothesis that Teche comes from “tenche”, a Chitimacha word meaning “snake.” The Chitimacha legend that is still told goes like this:
“Many years ago, in the days of the Tribe’s strength, there was a huge and venomous snake. This snake was so large, and so long, that its size was not measured in feet, but in miles. This enormous snake had been an enemy of the Chitimacha for many years, because of its destruction to many of their ways of life. One day, the Chitimacha chief called together his warriors, and had them prepare themselves for a battle with their enemy. In those days, there were no guns that could be used to kill this snake. All they had were clubs and bows and arrows, with arrowheads made of large bones from the garfish.
“Of course, a snake over ten miles long could not be instantly killed. The warriors fought courageously to kill the enemy, but the snake fought just as hard to survive. As the beast turned and twisted in the last few days of a slow death, it broadened, curved and deepened the place wherein his huge body lay. The Bayou Teche is proof of the exact position into which this enemy placed himself when overcome by the Chitimacha warriors.”
Bernard has a problem with that because the Chitimacha words for “snake bayou” do not sound like “Teche.” He has two alternate theories about the origin of the name, both of which he admits “should be viewed with skepticism” because neither can be proven.
He suggests that the name may have indeed come from the Chitimacha, but not for its word for snake. He says the word for “another wiggling creature,” the worm, is “cheesh,” which sounds more like Teche.
His other theory is that the name comes from the Caddo Indian word for “friend,” as interpreted by Spanish missionaries who came into the area from Texas.
I still like the snake story. I don’t think that many missionaries came from Texas to the Teche country, and I doubt that any tale (and the resulting bayou name) would be kept alive for generation after generation if it was about a lowly worm, even if it was a really big one.
But I also agree with Bernard’s conclusion that there is no definite and fully convincing record, and that “barring discovery of a ‘smoking gun’ document, we may never know the actual origin of the word Teche.”
That’s true, but I am willing to bet that if such a document is ever found it will have nothing to do with Blackbeard.
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

November 16, 1944 ~ July 21, 2023

“Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure. You are missed beyond words and loved beyond measure.” Unknown Author

ABBEVILLE — Memorial services will be held at 12:30 PM on Friday, July 28, 2023 at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville honoring the life of Donald James Vidalier, 78, who died Friday, July 21, 2023 at his residence. Deacon William “Billy” Vincent officiating the services.
Beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend. He will be greatly missed for his sense of humor and proverbial wise sayings, or as we called them “papa-isms.” 
He is survived by his daughter, Katherine V. Werner and her husband, Sean of North Dakota; five grandchildren, Alexis Vidalier, Sophia Vidalier, Madison Werner, Dylan Werner, and Roen Werner; three great-grandchildren, Joshua Breaux, Jr., Ashlyn Stelly, and Jaxson Stelly; and sister, Cena Mae Zaunbrecher of Gueydan.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Patsy Marceaux Vidalier; parents, Ferdinand Vidalier and the former Agnes Rung; and daughter, Michelle Vidalier.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville, 209 S. St. Charles St., on Friday, July 28, 2023 from 10:00 AM until time of service.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.

According to Sheriff Mike Couvillon, in the early morning hours on Monday, patrol deputies responded to a complaint of a vehicle burglary in progress in a subdivision near the Abbeville Airport.
The investigation led deputies, VPSO K9, Criminal Investigations Division and Narcotics investigators to a nearby motel where numerous juveniles and two adults were detained.
During initial interviews, it was determined that two of the three juveniles were the suspects in the attempted burglary.
It was also determined that sexual activity had taken place between an adult and a juvenile victim within the group. Illicit drugs were also found during the investigation along with several stolen firearms.
The investigation resulted in an arrest warrant being obtained for Jacorlin Levy (B/M, D.O.B. 09-16-2003) from Opelousas, for one count of Felony Carnal Knowledge of a Juvenile and one count of Indecent Behavior of a Juvenile.
The bond has been set at $15,000.
The three male juveniles were also arrested for Illegal Possession of a Stolen Firearm, two of which were also charged with two counts of simple burglary. They were subsequently released to the custody of their parents.
A 16-year-old female was also arrested on a verified complaint out of Lafayette and turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
The investigation is on-going with further charges pending.