Inez Guidry turns 100 http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20150312/ARTICLES/150319853/1320?Title=Choupic-native-turns-a-100-years-old =================================== Choupic native turns 100 years old By Jacob Batte Staff Writer Published: Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 7:40 p.m. Last Modified: Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 7:40 p.m. Inez Guidry's family will tell you she hasn't gotten out much over the last century, but that didn't stop her from having having a birthday party that went late Tuesday night at the Thibodaux Health Care Center. This is wonderful, it's unbelievable. She gets to see all the grandkids, everybody,” her son Earl said. Normally parties and late night gatherings there are broken up around 8 p.m., but residents and Guidry's family members stayed until nearly 9 p.m. After all, you only turn 100 once. And even though she has dementia, many of her family said she hasn't changed much. “She's still quiet and she's still very caring,” said granddaughter Barbara Becnel. Guidry raised Becnel as well as her four siblings, she said. “She's like my mother,” she said. “She always took care of a lot of people and she never complained. She really welcomed it,” she said. Described as a quiet but caring mother and grandmother, the Choupic native turned 100 on Tuesday and the event was celebrated by much of her family and other residents of the health care center with local musician Waylon Thibodeaux performing. Her family described the event as “a big family reunion.” Despite her reserved nature, Guidry would display a vibrant personality from time to time. During Mardi Gras, she would use a broom to chase away a group of young men known by tradition as the Mardi Gras, who would whip young children on the popular holiday. “We always knew we were safe when she had that broom,” said her granddaughter, Tammy Lasserre. At the nursing home, she has become known for her dancing. “When she got there she really took to Cajun music. She used to shake her legs with her walker, dancing,” Becnel said. Guidry wasn't like “all the other ladies in Choupic,” her nephew Bennie Percle said. In the early- to mid-20th century, most women in Choupic would work out in the field, he said, but Inez's husband, Lolless, a newcomer to the region, didn't want that. “He didn't want her to work in the fields, he wanted her to work in the house,” Percle said. “She was always friendly, real nice to me.” She had a flower bed and a small garden, her family said. Her husband was a farmer, who also worked as a cook offshore, meaning she was often left alone raising her kids and grandkids. “Momma was a hard working lady. I can remember I was in the sixth or fifth grade. She was cleaning shallots and she got bit by a black widow. That was the only time she's ever been to a hospital in her life,” Earl said. “She was a wonderful, good momma.” Guidry liked to cook, her family said. Chicken and sausage gumbo, seafood gumbo and stews were staples at the Guidry dinner table. She would always serve her husband, children and grandchildren before she would serve herself. She and Lolless had three children. Mary Alice, born in Algiers, then Earl and Sterling, born in Thibodaux. A devout Catholic, Guidry rarely missed Sunday services at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Chackbay. “She never had no problem with nobody,” Earl said. Staff Writer Jacob Batte can be reached at 448-7635 [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @ja_batte .