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A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, at 2 p.m. at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church for Lula Mae Nolan Matte, 91, who died Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 5:45 a.m. at Maison De Lafayette.
Mrs. Matte was a native of Crowley and longtime resident until her move to Lafayette a few years ago. She was the first 3rd Grade teacher at Redemptorist Catholic when Fr. Elmer Toups was Pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary and later served as Assistant Principal.
Fr. Marshall Boulet will officiate for the services. The family requests visiting hours Friday from 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. A rosary will be recited at 11 a.m. Friday. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Mrs. Matte is survived by one daughter, Cynthia M. “Cindy” Black and her husband David of Lafayette; two sons, Carl J. Matte and his wife Rose of Abbeville and Roland L. Matte and his wife Arlene of St. Martinville; 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Adolph “A. J.” Matte; her parents, Leo and Mae Stewart Nolan.
Pallbearers will be Carl J. Matte II, Roland L. Matte II, David E. Black III, Brennon J. Black, Hunter Matte and Bailey Miller. Honorary pallbearers will be Carl J. Matte, Roland L. Matte and Blake Matte.
The family requests memorial contributions be made to St. Michael School, 805 East Northern Avenue, Crowley, LA 70526.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Geesey-Ferguson Funeral Home, 301 North Avenue F, Crowley, LA 70526, 337-783-3313.

Cheryl Cockrell loves conducting estate sales in Vermilion Parish.
“There are so many unique places here,” she said.
Cockrell has found another one, in the form of the estate sale for James Fenimore Cooper IV, a direct descendent of James Fenimore Cooper, American Heritage writer, and William Cooper, founder of Cooperstown, New York.
The sale is at 8040 La. Hwy. 82, Youngsville LA and will take place:
• Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Oct. 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Mr. Jim moved to Louisiana from New York to work in the oil field,” Cockrell explained. “He eventually settled in Vermilion Parish on LA Highway 82 with his wife Edna Shaheen Cooper and raised a large family on the banks of the Vermilion River.”
This estate sale contains items from each generation of the Cooper family. James Fenimore Cooper, author of THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS and THE DEERSLAYER, was an avid collector of upstate New York Native American items. This sale contains a rare 18th century Iroquois burl double handled wooden bowl, an authentic Shaman “False Face Society” snapping turtle rattle, two first-edition James Fenimore Cooper books including THE DEERSLAYER and THE CHAINBEARERS.
“Plus we have many fine and early antiques that descended through the Fenimore Cooper family,” Cockrell said.
To see a few pictures and a video go to http://www.cockrellestatesales.com and click on “Upcoming Sales”
To receive an informational email about this fascinating sale go to the same site and click on “sign me up.”

Mastodons, those prehistoric animals that looked like fuzzy elephants, may have been among the earliest animals to graze the Cajun prairies, and there may have been more of them than we think.
The noted linguist William Read wrote in his 1931 study of Louisiana French that the place name Mamou is derived from mammouth, the French word for mammoth or mastodon. He refers to an early map that names the Prairie Mamou area of northwestern Acadiana as “Prairie Mammoth.” Also, it’s said that Carencro got its name from carrion (flesh-eating) crows that stripped the bones of one of the huge beasts. Martin Duralde, who was commandant at Opelousas from 1795 to 1803, seemed to believe that story.
He wrote about series of anthropological finds in a letter to the early naturalist William Dunbar in April 1802.
“About the year 1760, or a little after,” Duralde wrote, “chance led some person to the brink of a little bay, called Carencro, where there were heaps of bones. They were sound and of an enormous size. The person was struck with the circumstance, and made mention of it. The news spread, and everybody was curious to see them. Their length, their size, and above all, one or two Teeth … led the Spectators to judge, and it is well received Opinion, that this was the entire skeleton of an Elephant.”
He said the ribs were “perfectly distinguished,” as well as the vertebrae, the scapula, tibia and thigh bones.
“Mr. Peter Nezat, a man of strict veracity, who lived there and to whom the place belongs, has assured me that there was enough of the bones to load, if not two, at least one strong cart,” Duralde said. Nezat said he used one of the hip bones as an indigo press and that it was so heavy that it took a “very strong man” to handle it.
Six years earlier, Duralde continued, a man named Alexander Fontenot found on his property “an extraordinary tooth” that he believed had once been in an elephant’s mouth. And John Tesson, “a sincere and honest man” said that 15 years earlier he’d found the remains of “an enormous jaw bone” that weighed at least 25 pounds and that he supposed “could only belong to an Elephant.”
All of this prompted Professor W. M. Carpenter to survey the south Louisiana prairies during the summer of 1838. He reported his findings in a letter that was published in The American Journal of Science and the Arts in January 1839.
Carpenter described the excavation of a mastodon near Opelousas and suggested that others could be found.
“On all these prairies,” Carpenter wrote, “there are ponds which, on account of the impervious nature of the clay, contain water at all seasons. They are often situated on the highest part of the prairie … surrounded by … marsh plants. These ponds seem to be gradually filling up with vegetable matter, and are no doubt rich in fossils of the mastodon, and perhaps other animals.
“I visited three localities, at which remains of the mastodon have been found, and obtained some pieces. At one place, a mile distant from the village of Opelousas, an entire skull was disinterred, but it crumbled on exposure to the air, and nothing remains but the teeth; it must have been very large.”
The remains were found when stockmen tried to deepen the natural pond during a dry spell. About six feet down “they came to the head and some of the vertebrae, and then to a few ribs, all of which were in the natural position,” Carpenter reported. But then the dry spell ended and “rain drove them from the search,” he said. The rain filled the pond and covered the big bones.
There may be some old bones yet to be discovered. In May 1970, workmen digging next to the Vermilion River near the Evangeline Thruway in Lafayette turned up more mastodon bones.
UL (then USL) professor Jon Gibson and some of his archaeology students did some work at the site and found more bones and four large teeth, but their hope for a complete skeleton didn’t materialize. The rest of this Mammut americanus had either washed or rotted away.
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, Cajuns and Other Characters, is available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is pleased to announce that Abbeville General has earned 2021 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired recognition as a certified level 7.
The CHIME Digital Health Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively healthcare organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health and care in their communities.
“Digital transformation in healthcare has accelerated to an unprecedented level since 2020, and the next few years will bring a wave of innovation that empowers healthcare consumers and will astound the industry,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell. “The Digital Health Most Wired program recognizes the outstanding digital leaders who have paved the way for this imminent revolution in healthcare. Their trailblazing commitment to rapid transformation has set an example for the entire industry in how to pursue a leadership vision with determination, brilliant planning and courage to overcome all challenges.”
Chuck Guidry, BSN, MBA, Chief Information Officer at Abbeville General comments, “Healthcare organizations are continually striving to raise the standard of care through technology.  We are proud of our level 7 status and the validation acquired by such a prestigious organization as College of Healthcare Information Management Executive (CHIME).   Now, we turn our attention to maximizing our momentum in our advances and push the boundaries of becoming a level 10.  Our ultimate goal is to incorporate our infrastructure into safe and quality care for all who visits our doorstep.  It is an honor to be among those that perform at the highest levels and knowing our efforts will impact our patients for many years to come.  Our best efforts are on-going.”
A total of 36,674 organizations were represented in the 2021 Digital Health Most Wired program, which includes four separate surveys: acute, ambulatory, long-term care and international acute. The surveys assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in healthcare organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading.
Each participating organization received a customized benchmarking report, an overall score and scores for individual levels in eight segments: infrastructure; security; business/disaster recovery; administrative/supply chain; analytics/data management; interoperability/population health; patient engagement; and clinical quality/safety. Participants can use the report and scores to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Participants also received certification based on their overall performance, with level 10 being the highest.
This is the fourth year that CHIME has conducted the survey and overseen the program. In each successive year, CHIME has expanded the survey to capture more types of organizations that serve patients across the continuum of care. CHIME also continues to promote the program internationally to provide a global overview of digital health advancements.
As in past years, CHIME will publish an industry trends report based on Digital Health Most Wired responses from U.S. participants. The 2021 National Trends Report is scheduled to be released in October during CHIME21 in San Diego.
For more information about the CHIME Digital Health Most Wired program, please go here.

About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With nearly 3,400 members in 55 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate, exchange best practices, address professional development needs and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.