Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006 - (Page 48)

HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION Don Fenner lived for years on the streets of New Orleans keeping detailed notebooks of his activities, like these two for June and July 1994. ——————— —————— Sweet dreams in old New Orleans —————— ————— —————— —————— ————— ————— ———— ———— Don Fenner’s journals and personal belongings shed light on life on the streets “S ometime after midnight, woken up by a downpour — soaked to skin, Canon Bench — Decatur — St. Ann — Chartres, where I got a $1 gift. Then, after mid-nite, Chartres — St. Peter — Bourbon St. — Iberville — Royal — St. Peter — Chartres and then to collapse at day sleeping spot.” A typical night in New Orleans as noted in the November 1992 journal of Don Fenner. He had been living this way, homeless in New Orleans, for nearly five years, but he was once a respected oceanographer with the Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity (NORDA) at the Stennis Space Center, owned his own home, and was cherished by many as a friend and colleague. According to Margo Frommeyer, one of his co-workers at NORDA, it was about 1981 when he went missing and was absent from work. He was located at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Frommeyer said Fenner was suffering from severe head trauma, the result of a mugging. His friends and family came to help in his convalescence, but his injuries brought about severe mood swings, and his condition worsened, leading to his alienation from many of those who cared about him, and the eventual loss of his job. He took his pension money in a lump sum, and lived on this for a few years, but unable to hold a job, he was soon broke, and lost his home. By 1987 he was living on the street in downtown New Orleans. John Lasseigne, who was working as a waiter at Arnaud’s restaurant at the time, encountered Don frequently. They would talk about the daily news, politics, religion and other topics. John would help him when he could, even giving him money once for transportation to Chicago or Seattle where Don had family members, but Don never left. John eventually moved on to attend law school, and then to study for the priesthood, and his mother Faye Lasseigne, who lived in the French Quarter, extended her friendship to Don. According to Faye, each morning around 6 or 7 a.m., he would pass by her apartment while she was watering her plants on her balcony. Don would often shout up to her, which caused some problems with the neighbors. 48 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Winter 2005-06

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005 Contents Letters Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina: “It’s time somebody woke us us up.” Missing New Orleans On Perilous Ground The Buildings of Louisiana (Architectural History by Karen Kingsley) Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums Back to New Orleans Diary of a Displaced Person Jazz Notes (Music History by Bruce Raeburn) Cradle of the Stars The Terrible and the Brave Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by James Lee Burke)

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

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