Richard Montegut

Mr. Richard. He is a character. An elderly black man who doesn’t like to mingle with others, Mr. Richard was the first person that I had a conversation with at St. Margaret’s Daughters. April, the activities director, told us that our job was to try to convince the resident’s to come down to the garden. The first day Mollie and I talked to Mr. Richard he was very emphatic.  “I don’t like to be with those people. Everyone wants to know you’re business. I’ve done fine on my own, and I like it this way.”  Still, he was only too happy to talk to Mollie and I. He told us stories of being evacuated to North Carolina-the only time he’d ever been on airplane- and how none of the food was as good up there- until he found the Golden Corral. Like many of the New Orleanians we’ve met, he was incredibly gruff and quick to turn us away, but once he started talking, he wouldn’t stop! He told us about his favorite car that was stolen from him, about his different job, about times when he couldn’t sit down on the bus because of the color of his skin, about the nice clothes he would wear to win over the ladies, and the correct way to cook red beans and rice. His face really lit up while he was telling us about his favorite musicians- Professor Longhair and Alan Toussien, neither of who, he explained, could read a note of music. However, when ten o’clock rolled around, time to go to the garden, he bid us goodbye and still refused to go outside.

That night, I looked up the artists that he had told us about and bought a couple of songs by Professor Longhair. When Mollie and I went back to see Mr. Richard, I tried to bribe him to come down to the garden by telling him that I had music for him to listen to when we came down. I failed. He still refused to come down to the garden, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play him the music. I went ahead and played him the music. The look on his face as he listened to Professor Longhair sing “Red beans” was priceless- by far the most rewarding experience of the trip. I was reminded just how much the culture of the city means to its citizens. I am glad that I was able to use my knowledge of the city and its musical culture to brighten Mr. Richard’s day.