A family that is solid as a Rock
15th June 2016 · 0 Comments
By C.C. Campbell-Rock
Contributing Writer
Edith, Doris, Helen and Audrey Rock hadn’t seen each other in four years. Collectively, they’ve lived a total of 360 years. Individually, they are fit and fabulous: Edith 93, Doris, 91, Helen, 89, and Audrey, 87. Their only other sibling, a brother, Raymond Rock, II, died from injuries sustained in a car accident in the ‘70s.
As all senior citizens recognize, time is of essence and every moment precious, given life expectancy rates. “I got to thinking, ‘We are four sisters, and we’re all up in age. It would be nice to get together and reminisce,” explains Doris. So, the sisters Rock came together from the east, west, and south to re-live and renew their birth bonds and enjoy each other’s company.
They attribute their longevity to “good genes” and “hard work.”
All four sisters have outlived their husbands and the national life expectancy rate for people in the U.S. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the average life expectancy for all persons was 78.8 years. These African-American sisters (or Creoles as they were characterized three quarters of a century ago), beat the most recent average life expectancy rates for both Blacks and whites. In 2014, the CDC expected white males to live to 76.7 years; white females, 81.4 years; Black males, 72.5 years and Black females, 78.4 years.
Diminutive in size, none stands over 5’2”, these New Orleans born women are the archetypical New Orleans ladies: Cultured with good manners, yeah, tolerant of foolishness, no.
The Rock sisters were born in the seventh-ward of New Orleans to Edith Wooden Rocque and Raymond Rocque, Sr. The sisters use the English version ‘Rock’; however. Louisiana Vital Statistics Birth Records show that their father, Raymond Rocque was born on October 23, 1900 to Henry Rocque and Ophelia Dusset.
The seventh ward was home to many Creole families. From a historical point of view, the term Creole is defined as anyone who could trace their ancestral roots to the beginning of the Louisiana colony. A more nuanced definition of Creole emerged in New Orleans’ African-American community: Creoles are native New Orleanians of mixed ancestry, the progeny of French or Spanish settlers, who intermarried or produced offspring with Africans and/or First nation people. The Oxford Dictionaries online came closest to the community’s definition. It defines Creole as “A person of mixed European and black descent, especially in the Caribbean.”
Doris flew in from New Jersey, Audrey from San Pedro and Edith came from New Orleans, and they all met at Helen’s home in Vacherie, Louisiana on May 9, 2016.
As they did, when they got together, the sisters laughed, reminisced, ate good food and drank a little wine. “We used to say, ‘We had a little bottle,’” said Helen of the red or white wine imbibed with the rich recipes of creole cuisine they prepared. They gathered in Helen’s kitchen for a tradition Creole breakfast of smothered liver and grits.
Still vibrant and beautiful, the sisters attribute their longevity to “good genes and healthy living,” says Helen; “hard work and appreciating what you have,” added Doris. “We drank our little bottle but we were never heavy drinkers and we didn’t smoke,” Helen laughed.
All four sisters have outlived their husbands. And while the sisters have enjoyed long lives, beautiful children and lengthy marriages, as their contemporary Langston Hughes once wrote, “Life ain’t been no crystal stair,” for the Rock sisters, either. Edith and Helen have lost children, survived severe illnesses, and they are still standing.
Three of the sisters were born a few years before the Great Depression and the youngest, the same year as the stock market crash but they survived it. It was a time when people stood in soup lines, lost their fortunes and jobs, women who went to work, and families struggled to make ends meet.
Helen and Doris said they grew up poor. But compared to others in the Great Depression, they actually lived a middle class life. Their father Raymond, “a master contractor and carpenter,” says Edith, built the family’s original two-bedroom home with his own hands. Several bedrooms and another bathroom was added later. “Three generations grew up on Pauger Street,” Doris adds.
“Our mother worked at a store, when we were very little,” Helen explains. “Then she worked at a laundry and at shrimp factory on Michoud. Our father was married to mother but he was a wanderer. “Wandering” was fairly prevalent several decades after the Civil War. Some men had two families; a practice born during slavery, when the master had a wife in the big house and a concubine in the field house. However much he wandered, though, Raymond Rocque continued to put food on his family’s table. He was an avid hunter and fisherman. He made sure his family never saw a hungry day.
“My Mama was the backbone,” of the family, adds Edith. “She worked for the church. She used to cook every day for the nuns.” Doris’ children served as Eucharistic ministers, bringing communion to the sick and shut-in parishioners. A couple of family members served as altar boys. Doris remembers the family’s “cowan parties,” which were held to celebrate first communions. Cowan or turtle soup was a delicacy in Creole households. The sisters also recall throwing “penny parties” to raise money and just partying among themselves.
The girls attended Valena C. Jones Elementary School, Albert Wicker Jr. High School and McDonogh #35 High School. “Mother was determined that you would go to school,” Edith relates.
Like many of African heritage, the girls remember the horrors of growing up during Jim Crow. “We had to climb up the back steps to go see a movie. We couldn’t go through the front door,” Audrey remembers. “We had to sit upstairs. We couldn’t use the bathroom, unless we used the one on the side for colored. I’ve always been true to myself. I considered myself black but we were never called black we were called Creoles,” Helen adds.
“Usually by us being fair, we didn’t have a problem. No one knew. If you were fair-skinned enough, you could go as white,” says Helen, who worked at the Port of Embarkation (now the old Navy yard). Doris got a job at the McCrory’s candy counter on Canal Street. They thought she was white, too. Their brother, Raymond Rocque, II lived as white, they said. Helen recalls that while working at the Veteran’s Hospital with a school friend, they would catch the bus and choose to stand, instead of sitting behind the screens.
Doris and Edith both were teen brides, 16 and 15 years old, respectively, as was the tradition for many girls in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Edith went on to attend Straight Business College. She moved to Chicago with her husband and became a bookkeeper for Spiegel’s Mail Order Company. Back then, mail order catalogs were all the rage and Spiegel’s was the largest and most popular of the catalogs.
Doris became an entrepreneur. She owned a barroom on the corner of North Claiborne and Esplanade Avenue. “We lived over the bar,” Doris says of her young family. She smiles as she remembers that the world-renowned musician, Antoine “Fats” Domino, was a regular at Dot’s Lounge. She talked about the popularity of Dot’s Friday Specials: “set-ups,” a pint of liquor, soft drink, and a bowl of ice for one price, which kept regulars at Dot’s for hours of jukebox music, fun and relaxation. After closing the barroom, Doris and her mother invested in a delicatessen. “I cook just like my mama,” Doris laughs.
Audrey and Helen graduated from Tuskegee Institute. Audrey won a scholarship to the prestigious school, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in early education. Helen had a stroke at 18 years old. Once recovered, she wanted to attend Dillard University. But she remembers getting a scholarship to Tuskegee, through Mildred Balthazar, a Tuskegee alumnae and Doris’ friend. Helen went on to earn a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing from Tuskegee.
The sisters were there when the Tuskegee Airmen were making history, as the first African Americans to pilot airplanes in WWII for the U.S. Air Force. “Tuskegee was such a good school, says Helen. Doris remembers “taking the train to bring a crown to Audrey, who was the homecoming queen.” Audrey is also a founding member of the Delta Theta Pi sorority.
After graduating from Tuskegee, Helen went to California to care for Audrey, who had contracted sarcoidosis. She returned to Louisiana, married Emile Ricard Jr., and moved to Vacherie, LA, where they reared five children: Lori, Shaun, Cheryl, Mark, and Avis. They were married for 35 years, until Emile passed away. Helen has six grandchildren and two great-grands.
Audrey married Fred Kennedy and reared four children in southern California: Michael, Roderick, Katherine, and Karen. They celebrated 60 years together, before Fred’s death. Audrey has five grandchildren. “Audrey got a kiss from President Obama at a California fundraiser,” Doris teased.
Edith, the eldest sister, says she “loves children.” She married Charles Williams and Rollin Reaves. She bore six children. Merlin and Deanna are deceased but Kerry, Norma, Linda and Gregory are still very close to their mother. Edith has 20 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grands.
Doris had three husbands but only claims two, Emanuel Maire and Daniel Olsen. Doris has four children, Emanuel Jr., Brent, Eric, and Vanessa; and 11 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and two grandchildren.
The sisters also helped their mother rear their brother’s children.
“Life wasn’t always easy,” Edith.
“By this time, you really forget about the hard times. Life goes by so fast. It’s just wonderful to be alive and to be with family,” Audrey adds.
“We came up the hard way but I believe in prayers. When I get depressed, I ask God to help me,” says Doris. The greatest life lesson is to “be kind, be good, be polite, do for others and God will always bless you.”
“Treat people like you want to be treated,” concludes Edith. “We got that from Mother.”
This article originally published in the June 13, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
