The oldest known woman living in Calcasieu Parish is 105-year-old Trudy Mae Thomas. Thomas is a resident of Landmark of Lake Charles, and has been there for the last 11 years. She was in great health but becoming increasingly forgetful.

“Aren’t we all,” said her niece, Dorothy Bellard, Lake Charles.  Bellard niece Elizabeth Fuselier, Lake Charles, worried about her living alone.

The nieces agreed that Thomas might not have the memory she once did, but she still enjoys a good laugh and telling others about pranks from the past. Her laugh was long and down deep, maybe that’s what keeps her looking much younger than her years.

She was born near Welsh to Victorian White and Gabriel Galien in 1918. She never had any children of her own, but Bellard remembers staying summers with her.

Her long life cannot be attributed to a healthy lifestyle. Thomas smoked cigarettes most of her life.

She was a giving person. Her nieces remember occasions when she would  load down her Lincoln with groceries and clothing to bring to family and friends.

Landmark takes good care of Thomas, according to Fuselier. However,  the main thing on Thomas’ mind during the day of the interview was getting back to her home in Port Arthur.

“Her home was demolished years ago,” Fuselier said. “She lived with my husband and I for ten years before coming here.” Fuselier is owner of Leonard’s Food Quarters.

Thomas, like the Fusiliers, loved to cook. Dinners included Southern favorites and she was known for her pies.

As focused as Thomas was on going home to a house that no longer existed, two things reclaimed her interest in and comments about the present, her great, great, great nephew and niece.