The Calcasieu Parish Sulphur Regional Library has been bringing the community together since 1944. For the past month alone it’s been the place to be for community meetings, story time, writing workshops, crafts, jigsaw puzzles, Daddy Daughter Princess Ball, Sulphur Book Club, Legos and teen time.  Oh, and folks check out books there too.

On Friday, the Sulphur LIbrary offered a double-the-nostalgia event that drew all ages while celebrating in true Golden Tornado spirit. The public and Sulphur High School Alumni were invited to enjoy a collection of historic SHS yearbooks, share cherished memories, celebrate the library’s 80th anniversary, and watch the 2024 SHS homecoming parade.

“People started lining up for the parade at 5:30 this morning,” Joe Andrepont said. (The parade rolled at 2 p.m.) Andrepont is public and governmental affairs director for Westlake Corp. He’s a Calcasieu Parish Police Juror and a Sulphur High School Graduate.      

“I think one of the things that unites this community is one high school,” he said, “and the reason why I say that is I know some of my dad’s classmates. He’s 89 now. My brother is ten years younger than me. I know some of his classmates.”

Andrepont’s wife is a ‘77 SHS graduate. His children graduated in 2003, 2004 and 2008.His oldest grandson will graduate in 2027.

The high school, it’s a thread that runs through and unites the Sulphur community,” he said. Our libraries have always been a community staple.”

A couple of the folks at the homecoming/80th anniversary event remember going to the library close to the school, an area now used by the wrestling team. Some recalled checking out books long before the popularity of the computer. The book borrower – and back then it was only books checked out from the library – would write his name on the card found in a card holder pasted to the inside back cover of the book – and hand it over to the librarian.

A news clipping dated 1944 in a library scrapbook on display at the event noted that “the first library building in Sulphur was a former cafe,” which was often mistaken for a bar because of a beer sign that was left over from former days.”

Books, band and a coach

Howie Simon is a Sulphur Library employee and a 1981 Sulphur High School graduate. When he left Sulphur and lived in Los Angeles for over 30 years, he worked in the entertainment and public relations industry including Warner Brothers, but still kept a “foot in Sulphur.”

When he came back, he didn’t think his skills would transfer as well as they have to his new gig, but the SHS graduate who meets with about 40 or 50 classmates at least once a month continues to weave that thread that promotes connection.

If Simon had to recommend one nonfiction book that would entertain and make an impression it would be Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a beautiful story of overcoming and resilience.

“I think maybe we’ve come full circle,” he said. “We’ve gone through a lot as a country.”

 New library associate and 1993 SHS graduate Kerrie Warren’s most fond memories of high school were the band. She played the trumpet and the band director was Jerry Reed.  Frank Koonce was also in the band, but not the marching band, and he didn’t frequent libraries, he said. One of his fond memories of high school was tossing the ball back and forth with the quarterback and other passers even though he was sidelined. He said he had Coach Shannon Suarez to thank for that.     

 “When I was 13, I played for LeBlanc,” he said. “I was supposed to play that night and as I was getting ready, about to put my shoes on, I became paralyzed from the waist down.”   

LeBlanc said that the paralysis was probably due to an injury he sustained when he was five years old. Today he maneuvers steadily with braces – but he’s still not into books.    

As soon as Sulphur Mayor Mike Danhay came in, he strode over to the vast collection of Sulphur High School yearbooks and pulled the 1976 volume. On its cover was a horse shoe and horses design.

The reason it’s designed like this is because that was the first year that Sulphur began hosting the Louisiana State High School Rodeo Championship, Danahay said.     

Posted on the wall of the meeting room for the reading enjoyment of homecoming celebrators and library 80th anniversary revelers were the most popular books through the decades. At the top of the 40s list were books that explored the dangers of government overreach, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. Catcher in the Rye, banned many times since its publication, was hot in the ‘50s. To Kill a Mockingbird flew off shelves in the ‘60s.  In the 70s, it was The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Handmaid’s Tale in the ‘80s, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the ‘90s, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in 2000 and The Fault in Our Stars in 2010. Don’t just visit the library to find out  the #1 pick in 2020. Go to the library and check it out.