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PAGE 2 | DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

L’Observateurpublishers

WALLACELASSEIGNE

JOSEPHLUCIA JR.

J KENNON

ELLEN ISHMAEL

JOHN WALKER

JOSPEHLUCIA SR.

MIKE QUINN

DAVIDMARLOWE

KEVIN CHIRI

SANDYCUNNINGHAM

BY KIMBERLY HOPSONL’OBSERVATEUR

RESERVE - “I was bornNov. 20, 1932. Oooh, that‘32’ doesn’t sound verygood,” said Gloria Trichejokingly.

Gloria Mabile Triche is80 years old, but still spry.Triche’s baby blues are asbright as the eyes ofsomeone a quarter of herage. Her personality isequally exuberant. Tricheis proud to say that shehas lived this long and isonly a little self-consciousabout giving away herbirth year.

She has many fondmemories of “the goodold days” in St. John theBaptist Parish, but Tricheis most proud to havebeen a witness to theearly days of L’Observ-ateur’s history. As thegranddaughter of L’Ob-servateur founder Wal-lace Lasseigne, she isthankful she has lived tosee the paper’s most re-cent milestone — L’Ob-servateur made a centuryof publishing last week.Triche said that even nowshe gets a lump in herthroat whenever she seesthe paper in stores. It’ssafe to say that she has abit of a soft spot for hergrandfather’s creation.

“I thought I’d never seethe day,” she said, wistful-ly. “This is the last hoo-rah. After I’m gone, that’sit.”

L’Observateur, whichlocals lovingly refer to as“the Lobster,” has come a

long way from its humblebeginnings as a tiny,three-column paper, but itis still what would be con-sidered a small operationby most newspaper stan-dards, a fact that keepsthe paper close to thecommunity it serves. Itsfounder, Wallace Las-seigne, studied journal-ism at Ruston. He had 13years of experience as aprinter before startingthe publication; nineyears from working at hisfather’s French-languagepaper, Le Meschacebe,and four years of runninghis own job-press shop.Triche said Wallace Las-seigne’s father, CharlesLasseigne, sold Le Mes-chacebe in 1909 becausehe didn’t think his son

would ever make any-thing of it.

Wallace Lasseigne hadthe idea to start his ownpaper because he was fedup with the corruption inhis local government sys-tem, but he was not in anyposition to do financially.Even with the job-shop,he was barely makingends meet. With persever-ance, Lasseigne somehowmanaged to scrapeenough money togetherto make it happen.

The first issue of L’Ob-servateur was printed ona hand-crank press inJanuary 1913. The paperwas published in bothFrench and English be-cause many St. John Par-ish residents spokeFrench at the time. With

its inception, Lasseignehoped to establish a quali-ty publication with a rep-utation for integrity. Atsome point during L’Ob-servateur’s first year incirculation, Lasseignewrote:

“An honest and uprightnewspaper is always thepeople’s best friend, nomatter how small it maybe, it will dig up the facts,expose corruption andtell the people when theyare being bled unneces-sarily by politicians.”

L’Observateur becameknown for its scathingbut honest political ex-posés, which were writtenby Lasseigne under a penname. Lasseigne earned

100 years strongL’Observateur sees many changesduring first century of existence

SEE CENTURY, PAGE 3

The first offices for L’Observateur were located in this Reserve structure.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013 | DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS | PAGE 3

In case of emergency

St. Charles Hospital has grown over the yearsand has had to remodel a few times to keep upwith modern demands. Above, the hospital’sformer emergency room entrance was recentlyremodeled into the sleeker and more user-friendly entrance seen below.

the respect of the com-munity with his writ-ings but also some gar-nered some negativeattention from the pub-lic figures that he wroteabout. During his car-eer, he was arrested ahandful of times for li-bel. Another of his de-scendants, George Nas-sar, said Lasseigne wasonce locked in a hot boxby Huey Long’s hench-men because of some ofhis writings. Even so,L’Observateur grew itsreadership and becamea staple of the St. JohnParish community.

Lasseigne had begungrooming his son, Lar-ry, to take his place as

editor when he retired.Young Larry had re-ceived his education injournalism at Louis-iana State University.He had even beentapped to take over thesports editor position atthe school’s newspaper,The Reveille, but hisschooling was cut shortwhen he was called towar. Larry Lasseignewas killed in Germanyin 1945.

Crushed by the deathof his young son, Las-seigne sold L’Observ-ateur to Joseph A. Lu-cia Sr., Milton J. Landryand Arthur J. Loque in1949. He experienced amixture of emotionsupon his retirement. Hefelt pleasure and pridein knowing that a news-paper he built with hisown hands was still incirculation, but also anaching sadness inknowing that his origi-nal plans for successionwould never be realized

because of the death ofhis son.

“And you know, heturned the key out ofthe shop, and he neverwent back,” saidTriche, recalling hergrandfather’s retire-ment. “My motherwould say, ‘Why don’tyou go and talk to theguys?’ And he said‘Look, it’s a year since Ileft out of the big house,and I’m never goingback.’”

Wallace Lasseignedied in 1966 at the age of88.

L’Observateur waseventually sold to Ari-zona-based newspapercompany Wick Com-munications, whichstill owns the papertoday. It is now part ofthe PontchartrainNewspaper group,which also includes theBogalusa Daily Newsand the St. TammanyNews.

The legacy of quality

journalism that Las-seigne established con-tinued through hisdaughter, Leslie MaeMabile. Mabile workedas a typesetter for morethan 30 years under herfather and later underthe new owner’s super-vision. L’Observateurstill retains some Las-seigne lineage eventoday — Gloria Triche’sgrandson (and WallaceLasseigne’s great-great-

grandson) Rhett Triche,32, currently works as agraphic designer for thepaper.

“Working at L’Observ-ateur is always an ad-venture. It’s excitingthat my grandmother isso excited about it,” hesaid. “It’s an awesomefeat that L’Observateurturned 100 and a greatprivilege to be a part ofthat. We’re ready foranother 100 years.”

CENTURY: Great-great-grandson of founder currently works for paperFROM PAGE 2

L’Observateur founder Wallace Lasseigne works in the shop during the earlyyears of the newspaper.

Leslie Mae Mabile, daughter of L’Observateurfounder Wallace Lasseigne, worked as a typesetterfor the paper for more than 30 years, continuing toserve in that capacity even after her father sold thepublication.

Larry Lasseigne, son of L’Observateur founderWallace Lasseigne, was beinggroomed to take overthe newspaper before he was killed in Germany dur-ing World War II. His death directly led to WallaceLasseigne’s decision to sell the paper.

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PAGE 4 | DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013