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2015 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 15
BY SENATOR MORRISH
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Milton Vanicor for his passion, devotion, and nearly
eighty years of commitment to Cajun music.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To commend Milton Vanicor for his passion, devotion, and his nearly eighty-year
3 commitment to Cajun music.
4 WHEREAS, on the same day the armistice was signed ending World War I,
5 November 11, 1918, a third baby, Milton, was born to Jules and Hermina Vanicor in the tiny
6 community of Prairie Hayes, Louisiana, near the town of Church Point; and
7 WHEREAS, Milton Vanicor grew up helping his parents and siblings provide for the
8 family by subsistence farming as the family grew cotton as a cash crop; grain, primarily, to
9 feed their animals; and vegetables, primarily, to feed the family; and
10 WHEREAS, music, particularly traditional Cajun music, played at social gatherings
11 called bals de maison, was an integral part of the recreation provided for the inhabitants of
12 Prairie Hayes and surrounding areas and Milton Vanicor was privileged to hear and enjoy
13 the performances of such great Cajun musicians as Amadee Ardoin, an accordionist, and
14 Dennis McGee, a fiddler; and
15 WHEREAS, with money available for only the barest of necessities for the Vanicor
16 family, a fiddle for young Milton was out of the question, but he was determined to create
17 his own instrument; and
18 WHEREAS, using a plank from his father's barnyard, wire from his uncle who made
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1 brooms, and a Prince Albert tobacco can, Milton Vanicor designed and fashioned his own
2 fiddle and his father produced a bow from a green tree branch and horse hair for string; and
3 WHEREAS, with pine sap serving as rosin for the bow, Milton Vanicor had a usable
4 fiddle and bow and he set about teaching himself to play the homemade instrument; and
5 WHEREAS, during the chaos of the Great Depression of the 1930's, Mr. Vanicor
6 came to attend these local bals de maison as a means to meet and socialize with other young
7 people his age and at one of these gatherings he saw a beautiful young Cajun girl, Odile
8 Bellard, who caught his eye and his attention; and
9 WHEREAS, following a brief courtship, Odile Bellard became Mrs. Milton Vanicor
10 on January 30, 1937; and
11 WHEREAS, the Great Depression brought moves to Lake Charles, Louisiana, and,
12 finally, to Lacassine, Louisiana, for Odile and Milton Vanicor while they continued to farm
13 cotton and work for local rice farmers along their way; and
14 WHEREAS, World War II interrupted life for the young Vanicors, as with most
15 Americans of this time, and Milton was drafted into the United States Navy and served
16 aboard the USS Newberry in the Pacific Theater of the war, including participation in the
17 invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and in the occupation of Japan; and
18 WHEREAS, following his service with the occupation forces in Japan, and upon
19 receiving an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy, Milton Vanicor returned to his
20 beloved wife, Odile, southwest Louisiana, the life of a farmer, and his music; and
21 WHEREAS, having longed to play his cherished Cajun music during his time serving
22 in the Pacific, but also knowing that there was no extra money for a fiddle, Milton and Odile
23 Vanicor felled a tree near their home and, after much scraping and carving, Milton Vanicor
24 once again had a fiddle to play and he spent many wintry evenings around the stove with
25 Odile, playing and dancing to the Cajun music they both loved; and
26 WHEREAS, Milton Vanicor eventually joined brothers Ellis and Ivy, nephew Orsy
27 Vanicor, and brother-in-law, Asa LeJeune, adding his fiddle music to their guitar and steel
28 guitar sounds; and
29 WHEREAS, in 1948, Iry LeJeune, Odile's first cousin and, despite the handicap of
30 being blind, a legendary accordionist and vocalist, came to live with the Vanicors which led
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1 to the men forming the Lacassine Playboys band playing the traditional Cajun music and
2 acting as a back-up band for Iry and the Lacassine Playboys were quite successful and
3 Milton Vanicor played on such legendary Iry LeJeune recordings as Grand Nuit Special,
4 Bayou Pon Pon, and La Valse de Grande Chemin; and
5 WHEREAS, with the Lacassine Playboys and Iry LeJeune as vocalist, the band
6 entertained at dances across southwest Louisiana, enjoying a good bit of notoriety in the
7 area, but with the demands of playing music at late night dances colliding with the need to
8 support a family, Milton Vanicor turned from the music night life to focus on providing for
9 his family; and
10 WHEREAS, shortly after Milton Vanicor retreated from the life of music as a first
11 priority, the brief period of exceptional success for the Lacassine Playboys came to a tragic
12 end with the death of Iry LeJeune, who was struck down while on the side of the road
13 helping to fix a flat on a foggy October night; and
14 WHEREAS, Milton Vanicor put away his fiddle except for family gatherings and
15 concentrated on life with Odile and their children and, following a catastrophic flood in
16 1953, Milton turned to learning carpentry and construction skills, in order to build homes
17 for the large number of returning veterans and their families; and
18 WHEREAS, before long, Milton Vanicor had founded his own construction business,
19 employing and educating members of his family in order that they could earn a living for
20 themselves and their families; and
21 WHEREAS, once the members of his family mastered the skills of construction,
22 Milton Vanicor provided his brothers, sons, nephews, and, eventually, his grandsons with
23 a way to earn a living, building homes in Jefferson Davis, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Allen
24 parishes in southwest Louisiana; and
25 WHEREAS, after years in the building business, Milton Vanicor retired from his
26 career in construction and he turned again to his love of Cajun music and playing the fiddle,
27 often playing again for Odile in the kitchen of their home; and
28 WHEREAS, a retired Milton Vanicor began playing his traditional Cajun music in
29 nursing homes to entertain the residents and their families and, soon, interest in his style of
30 music began to grow among new generations of young people, influencing both younger and
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1 future musicians in the area; and
2 WHEREAS, after listening to Milton Vanicor's music, these young musicians began
3 integrating this traditional style into their repertoire, and, soon Vanicor was invited to play
4 at festivals and music camps such as the Balfa Cajun Music camp at Lake Fausse and at
5 Bayou Chicot State Park where he was a featured performer; and
6 WHEREAS, with the loss of his beloved Odile in 2008, Milton Vanicor filled the
7 void with music and began attending the Saturday morning jam sessions at Marc Savoy's
8 Savoy Music Club in Eunice, Louisiana; and
9 WHEREAS, in 2011 and 2012 Milton Vanicor was featured in Savoy's jammer
10 entourage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, known as Jazz Fest; and
11 WHEREAS, Mr. Vanicor played at festivals and he served for three years on the staff
12 at the Centrum American Fiddle Tunes Festival in Port Townsend, Washington, where he
13 played music and, also demonstrated how to make a roux and gumbo and at his first
14 appearance at the festival in 2012, Milton Vanicor was joined onstage by his daughter, Linda
15 Mercantel, and the Vanicors were a great hit with the crowds of fans; and
16 WHEREAS, following the appearance at Fiddle Tunes, Cajun music devotees were
17 clamoring for a Milton Vanicor album of this historic music and Chris Miller, 2012 winner
18 of the "Accordionist of the Year" award given by the Cajun French Music Association
19 (CFMA), was enlisted to assist in the making of the album; and
20 WHEREAS, Miller recorded the album at Milton Vanicor's home, complete with the
21 sounds of a train traveling along the nearby railroad tracks in the background of several
22 tracks on the album and at the age of ninety-five, Vanicor released his first ever album, Un
23 Souvenir de Milton Vanicor, in July 2013 to the delight of his many fans; and
24 WHEREAS, in October 2013, Milton Vanicor joined Miller and his band, Bayou
25 Roots, onstage at the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles in Lafayette for a live performance; and
26 WHEREAS, with the resurgence of his musical career in his nineties, Milton Vanicor
27 continues to entertain new generations of music lovers with his traditional Cajun music and
28 with his warm, friendly persona, still the young man who enlisted his father's assistance to
29 make his first violin and bow and the gentleman that Odile fell in love with nearly eighty
30 years ago.
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1 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
2 commend Milton Vanicor for his passion, devotion, and nearly eighty-year commitment to
3 Cajun music.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
5 Milton Vanicor.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Mary Dozier O'Brien.
DIGEST
SCR 15 Original 2015 Regular Session Morrish
Commends Milton Vanicor for his passion, devotion, and nearly 80-year commitment to
Cajun music.
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