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Note: 1. When Van Joseph Vives got married he needed a certificate of baptism and when he got it it stated that his name was Odin Francois Van Vives. He never knew that that was his name. He legally changed his name after he married to Van Joseph Vives. The copy of his certificate of baptism (Copy dated Sept. 1, 1950) lists his birthdate as December 11, but he always thought it was December 14, and always celebrated it on the 14th. He was baptised by Rev. J. Bouchet and sponsors were Albert Tete and Edna Vives. Edna Vives is probably Appoline Edna Vives, who married Leuffroi Landry. They married in 1893, so I do not know why she was listed on the Baptismal certificate as Edna Vives. According to Vivian Vives, Van's wife, "Mrs. Landry was his godmother." This corroborates that Edna Vives was Edna Landry.
The 1910 U. S. Census lists him as Van O. Vives, which corroborates that his name at that time was Van Odin Vives.
2. He was 4 years old when his father died and 12 years old when his mother died. After her death he lived for a short while with his godmother, Edna Landry, who had a "raised house" on the river (Mississippi River). The Landrys lived on the top floor and Mass was said on the bottom floor (remembrance of Vivian Vives). He then went to live with Alonzo Munson and Elodie Tete Munson (uncle and aunt) at Woodlawn Plantation, Assumption Parish, Louisiana. See Scrapbook for photo of the home after it had been abandoned. His brother Carl Vives was also raised by the Munsons for a short time, until he ran away from home and went to Detroit. Their sister Nina (Angeline) was raised by her aunt, Mrs. Leonce Himel.
3. He served in the Navy from January 5, 1918 to September 17, 1919. He was discharged from the U. S. Naval Reserve Force on September 30, 1921. He was discharged as Boatswain's Mate 2c. (From copy of the Bureau of Navigation Navy Department document).
4. He went fishing with Joseph Patten, who was a sign painter. I don't know anything about his children. He also went with Cliff Dill, Aunt Maude's brother. He was also a CocaCola salesman. And he went also with Morris Borne. Muriel Borne was his daughter.
He worked as an electrician's helper for the building of St. Joseph's Church. Other jobs were with the American Tobacco Co., the Thibodaux Ice Cream Co., and the Hebert's Pop Factory which made "pop rouge", the national drink of the Cajun country. He went to work for CocaCola on Jan. 5, 1925 as helper to L. A. Guidry, the only Route Salesman in Thibodaux. Shortly after that he became Route Salesman and Guidry became manager of the warehouse only.
In November, 1928, he was appointed both branch manager and route salesman. He had this duty for a number of years. His route was Thibodaux, Raceland, Lockport, Golden Meadow, Napoleonville and the bayous below Houma. On his first trip to Houma he sold 7 of the 60 cases on his Model T Ford truck. There was a time when he would load two 4x10 ft. signs and posts to erect along the highway during his day's work.
He retired when he was 60 and the company gave him a John boat and trailer.
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