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GUMPERT, ARMAND AUGUST DOUGLAS SR.
06/07/02
Armand August Douglas Gumpert Sr., a retired insurance sales representative and tour guide, died Wednesday at Memorial Medical Center. He was 88. Mr. Gumpert was born in New Orleans and lived in Jefferson for the past 49 years. Survivors include his wife, Adele Hooge Gumpert; three sons, Gary John Gumpert Sr., Kenneth Bruce Gumpert and Armand August Douglas Gumpert Jr.; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. A funeral will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at All Faiths Funeral Home, 5200 Canal Blvd. Visitation will be today from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery.
CARROLL, ELLA WARE
06/07/02
Ella Ware Carroll, a homemaker, died Wednesday at her home. She was 79. Ms. Carroll was born in Woodville, Miss., and lived in New Orleans for many years. She was a member of Ora Vista Baptist Church and the Order of Eastern Star and Daughters of Universal Grand Chapter. Survivors include a son, Bobby Carroll; a daughter, Odessa Gibbs; two sisters, Julia Carter and Olivia Ware; eight grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild. The funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Ora-Vista Baptist Church, 2964 Toledano St. Visitation will be at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Providence Park. Rhodes Funeral Home handled arrangements.
SANDERS, ANNE MAE
06/07/02
Anne Mae Sanders, a retired clerk for the Office of Family Support, died Wednesday of undetermined causes at Tulane Medical Center. She was 65. Miss Sanders was a lifelong resident of New Orleans. She was a member of the St. Andrew Baptist Church Choir. Survivors include her mother, Clara M. Jones; five brothers, Ivory Reed, John Pollard, William Jones, Roland Jones and Theodore Mitchell Jr.; and three sisters, Doris Washington, Carolyn Bush and Myrtle Barrow. The funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Andrew Baptist Church, 2823 English Turn Road in Braithwaite. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Cooper Glapion Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
STEPHENS, GEORGE ‘TEX' JR.
02/27/02
George Stephens Jr., black radio pioneer
George "Tex" Stephens Jr., whose silken voice helped make him one of the first widely recognized black broadcasters in New Orleans, died Saturday of cancer at Metropolitan Hospice. He was 80.
A lifelong New Orleans area resident who also worked in print journalism, Mr. Stephens first became interested in going on the air in the late 1940s.
The tall, well-dressed World War II veteran especially admired a white announcer he heard regularly on WJDW, and he wrote the man a fan letter. In response, the flattered disc jockey invited Mr. Stephens to the studio.
"I told him I'd like to be a disc jockey, too," Mr. Stephens said. "The people who owned the station were very nice, but they said I'd have to do a remote broadcast. They wouldn't allow my black face in the station, to sit down next to the whites."
So in 1948, broadcasting once a week from Roger's Gladstone Hotel on Dryades Street, he became Tex "Mr. Cool" Stephens, spinning records by such black and white entertainers as Duke Ellington, Nat "King" Cole and Woody Herman.
A career was born. A year later, "Tipping With Tex" debuted on WMRY, a station that became the powerhouse WYLD and Mr. Stephens' radio home until 1963. In addition to playing music, he did public-affairs programming, including reports on the civil-rights movement. In 1963, Mr. Stephens moved to TV, broadcasting high school sports with Mel Leavitt.
He also was a writer for Louisiana Weekly and a frequent master of ceremonies at all sorts of gatherings, from political rallies to the Gospel Tent at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
"He was omnipresent," Jazzfest producer/director Quint Davis said. "Wherever you went, there was Tex."
Perhaps the best-known entertainer Mr. Stephens introduced was Louis Armstrong, whom he had met in 1935, when he was hired as an extra for a movie Armstrong was shooting. Fourteen years later, Mr. Stephens was Armstrong's chauffeur and escort when the trumpeter reigned as King Zulu. Mr. Stephens also was master of ceremonies at the ball. The two kept in touch for the remaining 22 years of Armstrong's life.
A native of Gretna, Mr. Stephens acquired his nickname as a teen-ager when he sold made-to-order suits at Best Tailors on Rampart Street.
"I had relatives in Texas, and I used to go visit them," he said in a 1998 interview. "I used to come back with cowboy hats, and the guys would say, ‘Here's the old Texan coming back,' and the name just stuck."
The cowboy hat became his lifelong sartorial trademark, said his wife, Marion Stephens.
Mr. Stephens graduated from McDonogh No. 35 High School and earned degrees from Loyola University and Washington General College of Administration in Washington, D.C.
During World War II, he was attached to the Army's 92nd Division, better known as the Buffalo Soldiers. In his later years, he pushed for recognition of African-American soldiers' work in that conflict.
After the war, Mr. Stephens wrote for the New Orleans edition of The Informer Sentinel, a Houston black newspaper. He also wrote for Ebony magazine, and he was an aide to Mayor Dutch Morial, Mrs. Stephens said.
He boosted musicians' careers by mentioning them in his column and putting in a good word for them, Davis said. "He felt everything needed his help. He was steadfast in promoting and pushing everything for everybody. He loved New Orleans and anything that was good for New Orleans."
Mr. Stephens was a member of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club and Regular Baptist Church. In 1998, he was inducted into the Greater New Orleans Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
In addition to his wife, survivors include a son, George "Gimpy" Stephens III; a daughter, Gay Stephens Atai of Dallas; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Regular Baptist Church, 901 Fifth St., Gretna.
Professional Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
BIVALACQUA, EDDIE
06/07/02
Eddie Bivalacqua, a retired employee of Millwrights Local No. 1931, died Wednesday of heart failure at his home. He was 57. Mr. Bivalacqua was a lifelong resident of New Orleans. He served in the Navy and the Naval Reserve, where he received the National Defense Service Medal. Survivors include a son, Matthew J. Bivalacqua; two brothers, Sal and Lionel Bivalacqua; and a sister, Shirley B. Weil. A Mass will be said Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at noon. Burial will be in Metairie Cemetery.
ADAMS, RYAN MICHAEL
05/26/02
Ryan Michael Adams, a computer engineer, died May 16 of undetermined causes at his home. He was 23. Mr. Adams was born in New Orleans and lived in Chandler, Ariz., for the past two years. He graduated from Eleanor McMain Magnet School and was in the chess and Japanese clubs. He also graduated from Tulane University. He received a Cox Communications Dollars for Scholars scholarship. He was a parishioner of Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Survivors include his father, Percy J. Desselle; his mother, Florence Marie Adams; his grandmothers, Marie Desselle of Garyville and Leola J. Adams; a brother, Johnnie Savage; and four sisters, Tonia Adams, Andreana Desselle-Hirsh, Rosalyn Sylvan and Dana Davenport. A Mass will be said Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 2022 St. Bernard Ave. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
BLAIN, GAIL NELSON
06/05/02
Gail Nelson Blain, 90, teacher, researcher
Gail Nelson Blain, a retired teacher and researcher, died Saturday at Ochsner Foundation Hospital. She was 90.
Mrs. Blain was born in Atlanta and lived in Metairie for the past 55 years. She was a magna cum laude graduate of Agnes Scott College and received a master's degree in bacteriology from Emory University. She had been a medical technologist in Atlanta and Miami and moved to the New Orleans area after World War II as a research scientist and laboratory assistant at Tulane Medical School.
She received a teaching certificate from Tulane University. She taught at Metairie Junior High School from 1959 to 1968 and at Riverdale High School from 1968 to 1977. Mrs. Blain organized the first science fair for the Jefferson Parish school system. She was a founder of the Metairie Young Men's Christian Association and served on its board from 1955 to 1965. She was a member of St. Martin's Episcopal Church for more than 50 years, served the Episcopal Church Women's organization in many official capacities and was a member of Cursillo.
She received the Great Lady Award of East Jefferson in 1987. She also was named Most Outstanding Member of Metairie Woman's Club in 1995 and served on the club's board for many years. She was a published poet, an officer of the New Orleans Poetry Club and a member of the Louisiana and the National Poetry Societies. She was a former regent of the New Orleans Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was active with the Colonial Dames of the 17th Century, the Society of Mayflower Descendants in Louisiana, the American Association of University Women, the East Jefferson General Hospital Auxiliary, the Jefferson Genealogical Society and the National Association of Parliamentarians.
She was a lay chaplain at Baptist Hospital and other hospitals. She served as a Girl Scout leader, Cub Scout den mother, consultant for Tough Love and she worked with Operation Mainstream.
Survivors include two sons, James Nelson Blain of Burke, Va., and William Arthur Blain; and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 2216 Metairie Road, Metairie. A reception will follow at the church. L.A. Muhleisen & Son Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
SIMONDS, DAVID MICHAEL
04/08/02
David Michael Simonds, a business owner and construction contractor, died Friday of heart failure at Kenner Regional Medical Center. He was 51. Mr. Simonds was born in New Orleans and lived in Metairie and Kenner for many years. He graduated from East Jefferson High School and attended Louisiana State University in New Orleans. He was a member of Phi Sigma Chi Fraternity. Survivors include his wife, Judy Wingfield Simonds; three sons, Jason, Justin and Mark Simonds; two daughters, Brandy Callendar and Gabrielle Brown; his father, Chester Simonds; his mother, Rita Simonds; a sister, Susan Simonds; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be held today at 7 p.m. at Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home, 4747 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie. Visitation will begin at 6 p.m.
CROSS, TYRONE ‘SHORTY' SR.
03/20/02
Tyrone "Shorty" Cross Sr., a maintenance worker with Plaquemines Parish government, died Thursday of undetermined causes at his home. He was 41. Mr. Cross was born in New Orleans and lived in Pointe a la Hache for many years. He was a former employee of Electro Coal and New Orleans East Tires. He was a graduate of Phoenix High School. He was a member of Bethlehem Judea African Baptist Church and its Deacon Board, the Bethlehem Lodge No. 237 and Pointe a la Hache Volunteer Fire Department. Survivors include his wife, Lisa E. Cross; five sons, Tyrone Cross Jr., Caleb, Nicholas, Antonio and De'Andre Cross; three brothers, Wilfred Cross Sr., Gilbert and Gene Cross; and two sisters, Kay C. Williams and Connie Cross. A funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Pointe a la Hache. Visitation will be at 9 a.m. Burial will be in the church cemetery. D. W. Rhodes Funeral Home handled arrangements.
