An Irishman named Boudreaux?

[Ozzy Batty 293]

One of the toughest things I have ever had to explain is how does a guy with the last name of Boudreaux end up being Irish and on top of that loving hockey instead of football (okay, you call it soccer, but I still call it football). Yes, there is a story behind it and as you can well imagine, it is a good one.

 

My great-great-great-great-great grandfather was from Ireland. He and his family left the Emerald Isle during the Great Potato Famine in the 1840s. As many of the Irish immigrants of that time, they landed in New York City. The family eventually moved to Pennsylvania where he became a coal miner and was part of the group known as the Molly Maguires from mining lore, but that is another story. The family stayed in that area and worked in the mines. Generation after generation started in the mines as soon as they could get hired, married a local girl, had children and the cycle would repeat. That is, until my mother was born. Orla Donoughue (can you get more Irish than that!) as a teenager knew she wanted more, not that living in the mining region was bad, but coal mining was in the decline and more and more people were moving away from the area, she wanted to be part of that movement. She had developed an interest in music and found she loved traditional Irish music. She searched for a college to allow her to pursue this love and found Tulane. She convinced her parents that this is what she wanted and she went to school in the state of Louisiana which was a huge culture shock for the young lady from the mining communities of Pennsylvania!

 

She loved the food, the atmosphere, not the weather so much, and the music, oh the music of New Orleans! One night, she met my father as she was sitting in a small blues club soaking in the music of the soul, the blues. My dad, Hugo Boudreaux, is Cajun through and through. The family traces its heritage back to the early history of New Orleans. Just as my mom's family had stayed in Pennsylvania, my dad's had stayed in New Orleans.

 

Dad was a musician, yes, you guessed it, a blues musician. But he loved other types of music, I guess you could say that music flowed through his veins. They hit it off and were pretty much inseparable from that point on. Mom, just a sophomore at Tulane, and dad, a blues musician in New Orleans seemed destined to stay in New Orleans. That is until they took their honeymoon. Dad had traveled to Pennsylvania to ask for mom's hand in marriage (he is so old fashioned) and the 2 families pitched in together to pay for their honeymoon, a trip to Ireland. As they say, the rest is history. Mom and dad got here, fell in love with everything "Ireland" and emigrated back home (as mom calls it). 

 

Hockey? Mom is a HUGE hockey fan!! Dad had to convince her not to name me Wayne Gretzky Boudreaux! To spend time with mom, dad went to hockey games. As he grew to love the sport, it became a part of the family experience. So when I was born, that is what we did as a family, watched hockey games. Dad enjoyed learning how to play as I was doing it. It just felt natural, even though finding teams in Ireland wasnt easy, we always found a way to make it work.

 

Now, I am on the other side of the world (it feels like that to me) in Houston pursuing my dream. I am not sure what comes next, but so far, it has been one hell of a ride!