How the “Carreaux” Oak Got Its Name

My Grandmother’s nickname was Carreaux.

In Cajun French, Carreaux means checkered … divided into squares—like a quilting pattern. The story goes that when my dad, Bob Thibodeaux, was young, he was best friends with my mother’s older brother, Tommy Wimberly. One day after school, my dad went home with Tommy, where he first laid eyes on a beautiful, dark-haired angel. Her name was Dorothy, although everyone called her Dot, and according to Dad, he fell in love instantly. He decided that day that he would marry Dot. There was a problem though, Dot intended to become a nun. To immerse herself in the religious life, my mother left her home in Church Point to join the Grey Nuns of Cross, a working order of nuns who had been established in Gueydan, La during the 1950s in connection with St. Peter the Apostle Church. While living with the Grey Nuns Dot attended Gueydan High School, and Dad wrote and visited her whenever he could. His persistence eventually paid off. Dot left Gueydan, returning to her home in Church Point in time for her senior year of high school.

One day while paying a visit to his then fiancée’s home, Dad noticed a young live oak tree seedling growing through a cattle guard. He pulled up the seedling, moistened the roots, and placed it inside his jacket. Noticing this, his soon-to-be mother-in-law, Carreaux, convinced Dad to plant the oak seedling nearby, and pointed out a suitable location. Dad planted the oak, married Dot, and built a home right next-door to his in-laws, Eddie & Doris Wimberly. In that home, Mom and Dad would raise a family of eight children, including me. Along the way, Dad nurtured that live oak tree as it grew from a tiny seedling, into the massive tree that it is today. He named that live oak Carreaux in memory of Grandma Wimberly.

—Frank Thibodeaux, Bob’s Tree Preservation