Thomas Frith Hunter & Family, 1930-1945
Thomas Frith Hunter (1884-1945) was the son of Judge Edwin G. Hunter and Lucy Texada Hunter. His father was a local attorney of distinction who served as district attorney and later as judge. His mother Lucy was the daughter of Lewis Texada, Sr. and Pleasance Hunter Texada. He had 3 siblings; Mr. A. T. Hunter, Mrs. M.E. Tooraen, and Mrs. Carl Forbes.
Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps and obtained his law degree at Loyola University Law School at New Orleans. He served as Assistant City Attorney in Alexandria and also ran for Judge in the 9th Judicial District. At one point his law office was on the 4th floor of the Commercial Building in Downtown Alexandria.
He married his wife Martha (1885-1938) in 1905. Early in their married life, they lived at 833 Second Street with their daughter Helen (1906-1983) where they ran a boarding house. Later as Mr. Hunter was achieving success as an attorney, they built 831 City Park Boulevard and lived there happily for several years.
In 1945, after the loss of her parents, Miss Helen Hunter took an apartment at 1850 Polk Street and sold the family home to Mr. Thomas J. Tomeny, Sr. for $9000. In 1951, Helen married Joseph Hall LeBlanc and they made their home in Alexandria.
Thomas J. Tomeny, Sr. & Family, 1945-1959
Thomas J. Tomeny moved to Alexandria in 1940 with his wife, step-daughter and son and in 1945 was placed in the position of rent director-attorney for the Alexandria-Leesville defense rental area. As an attorney in the same building as Mr. T F. Hunter he likely heard about the home for sale from colleagues.
Mr. Tomeny did pass away in 1954 and his wife continued to live at 831 City Park. She worked as a teacher at L.S. Rugg Elementary for several years before moving to Dallas, Texas.
Dr. H. Lamar & Jean Boese, 1960-2004
Dr. Herman Lamar Boese (1924-2004) was a graduate of Tulane University and Tulane Medical School (1947). He served in the 82nd Airborne and was a Professor of Surgery of Tulane Medical School.
Dr. Boese married Elsie Jean McGivney (1925-2004) in 1946 and the couple moved to Alexandria, Louisiana where he established a proctology practice. “Jeannie” was a graduate of the former H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, the women’s division of Tulane University.
Jean Boese was appointed as Louisiana poet laureate in 1980 by Governor David C. Treen, retained by Governor Edwin Edwards (1984-1988), and returned again under Governor Mike Foster (1996-2004).
The couple performed a large renovation of the home connecting the small guest house to the main house with a large room with red brick floors and vaulted ceilings. Friends and neighbors lovingly still refer to this room as the “casino”. The renovation also included the creation of a Tulane “Green Wave” master bathroom retreat with custom stained glass. You can still see the Boese name plate beside the front door today.
LOUISIANA by Jean Boese, read at dedication of the Louisiana Archives Building, 1987
“I love Louisiana with its cotton fields and trees
And the Spanish moss that flutters with the slightest bit of breeze.
I love the fields of sugar cane, the grazing cattle herds,
The sweet scented magnolias filled with brightly colored birds.
I love the lazy bayous that meander through the state,
Where bass and bream and speckled perch and crawfish lie in wait.
I love the mighty rivers that flowed where we now tread,
Atchafalaya, Mississippi and the clay filled Red.
I love the forests filled with game, I’m proud that from our soil
Come shrimp and oysters from the Gulf, and sulphur, salt and oil.
I love the lush green levees stretching far as eyes can see.
Louisiana has my love, because it’s part of me.”
New Orleans living right here in the National Register Historic Garden District of Alexandria. This 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom home is situated on a corner lot with carport parking on Albert Street and front door facing City Park Blvd. The main living space of this home features original hardwood floors, living and dining rooms with gorgeous chandeliers and beautiful detail finishes, mid century kitchen, en suite bedroom featuring a huge bathroom, and a guest bedroom and guest bathroom. Adding to this already remarkable home is an enormous separate living space complete with brick floors, another kitchen area, and you will find a second en suite bedroom with another huge bathroom, this area is a perfect mother-in-law suite.
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