Do You Know The Fontes?

 

Editor’s Note:   Genealogy is a popular pastime for many people, and Zachary Neighbors has decided to do a little digging as well.   We are checking into some of the oldest names in town.   We began by talking with recently retired town historian Lois Hastings who pointed us in the direction of several people whose families have lived in Zachary for four or five generations.   This is the first of what we hope will turn out to be an interesting series of articles on some of Zachary’s oldest families.

 

There have been Fontes in Zachary since shortly after the start of the 20th century.  Originally the name was Fonti, but it was “Francophiled” to Fonte’ once they began arriving from the town of Cefalu on the island of Sicily.

 

“Among the first ones to arrive in New Orleans were Rosario Tuminello and his daughter Josephine Tuminello Fonte and grandson Rosario,” said Dr. Donald Fonte who still lives in the old family home right behind the Asian Pearl Restaurant on Main and Lee.   “They came to the Port of New Orleans more than a century ago aboard the SS Piemonte on Oct. 16, 1907.”

 

On board the ship Rosario Tuminello began using the name Charlie and he never returned to Cefalu; to his wife Marie Portera; or to his real name.   He and his daughter went first to join Josephine’s husband Giuseppe (Joseph) Fonti in Rolling Fork, MS.   Charlie ( Rosario) Tuminello had a brother named Lorenzo Tuminello who was already in Baton Rouge.   Lorenzo’s children were Vincent, Charlie, Sam, Virginia, Johnny and another daughter who married a D’Agostina from Baton Rouge.   The Tuminellos had a grocery store on North Boulevard.  

 

Looking at old photos is always fun but Dr. Donald Fonte had a tough time identifying everyone in this shot of the old Zachary Volunteer Fire Department.   As best we could tell from left are: Mr. Hopkins; Gordon Stelly; Lee Himes; Bud Rankin; Charles Fonte; Duke Hatsfield; Tony Fonte; Weldon McHugn; Mr. McCrain (the insurance man); Herman Guillot; Charles Munson; Clarence Shaw; unidentified; and Nolan Salassi.

 

Nets for Grandchildren

“Somehow at about that time the Fontes showed up in Zachary,” said Dr. Fonte who is a retired orthopedic surgeon. “When his daughter Josephine died, Charlie ( Rosario) Tuminelo helped raise the five Fonte children.   He had been a fisherman in the old country and he was skilled in making fishing nets. He made basketball nets for all of his grandchildren.”

 

Probably the most noteworthy Zacharyite among the children of Josephine Tuminelo and Joseph Fonte was Charlie Fonte (whose real name was actually Rosario just like his grandfather).   He was the service manager at Nelson and East Ford in Zachary for more than 50 years.   He was an usher at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for many years; a member of the Zachary Rotary Club; and a charter member and Chief of the Zachary Volunteer Fire Department for more than 20 years.   There is a gazebo dedicated to Charlie Fonte next to the old family home on High Street.  

 

“Charlie, who graduated from Zachary High, never married,” said Dr. Fonte.   “He died February 5, 1987 at Lane Memorial Hospital   He was baptized the day after he was born on January 2, 1904 at Parrocchie della Cattedrale in Cefalu.   His godmother was Giglio Res aria.” with congestive heart failure.

 

Here is a photo from a family reunion in 1975 that brought together the five children of Josephine Tuminello Fonte and Giuseppe (Joseph) Fonti.   They are, from left, Johnny Fonte, Frank Fonte, Tony Fonte, Rose Fonte-Spencer, and Charlie Fonte.  

 

Rhodes and Mills Store

Also remembered by some of the more senior citizens of Zachary is Rose Fonte whose twin Vincent Fonte died at the age of two months.   She was born in 1914 in Zachary.   Like her brothers, Rose was a Zachary High graduate who was known as Bay to her family.   She clerked at Rhodes and Mills General Store, and she married Adrien Herbert Spencer on June 3, 1939.   She died in 2008 in Lake Charles.

 

“The other two children of Josephine Tuminello and Joseph Fonte were Frank Fonte who was born in 1909 in Port Hudson and died in Zachary in 1995, and Anthony Fonte who was born in 1911 in Port Hudson and died in Zachary in 1995,” explained Dr. Fonte.  

 

Josephine Tuminello Fonte is holding her second child Frank Fonte in about 1910.

Like his brother Charlie, Frank Fonte was a charter member of the Zachary

Volunteer Fire Department and he worked as a mechanic at Nelson and East Ford.   He married Vera Wilkinson and they had twins Joe and Bob Fonte in 1948.   Joe and Bob were football players at Zachary High School and they both worked as welders.

 

“Joseph Fonte’s third son was Anthony Fonte who was born in 1911 in Port Hudson and died in Zachary in 1995,” said Dr. Fonte.   “Anthony married Gertrude Knaps in 1940.   She was born in 1910 and died in Zachary in 1972.   They were my parents.”

 

Ethyl Corporation

Anthony was a foreman at Ethyl Corporation and a strong community leader.   Well known as the “First Lady of Lane” Gertrude Fonte was an extremely popular and tireless director of nursing at Lane Regional Medical Center for many years.   All four of her children followed her into careers in medicine.  

 

“I became a doctor,” explained Dr. Fonte.   “My sister Jeanne Marie is head of operating room nursing at Lane Regional Medical Center.   She married Joe Partin who was coach and then principal at Zachary High.   They had two children.   Their son Jason is a physical therapist and their daughter Jessica is a nurse at Baton Rouge General.”

 

Dr. Fonte’s brother Charles Kenneth Fonte is a pharmacist as is his other brother Herbert Spencer Fonte.

 

“The youngest child of the five children of Joseph and Josephine Fonte was John Fonte who was born in 1918,” said Dr. Fonte.   “He married Jennie Crifasi in 1942.   My uncle Johnny was salutatorian of his class at Zachary High and he attended Baton Rouge Business College.   He worked 40 years for Ethyl Corporation in Baton Rouge ending up as Traffic Manager in Houston.   He took early retirement in 1980.”  

 

Joseph Fonte is pictured with his first two children:   Charles Fonte (left) and Frank Fonte.   Frank looks to be about two years old, so this must have been taken in about 1911.

 

So what about the future?   Is the list of Fontes in Zachary growing longer?

 

“Actually, none of my five children live here,” said Dr. Fonte.   “But you can be sure there is plenty of Fonte blood spread throughout the Zachary community.”

 

Of course, if you think of it that way, though their last name may not be Fonte, there will probably always be Fontes in Zachary.