• By CHRISTINE MORGAN ARCENEAUX
• Advocate Livingston-Tangipahoa editor
• Published: Nov 19, 2009

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HAMMOND — Isaiah Farrior, 16, and Daniel McNeil, 16, both of Hammond High School, listened to Lee Laitala talk about his time in the Korean War last month during a visit to Live Oak Village, an assisted living facility in  Hammond.

During their visit, they continued to delve into the life of the 78-year-old Laitala with the hope of learning much more about him.

The students plan to use the information, as well as photographs they took of Laitala, to create a pencil portrait of him, one that tells a story of his life and who he is.

Twenty-one students from Hammond, Ponchatoula and Loranger high schools in the Tangipahoa Parish Public School’s Talented Art program visited the center to interview the elders. The information would — or so they hoped — help the students learn how best to portray their subjects in portraits that will be part of an art show at the Hammond Regional Arts Center from March 20 through April 1.

Ashton Beall, 16, a junior at Ponchatoula High School, will use the information she gathered about her subject, Eula Rogers to “put more character into the portrait,” Beall said.

“She’s a very interesting woman,” Beall said after talking with Rogers.

It’s about “making a connection between the school and the community,” Talented Art teacher Kitty Faulkenberry said of the project.
The students will “highlight their (Live Oak Village residents) accomplishments, tell where they live and celebrate their life in their portraits,” Faulkenberry said.

Nearby, Walter Llewelyn was pleased to tell the students his life story.  He was even more pleased to learn that he would be a subject of a portrait, the very first that’s ever been done of him.

“I suspect it will come out looking like the Kentucky Cornel,” Llewelyn laughed.

While the elders seemed to enjoy the attention that October morning, Farrior and McNeil seemed to get even more out of the partnership.

“It’s good to get a good, in-depth history lesson,” McNeil said.

“It gives us a better appreciation for older people,” he continued.

The partnership between the students and Live Oak Village residents was made possible, Faulkenberry said, by a grant from the Joe and Dorothy Dorset Brown Foundation, a foundation which funds service-learning projects for schools in the greater New Orleans area, including Tangipahoa and Washington parishes, Faulkenberry said.