Mr. Stanley

by | Dec 19, 2025 | Family, School Memories, Writing, Writing Prompts

Random photos often trigger memories, like a Tumblr image leading to memories of Mr. Stanley Canepa.

Mr. Stanley and the Men’s Department

I like to surf fashion-related blogs on Tumblr. They’re a treasure-trove of quick ideas that often work their way into stories. The photo above is one of those. This photo not only offered a writing idea, but also triggered a fond memory.

So, I posted the photo as one of my #writingprompts, a thought, a comment from the lady sitting at the table:

The trick to being left alone while sitting and reading is to make it look like you’re waiting for someone…

Then I noticed her bag.

YSL = Yves St. Laurent. It’s a brand whose reach extends from couture to department store. I chuckled as I passed by signs for YSL cologne at the front of the Dillard’s store in Lakeside Mall last week. That took me back to my days selling Men’s clothing at Maison Blanche in Clearview Shopping Center.

MB Clearview

That’s where Mr. Stanley comes into the story. Stan Canepa was a long-time Maison Blanche manager. He came to the Men’s departments at Clearview around 1979. Canepa was from Chalmette, a real Yat. When Men’s Furnishings started carrying YSL neckties, I remember him telling the ladies who worked up in that department to display the ties prominently. But Stan didn’t use a very French pronunciation for Yves St. Laurent. He said “Yves” as “Why-Vez.”

Now, I pretty much grew up in Gentilly while sleeping in Metairie. I didn’t know a lot of folks from Chalmette until I hit UNO as an undergraduate. The Yat accent was eye-opening at first, but you get used to it,, particularly when working regularly with a Chalmation. Mr. Stan’s absolute butchering of the French language was so perfectly New Orleans. So much so, when I saw that logo on the purse, it’s the first thing I thought of. Mr. Stanley was a smart guy–I learned a lot about people management just watching how he handled the department.

Christmas cheer

That brought me to an additional Stan Canepa memory. Back in 2012, when I wrote Maison Blanche Department Stores, I spent a bit of time up in the Special Collections section at the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library. Not only did they have a solid Vertical File on MB, they had almost every edition of “Shop Talk,” the store’s employee newsletter. I scanned many issues of “Shop Talk,” and read pretty much every one of them. In the process, a photo jumped out at me, from December, 1965. It’s the one up top. Here’s the caption, from Chapter 2:

Post-storm Christmas. Stanley Canepa, long-time Buyer for the Boy Scout department, posing with his family in their Chalmette home, December, 1965. Like many Maison Blanche families, the Canepas repaired their homes and life went on. (The author had the privilege of working for Mr. Canepa when he was Area Manager for Men’s wear at the Clearview store in 1979.) (NOPL)

The storm here was, Hurricane Betsy. Betsy hit New Orleans on 10-September-1965 as a Category 4 hurricane. St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward of the city bore the brunt of the wind and water. Finding this photo, thirty-three years after working with Mr. Stan (who had passed by that time), gave me pause. We endure hardship and keep going. I remember how happy we were to get back in our house after Katrina. The Canepas surely felt that way in 1965.

Hopefully we pass on our better angels to the next generation. Mr. Stanley certainly did that.

Shout-outs

Thanks to Wayne Everard, Archivist Emeritus, New Orleans Public Library, for being so accommodating to this geek author doing research up in his domain. Also, a recommendation: Feel free take inspiration from my ramblings, but if you really want to learn how to be a better writer, you absolutely want to follow Maurice Carlos Ruffin on Substack.

So long, Bodie

So long, Bodie

by | Nov 24, 2025 | Family

Bodie, friend and guardian, crossed over recently.

bodie

Bodie the bodyguard.

Adios, Bodie

Bodie, crossed the rainbow bridge last week. He left at the age of 17. Bodie was my daughter-in-law Tegan’s doggo since college. When she moved in, Bodie naturally joined the new family. Her parents loved him as well, but agreed that she was better suited to caring for an older dog. Even though Bodie’s mobility was getting more and more limited, the addition of our grandson to the household gave him new purpose. He was the guardian.

bodie

Bodie and the Halloween dogs!

While my boy loved our cats, he began in a dog home. We had Pippin, my cairn terrier familiar when he was born. Brandy the cat (same age as Pippin) performed guardian duty for Justin as well. Brandy lived to ten, Pippin, 16, We decided not to get another dog, but we did adopt Amber, another orange tabby. The boy bonded with Amber, but then grew apart, as he went away to uni and joined the Navy. He loves animals and handles pets well. He and Bodie got along famously from the start.

During Tegan’s pregnancy, Justin took up the dog care duties, most notably walks. For an older dog, that meant multiple trips daily. When Caleb came home, Bodie’s walks included the baby, as a rule. Since the boy works remote most of the week, he had a shadow, office to kitchen to den. In particular, the two of them watched TV together, Bodie claimed a comfy den chair when he wasn’t on the sofa with mom and dad.

Long and short friendships

In he last month or so, the poor guy’s health declined sharply, Like many of us, Bodie appeared ready to let go. On the fateful day, he sat with my boy while he did a conference call. When he went down to get coffee and check the TV, Bodie curled up next to him, went to sleep. The boy moved him to the comfy chair and mom, dad, and baby sat with him until he was gone. Naturally, mom was devastated.

I met Bodie when we went up last year for the wedding. We renewed our friendship when in September when we visited the baby. Like so many dogs, he knew who is and isn’t a dog person. He took to me right off, sitting with me on the sofa like he did normally. I hesitate to call him a “grand-dog,” though. He was definitely a friend I wish I had had more time with.