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Friends and relatives say Albert Nacio Sr. was the embodiment of a vanishing Louisiana breed, the hunter and trapper who used the resources of land and water to make a living and feed his family, braving weather, alligators and other obstacles to do so.
He died Sept. 9 at Lady of the Sea Hospital at the age of 82, after a severe bout of respiratory distress forced his hospitalization, and not lost on those who pass on his name and legacy is a cruel irony associated with that.
This larger-than-life legend of the Lafourche and Terrebonne marshes and swamps was felled not by a great beast but a tiny mosquito, overtaken by the strain of encephalitis borne by the West Nile virus.
“The man lived through so much adversity growing up and throughout his life, and to know the end of his life was because of a mosquito is hard,” said his nephew, shrimp fisherman and entrepreneur Lance Nacio. “But he was doing to the end what he wanted to do.”
Albert’s strength and determination were a product of strong family traditions, relatives said, noting that his grandfather, Ignacio Calistro, entered Louisiana after being smuggled in a barrel from a ship that brought him from his native island in the Philippines to Fifi Island in Jefferson Parish, after which he paid $500 to marry so that he could become a U.S. citizen.
Albert, the son of Francis and Marceline Creppel Naceau – the spelling has evolved to the current Nacio – grew up in a trapping camp and took well to the outdoor life.
Albert held many paying jobs in his lifetime, at a tank farm, crawfish farms and anywhere else his ability to cope with the elements and the surprises of nature might come in handy.
But it was out in nature, Lance and other family members agree, that he was most alive.
His hunting and trapping exploits were most often done in the company of a good friend and cousin, Edward Billiot, who is now 80 years old, right up to the week of his death.
A lot of people in Larose knew him as “Frog Man,” because he would gig and then sell the amphibians; he sold turtle meat direct to consumers as well.
“He did it the old-fashioned way, with a pirogue and a push-pole, no motor, no mud-boat,” Lance recalled. “I spent a lot of time out there in the swamp with him on many occasions.”
Push-poles and paddles, carved out of native wood, were among the crafts Albert made and offered for sale, as well as duck decoys.
“What was so awesome is he was not very educated, but with his hands he could do just about anything,” Lance said.
And then there were the alligators. Albert was always out on the water when Louisiana’s month-long season would come around, and this year was no different.
He and Edward had a good season this year, recalls Lance, who would fish the reptiles nearby on the same lease.
They had fished through into September, and it was then that Albert – uncharacteristically – complained of not feeling well.
“He had fished gators for a week, but he didn’t make the seventh day,” Lance said. “He said he wasn’t feeling good and wasn’t sure if he would come on the seventh day, a Tuesday. He called me about four times telling me he was going to get checked. He did go to the hospital, to the ER. They checked him out and said he had pneumonia and gave him some medicine and sent him home.”
Albert woke up the next day feeling worse, and his daughter, Naomi, brought him back to the hospital.
While being treated for respiratory distress he expired, and officials determined it was the encephalitis that was the cause.
Loved ones are taking comfort now in the knowledge that Albert lived a full and uncompromising life.
“He always did what he wanted,” Lance said. “There was no one to tell him he wasn’t going to go where he wanted to go, deer hunting, trapping. He did what he wanted.”
Albert Nacio (center) is flanked by his good friend and cousin Ed Billiot (left) and nephew Lance Nacio after a day of alligator hunting.
