Houma businessman honored for gift to Bayou Black area

The late Forrest Cannon, a Houma businessman, was honored with a monument, which will stand alongside the bayou at Cannon’s Boat Launch.

More than 25 stood near the newly constructed momentum as Lee Hunt, a family friend and the director of the Bayou Black Community Center unveiled the bronze portrait plaque to Cannon’s wife, Myrtle and sons Danny and Jimmy Cannon and daughter Nancy Brown.

A San Antonio, Texas,-based company, The Southwell Company, created the bronze plaque and Leonard Scott and Edward Williams of E & L Granite and Monument, Inc., in Houma created the pedestal upon which the plaque will lay.

During the unveiling, Hunt recalled how he and the Cannon boys were thinking of ways to honor their father for his hard work and dedication to Terrebonne Parish. Collectively, two of the sons gave Hunt credit for all of the initial groundwork.

But Hunt said it was a group effort. The family wanted to do something with the money they make from the boat launch instead of letting it sit in the bank.

“I talked with the boys about honoring their father for the things he did for the many people in Terrebonne Parish. They said he gave the parish a boat launch, which pays for itself,” Hunt replied.

According to Cannon’s son Jimmy, the boat launch, formerly known as the Cannon Shade Tree Boat Launch, has been in the family since 1980.

The family owned and operated the Louisiana Compressor Maintenance Company, a convenience store, a boat launch and all the bayou property.

“Unlike the fisherman using the launch my husband wasn’t an avid fisher in his older days. The family business had many contracts with small gas and oil businesses, but the majority of their business comes from recreational fishing,” she said.

According to Cannon’s sons, the boat launch is a valuable part of the bayou side because it has a direct connection to the Intracoastal Canal Waterway, lakes Hatch and Decade and Minor’s Canal up the bayou.

The late businessman sold the family machine company in 1990 to Universal Compression, Inc., a publicly traded company. The new owners didn’t want the boat launch or family store.

“The family made a decision in 2001 to donate the boat launch to the parish to so that it would remain operational. It took a few months for the parish to evaluate the property and approve the donation,” said Cannon’s youngest son, Danny.

He said the parish cut down the shade trees, hence changing the name from Cannon Shade Tree Boat Launch to its existing name Cannon’s Boat Launch. Soon after the purchase, the parish transferred ownership of the launch to the Bayou Black Community Center during former Parish President Bobby Bergeron’s administration.

The Cannon Monument is among the additions that will be made to the launch, which is used to load and unload boats, as well as the bayou side. Hunt, along with the Cannon family and the Terrebonne Parish Government, plans to turn the bayou side into a beautiful park area with benches and lighting where families and individuals can fish and sit along the bayou bank.

The Cannons said they have wanted to do something like this years ago, but the parish thought it would be somewhat of a liability risk.

Hunt said the Cannons are encouraging people to come to the public area and do a little recreational fishing.

The family friend said other formalities, such as lowering the speed limit, adding lighting in the area and pedestrian crosswalks, paved sidewalks and parking are being dealt with to help the bayou side area transition into a picnic/recreational fishing area.

Staff photo by Sophia Ruffin • Tri-Parish Times/ The late Forrest Cannon, a Houma businessman, was remembered by residents in the Bayou Black community for his generosity. Cannon donated a boat launch to fishermen in the area where the above plaque was unveiled Thursday. Pictured at right are Cannon’s widow, Myrtle, and sons Jimmy and Danny.