Episcopal women hosting English tea party

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The work of a local artist whose paintings of rural Louisiana scenes have been hailed as folk art treasures will be featured at a Thibodaux church women’s group’s annual fund-raising event.

The Episcopal Church Women of St. John’s have held their traditional English Tea Party for the past 28 years. The event, to be held at St. John’s in Thibodaux, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sat., Jan. 28.

Traditional cakes and treats will be featured, made from authentic British recipes. Members lend out their best china and tablecloths for guests who are helping to fund an array of charitable endeavors. The organization has helped pay for work done on the historic St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery, make improvement to the church building, and also benefitting the broad


er Thibodaux community.

“We help children go to church camps during the summer,” said tea chairwoman Alice Strasser. “We made a donation to St. Matthew’s church in Houma for their rebuilding effort.”

Those who attend the tea will have an opportunity to purchase reprints of a 1994 history done of the church for its sesquicentennial celebration. Edited by David Plater, the reissue of “The Remarkably Neat Church in the Village of Thibodaux” sell for $20. Members of the women’s group are among the contributors to the book. Babette Diket, Philip Uzee, Lou Swearingen, Lorraine Wise, Murray Dennis, and Diane Frost wrote essays that are within its pages. Proceeds of the book are to be used for church and cemetery upkeep and repair.


Mary Walker, whose oil paintings will be displayed at the tea, has garnered a reputation for idyllic depictions of the life she remembers from childhood on local sugar plantations.

They include scenes of bayou baptisms and rural family life.

“We are ecstatic that she is able to do this, to show her work,” said Strasser. “Her work is a ministry. That’s what she says it is and it is true. It is a special honor for her to be with us.”


The church, at 702 Jackson St., was built in 1843 and added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The church and its cemetery have played pivotal roles in the history of Thibodaux.

Tickets for the event are $10 per person and may be purchased by calling 446-0207.


Getting ready for the annual English tea at St. John’s Episcopal Church are left to right Mike Strausser, Alice Strausser and Mickey Guillory.

COURTESY