Blanco to be honored as Living Legend

Andy Perrin, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Acadian Museum, stated that the Acadian Museum will honor former Gov. Kathleen
Babineaux-Blanco by inducting her into its Order of Living Legends during the museum’s annual fundraiser on Saturday, November 15, 2014.
 The event will take place at the Erath Community Center, 100 City Park Drive, at 6:30 p.m.
The public is invited. Tickets are available for purchase at $35 per person.
Food and drinks will be provided for the event. For more information, contact Warren Perrin (337- 233-5832), Robert Vincent (337-937-5585), Jean-Robert Frigault (337-356-4333), Nicholas Campbell (337-303-7181) or email Warren Perrin at perrin@plddo.com.
Looking back nine generations, Blanco’s ancestral great-grandfather, Nicolas Babineau was among the first settlers who came from France in the late 1600s to make a home in the southeastern region of Canada then called Acadie. Nicolas’ grandson, Louis Charles Babineaux and his family left Acadie to resettle in South Louisiana in the mid 1700s.
Seven Louisiana generations later Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, descendant of those hardy French Acadians became governor of Louisiana. Through her intense and unrelenting work ethic this daughter of Acadiana demonstrated a deep love for the people of her state who chose her to lead them during her state’s most difficult days. While it was some of the most challenging work, she looks back with pride at her successes and deeply appreciates the honor bestowed upon her.
On Jan. 12, 2004, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a native of New Iberia and of Acadian descent, became the first woman to serve as governor of Louisiana. When first elected, her top priorities included providing affordable healthcare, improving the state’s education system, and creating a strong and vibrant economy. Demonstrating outstanding successes during the first one and one-half years into her term, the State of Louisiana was improving in these and many other areas.
Elected as the first woman legislator from the city of Lafayette, she served five years in the Louisiana House of Representatives, focusing on education and transportation issues. She then became the first woman in Louisiana elected to the Public Service Commission where she served seven years, developing an expertise in utility regulation. Her skills and knowledge were recognized when she was chosen to preside as the first woman chair of the PSC and re-elected to her second term at the commission without opposition.
She was then elected Lieutenant Governor, the state’s second-highest office. During her eight years of service she built Louisiana tourism into a nationally recognized record-breaking $9 billion industry by guiding communities large and small in development of their cultural assets.
Gov. Blanco has traveled internationally, promoting Louisiana in European countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Germany and England as well as Canada, Mexico, Brazil and several countries in Central America. She led economic development missions to Japan, China, Taiwan, Cuba and Kuwait and visited the Netherlands to examine flood control measures. To gain a better understand of tensions in the Middle East she visited Jordan and Iraq, flying into Bagdad’s war zone to visit U.S. troops.
Governor Blanco has received numerous awards nationally and internationally, including three honorary doctorates. In the year 2000, the Université Sainte-Anne of Pointe-de-l’Eglise, in Nouvelle-Ecosse (Nova Scotia), in eastern Canada honored her with an honorary Doctor of Laws for her work in preservation of the French culture. Xavier University of Louisiana of New Orleans bestowed the honorary Doctor of Laws to the Governor in 2004 for her outstanding work in government and dedication to education. In 2007 Southern University of Baton Rouge, Louisiana recognized Governor Blanco with an honorary Doctor of Laws for her work in improving state government, effectively fighting for recovery after the hurricanes and for her support of higher education. In 2008 she was honored by the Rockefeller Foundation with a treasured fellowship housed in Bellagio, Italy, where she worked on key elements of her memoires.
She is a graduate of Mt. Carmel High School in New Iberia, Louisiana, and earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. Upon graduation she worked as a business teacher at Breaux Bridge High School. She later worked as a district manager for the U.S. Department of Commerce during the 1980 Decennial Census initiative. With her husband, she owns Coteau Consultants, a political and marketing research firm. She has done consulting work in health care and has been a guest lecturer at universities in Louisiana and across the United States.
Now retired from elective office, Governor Blanco is invited to speak nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics including economic development, public service, education reform, disaster preparation and leadership development. She is writing her memoires, does consulting work, and serves on the board of directors of Gulf Coast Management Fund.
She is married to Raymond S. Blanco who, after 47 years of service, retired from the University of Louisiana in their hometown of Lafayette. He served as Vice-President of Student Affairs, and began his distinguished career at UL as a winning football coach. The Blancos pursued successful careers while parenting six children: Karmen, Monique, Nicole, Raymond, Jr., Pilar and Benedict (1977-1997). They are the proud grandparents of 12.