BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - While it’s been a rough year for the seafood industry on the Coast, Saturday was a time to celebrate a heritage that has resilience beyond disaster.
Twenty-five inductees have been added to the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum Hall of Fame.
There was more than just seafood history being honored.
This was a cultural celebration.
“The stories are beautiful. Every story is a part of the big picture, and every story is valuable,” said museum board president Kim Ross Bush. “It’s just like threads of a great tapestry; you need them all to make the tapestry work.”
She even has a story of her own.
“My grandmother was really credited with creating the stuffed crab in 1924,” she said. “He was a crabber, her neighbor donated stale bread; she soaked it in water, onion, bell pepper, fried crab - you got stuffed crab.”
Her grandmother and grandfather, Grace and John Seymour, were among the 25 inductees into the 2019 Hall of Fame.
About 200 guests and family members came to witness the ceremony.
Also included was boat-maker, business owner, electrical engineer and World War II veteran Marshall Marble.
“I had to look up all the dates for his biography, and when she got it typed it was nine pages,” said his wife Hannah Marble.
It is nine pages of wonderful memories.
“He was a real good man,” said his son John Marble. “And it’s exciting to know that the things he used to do actually did help the marine industry.”
This event was more than honoring any one person.
“It’s just wonderful,” Hannah added. “It just brings the family together, and it acknowledges him and all his work.”
This ceremony has become a regular thing for Tommy Schultz and his daughter Reva Hopkins.
“We’re here every year, I think, because have somebody, know somebody or are somebody,” Hopkins said.
Schultz, a former shrimper, is a hall of fame member. This year, they are here to support a family member and a close friend being inducted.
“It’s great to be here. It’s great to know that we are part of this whole industry,” Schultz added. “It’s what keeps the community going. It’s what keeps the life in it.”
Reva also has her place at the museum where you can see an image of her father’s 78-foot shrimp boat with her name emblazoned on the side.
“They had to christen it before I was born,” she said with a laugh. “So, they really hoped I was a girl.”
The 2019 Hall of Fame inductees are as follows:
Boat Owners/Captains/Commercial Fishermen:
Obrey J. Langlinais
Julius Dolze Broussard
Joseph W. “Sonny” Powell
Ivan John Skrnich Sr.
Lois Joseph Fountain
Oliver Steven Bosarge
Michael Kopszywa Sr.
John Steve Zorich
Tony Germaine David
Industry Tradesman:
Wally Gollott
Gussie Fountain
Ernest Alexandre & Cecile Delahoussaye
Elisa Elizabeth Toup Boudreaux
William Nels Johnson
Marshall Johnson Marble
Norman McSwain
Godfred Hennig Sr. (G. Hennig Welding & Blacksmith)
Louis A. Tremmel Sr.
Mary Consetta Borocich Thian
Boat Names:
Paradise
Michael, Jr.
Pamela Gillis
Amberjack
Delores S.
Commercial Seafood Processing:
Grace Seymour Stuffed Crabs by John Joseph Seymour and Grace Renes Seymour and Gulf Pride Enterprises.
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