COVINGTON • FOLSOM • LACOMBE • MADISONVILLE • MANDEVILLE • SLIDELL
ST. TAMMANY
N O L A.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, J u ly 31, 2024
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Slidell-area women are dancing for the love of it
BORN TOUGH
Contributing writer
Former Salmen standout Marian Brandt Eades was always destined to be tough. The youngest of nine siblings, she was the baby girl, but that doesn’t mean her brothers and sisters went easy on her. “I just loved (being part of a big family),” Eades said. “All we did when I grew up was sports. We stayed outside. That’s what we did back then. We hung outside and everyone came to the house to play football. There wasn’t any touch. If they touched you, they pushed you into something. I ended up being a little tough cookie.” That’s an understatement. Eades played basketball, softball, volleyball and track at Salmen. Spartans’ coach Pam Slayton retired Marian’s jersey her senior year, making her the first female athlete in the parish to receive the honor. She went on to play basketball at Pearl River Junior College and moved to Southeastern before a pair of knee injuries ended her playing days. After college, Eades began her coaching career at Northshore in the early 1990s. She then led the Pope John Paul II volleyball and softball programs for four years before returning to Northshore permanently in 1997. Marrying a fellow coach in Ned Eades, the duo became key figures on the diamond among the St. Tammany Parish coaching scene. Ned won back-to-back state baseball championships in 1996 and 1997 at Pope John Paul II and then moved to Northshore to coach on the field next to Marian’s in 1999. Tragedy struck the family soon after, as Ned succumbed to his long battle with cancer in 2004. Marian
BY MADDIE SCOTT
Bad knees haven’t stopped 86-year-old Ellyn Campbell from dancing her heart out with the Happy Heart Dancers, a mature women’s group that performs in St. Tammany Parish retirement homes. “Dancing is everything to me,” Campbell said. “I’ve got two bad knees and legs, and sometimes they don’t want to move, but I make them. I make them move,” she said with a laugh. Her close friend and fellow dance member, Lou Landry, 82, laughed with her. They’re the only original members of the group, formerly known as the Pearl River Dancers. They formed in 2006 when Campbell, Landry and a few other friends wanted to exercise and dance to stay in shape after retiring. Since their PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN official 2006 debut, they’ve performed at Anna Merle Merrill and the a variety of venues Ladies of Love preformed for across the parish. residents of SummerHouse Campbell said she loves the camaraPark Provence in Slidell on derie of the group. June 26. Together, the women text every day, they enjoy restaurant outings and are always moving. The women performed on June 20 at the Oak Park Village, an assisted living facility in Slidell. The ten women sauntered into the building one-by-one as their performance neared. They all wore white capri pants and USA-themed shirts. A variety of accessories sat on their heads: Think light-up headbands, sparkly cowgirl hats and American-flag bandannas. Some wore sneakers; others wore sparkly sneakers. At 10 a.m. that day, one of the members, Cathy Springer, began playing such classic songs as, “Mississippi Slide,” “Cupid Shuffle,” “Elvira,” “Billie Jean” (twice) and “This Land is Your Land.” Each song pulsed through the room, and so did the dancers as they per-
Marian Brandt Eades was a winner from the start
BY JOSEPH HALM Staff writer
PROVIDED PHOTO
Marian Eades poses for a photo during her playing days at Salmen. battled thyroid cancer in 2009 and retired from coaching before the 2021 season due to another health scare when her right kidney was removed after a 2-inch mass was discovered. “It was tough to step away,” she said. “I love that school, the kids. We had a very good program because of the type of kids we had and the assistant coaches. But my shoulder was killing me, and I had that
second cancer; I wouldn’t have been able to give them what I needed to. I always felt when I wasn’t able to coach the way I wanted to coach and do what I wanted to do that I would step away.” So what has the lifelong Slidell resident with 549 softball wins and 12 district championships been up to? Traveling, taking care of
ä See WINNER, page 2A
Editor’s note: “Where are they now?” The St. Tammany Farmer asked that question about some of the best athletes in local sports history and then we went out and found them. Each edition this summer, we’ll reacquaint readers with one of these familiar faces. We’ll take a deep dive into the success stories that began in parish youth leagues, continued at local high schools and then colleges near and far. Many of these homegrown talents played professional sports, too, reaching the pinnacle of athletic achievement. This week, we feature Marian Brandt Eades, former Salmen basketball standout.
ä See DANCING, page 4A
Education and economic development working hand in glove in St. Tammany BY SARA PAGONES Contributing writer
Education and economic development leaders are working together in St. Tammany to try to reverse the trend of students leaving the parish and state, according to panelists at a recent State of Education breakfast sponsored by the St. Tammany Parish Chamber of Commerce. St. Tammany Parish Schools Superintendent Frank Jabbia was joined July 24 by Southeastern Louisiana State University President William Wainwright, Northshore Technical Community Col-
lege Chancellor Jim Carlson and state Rep. Kim Carver in a largely upbeat presentation that stressed the partnerships between the 37,000-student public school system and the college and university. Jabbia said that top students are leaving after their post-high school education, and Carver said Louisiana is the only southern state that is losing jobs and population. But Jabbia said St. Tammany is in alignment when it comes to preparing students for college and the workplace with monthly meetings between Jabbia,
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
State Rep. Kim Carver and Superintendent of St Tammany Public Schools Frank Jabbia listen as Southeastern Louisiana University President William Wainwright speaks at the State of Education, a breakfast-time discussion on education in the state of Louisiana and specifically, the ä See EDUCATION, page 3A northshore.