Ruth Robertson Fontenot, artist, archivist, genealogical consultant. Born, Opelousas, Louisiana, March 30 1914; daughter of William Alexander Robertson and Marie Celeste Dupre. Married Austin L. A. Fontenot, Jr., May 20, 1936, eight children. Attended Sophie Newcomb College, 1931-1933; B.A. cum laude, Southwestern Louisiana Institute (alumni directory lists her as Ruth Alexander Fontenot), 1935. Resided in Washington, Louisiana, at the De la Morandiere House; later in Opelousas, Louisiana, at the Ringrose Plantation; at New Orleans’ Pontalba Apartments; in Franklin, Louisiana; and at the Governor Mouton mansion in Opelousas. Career achievements: edited the “History Edition” of the Opelousas Daily World, 1955, reprinted 1983; organized and helped establish the Jim Bowie Museum in Opelousas, 1958; assisted in establishing the Acadiana Tourism Center, the first of its kind in the Acadiana region, 1966; obtained state grant for the architectural survey of historic buildings in Washington, Louisiana, 1968; the drawings are in the University Archives and Acadiana Manuscripts Collection, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; official archivist of the St. Landry Catholic Church of Opelousas, Louisiana, translating the French and Spanish colonial records, 1951-1975; consultant of the Evangeline Economic and Planning District on a cultural and architectural survey of the Acadiana region for the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation, 1977-86; surveyed St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, and St. Mary Parishes. Died, Lafayette, Louisiana February 12, 1995; interred Cedar Hill cemetery, Washington, Louisiana.

SOURCES: Vertical File, Louisiana Room, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette Daily Advertiser, February 14, 1995; personal research from Frederick Austin Fontenot, A.E.B.

Note: narrative adopted from Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, tenth-year supplement, 1988-1998.