GALLERY

Family Album

Images from Annette’s family archives, provided by members of the Hollowell, Nunnally, and Burton Families

Foxfire images

Images from Foxfire’s archives, provided by the Hollowell family, Jai Williams, free feral, and Justin Morris

Portraits

Commissioned works from innovative and inspired artists who happen to be long-time friends of the Hollowell family.

Family Album
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Myra Orphy Handy

(April 18, 1905 - July 26, 1961)

Marriage Certificate for Victor Orphee and Héloise Eugene

(May 9, 1881)(May 9, 1881),

  • Myra Orphy Handy (April 18, 1905 - July 26, 1961) known by some as Mary, was the daughter of Héloise and Victor Orphy. She and her twin brother, Milo, were raised by their older sister after their parents died.

    At some point, the twins moved to Houston, where Milo worked as a carpenter and handyman and Myra as a seamstress, laundress and housekeeper. Myra was the mother of 10 children, of which Allen Bonet is one. She suffered a “nervous breakdown” when her youngest children were still small, resulting in several of them entering the foster system.

    Despite the difficult dynamics of their upbringing, her surviving children all speak highly of her. A talented amateur musician, Myra played several instruments and spoke English, Spanish, and Creole.

  • (May 9, 1881)

    This marriage certificate commemorates the bond of matrimony between Victor and Héloise Orphee, the parents of Myra Orphy Handy, grandparents of Allen Bonet, great-grandparents of free feral.

    They were wed in St. Martin’s Parish, nearly 25 years before the birth of their twins, suggesting that at least Héloise was rather young at the time. While none of their living descendants ever met them, the force of their love lives on in legend.

    It is said that after Héloise passed away, Victor fell into such a depression that he neither ate nor drank for days; thus, he followed his wife swiftly beyond the veil, leaving his oldest daughter to raise her two youngest siblings.

Héloise [Eugene] Orphee

  • Héloise [Eugene] Orphee (dates unknown). Very little is known about Héloise; aside from this photograph, her certificate of marriage to Victor Orphee, and her DNA which continues to sustain her descendents, there is little document of her life.

    She lived in St Martinville, Louisiana where she had three children, including the twins, Myra and Milo. She died when her twins were still young, possibly of rheumatic fever, though at this time, we have no death certificate or obituary to confirm any element of the story.

  • Héloise [Eugene] Orphee (dates unknown). Very little is known about Héloise; aside from this photograph, her certificate of marriage to Victor Orphee, and her DNA which continues to sustain her descendents, there is little document of her life.

    She lived in St Martinville, Louisiana where she had three children, including the twins, Myra and Milo. She died when her twins were still young, possibly of rheumatic fever, though at this time, we have no death certificate or obituary to confirm any element of the story.