Longtime Chataignier Clerk Rozas dies

The village of Chataignier is mourning over the loss of one of its favorite sons, as Wilbur James Rozas lost his battle with cancer on Monday. Rozas was 79 years old.
The residents of the small community fondly remembered Rozas as someone who was a wiz with numbers, and who was dedicated to improving his hometown.
“I always admired him and he was good at what he did,” Chataignier Alderman and Rozas’ son-in-law John Brasseaux said. “He kept Chataignier going all those years. He was always interested in making it better.”
“He was so dedicated to the community,” friend Patty Darbonne added. “He worked very, very hard to get them help and grants. He was very serious about his job.”
Rozas spent his entire adult life working with numbers.
Rozas graduated from Soule’ College in New Orleans with a degree in accounting, and returned home to manage the Rozas and Son Mercantile Store. He later served as the primary accountant for the Rozas Brothers Cotton Gin, and he later managed the family’s farms of rice and cotton after the passing of his father Aliday.
Rozas would also go on to sell insurance for Western and Southern Life, and served as the financial clerk in the business department at Savoy Medical Center in Mamou.
Rozas may have been known for his financial and civic skills, but he was also remembered for being a kind and humorous man.
“He was very funny and he came up with plenty of good stories,” Darbonne said. “He was very good person. I know the people appreciated him.”
Rozas was one of the founding village’s alderman in 1972 when the community began to lay out the ordinances and by-laws for being incorporated. Rozas would serve as Chataignier’s village clerk starting in 1989 for Mayor Herman Malveaux and then later for Mayor Jackie Thomas (Malveaux’s daughter) until his retirement earlier this year. Rozas also was the longtime bookkeeper for the Chataignier Water System, and served on the Evangeline Parish Tourism Commission.
“He worked under my dad’s administration and he stayed with him and then stayed on when I became mayor,” Mayor Thomas said. “It was truly a pleasure to serve with him. I enjoyed working with him. He is going to be sadly missed. My prayers are with his family.”
Rozas leaves behind his wife of 57 years Pamela Rogeau, their five children, 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Rozas opted to donate his body to Tulane Medical School. 
The Rozas family says there will be a service to honor him at a later date.