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CULTURE
GM
Little Slices of
the Big Easy
By Donna Gable Hatch
n
ew Orleans, situated more than a 100 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi
River, is the site of a lot of history - and even more intrigue - and for author
Robert Moore Woolfolk Jr, it holds the roots of his childhood.
In his memoire, “Little Slices of the Big Easy,” the 91-year-old Woolfolk offers
a glimpse into what life was like for a small boy growing up in the Crescent City in the
1930s and ’40s.
62 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | FEBRUARY 2015
“I started writing it about 25
years ago, while I was traveling
around the world on business
for Standard Oil California - I
was a chemical engineer - and
remembering all the things I did
when I was little,” said Woolfolk,
who founded one of the largest
managed healthcare companies
of the Southwest, The National
Healthcare Alliance. “I wrote some
of it in Saudi Arabia, some in Guam
and so forth.”
The book is a collection of 39
short stories that centers on the
funny and “sassy” childhood
exploits of Woolfolk and his crew
of friends dubbed “The White
Corpuscles” (“We read that
white corpuscles protect against
both infectious disease and foreign
invaders.”). “Growing up in New Orleans was
quite an experience, especially at
that time, because parents didn’t
pay a lot of attention to what kids
got into,” the author said. “We
didn’t restrain ourselves. We did
some pretty sassy things and got
into some mischief, but we did
have some fun - a lot of fun - and
we got away with it.”
Woolfolk was part of a wealthy
and influential family: His father,
Robert Moore Woolfolk, was a
stockbroker at one of the largest
firms in the city, and his mother,
Ruth Woolfolk, wrote a mustread column titled “Through the
Lorgnette” for The Times‑Picayune.
As such, the only child had a
front row seat -literally - to some
of the city’s most dazzling events,
including Mardi Gras Carnival Balls.
“My dad was a member of one
of the older New Orleans Krewes,
and when I was six years old, the
all-male Krewe needed a Page to
follow the Queen at the ball and
attend to her train,” Woolfolk said.
“Well, they asked me to do it. The
Carnival Ball was held in the New
Orleans Auditorium, and there
must have been four hundred
people there. It was something. I
was doing a good job for a while,
but then the King asked me to
bring him a glass of champagne,