Leslie Delaroderie-Clark

I escaped the suffocation of big-city life in 1994 when I moved to the small community of Creole in southwest Louisiana — a spot on the map one mile north of the Gulf of Mexico. My husband Cecil and I own a small beach motel here, where we both work and live.

I am an incurable homebody who loves puttering around my place, working, crafting, reading, and generally cherishing the privacy of it. The thing my friends tease me about most is my unshakable aversion to going anywhere unless I absolutely have to.

Before Creole

I spent most of my adult life working as an administrative assistant, a wife, and a mother of four, in Baton Rouge and in Lubbock, Texas. My children — Stephanie, Mathew, Nathan, and Lindsay — all live and work in Texas now. I have two grandchildren, Ashlynne and Christopher, whom I don’t see nearly enough but do hear from often. They call me Grammy, a name I am especially pleased and proud to hear.

My days are generally full of motel duties, and the office work is preferred by a long way over the maintenance. When I’m not moteling, you can usually find me in front of my computer by day, or walking about five miles by night to my beloved classical music.