by Katie Wainwright

Most people nowadays refer to Frances Chauvin as the “Pie Lady.” She is known throughout the area for her delicious, home-baked pies. However, baking wasn’t her first major endeavor. She and her late husband, John, bought WFPR, the local Hammond radio station in 1958 and ran it as a family operation until they sold it in 1995. WFPR was a moving force in the city. Both Chauvins were totally committed to their family and their community.

In January, in recognition of her years of service to the community and the Chamber, the Hammond Chamber of Commerce surprised Frances by presenting her with the Lifetime Chamber Member Award at the Chamber’s 56th Annual Installation and Awards Luncheon. Frances’ seven children—Nanette Guerin, Johnny, Tom, Jayne Bankston, Steve, Tim and Suzanne Durham—and their spouses and many of her grandchildren were present at the ceremony.

Chamber Executive Director Kathy Stuart says it was personally and professionally gratifying to have Frances receive that award. “Even though I moved away for a while, I grew up with her children and could see the impact Mrs. Chauvin had in Hammond. She had a strong sense of commitment and community spirit.”

The birth of the Pie Lady

The Chauvins worked side by side for many years. Upon retiring, John turned to his hobby, winemaking, and Frances to her sewing and needlework. Their large family kept them busy. The Chauvin’s son, Tim, and his wife Lori raised and sold flowers at the Hammond Country Market.

As we talked in her kitchen, Frances recalled, “They were trying to make a go of the market and needed more participants. Tim asked me to be a vendor. He suggested pies or cookies. I’d only baked pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I was a little leery. Initially, I baked twelve pies. I figured if they sat on the shelf, I could give them away. To my amazement, the pies sold right away.”

She stayed with the Hammond Farmers Market a couple of years. The people who ran the New Orleans Crescent City Farmers Market, the oldest in the state, heard about Frances’ pies. They drove up to Hammond and tasted her product. “I guess I passed, because they asked me if I would bring my pies down to their market.” 

She baked on Fridays and at 7 a.m. on Saturdays was on the road to the Crescent City Market on Magazine Street. Every other Tuesday, she sold her pies at the market’s Uptown Square branch. During big weeks, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, she’d sell 300 pies. “It became a full-time job in a hurry.”

I believed her. Cooling on the island counter were 30 small pecan pies her daughter, Jayne Bankston, had come to pick up for a luncheon in Baton Rouge. In the center of the kitchen table, a large wooden crate overflowed with green apples waiting to be peeled. Big aluminum and cast iron pots and pans hung from the ceiling. The commercial-type Chambers gas stove and oven looked like a very serious piece of equipment.

“It’s no big secret,” Frances says. “The fresh ingredients are what make my pies a success.” And she never doubles a recipe. “Doubling or tripling a recipe just doesn’t work. I have twelve bowls and I mix each individual crust in its own bowl.” Her best sellers are pecan pies. She buys Bergeron pecans from John Guerin’s first cousin in New Roads. Her Granny Smiths come from Washington State. Doug Thorburn of Mandeville delivers to her door freshly picked blueberries from his farm in Chatawa, Miss. Emeril Lagasse featured her blueberry-peach pie on his cooking show. “That pie became very popular for a while.”

Peaches come from Alabama. She picks them up May through August from the vendor who parks his truck by the Illinois Central Railroad Station. For strawberry pies, she uses local berries right out of the fields. “And I take home-made whipped cream in a cooler and put the topping on once I get to the market. That’s a lot of trouble, but it’s worth it.”

“My grandmother taught me how to bake pies. Now, my own grandchildren love to help,” says Frances. “If they can play with Playdough, they’re old enough to learn to work with the real thing.”

Frances also bakes pumpkin, sweet potato and cushaw pies. Holiday favorites are apple-cranberry and mince meat. “I have a hard time finding cushaws,” she notes. Kin to the pumpkin, cushaws are green and white striped, with a crooked neck. They resemble gourds. The white pulp is tastier than the pulp of the more popular orange pumpkin. “John raised cushaws in the garden. He also did a lot of the peeling, slicing and dicing.” Now Tina Cook and Linda Harper come into Frances’ kitchen to help.

“John’s family always had cushaws growing up,” she says. “His mother used to make the filling candied, like you do sweet potatoes.” Frances doesn’t boil the cushaws because she finds that makes them too watery. She bakes them in the oven at 325 degrees for approximately an hour until tender. Then she scoops the meat out of the shell and seasons it just as she would a pumpkin pie. Lolis Eric Elie of the Times Picayune was so excited to find Frances’ Blue Ribbon cushaw pies at the Crescent City Market he raved about them in one of his columns.

Buyers appreciate the fact that Frances uses very little sugar in her pies. She has also added a sharp cheddar cheese quiche to her repertoire. “Just a little something for those who don’t have a sweet tooth.” She bakes some pies with whole-wheat flour and fructose for those on special diets. John Folse is featuring these healthy pies in his latest, soon-to-be-published cookbook.

After Katrina closed the New Orleans markets, the Red Stick Farmers Market in Baton Rouge invited the participants to bring their goods to Baton Rouge. “I go there every Saturday morning. It’s actually bigger than the New Orleans market.”

Family, friends and community

Raised in South Louisiana, Frances was born in Roanoke, between Welch and Jennings. “My grandfather built a house in 1902 that is still standing and on the National Register,” she says. “Right now it has a blue tarp roof.”

Her father bought a house on a 700-acre rice farm near Fenton where she went to high school. There she met her future husband, John Chauvin, a high school teacher. “He’d quit teaching and gone into broadcasting. He was hired as a station manager in Eunice.

I couldn’t work there because I couldn’t speak French. To this day, they still broadcast in French.

“John always wanted his own station. In 1958, when WFPR in Hammond became available, we bought into it. We moved to Hammond. At first, we had a difficult time—new town, new friends—but we soon adjusted. We came to love it here. There’s no better place to live.”

For years, their radio station broadcast the good and the bad news. Programs such as the “Swap Shop” garnered wide attention. Many listeners started their day with “Johnny in the Morning,” a popular eye-opener with John Chauvin, Jr. at the helm. “Most of the people who worked at the station stayed for years,” Frances says. “Foots McCrory came with us from Eunice, became one of John’s best friends, and was with us until he died.”

Others did their apprenticeship at WFPR. Robin Roberts of ABC’s “Good Morning America” worked at the station during her college years. So did Ray Romero, now with WNOE in New Orleans. “Ray started when he was 14 years old,” says Frances. “His mother had to drive him to work, as he was too young to have a driver’s license. He’s an excellent reporter.”

Rodney Starnes, who developed his skills at WFPR, now has a successful television commercial producing company in Memphis. “Mary Pirosko, George Bonnell, Kevin Meeks, Al Nassar of WWL—they all worked at our station before going on to bigger things,” says Frances.

Family, friends, a distinct involvement in the community she lives in and undaunted optimism for the future are the basis of Frances’ philosophy of life. The Lifetime Chamber Member Award is a fitting reward for this woman of great character and astonishing stamina.

Want a mouth-watering pie? Call Frances Chauvin at 985-7515 to place your order.