John Clement Knatt of Iberia Parish was born in 1919.  He’s 99 years old. Knatt says life was hard but good. His explains that his father passed away when he was young. “I’m not the only child. My sister died, my mama died. My daddy I don’t remember. I was a little boy,” adds Knatt.

 

A place of fond memories for Clement is the historic house and gardens of Shadows-on-the-Teche. He worked there for 40 years. “People would come to see the inside of the shadows. I was me and one man that worked there. We cleaned the inside of the house.”

 

Clement says on his farm he taught his two boys and other young men about hard work. “With the mule we would plow and everything. I taught them plenty of them.”

 

He says in his younger years he did his share of traveling from New Orleans to St. Louis. Today, He’s married to a women who he says is good to him. “I got a good wife. She’s kind of strict but she’s right there.”

 

As far as advice, he tells young men to go to work. If your home is not your’s alone, then do your part . “Do a little work for somebody else. If you’re living with somebody, you give them so much and keep the rest. That’s it.”