Noah Demet

Noah Demet was born December 2, 1905, in Maurice, Vermillion Parish, Louisiana, to Jean and Regina Broussard Demet. He was the third of four children and the only son. While Noah did attend school, he had to quit at the age of ten due to the untimely death of both his father and grandfather in 1916. He immediately went to work in the cotton and sugar cane fields like his father before in order to help support his mother and sisters. Later, like his father, he would move up from “farm laborer” to “bridge tender”.

Boarding with the Broussard family as he worked the cotton and sugar cane seasons, Noah met his sweetheart, Zoe’ (Zoway)Broussard. In 1935, when the Broussards moved to Biloxi seeking employment in the lucrative seafood industry, Noah quickly followed, and he and Zoway were married at St. Michael Catholic Church in March that same year.

The twenty-nine-year-old Noah began working at the DeJean factory and he and Zoway set up their household in the seafood camps. Soon after, he began a longstanding career with Dubaz Canning Company working on their shrimp and oyster boats. It was during these years he would earn the nickname “Choupique” (pronounced “shoe pick”) – a word referring to a fish similar to a gar. It is unknown why he was assigned this moniker, but it stuck and was even passed down to his son who was referred to as “Lil Choupique”. 

Noah and Zoway resided on Point Cadet in Biloxi for the next 28 years, working the entire time in the seafood industry. In 1957, just following his 57th birthday, Noah became ill, and qualifying as a fisherman, was to receive treatment at the Marine Hospital in New Orleans, as it was part of a network dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen.

However, Noah Demet passed away shortly thereafter in New Orleans due to kidney failure. He was returned to Biloxi, with services in St. Michael Catholic Church and laid to rest in the Biloxi cemetery – his obituary stated simply and fittingly that “he was a fisherman”.