Early in the summer of 1951, a proud grandfather was show ing off his 2-year old grandson to a crowd at an old country store on Hwy 73 in Prairievlle. "That boy is pretty active for his age," noted one vendor as the child darted from one part of the store to the other. The owner, Nick Delaune stopped the youngster long enough to address the crowd. "Tell'em who you are, boy." The

2-year old, thrilled to be the center of attention replied on cue, I'm Wild Bill from Prairieville... never worked and never will," and a nickname was born.

Bill's grandfather Nick Delaune, had been a leading figure in the developement of Prairieville. His general supply store was a focal point where locals came to town to talk, trade, buy, sell, and barter. "My grandfather was a very giving man", said Bill. "He felt very fortunate to have, at a time when many did not. I guess my fondest memories were of all the kids catching the bus there and listening to all the great stories about my grandfather and some about my own father. Once my dad, William Delaune Sr. bought a truck load of onions, which at that time were very scarce due to rationing around war time. It seems that my dad had met a guy who was boasting about the onions in a local tavern the night before and Dad had said "You're not going anywhere farther than Nick Delaune's Store with those onions because I'm buying them. They were delivered to the store the next morning much to the surprise of my grandfather. Nick quickly decided what to do about the problem of having all these extra onions. Grandpa Nick donated them to a church fair at St. John the Evangeline and of course everybody said what a fine gentleman Nick Delaune was and how charitable he was in donating all the onions when it was really a matter of having a huge surplus. "Grandpa Nick also kept a herd of cattle so his family always had food, income, and staples. He would extend credit to many families even when he knew they did not have the means to repay him. Many of those debts were never recovered". More