Lucile Jacoby Blum, 1904-2007

Lucile Jacoby Blum led the statewide arts library, the New Orleans Opera League, the Youth Art Council of America, the Future Music Leaders Association, and other arts programs, including those for preschoolers, people with disabilities, and prisoners. The photo at the far right reflects on her involvement with the New Orleans Women’s Opera Guild alongside a child who created a miniature stage settings for the opera “Carmen.”

In 2007, when she died at age 103, she did so in her childhood home of Newellton, Louisiana. She had lived most of her long life in New Orleans, but she never forgot the lesson of the Tensas Parish experience of Mississippi River flooding when she was in her early teens. There her mother had told her to be thankful for what they did have, not what they would lose. She always was, claiming this memory as one of the reasons she became a principal actor in providing cultural opportunities for as many people as possible. One of her last efforts was called, “This is Our World, This is Our School” and was modeled on a UNICEF project about children in war zones. In Louisiana, she wanted to give the same attention to children living among violence. She received award after award, from international, national, and local groups. When asked if she herself was an artist, she answered that she liked best the role of spectator. She was awarded the Times-Picayune’s Loving Cup in 1969, one of the most noticed honors in the city.

Lucile Jacoby Blum, ca. 1945. Newcomb Archives, Tulane University.