Etienne Hotard, 82, bus company founder
Louisiana Lou
Wednesday December 24, 2003
From staff reports
Etienne L. "State" Hotard, who built Hotard Coaches from a two-vehicle bus
line into the second-largest commercial bus company in the region, died
Tuesday at his home in Lumberton, Miss. He was 82.
The family-owned New Orleans company employed 220 workers and operated a
fleet of 83 vehicles when it was sold four years ago to Laidlaw Inc., the
largest bus operator in North America and owner of the Greyhound line.
Mr. Hotard served in World War II as a chauffeur for a colonel in the Army
Air Corps.
"From that experience, he went on to successful career in the transportation
field," said one of his sons, Eugene Hotard.
Mr. Hotard founded the company in 1960, running a two-bus commuter line
transporting residents of the River Parishes to and from New Orleans. In
1974, he moved the business from the River Parishes to New Orleans.
As the business grew, expanding from commuter service to the tourist trade,
Mr. Hotard and his wife, Theresa, brought all eight of their children into
the operation.
Early on, their five sons drove and maintained buses and their three
daughters worked in the company office.
"My children were introduced to the business from infancy," Mrs. Hotard once
told a reporter. "When they could hold a broom, they started sweeping. As
another got big enough to sweep, the other moved on. They never had time for
trouble, just for production."
In later years, the eight siblings met weekly to discuss business, until the
company was sold to Laidlaw in 1999.
Mr. Hotard was born in LaPlace and graduated from Leon Godchaux High School
in Reserve. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a
parishioner of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Kenner.
Survivors include his wife, Theresa Guidry Hotard; six sons, Etienne Hotard
of Windermere, Fla., Edwin Hotard of New Orleans, Eric Hotard of Annandale,
Va., Emmett Hotard of Diamondhead, Miss., Errol Hotard of Biloxi, Miss., and
Eugene Hotard of Slidell; three daughters, Eva Hotard of New Orleans, and
Ester H. Layerle and Elise H. Gross of Madisonville; and 25 grandchildren.
Visitation will be Friday from 10 a.m. to noon at Millet Guidry Funeral Home
in LaPlace, followed by a religious service in the funeral home chapel.
Burial will be private.
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