The Andrews, Nelson and Hill Family invite the public to attend a celebration of life for Lois Andrews on November 19 and 20. Andrews died on November 10 at her home surrounded by her family in New Orleans. She was 69.
In New Orleans’ cultural community, Andrews held a unique position. She was one of the city’s few female grand marshals of jazz funerals and second line parades and was a force behind the revival of the Baby Doll masking tradition. She co-founded the Lady Money Wasters Social Aid and Pleasure Club in 1975 and the Dumaine Street Gang in the 1990s. In that same decade, she encouraged the formation of the Gold Digger Baby Dolls and other groups in a tradition which had thrived in Carnival celebrations in the early decades of the 20th century but had become nearly defunct before she spurred a renaissance.
Visitation will be held on Friday, November 19, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Chapel of Roses at Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home, 1615 St. Philip St. The visitation will be followed by a musical tribute. Space is limited for the musical tribute. Please call Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home at (504) 581-4411 to reserve a spot.
On Saturday, November 20, 2021, visitation will begin at 8 a.m. followed by funeral services at 10 a.m. at the Mahalia Jackson Theater of Performing Arts in Armstrong Park, 1419 Basin St. A traditional jazz funeral procession will follow. Interment is at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 4000 Norman Meyer Ave. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours is required for all public events.
The services will include representatives from the many organizations that Andrews was involved with over the years, including the Money Wasters Social Aid and Pleasure Club, the Dumaine Street Gang Social Aid and Pleasure Club and the Tremé Sidewalk Steppers, as well as musicians from the city’s brass band community, and past and present employees of Place D’Armes and Hampton Inn hotels.
In a biography supplied by family members, Andrews is described as “a 6th Ward cultural icon; born into the culture, bearing the culture, birthing the culture, and reviving the culture. She was everybody’s aunt and she was Queen of the Tremé. She started second-lining at age 4 and accepted Christ at age 8.”
In 2019, Andrews was appointed Ruler of the Krewedelusion parade and selected for herself the fitting title of “Mother of Music.” In her royal order for the parade, she asked people to “respect each other, be slower to judge, and support the Saints.”
Andrews’ home and workplace became nurturing grounds for an entire generation of brass band musicians. She made ceramics to procure instruments for the children who played in her home, and she ran The Shop, a store and practice space that encouraged kids to form bands and to practice parading in the streets of the Treme neighborhood. In the early 1990s, she created a venue for up-and-coming brass bands by transforming a 6th Ward bar room on the corner of St. Philip St. and North Robertson Streets into a community hub that she named “Trombone Shorty’s,” after her youngest son. Today, many of the bands that form the backbone of the city’s musical community exist because of her efforts, including the Rebirth Brass Band, New Birth Brass Band, Lil Rascals Brass Band, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Tremé Brass Band, Chosen Few Brass Band, and countless other groups, including those of her own children.
As she told photographer Eric Waters, “If you get out and parade, you don’t have to worry about no sickness.”
Andrews was born on August 8, 1952. She was the daughter of the late R&B singer Jessie “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” Hill and his wife Dorothy and the granddaughter of Walter Nelson, a guitarist who played in the band of Alphonse Picou.
The oldest girl of 12 children, Andrews is survived by nine of her siblings: Lionel, Linda, and Sandra Nelson; Cynthia, Jessie Lee, Eric, Dionne Hill; Dorothy Hill-Martin (Larry) and Judy Hill-Andrews (Darryl). She was married to James Andrews Jr. for 45 years and was the mother of seven children: James “12” Andrews III (Karen), Bruce “Fot” Nelson, Terry Nelson, Temeca Andrews, the late Darnell “D-boy” Andrews, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, and Deja Andrews. She had 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Andrews is preceded in death by her father, one son and two brothers, Louis “Fritz” Nelson and Terry “Ship Head” Hill.
In the words of Andrews, “The whole world must come together and be free. New Orleans is a gumbo pot with all these different cultures coming together and I’m honored to be in the roux. I know how to stomp all the evil and hatred out of the world. I like to have fun; when you have fun, it makes life better. I want the hating to stop. Let’s teach the world to parade together New Orleans-style and let the good times roll!”
