Sulphur Mourns at the Loss of Local Legend, Shorty Breaux
"A friend to everyone" is the best way to describe Short Breaux. He was a good samaritan to anyone in need whether they are local, or nationwide. In 2012, Shorty collected over 200 quart-sized bags of aluminum can pull tabs to donate to Houston's Ronald McDonald House. Shorty would turn in those tabs to the recycler and donate the money to the charity. Shorty reached out to everyone in the community to collect those pull tabs and in 2013 he beat that 2012 record. Shorty's work didn't stop in 2013, he became even more of a legend as more and more people began to help Shorty by donating pull tabs. As word got out over the years, not only did local individuals help, but bars and even schools got involved to help out Shorty's efforts. It seems as what started as a small effort, turned into a giant uniting of the Sulphur community. Shorty continued his collecting of tabs and would donate to various charities and local fundraisers around the community.
A legend such as Shorty has many stories about his past, but the more consistent story that I understood was that he was a longshoreman at the Port of Lake Charles. He would throw the giant sacks of rice and apparently would show you his technique if you handed him a bag of pull tabs as a trade. He was an avid member of the community and was a perfect example of how a small thing, even in size, can make such an amazing impact on a community even one as big as Sulphur. Shorty was 85 years old and was reported to have passed away peacefully in his sleep.