Flags are flying at half-staff in Kenner as former Mayor and City Councilman Louis Congemi has passed.
Congemi was a native of Kenner, growing up in the Hanson City part of Kenner.
Congemi was one of six children in his family, the son of a cobbler, Congemi and his family immigrated to the area when he was three.
“It wasn't until 1965 that we had hot water running in the house," The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate quoted Congemi from a 1995 interview: "Before that, we had no gas. We had a wood-burning stove and then a kerosene one. I remember some very cold days in that house. We would stuff newspaper in the holes in the walls.”
Congemi served eight years on the Kenner City Council. He ran for and was elected to the job of Mayor, which he served another eight years.
He also served Jefferson Parish eight years as part of the Council’s 4th District seat.