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Edgar "Dooky Jr" CHASE, Jr.^{[1, 2]}
1928 - 2016

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• Suffix	Jr.
  Nickname	Dooky Jr
  Birth	23 Mar 1928	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA
  Gender	Male
  Education	elementary school for five years as of the 1940 US federal census.  [3]
  Color-Race	5 Apr 1930	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA   [4]
  	Neg[ro]
  Residence	5 Apr 1930	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA   [4]
  	2233 Orleans Avenue
  Residence	1935-8 Apr 1940	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA   [3]
  	2233 Orleans Street (5th Ward)
  	The household comprised Edgar Chase (33, head), his wife Emily (32), their children Doris (13) and Edgar Jr. (12), and Edgar's mother-in-law, Ermine Tenette (54). They were renting the house for $19 per month.
  Color-Race	8 Apr 1940	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA   [3]
  	Neg[ro]
  Died	22 Nov 2016	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA   [2]
  	From The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, on line, 25 Nov 2016: «b»Musician, restaurateur Edgar 'Dooky' Chase dies at 88 «/b»Todd A. Price tprice@nola.com Edgar 'Dooky' Chase Jr., who, with his wife, Leah, turned the family's Treme sandwich shop into a world-renowned restaurant and a beacon of civility, died Tuesday. Mr. Chase was 88. Mr. Chase, born March 23, 1928, in New Orleans, grew up in a musical family. A jazz trumpeter, Mr. Chase delivered sandwiches for his parents' shop while honing his musical skills, according to a bio posted by the Chase Family Foundation. After attending Booker T. Washington High School, Mr. Chase, only 16 at the time, founded Dooky Chase's Rhythm Playboys, a jazz band. Later, he create the Dooky Chase Orchestra, a 16-member big band that included his sister, Doris, on vocals. The band traveled throughout the region. Members included trombonist Benny Powell, who played with Lionel Hampton and Count Basie, and drummer Vernel Fournier, who was a member of Ahmed Jamal's trio. Mr. Chase, according to the foundation's page, also became active in the Musicians Union and helped increase the pay of local performers. When he was only 19, Mr. Chase promoted the first racially integrated concert performed at the Municipal Auditorium, according to the foundation. In 1945, the Dooky Chase Orchestra played a Mardi Gras ball, where Mr. Chase met Leah. The couple married a year later. The orchestra played its last show in 1949, but Mr. Chase remained devoted to music. It was only in the last decade that he stopped playing his trumpet for family members. At Leah Chase's 90th birthday party in 2013, Mr. Chase sang for the crowd. "We remember him vividly playing his trumpet. That was his first love," said Kimberly Reese, Mr. Chase's granddaughter. He would recommend songs for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren and test them to see if they had musical ability. (Most didn't.) Mr. Chase, however, focused his attention early in his life on the family business. Mr. Chase and his wife went on to turn the humble restaurant into a white-tablecloth restaurant admired and celebrated around the world. The restaurant became a meeting place for civil rights leaders. In an upstairs room, the Chases allowed black and white civil rights activists to eat and plan, in violation of the law. The Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., James Meredith and Thurgood Marshall all passed through the doors on Orleans Avenue. "He was a man who took his obligations seriously," Reese said. African-American musicians, who were barred at the time from white establishments, also frequented Dooky Chase's restaurant. The list of notable customers included Lena Horne, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan and Ray Charles, who mentioned the restaurant in his song "Early in the Morning." Later, presidents would come to the Treme restaurant for gumbo and hospitality. The restaurant was heavily damaged by the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Chase and his wife lived in a FEMA trailer across from the restaurant for more than a year. Dooky Chase's restaurant would not reopen for two years. The family, after the restaurant returned , founded the Edgar "Dooky" Jr. & Leah Chase Family Foundation, which supports culture, education, culinary arts and social justice. On Wednesday, the day after Mr. Chase died, Dooky Chase's restaurant was open. And it would remain open through the holiday week. His family said that is what Mr. Chase would have wanted. In addition to his wife, Leah, survivors include a son, Edgar "Dooky" Chase III, and two daughters, Stella Chase Reese and Leah Chase Kamata; 16 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are being handled by D.W. Rhodes Funeral Home. A public visitation will be held Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, 1923 St. Philip St., followed by a prayer service. The funeral will be held Monday at 1 p.m. at the church, with visitation starting at 11:30 a.m. ###
  Buried	28 Nov 2016	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA
  	Address: n/a
  Person ID	I299	Dobard-Tenette-Fauria
  Last Modified	2 Dec 2016

  
  

  Father	Edgar Lawrence "Dooky" CHASE,   b. Abt 1901, , , Louisiana, USA ,   d. 21 Feb 1958, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA
  Mother	Emily Marguerite TENETTE,   b. 16 Apr 1906, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA ,   d. 17 Oct 1992, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA
  Married	Dec 1925	New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA
  Family ID	F87	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Living
  Children	> 1. Emily CHASE,   b. 1937, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA ,   d. 22 Mar 1990, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA > 2. Living > 3. Living > 4. Living
  Last Modified	22 Sep 2004
  Family ID	F113	Group Sheet

  
  

• Event Map		Event Birth - 23 Mar 1928 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA Color-Race - Neg[ro] - 5 Apr 1930 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA Residence - 2233 Orleans Avenue - 5 Apr 1930 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA Residence - 2233 Orleans Street (5th Ward) - 1935-8 Apr 1940 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA Color-Race - Neg[ro] - 8 Apr 1940 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA Died - 22 Nov 2016 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA Buried - Address: n/a - 28 Nov 2016 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA  = Link to Google Maps   = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Sources

  [S99] Genie: Voici la Famille Tenette, Bennett, Lloyd W. Jr. and Octavia T. English, (New Orleans, Louisiana, August 1986. Created for a family reunion. No folio numbers.) (Reliability: 0). [S529] Newspaper/Magazine On-line Reports, Todd A. (tprice@nola.com) Price, "Musician, restaurateur Edgar "Dooky" Chase dies aat 88," 25 Nov 2016, online archives (http://neworleanstimespicayune.la.newsmemory.com : accessed 25 Nov 2016), p. Metro Section, page 1, col. 1. (Reliability: 3). [S524] Census-US federal-1940, (http://ancestry.com: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), T627, roll 1421, Louisiana, Orleans, New Orleans, enumeration district (ED) 36-111, p. 2A, household 28, Familiy of Edgar Chase (lines 35-39), accessed 15 Nov 2014 (Reliability: 2). [S144] Census-US federal-1930, United States Bureau of the Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana; Roll 803; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 74; Image: 603.0. Family of Edgar Chase. (Reliability: 3).