LAFAYETTE, La. — Former students, teachers and staff returned to Ovey Comeaux High School on Thursday evening for one final walk through the halls, celebrating nearly six decades of memories before the campus closes.
The Lafayette Parish School System hosted a Legacy Walk just weeks after the Lafayette Parish School Board voted 5-4 to close Comeaux High School and repurpose the campus into a career center.
For many attendees, the event offered one last chance to revisit the classrooms and hallways where lifelong friendships were formed.
"Well, there's an old saying: 'All good things must come to an end,' and for sure Comeaux was a good thing," said Coach Jack Franks II, who spent the past 10 years at the school.
Among those returning was 2018 graduate James Meche, who said walking the halls brought back memories of his four years as a student.
"Being able to go through all these hallways just kind of brings up a bunch of memories throughout my time because I started in 2014, graduated in 2018, but making the four years of having all these memories and friends and kind of having everything resurface, it's just great to be able to do this once again," Meche said.
The board's vote earlier this month marked the third time since 2024 that Comeaux's future came before the school board. District leaders said the closure was necessary to address declining enrollment and is expected to save the district more than $2 million annually.
For Franks, however, the school's greatest asset was never the building itself, but the people inside it.
"This was the longest I've been at a school in my 27 years of teaching. And just to walk the halls for the last time, I would be remiss if I didn't show up and say goodbye to such a beautiful place," he said.
Meche said the friendships and memories he made at Comeaux are worth far more than any financial savings.
"Never forget the friends and the memories that you had made along the way, because you may have forgot things here or there in the classroom because, I mean, it's just going to happen. But at the same time, just do not forget what had happened because this is a school that was one of a kind," he said.
Many alumni said the closure represents the loss of a piece of Lafayette's history. Since opening in 1966, the school — named after longtime farmer and 48-year Lafayette Parish school board member Ovey Comeaux — has educated generations of students and served as a cornerstone of the community.
Franks said while the building's future may change, the school's legacy will endure.
"This is just a structure, but when you came here, when you walked here, you're here forever. So as long as the name Comeaux exists, Comeaux lives forever," he said.
