NEW ORLEANS — Robert C. Blakes Sr, Dr. runs through Central City but even if you've driven down the street, do you know the man?
To know this man, you must know his heart. And Robert C. Blakes' heart belonged to Lois Blakes from the moment he saw her decades ago.
The fact that he was a preacher caused some hesitation on her end when they first met.
"I said, 'Preacher?' because that's what I did not want. I had always said I never wanted to marry a preacher," says First Lady Lois Blakes.
Long story short, she did marry the preacher.
'Well, he was irresistible."
She was afraid it would be a boring life. Turns out, it was anything but.
Robert C. Blakes, Sr. grew up in Woodville, Mississippi eventually moving to New Orleans.
In 1965, he took over New Home Missionary Baptist Church on Jackson Avenue with only 30 congregants and he grew his operation from there.
"But when he came on the scene, he changed it from New Home Missionary Baptist Church to New Home Ministries."
He established several locations in New Orleans and also in Baton Rouge, Hammond, and Houston.
First Lady Lois Blakes never imagined how many lives he would impact.
"My husband came into this neighborhood and cleaned the neighborhood. The parking lot you see out there...all of these houses...this building... all of that was torn down and he reestablished it."
Pastor Blakes passed away in 2013 at 74 years old.
In 2015, the city council decided to honor him by renaming the portion of Carondelet between Felicity and Martin Luther King Jr, Boulevard in his honor.
Pastor Blakes' legacy lives on through his churches, the street renamed in his honor, but also through his sons.
Robert C. Blakes, Jr. and Samuel R. Blakes oversee the entirety of New Home Ministries together, and they are excited to build on the foundation their father built.
"Well, it's living the dream. For me to work with my best friend, it is a fulfillment of my father's legacy, but then it's just a great experience for me and my brother to be able to co-labor together and work out the extension of my father's dream," says Samuel R. Blakes.
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