Wayne Coco

2024 Avoyellean of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

Mr. Wayne L Coco has been selected as the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award winner of the Avoyellean of the Year. Mr. Wayne founded his architecture firm, Coco & Co., in Simmesport in 1976 where he and his wife Liz have been residing ever since. Over the years, Wayne has put his time and energy into many, many organizations devoted to community service. Just some of these community service organizations are the District 54 Knights of Columbus l Christ the King Council #10564, St. Cecilia Chorale, Boy Scouts of America, Troop 94 Mansura, Council Member, Simmesport Historical Society (25 years), Arts and Humanities Council of Avoyelles, American Library Association, The Association for Library Trustees and Advocates, Little Theater of Avoyelles, Avoyelles Parish Port Commission, and the Governor Appointed, National Register Review Board Committee for Louisiana. And this is only a partial list of the organizations Mr. Coco has donated his time and energy to.

Professionally, Mr. Wayne is a member of the American Institute of Architects and he has completed over 150 projects in Avoyelles and over 250 in the State of Louisiana. Many of these projects Wayne donated his time to. He has positively impacted Avoyelles Parish by advocating for us at State Legislatures, Governors, Commissioners of Administration, and the Federal Government on occasion. For over half a century, he has championed Avoyelles history & libraries, American Indian reservation restitution for the Tunica Biloxi Indians, art funding, music enrichment funds, and the like. Wayne is tireless in the architectural and preservation fields, which enrich our shared past. He designed the Yellow Bayou State Civil War Memorial Park in Simmesport and town Parks in Evergreen, Plaucheville, and Mansura. Mr. Coco spearheaded The Clarence Edwards Park in Marksville and many other built environmental conservation spaces in Avoyelles Parish. Due to Wayne Coco’s architectural contributions, we can gather in these outside spaces to hold community and family events.

Mr. Coco is a not only a published poet, but he has also co-authored and edited many books on the History of Avoyelles Parish, The Coco Family in Avoyelles, and Historic Structures in Avoyelles Parish. He is a benefactor to the School of Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Wayne and his wife, Liz (a career elementary school teacher), founded the Summer Enrichment Arts Program in Avoyelles in the early 1970s to bring art and culture to children of Avoyelles Parish. Mr. Coco was an Instructor at the Career Development Center (CDC) in Cottonport for the Avoyelles Parish School Board’s best and brightest honor students interested in studying construction and architecture.

The Town of Simmesport would like to celebrate the wonderful legacy Mr. Wayne has built for Simmesport. Indeed, his work extended not only to the town, but statewide and across the nation! We can think of no one more deserving than Mr. Wayne Coco. Lest you think he is retiring from public service, Wayne has agreed to chair the committee for Simmesport’s Centential Celebration in October of this year. Congratulations Wayne for your well-deserved recognition of your many, many works over the years.