Ville Platte businessman dies at age 96

Allen Ortego spent the majority of his adult life building up successful businesses in Ville Platte, and then making sizable donations as a philanthropist.
Ortego passed away on December 26, 2016 at the age of 96. There will be a visitation held at Ardoin’s Funeral Home in Ville Platte on Monday from 4 p.m. to midnight, with his burial taking place at Sacred Heart Church at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. A rosary, led by Fr. Thomas Voorhies, will be at 7 p.m. on Monday at Ardoin’s.
“He was a man of unquestionable integrity,” his son Allen Glenn Ortego said. “He was a very noble gentleman and he had unequaled sense of justice and fairness. He had that objectivity. He was not swayed by people or politics. Many times people wanted him to run for Senator and he said absolutely not.”
Ortego grew up in nearby St. Landry Parish and graduated from Grand Prairie High School. He enlisted into the United States Marine Corp following the bombing at Pearl Harbor on Dec.7, 1941. After basic training, Ortego was selected for the U.S. Naval Academy in Toledo, Ohio and would earn certification as a U.S. Naval Military Accountant.
Ortego would serve in the South Pacific during World War II and would be promoted to Technical Sergeant Quartermaster and Guardian of all supplies imported into and exported from the South Pacific.
For his service, Ortego would receive in May of 1944 a Special Commendation and Citation from The Commanding General, Field Harris.
After the war, Ortego returned home and he met, and then wed, Beryl Anne Brignac, and they began a family. It was during this time that Ortego began his very successful auto parts store in Ville Platte.
Ortego’s business ventures expanded to include banking, as he opened the first American Security Bank (then known as Security Savings and Loan Association) among other banks. He also purchased the old Avoyelles Wholesale Company on Main Street, and the Highland Park Development, which he completed.
Ortego also later helped form The Gulf Land Investment Corporation, which purchased and sold tracts of land through The U.S. Lafourche Gas Company. Later in life, Ortego would develop Ortego Pepper Sauce which was distributed worldwide (even sold in catalogs for Neimen Marcus and Community Coffee) and garnered Ortego a certain level of fame.
CBS News did an exclusive on location interview with Ortego which aired on the 6 o’clock news, and Ortego and his operation were also featured in Southern Living Magazine.
“His claim to the uniqueness of his hot sauce was the fact that all of his peppers were hand grown, hand picked, and hand graded,” Ortego said. “And his peppers were grown exclusively in Louisiana soil, particularly in Evangeline Parish. He claimed to be the only pepper sauce manufacturer that remained loyal to the commitment of representing a 100% Louisiana Product.”
Ortego and his wife Brenda also donated property to the City of Ville Platte for the sole purpose of it becoming a park area, which would become Downtown Park.
“It didn’t matter if it was a family or friend, if it was the right thing to do then it was the right thing to do,” Ortego said. “He never lost sight of that. He kept his mental faculties to the day he died. He never lost a sense of who he was, who we were or what day it was.”