Louise Mace was chatting with a friend during the East St. Tammany Chamber awards dinner in February when they announced the award for Small Business of the Year.

"I heard them say 'Olde Towne.' and I thought, 'Oh, good, I wonder who it is?'," said Mace. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when they said my name. That was a huge shock."

Owner of the Purple Armadillo on Erlanger Street, Mace was shaking in her shoes as she accepted the award, which is given to an outstanding small business owner who has demonstrated ethical leadership and corporate stewardship to make a difference in the community.

Louise Mace

As presenter Eric Schouest of CLECO put it at the time, Mace "gives selflessly gives to the community, not only numerous monetary and tangible donations, but blood, sweat and tears."

Mace is no stranger to tears. The mother of three, she remembers hard times after her first marriage ended.

"There were times when we didn't have two nickels to rub together," she said. "I had good friends who took care of me, and you never forget that."

A former insurance claims adjuster and private investigator, Mace grew up in Kenner. Her grandparents, who operated various small businesses, including a snowball stand, instilled community spirit in the family. Even when times were hard, the kids were encouraged to donate their outgrown clothes and toys.

"They always taught us to give back," she said. "It was always that way."

She has lived in Slidell for more than 20 years, moving here with her second husband. After retiring, she went to work with a friend in a shop on Robert Street and fell in love with Olde Towne.

When the owners decided to close, Mace and her friend, Kathy Green, decided to open their own place, thinking it would be easier than buying out the owners.

They opened on Aug. 2, 2005, just three weeks before Hurricane Katrina demolished the area.

Mace and Green cleaned up the shop themselves and were able to reopen in March 2006. She bought out her friend's share last April, when it appeared Green's husband was about to be transferred out of the area.

Since the beginning, Mace has vigorously supported local organizations, feeling a strong sense of responsibility to her community.

She's donated silent auction gift baskets to the Rainbow Child Care Gourmet Gala, United Way's Glitz Glamour & Giving, Jazz on the Bayou, which benefits Easter Seals and STARC, as well as many others.

She's also served as a sponsor for many of the city's cultural events, and gave a big boost to the Hospice Foundation of the South in December, when she donated all of the ornaments for the group's annual Tree of Angels fundraiser.

Mace provided hundreds of Battenberg lace angels, enough for one large tree and two smaller ones.

She also donated hundreds of angel wings in various sizes, which filled the atrium at Slidell Memorial Hospital, and dozens of ornaments for each of the trees.

"She is such a giving person, very passionate about what she does, and does a lot of things under the radar," said Mary Dubuisson, former HFS executive vice president. "What she did for the Angel Tree, though, was just tremendous."

Known for her salty tongue, Mace struck a nerve earlier this year, when at a Chamber breakfast, she reprimanded those who don't give back to the community. She used an off-color expression to predict they would come to regret it later.

"I know I struck a nerve with that," she said. "But I hope it will change the way people think."

Mace said she doesn't know if it was her upbringing that makes her feel so strongly about giving back, or if it was because of the tough times she's experienced in her life. She just knows that it makes a difference.

"There are people in life who are at the top of their game, but they've stepped on a lot of other people, and they never give back. They're also miserable and unhappy," she said. "I don't want to be like that."