By Kelsey Hammon
kelsey.hammon@leaderpub.com

In the early morning light on any average day, Clay Pelloat, 61, could be found stoking the flames of a smoker as he tended to his signature barbecue pit outside of Clayboy’s Smoke Pit on the corner of Main and Monroe streets in Groves.
A fixture behind the grill, Pelloat was well known for his craft. Combined with his wife, Christine’s cooking skills, the couple drew people from across southeast Texas to feast on juicy rib eye and baked potatoes, pulled pork sandwiches, boiled crawfish all served with sides of potato salad and dirty rice and beans.
The restaurant, formerly known as Clayboy’s Barbecue Pit Stop is owned by Christine and has served customers for six years.
“Everything was made from scratch,” Clay said from his sister, Paula Brossard’s, home in Groves Friday.
But when Clay began coughing up blood in April, he was forced to take a hiatus from the grill.
After a visit to the hospital, a CT scan revealed nodules on Clay’s right lung and he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer called small cell carcinoma. The cancer, which is now in his lung, liver and bone took away more than his health, it also meant he could not help Christine run the restaurant.
Having no other choice, the couple closed the restaurant’s doors in early September and sold everything inside from tables and chairs to the stove.
No source of livelihood
With the restaurant closed, Christine and Clay are trying to figure out how they will pay their bills in the months to come. Clay said the family does not know at this time how long he will have to be treated for.
The sale from the restaurant items was able to garner thousands of dollars, but more will be needed to pay for the couple’s living expenses.
To help, Clay’s niece Pam Colichia, of Port Arthur, started a Go Fund Me page dubbed “Help Clayboy beat cancer.” The goal has been set at $10,000 and the effort has already raised more than $1,000 since Thursday night. Community members can donate by visiting: gofundme.com/clayboy-pelloat-needs-your-help.
“Honestly, it’s a sad story for us,” Colichia said. “Because he’s not able, at the moment, to do the things he always loved to do and I know he’s missing seeing everyone who he served and knew and came to love throughout his time at Clayboy’s.”
Customers felt the same way.
Christine said those who heard the news were devastated that the restaurant would be closing, especially under the circumstances.
An uphill battle
At the time of his diagnosis, Clay had no health insurance, so there was nothing he could do for treatment.
“I had no money for doctor’s appointments,” Clay said.
Finally, five months into his diagnosis, Clay was approved for indigent health insurance through Jefferson County. His first chemotherapy treatment is set to start Tuesday.
Christine has also battled cancer and only recently went into remission after a three-year battle with anal cancer.
In the months to come, Christine said she knows she will need to care for Clay and help get him to and from doctor’s appointments. To do all that and run the restaurant without her partner by her side would have been impossible, she said.
“I could not do it without him,” Christine said.
Bringing the community together with barbecue
Clayboy’s Smoke pit was known for more than good food.
Last year, when a neighbor down the street needed helping paying for medical bills for their 1-year-old who was sick with Transverse Myelitis, a rare disease that mimics polio, Clay and Christine did not hesitate to help out. The child is now 2 and walking.
The couple hosted a benefit in October last year at the restaurant, bringing in live music and other events including an auction and raffle that garnered about $12,000 for the Nichols family.
Then when Hurricane Harvey made landfall, the Pelloats were able to get the restaurant up and running the very next day to serve a line of hungry customers. Regardless of the storm clouds, Clay and Christine worked behind the counter. When they ran out of hamburger buns, they improvised, offering bun-less burgers.
The restaurant also hosted open mic nights and crawfish eating contests, where the winner took home a $500 prize. On Wednesdays, police officers who visited the restaurant ate for free.
For the Pelloats, having the community at the core of the business was the only way to operate.
“That’s what you do in a community,” Christine said. “They [customers] are like family, not like strangers.”
The couple also used to operate the Ranch House Café, in Nederland, known for Christine’s three-layered Italian cream cakes.
There are times when Clay tries to laugh, but the ache in his chest keeps him from doing so. He and Christine joke that they now having matching ports, which is a soft disc inserted just under the skin near the collarbone, where chemotherapy medicine will enter.
The family said they know that Clay is going to fight hard in the months to come and they hope to find Clay once stoking the flames of the smoker.
“I think Clay meant a lot to a lot of people,” Pam said. “They would love to [open the restaurant again] when he kicks this.”

To help:
gofundme.com/clayboy-pelloat-needs-your-help