Billy Montgomery
| Billy Wayne Montgomery | |
 | |
| In office 1988 – January 14, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Jesse C. Deen |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Henry Lee Burns |
| Born | July 7, 1937 Provencal, Natchitoches Parish |
| Died | April 14, 2025 (aged 87) Bossier City, Louisiana |
| Resting place | Bellwood Cemetery in Bossier Parish |
| Political party | Democrat turned Republican in 2006 |
| Spouse(s) | No spouse or former spouse is mentioned in obituary, but a "significant other" is listed as Susan M. Jorden |
| Children | Kipper W. Montgomery Trever Montgomery |
| Alma mater | Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana |
| Occupation | Educator and Coach |
| Religion | Assembly of God |
Military Service
| |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1959-1964 |
Billy Wayne Montgomery, often known as Coach Montgomery (July 7, 1937 – April 14, 2025), was a former educator who represented the Bossier City-based District 9 in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988 to 2008. He was elected as a Democrat, but he switched affiliation to the Republican Party on October 3, 2006. He was a Moderate Republican who admitted that he had switched parties mainly to contest a state Senate seat in a conservative district.
Background
Montgomery graduated from Provençal High School in Natchitoches Parish. He obtained his bachelor's and his master's plus thirty semester hours from Northwestern State University (then Northwestern State College) in Natchitoches, the seat of Natchitoches Parish. He did graduate coursework at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana State College) in Monroe in Ouachita Parish.[1]
Montgomery served in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1964. He began his educational career in 1960 as a teacher and coach while he was still in the Army. He was an assistant principal from 1970 to 1982 and a principal from 1982 to 1988, when he entered the legislature and retired from professional education. In 1991, Representative Montgomery was named to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Coaches and Administrators Hall of Fame. In 1970, he was named the "Acadiana Coach of the Year." For eight years he was cited as "District Coach of the Year."[1][2]
The Louisiana Association of Educators named Montgomery a "Distinguished Legislator" in 1989 and one of the "Twenty Best Friends" of Education in the Louisiana legislature. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers cited Montgomery as the "New Legislator of the Year" in 1988.[1]
Political life
Term-limited in his House seat, Montgomery was a candidate for the District 37 seat in the Louisiana State Senate in the November 17, 2007, general election to fill the position being vacated by Republican Senator Max T. Malone of Shreveport, who was also term-limited. Montgomery relocated from his previous residence in Haughton to live once again in Bossier City. In the general election, Montgomery was defeated by fellow Republican B. L. "Buddy" Shaw of Shreveport, 7,157 (57 percent) to 5,317 (43 percent). In the primary, Shaw and Montgomery had also faced two other Republicans, oilman Jack Clary "Jay" Murrell, Jr., a former Caddo Parish commissioner, Republican activist, son-in-law of the Democratic attorney DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr., of Alexandria, and an itinerant radio talk show host, and, secondly, the businessman and later state Senator Barrow Peacock. Sheva Sims, an African-American lawyer who came within six votes of beating incumbent Monty Wafford for the Shreveport City Council District "B" seat in 2006, was the only Democrat in the Senate primary.[3] She is the Shreveport city court judge.
On October 9, 2007, the conservative Louisiana Prolife Alliance announced its opposition to Montgomery because of his past support for human cloning. Montgomery said the reason the group said this is because he was for stem cell research. LFF spokesman Dan Richey, himself a former state senator, then of Ferriday, listed ten Senate candidates who had supported cloning in the past, eight Democrats and two Republicans, Montgomery and Sherri Smith Buffington Cheek of Shreveport.[4] Cheek, the successor to former Senator Ron Bean, was elected to a second term in 2007.
Montgomery led the 2008 primary with 7,524 votes (29 percent) to Shaw's 6,676 ballots (22 percent). Under unique Louisiana rules, the two met in the general election even though both are of the same party. Shaw was considered the more politically conservative of the two. Peacock finished third with 4,620 votes (18 percent). Sims ran fourth with 4,564 (17 percent), and Murrell finished last with 3,951 (15 percent).[5]
In 2006, Montgomery and then state Senator Lydia P. Jackson, a Shreveport Democrat, were co-recipients of the Christus Medical Center Health Award for their service in supporting health care issues in the legislature.
Montgomery won all five of his legislative elections as a Democrat. He last faced an opponent in 1991, when he defeated the nonpartisan Kermit K. Westmoreland, 8,538 (74 percent) to 2,983 (26 percent).
In his first election in 1987, Montgomery almost failed to make the general election, sometimes called the "runoff" in Louisiana. Democrat Donald Edward Jones, then the mayor of Bossier City, led the field with 7,673 votes (just under 50 percent) to Montgomery's 6,531 (43 percent), and 1,153 (8 percent) for Democrat Charles S. Whorton. Jones fell twelve votes short of an outright primary majority. In the general election, Montgomery surprisingly prevailed with 5,209 (53 percent) to Jones' 4,553 (47 percent). The turnout was much lower in the second race. Jones lost exactly 3,100 votes between the primary and the general election. Montgomery lost votes too, but only 1,322.[6]
Montgomery said that his party switch was not particularly motivated by opposition to the Democrats but the expectation that he could more easily win the state Senate seat as a Republican than as a Democrat. The Louisiana Democratic Party issued this statement in regard to Montgomery's party switch: "It's unfortunate that he felt he had to switch parties to win that race."
Montgomery had worked closely with a Democratic colleague, Roy McArthur "Hoppy" Hopkins of Oil City. The two in fact were originally elected to the legislature on the same day, and both were among the more powerful legislators in the House chamber. Hopkins died of bone cancer on November 24, 2006.
On January 28, 2012, Montgomery, along with the late Fred Baden, former mayor of Pineville, and the late Adras LaBorde, former managing editor of the Alexandria Town Talk, was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. A banquet at the Winnfield Civic Center honored the inductees, three living and three deceased.[7][8]
Montgomery attended Central Assembly of God Church in Haughton, where his funeral was held.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Billy Wayne Montgomery Obituary April 14, 2025 - Rose - Neath Funeral Homes, accessed May 6, 2025.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 17, 2007.
- ↑ Louisiana Pro-Life Alliance, 721 Government Street, Suite 103-120, Baton Rouge, LA:www.TenLeastWanted.com]
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 20, 2007.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 21, 1987.
- ↑ Avoyelles Today, January 4, 2012
- ↑ La. Political Hall inducts former Pineville mayor, 5 others, Alexandria Town Talk, January 29, 2012.
