John Easterly Coxe
| John Easterly Coxe | |
Louisiana Superintendent of Education
| |
| In office 1940 – 1948 | |
| Preceded by | T. H. Harris |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Shelby M. Jackson |
| Born | July 14, 1887 Watson, Livingston Parish, Louisiana, USA |
| Died | November 18, 1972 (aged 85) |
| Resting place | Roselawn Memorial Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Three wives (dates of marriages unclear): Margaret Devaney Coxe |
| Children | Two daughters from first marriage: Ruth Lucille Coxe Butcher |
| Occupation | Educator |
John Easterly Coxe (July 14, 1887 – November 18, 1972)[1] was the anti-Long Louisiana state superintendent of education from 1940 to 1948 during the terms of Governors Sam Houston Jones and Jimmie Davis. At the time the office was elective; years later it was made appointive.
Coxe was one of eight children of William Potts Coxe (1845-1915) and the former Margie Selina Webb (1854-1930), both natives of Mississippi. He was born in rural Watson in Livingston Parish, fifteen miles from the capital city of Baton Rouge. He advanced in the field of professional education from classroom teacher to parish superintendent to a curriculum specialist in the state department of education in Baton Rouge. Running on the Sam Jones Democratic ticket,[2] Coxe unseated a powerhouse of Louisiana politics, T. H. Harris, the state superintendent since 1908 for whom a scholarship for college students was established in 1938 through legislation offered by Lether Frazar, a college president and then state representative who later became lieutenant governor in the third term of Earl Kemp Long. Harris was allied with the pro-Long faction of Louisiana politics. Coxe previously was employed in Harris' office, which he since decried as characterized by "politicalizations and unbearable dictatorship … void of reason in his effort to control the schools and the school people."[3]
Eight years later, Coxe was unseated by Shelby M. Jackson of Concordia Parish, a Democrat who held the post it for four terms but forfeited a fifth term to run unsuccessfully for governor in 1963, when John J. McKeithen was first elected. Jackson was elected on an intra-party ticket headed by former Governor Sam Jones, who sought a comeback in 1948. Oddly, Coxe had been elected to the first of his two terms in 1940 on the successful Jones ticket.
From his marriage to the former Margaret Devaney, Coxe had two daughters, Ruth Lucille Coxe Butcher (1905-1981) and Hazel Margaret Butcher (1921-2003), who were born in Minnesota and South Dakota, respectively. He had two other wives, the former Alice Pearl Grimm and Hazel Viola Grimm (1896-1978), a native of Watertown, South Dakota, who were sisters. The order of Coxe's marriages is unclear. Hazel was an educator in South Dakota, where Coxe himself resided in 1908 and again in 1929, the year that he and Hazel married.[4]
Coxe is interred at Roselawn Memorial Park in Baton Rouge.[1] On January 1, 1974, Charles Ernest Weimer completed a 91-page dissertation on Coxe at Louisiana State University.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 John Easterly Coxe. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on October 19, 2019.
- ↑ 1940: Louisiana, As They Saw It. astheysawit.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2011; no longer on-line.
- ↑ "John E. Coxe: Candidate for Education Post Makes Statement," Minden Herald, January 12, 1940, 4.
- ↑ John Coxe. Myheritage.com. Retrieved on October 19, 2019.
- ↑ Weimer, Charles Ernest, John Easterly Coxe, Louisiana Educator" (1974). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2702. [1], accessed October 19, 2019.
