John Sparks Patton

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John Sparks Patton, Sr.​


Louisiana Public Service Commissioner​
In office
January 1, 1939​ – December 31, 1942​
Succeeded by Jimmie Davis

Born September 23, 1894​
Lisbon, Claiborne Parish
Louisiana, USA
Died October 30, 1961 (aged 67)​
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Resting place Arlington Cemetery in Homer, Louisiana,​
Nationality American
Political party Democrat
Spouse(s) Agnes McCasland Patton ​
Children John Patton, Jr.​

Olen T. Patton​

Occupation Educator

Advocate for taxpayer-funded textbooks​

John Sparks Patton, Sr. (September 23, 1894 – October 30, 1961), was a Louisiana politician and educator who was an early advocate of taxpayer-funded school textbooks and a part of the pro-Long faction of his state's then dominant Democratic Party.

Patton was born in the village of Lisbon in Claiborne Parish in northwestern Louisiana.[1] ​ ​ He married Agnes McCasland (1896–1983). They had two sons; John Patton, Jr. (1924–1958), became a lieutenant in the United States Navy and served in both World War II and the Korean War. Olen T. Patton (1926–1943) was killed in action in World War II.[2] They also had two daughters together: Annette Patton Ward (1923–1998) and Minion Patton Lasater (year of birth and possible death unknown). ​

Patton was elected as his parish school superintendent, serving from 1920 to 1937. He served as president of the Louisiana Teachers Association (now the Louisiana Association of Educators) from 1923 to 1924.[1] ​ ​ Patton's bill for state-funded textbooks in public schools was introduced in 1928 in the Louisiana House of Representatives by Harley Bozeman of Winnfield, like Patton a confidant of Huey Long.[3] As governor, Long implemented Patton's textbooks proposal.​

Patton ran for state education superintendent in 1928 on the intraparty ticket with Huey Pierce Long, Jr., but lost to T. H. Harris. He ran again in 1932 as an Independent but was defeated.[1]​ ​ In 1938, Patton was elected to the Third District seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission, but in 1942, he was unseated by Jimmie Davis, then of Shreveport,[1] who used the position as a stepping stone, having sat for two years on the PSC, a utility rate regulatory body, before being elected governor of Louisiana in 1944 and again in 1960.​

Patton returned to Homer, the seat of Claiborne Parish, to resume his career as a school administrator. In 1950, Governor Earl Kemp Long in his second elected term appointed Patton as superintendent of the Louisiana School for the Deaf, located in the capital.[4] Patton served there until his death in 1961.[1]

Patton died in Baton Rouge and is interred at Arlington Cemetery in Homer.​

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "John Sparks Patton", A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. 2, Louisiana Historical Association, 1988, p. 635.
  2. Arlington Cemetery records, Homer, Louisiana
  3. "Harley Bozeman obituary," Winn Parish Enterprise, May 20, 1971.
  4. Jack Gannon, Deaf Heritage–A Narrative History of Deaf America (Silver Spring, Maryland: National Association of the Deaf, 1981), pp. 29-30 (PDF).

Further readings

  • T. Harry Williams, Huey Long (1969)​
  • Louisiana Schools, XXXIX (March 1962), publication of Louisiana Teachers Association​

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