Len Lacy
| John Lenard "Len" Lacy | |
Louisiana State Representative
for Bienville Parish | |
| In office 1964 – 1968 | |
| Preceded by | C. L. McCrary |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Sallie Williams Lacy |
Member of the
Bienville Parish School Board | |
| In office January 6, 1931 – May 12, 1964 | |
| Born | September 8, 1900 Castor, Bienville Parish, Louisiana |
| Died | June 7, 1998 (aged 97) Monroe, Louisiana |
| Resting place | New Ebenezer Cemetery in Castor, Louisiana |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Sallie Williams Lacy |
| Children | Doris Lacy Barnes (deceased)
Billie L. Ainsworth |
| Occupation | Farmer; Cattleman; Businessman Notes:
|
| Religion | United Methodist |
John Lenard Lacy, known as Len Lacy (September 8, 1900 – June 7, 1998), was a farmer, cattleman, landowner, and businessman from Castor in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, who served from 1964 to 1968 as a Democratic state representative for his native Bienville Parish.[1]
Biography
Lacy was born into a pioneer Bienville Parish family in the Ebenezer community south of Castor. His grandfather was one of the first educators in Bienville Parish. His father was Henry Rufus Lacy, Sr. (1870–1956); his mother,s Mattie Lacy (1870-1946). His grandfather, William H. Lacy, a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, was a pioneer educator in Bienville Parish in the years after the American Civil War.[2] An older brother, W. S. Lacy (1894-1918), died at the age of twenty-four. His younger brother, Henry Rufus Lacy, Jr. (1902–1969), was a Castor merchant known throughout the area as Rufus Lacy.[3][4]
Prior to his legislative service, Lacy was for thirty-three years a member of the elected Bienville Parish School Board, headquartered in the parish seat of Arcadia. He served from January 6, 1931, until May 1964, when he assumed his legislative seat.
Lacy was the last person to have represented only Bienville Parish in the legislature. Until 1968, each parish regardless of its population had been guaranteed a seat in the 105-member Louisiana House. Bienville was thereafter combined with neighboring Jackson Parish to the east. Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry, a Democrat originally from Jonesboro in Jackson Parish, defeated Lacy in the 1967 primary, and in 1972, Henry began an eight-year stint as the Speaker of the Louisiana House. Democrat Jamie Fair of Castor succeeded Henry in the seat in 1980 and served a single term until 1984.[1]
In 1970, The Shreveport Times named Lacy one of the most influential persons in Bienville Parish because many who sought guidance in business or politics came to him for advice. His great public interest was in rural development.[3]
Family and death
Lacy was married to the former Sallie Williams (June 23, 1905 – January 12, 1999),[5] who succeeded her husband as a school board member, having served from August 1964 until her retirement on December 14, 1972.[6]
The Lacys had three daughters. The oldest, Doris Lacy Barnes (1925-2020), married Orrice Russell Barnes (1921–1996), an native of Pocatello, Idaho, whom she met at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. Until his death, they operated the Barnes Western Auto dealership in Newellton in Tensas Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Doris Barnes was a member of the debate team at Castor High School and was mentored by the legendary educator and principal E. R. Minchew, who subsequently became the head of the speech department at Louisiana Tech. One of her classmates was the Alexandria attorney DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr., the son of Myrtis Methvin, the mayor of Castor in the 1930s and only the second woman to serve as the mayor of a town in Louisiana. An active civic figure in Tensas Parish, Doris Barnes was particularly committed to the garden club and public libraries.[2]
The youngest daughter, Carolyn L. Carrow (1934-2000), was married to Guy Elmer Carrow (1931-2018), an engineer originally from North Carolina; the Carrows are interred in Bartlesville in Washington County, Oklahoma.[7] Surviving daughter Billie L. Ainsworth and her husband, William G. Ainsworth, reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[3]
There were six Lacy grandchildren, residing at the time of their grandfather's death in five states. The grandchildren include two physicianns, John Russell Barnes (born 1952), of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and David Lacy Barnes (born 1954), of Monroe, Louisiana; Terry Ainsworth Evans of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Martha Ainsworth Healey of Edmond, Oklahoma, Stephen C. Carrow of Tulsa, and T. Scott Carrow of Jacksonville, Florida.[3] A seventh grandson, William Anderson Barnes died at the age of nine months in 1961.[8] Lacy also had ten great-grandchildren.[3] Lacy died in a Monroe hospital. He and his wife are interred at the New Ebenezer Cemetery south of Castor.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2024. Louisiana House of Representatives. Retrieved on May 4, 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Doris Lacy Barnes. Retrieved on May 25, 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 John Len Lacy obituary, The Shreveport Times, June 8, 1998, obtained through Theresa A. Douglas, Public Information Specialist, Office of Public Information, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- ↑ John Len Lacy. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on May 22, 2020.
- ↑ Graves at New Ebenezer Cemetery, Castor, Louisiana
- ↑ Statement of Bienville Parish School Board, May 13, 2008.
- ↑ Carolyn Lacy Carrow. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on May 25, 2020.
- ↑ William Anderson Barnes. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on May 25, 2020.
