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[[Louisiana State University]]}}
[[Louisiana State University]]}}
'''William Putnam Sevier, Jr.''', sometimes known as '''Buck Sevier''' (October 13, 1899 – September 4, 1985)<ref name=cemetery>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/cemeteries/smsasl.htm|title=Tallulah Cemeteries|publisher=Rootsweb.ancestry|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> was the longest-serving [[mayor]] of a community in the U.S. state of [[Louisiana]]. A banker in Tallulah, Louisiana, the seat of Madison Parish, Sevier was first elected to tree terms as alderman. In 1946, he was elected as mayor of the city, and served, with repeated re-elections until 1974. Madison Parish is located in the [[Mississippi River]] delta country in the northeastern potion of his state.
'''William Putnam Sevier, Jr.''', sometimes known as '''Buck Sevier''' (October 13, 1899 – September 4, 1985)<ref name=cemetery>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/cemeteries/smsasl.htm|title=Tallulah Cemeteries|publisher=Rootsweb.ancestry|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> was the longest-serving [[mayor]] of a community in the U.S. state of [[Louisiana]]. A banker in Tallulah, Louisiana, the seat of Madison Parish, Sevier was first elected to tree terms as alderman. In 1946, he was elected as mayor of the city, and served, with repeated re-elections until 1974. Madison Parish is located in the [[Mississippi River]] delta country in the northeastern potion of his state.
He is a great-great-grandson of John Sevier, a [[Tennessee]] pioneer and first [[governor]] of that state. He was a cousin of state Senator Andrew L. Sevier and state Representative Henry Clay Sevier, both also from Tallulah.<ref name=roots/>
He was a great-great-grandson of John Sevier, a [[Tennessee]] pioneer and first [[governor]] of that state. He was a cousin of state Senator Andrew L. Sevier and state Representative Henry Clay Sevier, both also from Tallulah.<ref name=roots/>
==Biography==
==Biography==
He attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] with hopes of becoming a lawyer. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. His studies were interrupted by [[World War I]], when he served as a balloon observer. He never completed legal studies but returned to Tallulah in 1922. He worked at the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] experiment station there, which was established to try to develop ways to protect [[cotton]] growers from the pervasive boll weevil, which was destroying crops throughout the South. This station developed products and processes for crop dusting from airplanes.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/bios/sevierwp.txt|title=William Putnam Sevier, Jr., Mayor of Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana|publisher=rootswebancestry.com|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> Hundreds of flights took off from the Tallulah Airport as they worked on the best methods to dust the crops. Delta Dusters, a company that developed here to carry out crop dusting, was the origin of Delta Airlines.
He attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] with hopes of becoming a lawyer. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. His studies were interrupted by [[World War I]], when he served as a balloon observer. He never completed legal studies but returned to Tallulah in 1922. He worked at the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] experiment station there, which was established to try to develop ways to protect [[cotton]] growers from the pervasive boll weevil, which was destroying crops throughout the South. This station developed products and processes for crop dusting from airplanes.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/bios/sevierwp.txt|title=William Putnam Sevier, Jr., Mayor of Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana|publisher=rootswebancestry.com|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> Hundreds of flights took off from the Tallulah Airport as they worked on the best methods to dust the crops. Delta Dusters, a company that developed here to carry out crop dusting, was the origin of Delta Airlines.
Soon Seveier became a teller at Tallulah State Bank. He worked with the institution and advanced to lead it, serving fifty-eight years until he was eighty. He retired with the title of chairman emeritus. When Sevier began working for the bank, it employed only five people and did not use electricity until after 5 p.m. All receipts were hand-posted. He was working at the bank during the [[Wall Street]] Crash of 1929 and the [[Great Depression]] which followed. It was a period in which many financial institutions closed, but Sevier's bank survived and has never closed its doors.<ref name=bio/>
Soon Seveier became a teller at Tallulah State Bank. He worked with the institution and advanced to lead it, serving fifty-eight years until he was eighty. He retired with the title of chairman emeritus. When Sevier began working for the bank, it employed only five people and did not use electricity until after 5 p.m. All receipts were hand-posted. He was working at the bank during the [[Wall Street]] Crash of 1929 and the [[Great Depression]] which followed. It was a period in which many financial institutions closed, but Sevier's bank survived and has never closed its doors.<ref name=bio/>
Sevier served as president of the Louisiana Bankers Association in 1961-1962<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lba.org/content.cfm?id=63|title=LBA Past Chairmen|publisher=lba.org|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> and vice president of the American Bankers Association from 1963 to 1964. He also served as a director of the Standard Life Insurance Company of [[Jackson]], Mississippi.<ref name=bio/> Sevier was elected in 1946as the Tallulah mayor and assumed office in 1947. He was repeatedly reelected and served through 1974.<ref name=bio/> (During most of this period, the majority [[African-American]] population of the city was largely disenfranchised by the state's 1898 constitution and discriminatory practices. This changed after passage of civil rights legislation.)
Sevier served as president of the Louisiana Bankers Association in 1961-1962<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lba.org/content.cfm?id=63|title=LBA Past Chairmen|publisher=lba.org|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> and vice president of the American Bankers Association from 1963 to 1964. He also served as a director of the Standard Life Insurance Company of [[Jackson]], Mississippi.<ref name=bio/> Sevier was elected in 1946as the Tallulah mayor and assumed office in 1947. He was repeatedly reelected and served through 1974.<ref name=bio/> (During most of this period, the majority [[African-American]] population of the city was largely disenfranchised by the state's 1898 constitution and discriminatory practices. This changed after passage of civil rights legislation.)
Sevier's combined service of forty-one years as an elected official is a record for longevity in Louisiana, as was his twenty-seven year tenure as mayor.<ref name=bio/> Among his challenges was dealing with changing local conditions as [[civil rights]] activists, including African-American veterans of [[World War II]], challenged [[Jim Crow]] conditions. In 1965, activists conducted demonstrations and boycotts against white-owned businesses in Tallulah to gain an end to segregation of public facilities, a year after segregation was prohibited by federal law.
Sevier's combined service of forty-one years as an elected official is a record for longevity in Louisiana, as was his twenty-seven year tenure as mayor.<ref name=bio/> Among his challenges was dealing with changing local conditions as [[civil rights]] activists, including African-American veterans of [[World War II]], challenged [[Jim Crow]] conditions. In 1965, activists conducted demonstrations and boycotts against white-owned businesses in Tallulah to gain an end to segregation of public facilities, a year after segregation was prohibited by federal law.