Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = John Sidney Garrett
| office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative<br>for Claiborne, Bienville, and Webster parishes
| term_start=1948'
| term_end=1972
| preceded=[[William Rainach]]
| succeeded =Louise Brazzel Johnson
| office2=Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives
| term_start2=1968
| term_end2=1972
| preceded2=Vail Montgomery Delony
| succeeded2=Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry
| birth_date=October 29, 1921}
| birth_place=Millerton, Claiborne Parish<br>[[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]
| death_date=May 28, 2005 (aged 83)
| death_place=Homer, Claiborne Parish
| spouse=Meredith McEachern Garrett
| children=Richie, Mark, and Tommy Garrett
| party= [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| occupation=[[Business]]man<br>
[[United States Army]] in [[World War II]]
| religion=[[United Methodist]]
}}
'''John Sidney Garrett''' (October 29, 1921 – May 28, 2005) was a [[conservative]] [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the [[Louisiana]] House of Representatives from 1948 to 1972. He served under four [[gubernatorial]] administrations. Garrett was a successful [[business]]man in the small town of Haynesville in [[Claiborne Parish south of the [[Arkansas]] state line. In his last term, he was defeated for House eelection even though he was the [[Speaker]] of the House.
In 1966, Garrett made a strong but losing primary race for the Louisiana Public Service Commission to fill the seat vacated by the election of [[John J. McKeithen]] as governor. He was defeated by McKeithen's interim appointee, [[John S. Hunt]]. At the time, there were only three PSC districts; the number was increased to five under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
==Background==
Garrett was among five sons born in Millerton, an unincorporated area of Claiborne Parish, to John Hick Garrett (1890–1957) and the former Nobie Hunt (1899–1961). The five Garrett brothers years later placed a plaque in Room 109 of the Haynesville Hospital (built 1925) in their parents' memory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.homerhospital.com/Images/Interior/milestones%20fall%202008.pdf||
title=Milestones (Fall 2008)|publisher=homerhospital.com|accessdate=January 2, 2011}}</ref>
Garrett graduated from Haynesville High Schoo], attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], and graduated from [[Louisiana Tech University]] (then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) in [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]] in Lincoln Parish. In 1994, Garrett was honored as one of 100 "Outstanding Alumni" of Tech during the institution's [[centennial]] celebration.
During [[World War II]], Garrett served in the [[United States Army]] in the European theater of operations. He was a member of the 102nd and the 45th infantry divisions. He was a [[captain]] and battery commander with the field artillery.
Garrett's business ventures included Garrett's Department Store, Garrett Land and Timber Corporation, and Garrett Oil Field Service. He was the chairman of the board of directors of Planter's Bank and Trust Company.
==Garrett in the legislature==
Garrett succeeded the [[Segregation|segregationist]] Representative [[William Rainach]], who went on to serve in the state Senate and was a 1959 Democratic gubernatorial contender. Garrett was originally a segregationist as well who like Rainach had chaired the Joint Legislative Committee on Segregation. In support of the segregationist White Citizen's Council, begun by Rainach, Garrett told an audience in [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]] that the "segregation problem is the most serious you will face in your lifetime. The Black Monday (''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'') ruling of the [[United States Supreme Court]] was a political, not a legal decision."<ref name=mherald>"Rainach Addresses Citizens Council", ''Minden Herald,'' April 19, 1956, p. 1.</ref> Garrett said the Citizen's Council must operate not as "the [[Ku Klux Klan]] ... but within the laws of the state and the nation."<ref name=mherald/>
Otherwise, Garrett was a low-key business-oriented legislator who specialized in constituent services and maintained a wide network of friends and supporters to retain his seat for six consecutive four-year terms. At times, his district included a portion of neighboring Webster and Bienville parishes.
In his last term, Garrett was in a two-member district with conservative Democratic Representative Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. (1918-2011), of Shongaloo in Webster Parish. In the 1967 [[Primary|primaries]], Garrett and Branton defeated three other Democrats, former Springhill [[Mayor]] [[Charles McConnell]] and Henry Grady Hobbs (1923-2012), a native of from Sarepta,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=henry-hobbs&pid=162069317#fbLoggedOut|title=Henry Hobbs obituary|publisher=''Th Shreveport Times'|date=January 2, 2013|accessdate=January 3, 2013}}</ref> both [[attorney]]s, and James Whit "Tinker" Volentine (1915–1982), a Minden service station operator. McConnell tried again in 1971 and lost to Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. (1917-1995)]], of Minden. In 1995, Volentine's granddaughter, Helaine George, later Helaine Barrington of Denton County in north [[Texas]], was one of two Republican women who failed in an attempt to win the same House seat held at that time by the retired Minden educator, Democrat Everett Gail Doerge (1935-1999), who had first been elected in 1991. George had been the only person to challenge Doerge, having announced eight months early, with Patrick C. Nation, Sr., of Minden as her campaign manager. Then a second female Republican, Pamela Hillidge, entered there race; the two women split the opposition vote, and Doerge won a second term.
Garrett was recommended to the House as Speaker by Governor McKeithen to fill the vacancy created by the death on November 18, 1967, of Vaill Montgomery Delony of Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 19, 1967, p. 1.</ref> Oddly, McKeithen's former intra-party gubernatorial rival, deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, a former mayor of [[New Orleans]], had recommended Garrett for Speaker in 1960 in Morrison's second bid for the governorship.<ref>"Morrison Says Davis Sought NAACP Support," ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 16, 1959, p. 10-A.</ref>
In 1969, Garrett called for a state constitutional convention, which Governor McKeithen said was "not necessary."<ref>"McKeithen Says Convention Is Not Necessary," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' January 28, 1969, p. 1.</ref> In 1973, a constitutional convention began deliberations in Baton Rouge, which led the next year to a new state governing document.
Speaker Garrett served on the Louisiana Superdome (since the Mercedes-Benz Superdome) Commission during the construction of the giant sports stadium in downtown New Orleans. He was an author of the first statewide uniform teacher pay plan and supported legislation pertaining to elementary, secondary, and higher education. He authored the bill which created Lake Claiborne and worked for the appropriations to make the complex a reality.
==Running for the Public Service Commission, 1966==
John McKeithen appointed John S. Hunt of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] to the PSC seat that McKeithen vacated to become governor. Hunt's appointment ended after a year and a half. In the summer of 1966, Garrett challenged Hunt for Democratic renomination to a full six-year term on the commission. Hunt was the son of Stewart Smoker Hunt. I. and Lucille Long Hunt of Ruston, a sister of [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]], and [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]]. Both candidates had the same first name and the common middle initial, and Garrett's mother's maiden name was Hunt, but they were not related. Hunt led by plurality in the primary over a multi-candidate field that also included Garrett's legislative colleague, Parey Branton and former lawmaker Wellborn Jack of Shreveport. After the primary, Garrett claimed that Hunt had received 42,000 [[African-American]] votes, a margin of 93.1 percent in nine selected precincts across the district.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' September 16, 1966, p. 4.</ref> In the Democratic runoff election, Hunt defeated Garrett 91,971 (52.5 percent) to 83,075 (47.5) percent. The two evenly split the then twenty-eight parishes in the district. Garrett had garnered the support of three of four primary rivals eliminated in the first round of voting. He carried all of the parishes bordering Arkansas except Caddo in the northwest and East Carroll in the northeast.
Garrett tried to depict Hunt, who had supported [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1964 presidential election, as a captive of the "black bloc vote," but he failed to convince a majority of voters accordingly. Records did, however, reveal that Hunt's 9,896-vote margin was dependent on African-American voters newly enfranchised under the [[Voting Rights A of 1965]].
Hunt served a total of eight years on the commission. He was unseated in 1972 by [[Edward Kennon]], a Minden/Shreveport businessman and himself a nephew of former Governor [[Robert F. Kennon]].
==The defeat of Speaker Garrett==
In the 1971 closed primary (the last for legislative races in state history), Garrett was surprisingly defeated in his bid for a seventh term by a largely unknown [[insurance]] agent and [[radio]] station owner, Louise Brazzel Johnson (1924–2002) of Bernice in Union Parish. Garrett, placed in new District 11 (Union and Claiborne parishes) was the most high-profile of numerous legislative veterans defeated in an anti-incumbent year. Previously, it had been thought an impossible task for an inexperienced candidate to oust a senior lawmaker, particularly one who wore the title of "Speaker."
Mrs. Johnson was best known for her opposition to the proposed [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. She did not consolidate a hold on the Claiborne-Union district because she ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 1975, having lost to the more liberal Democrat, former Senator Charles C. Barham of Ruston. Johnson was then defeated for a second House term in the 1979 nonpartisan blanket primary by his fellow Democrat [[Loy F. Weaver]], a [[banker]] from Homer and a former agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]]. Weaver has succeeded Representative Johnson in 1976.
==The 1975 state senate campaign==
In 1975, former Representative Garrett entered an eight-candidate, all-Democratic field in a bid to succeed the retiring conservative State Senator [[Harold Montgomery]] of Doyline in Webster Parish. Garret stressed his past support for state centralized purchasing to stop duplication and the implementation of the Code of Ethics in the McKeithen administration.<ref>"Senate Sought by Garrett," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' October 21, 1975.</ref> Garrett stressed his past support for education, including the four-year status in Shreveport of Louisiana State University and Southern University and the establishment of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport. He also urged the implementation of a statewide [[community college]] system.<ref>Advertisement, ''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 9, 1975, p. 3, reprinted from ''Springhill Press.''</ref>
Garrett outspent his opponents in the race, having raised $25,248 in the primary, including three $1,000 contributions from Minden contractors James Madden and James M. Winford and from Garrett's aunt, Mrs. A.C. Smith of Minden.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 8, 1975, p. 1.</ref>
The since defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' endorsed Garrett's principal opponent, Democrat Foster Lonnie Campbell, Jr., of Bossier Parish. ''The Journal'' editorially charged that Garrett as a representative "voted for millions of dollars in new taxes and pork barrel political bond issues ... for the prevailing wage law of 1968 [which] set the gears of inflation ... and has resulted in all state projects costing an estimated additional 20 percent ..."<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' editorial, reprinted as Foster Campbell advertisement in ''Minden Press-Herald,' December 12, 1975, p. 11.</ref>
Garrett, in a newspaper advertisement, accused the Campbell family of seeking to create a political dynasty, with various Campbells holding in Webster Parish.
Garrett stressed his co-sponsorship in the House of the code of ethics for public employees, a centralized purchasing bill to stop duplications, and a listing of all state employees with their salaries. "Many persons whose employment was questionable resigned," Garrett said.<ref name=garrett>"Senate Sought by Garrett," ''Minden Press-Herald'', October 21, 1975, political supplement</ref> Garrett also had co-sponsored the establishment of Louisiana State University in Shreveport and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, the latter of which was created from the former Confederate Memorial Medical Center.<ref name=garrett/>
Garrett urged businesspeople to become involved in the political process. In an address before a civic Club in Minden, he said, "Every business has a duty to ... advise and aid elected officials. You had better get involved in politics - if you don't, you are going to be legislated out of business. ..."<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' November 26, 1975, p. 1.</ref>
In the showdown on December 13, 1975, Campbell defeated Garrett by a large margin, 15,739 (71 percent) to 6,417 (29 percent).<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 15, 1975, p. 1.</ref> The third-place primary candidate, Minden businessman Houston R. Morris, who had run unsuccessfully for state representative in 1971, endorsed Garrett in the general election, as did other rivals Patrick H. "Pat" Jones and Wade Baker. Garrett's former legislative colleague, Parey Branton, and the Minden educator, Ralph Lamar Rentz, Sr. (1930-1995), also ran for the state senate, but both trailed in the primary results.<ref>''Minden Press=Herald,'' November 3, 1975, p. 8.</ref>
In 2002, Campbell, after twenty-six years in the Senate, was elected to the PSC, a race that Garrett had lost in the 1966 Democratic primary runoff. Campbell was thereafter an unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary won easily by Republican [[Bobby Jindal]].
==Garrett's obituary==
Garrett's hobbies included the raising of [[horse]]s, [[cattle]], and bantam [[chicken]]s. He was a judge for [[poultry]] shows nationwide, a member of the American Bantam Association, and a past president of the American Poultry Association. He was a member of the Millerton Masonic Lodge #245, a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason, and an El Karubah Shriner.
Garrett died in the Homer Memorial Hospital in Claiborne Parish. He was survived by his wife of fifty-eight years, the former Meredith McEachern (1926-2012); three sons, Richie Garrett and his wife Susan of Monroe, Mark Garrett and his wife Patty of New Orleans, and Tommy Garrett and his wife Kelley of Haynesville; six grandchildren, and two brothers.
Services were held in the Haynesville [[United Methodist]] Church, with the Reverend Henry Stone officiating. Garrett was the chairman of the church's administrative board, the leader of the church finance committee, the teacher of the men's Sunday school class, and a singer in the choir. Burial was in the family plot at the Old Town Cemetery in Haynesville.
==References==
{{reflist}}
* John S. Garrett obituary, ''[[The Times (Shreveport)|Shreveport Times]]'', May 29, 2005
* http://www.politicsla.com/archives/2005/may.shtml
* Members of the Louisiana Legislature, 1880-2004 (Baton Rouge: Secretary of State)
* http://www.latech.edu/specialcollections/collections/m134.shtml
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, John Sidney}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United Methodists]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:World War II]]
Created page with " {{Infobox officeholder | name = John Sidney Garrett | office=Louisiana State Representative<br>for Claiborne, Bienville, and Webster parishes | term_start=1948' | term_en..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = John Sidney Garrett
| office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative<br>for Claiborne, Bienville, and Webster parishes
| term_start=1948'
| term_end=1972
| preceded=[[William Rainach]]
| succeeded =Louise Brazzel Johnson
| office2=Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives
| term_start2=1968
| term_end2=1972
| preceded2=Vail Montgomery Delony
| succeeded2=Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry
| birth_date=October 29, 1921}
| birth_place=Millerton, Claiborne Parish<br>[[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]
| death_date=May 28, 2005 (aged 83)
| death_place=Homer, Claiborne Parish
| spouse=Meredith McEachern Garrett
| children=Richie, Mark, and Tommy Garrett
| party= [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| occupation=[[Business]]man<br>
[[United States Army]] in [[World War II]]
| religion=[[United Methodist]]
}}
'''John Sidney Garrett''' (October 29, 1921 – May 28, 2005) was a [[conservative]] [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the [[Louisiana]] House of Representatives from 1948 to 1972. He served under four [[gubernatorial]] administrations. Garrett was a successful [[business]]man in the small town of Haynesville in [[Claiborne Parish south of the [[Arkansas]] state line. In his last term, he was defeated for House eelection even though he was the [[Speaker]] of the House.
In 1966, Garrett made a strong but losing primary race for the Louisiana Public Service Commission to fill the seat vacated by the election of [[John J. McKeithen]] as governor. He was defeated by McKeithen's interim appointee, [[John S. Hunt]]. At the time, there were only three PSC districts; the number was increased to five under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
==Background==
Garrett was among five sons born in Millerton, an unincorporated area of Claiborne Parish, to John Hick Garrett (1890–1957) and the former Nobie Hunt (1899–1961). The five Garrett brothers years later placed a plaque in Room 109 of the Haynesville Hospital (built 1925) in their parents' memory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.homerhospital.com/Images/Interior/milestones%20fall%202008.pdf||
title=Milestones (Fall 2008)|publisher=homerhospital.com|accessdate=January 2, 2011}}</ref>
Garrett graduated from Haynesville High Schoo], attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], and graduated from [[Louisiana Tech University]] (then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) in [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]] in Lincoln Parish. In 1994, Garrett was honored as one of 100 "Outstanding Alumni" of Tech during the institution's [[centennial]] celebration.
During [[World War II]], Garrett served in the [[United States Army]] in the European theater of operations. He was a member of the 102nd and the 45th infantry divisions. He was a [[captain]] and battery commander with the field artillery.
Garrett's business ventures included Garrett's Department Store, Garrett Land and Timber Corporation, and Garrett Oil Field Service. He was the chairman of the board of directors of Planter's Bank and Trust Company.
==Garrett in the legislature==
Garrett succeeded the [[Segregation|segregationist]] Representative [[William Rainach]], who went on to serve in the state Senate and was a 1959 Democratic gubernatorial contender. Garrett was originally a segregationist as well who like Rainach had chaired the Joint Legislative Committee on Segregation. In support of the segregationist White Citizen's Council, begun by Rainach, Garrett told an audience in [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]] that the "segregation problem is the most serious you will face in your lifetime. The Black Monday (''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'') ruling of the [[United States Supreme Court]] was a political, not a legal decision."<ref name=mherald>"Rainach Addresses Citizens Council", ''Minden Herald,'' April 19, 1956, p. 1.</ref> Garrett said the Citizen's Council must operate not as "the [[Ku Klux Klan]] ... but within the laws of the state and the nation."<ref name=mherald/>
Otherwise, Garrett was a low-key business-oriented legislator who specialized in constituent services and maintained a wide network of friends and supporters to retain his seat for six consecutive four-year terms. At times, his district included a portion of neighboring Webster and Bienville parishes.
In his last term, Garrett was in a two-member district with conservative Democratic Representative Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. (1918-2011), of Shongaloo in Webster Parish. In the 1967 [[Primary|primaries]], Garrett and Branton defeated three other Democrats, former Springhill [[Mayor]] [[Charles McConnell]] and Henry Grady Hobbs (1923-2012), a native of from Sarepta,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=henry-hobbs&pid=162069317#fbLoggedOut|title=Henry Hobbs obituary|publisher=''Th Shreveport Times'|date=January 2, 2013|accessdate=January 3, 2013}}</ref> both [[attorney]]s, and James Whit "Tinker" Volentine (1915–1982), a Minden service station operator. McConnell tried again in 1971 and lost to Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. (1917-1995)]], of Minden. In 1995, Volentine's granddaughter, Helaine George, later Helaine Barrington of Denton County in north [[Texas]], was one of two Republican women who failed in an attempt to win the same House seat held at that time by the retired Minden educator, Democrat Everett Gail Doerge (1935-1999), who had first been elected in 1991. George had been the only person to challenge Doerge, having announced eight months early, with Patrick C. Nation, Sr., of Minden as her campaign manager. Then a second female Republican, Pamela Hillidge, entered there race; the two women split the opposition vote, and Doerge won a second term.
Garrett was recommended to the House as Speaker by Governor McKeithen to fill the vacancy created by the death on November 18, 1967, of Vaill Montgomery Delony of Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 19, 1967, p. 1.</ref> Oddly, McKeithen's former intra-party gubernatorial rival, deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, a former mayor of [[New Orleans]], had recommended Garrett for Speaker in 1960 in Morrison's second bid for the governorship.<ref>"Morrison Says Davis Sought NAACP Support," ''The Shreveport Times,'' December 16, 1959, p. 10-A.</ref>
In 1969, Garrett called for a state constitutional convention, which Governor McKeithen said was "not necessary."<ref>"McKeithen Says Convention Is Not Necessary," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' January 28, 1969, p. 1.</ref> In 1973, a constitutional convention began deliberations in Baton Rouge, which led the next year to a new state governing document.
Speaker Garrett served on the Louisiana Superdome (since the Mercedes-Benz Superdome) Commission during the construction of the giant sports stadium in downtown New Orleans. He was an author of the first statewide uniform teacher pay plan and supported legislation pertaining to elementary, secondary, and higher education. He authored the bill which created Lake Claiborne and worked for the appropriations to make the complex a reality.
==Running for the Public Service Commission, 1966==
John McKeithen appointed John S. Hunt of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] to the PSC seat that McKeithen vacated to become governor. Hunt's appointment ended after a year and a half. In the summer of 1966, Garrett challenged Hunt for Democratic renomination to a full six-year term on the commission. Hunt was the son of Stewart Smoker Hunt. I. and Lucille Long Hunt of Ruston, a sister of [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]], and [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]]. Both candidates had the same first name and the common middle initial, and Garrett's mother's maiden name was Hunt, but they were not related. Hunt led by plurality in the primary over a multi-candidate field that also included Garrett's legislative colleague, Parey Branton and former lawmaker Wellborn Jack of Shreveport. After the primary, Garrett claimed that Hunt had received 42,000 [[African-American]] votes, a margin of 93.1 percent in nine selected precincts across the district.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' September 16, 1966, p. 4.</ref> In the Democratic runoff election, Hunt defeated Garrett 91,971 (52.5 percent) to 83,075 (47.5) percent. The two evenly split the then twenty-eight parishes in the district. Garrett had garnered the support of three of four primary rivals eliminated in the first round of voting. He carried all of the parishes bordering Arkansas except Caddo in the northwest and East Carroll in the northeast.
Garrett tried to depict Hunt, who had supported [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1964 presidential election, as a captive of the "black bloc vote," but he failed to convince a majority of voters accordingly. Records did, however, reveal that Hunt's 9,896-vote margin was dependent on African-American voters newly enfranchised under the [[Voting Rights A of 1965]].
Hunt served a total of eight years on the commission. He was unseated in 1972 by [[Edward Kennon]], a Minden/Shreveport businessman and himself a nephew of former Governor [[Robert F. Kennon]].
==The defeat of Speaker Garrett==
In the 1971 closed primary (the last for legislative races in state history), Garrett was surprisingly defeated in his bid for a seventh term by a largely unknown [[insurance]] agent and [[radio]] station owner, Louise Brazzel Johnson (1924–2002) of Bernice in Union Parish. Garrett, placed in new District 11 (Union and Claiborne parishes) was the most high-profile of numerous legislative veterans defeated in an anti-incumbent year. Previously, it had been thought an impossible task for an inexperienced candidate to oust a senior lawmaker, particularly one who wore the title of "Speaker."
Mrs. Johnson was best known for her opposition to the proposed [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. She did not consolidate a hold on the Claiborne-Union district because she ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 1975, having lost to the more liberal Democrat, former Senator Charles C. Barham of Ruston. Johnson was then defeated for a second House term in the 1979 nonpartisan blanket primary by his fellow Democrat [[Loy F. Weaver]], a [[banker]] from Homer and a former agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]]. Weaver has succeeded Representative Johnson in 1976.
==The 1975 state senate campaign==
In 1975, former Representative Garrett entered an eight-candidate, all-Democratic field in a bid to succeed the retiring conservative State Senator [[Harold Montgomery]] of Doyline in Webster Parish. Garret stressed his past support for state centralized purchasing to stop duplication and the implementation of the Code of Ethics in the McKeithen administration.<ref>"Senate Sought by Garrett," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' October 21, 1975.</ref> Garrett stressed his past support for education, including the four-year status in Shreveport of Louisiana State University and Southern University and the establishment of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport. He also urged the implementation of a statewide [[community college]] system.<ref>Advertisement, ''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 9, 1975, p. 3, reprinted from ''Springhill Press.''</ref>
Garrett outspent his opponents in the race, having raised $25,248 in the primary, including three $1,000 contributions from Minden contractors James Madden and James M. Winford and from Garrett's aunt, Mrs. A.C. Smith of Minden.<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 8, 1975, p. 1.</ref>
The since defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' endorsed Garrett's principal opponent, Democrat Foster Lonnie Campbell, Jr., of Bossier Parish. ''The Journal'' editorially charged that Garrett as a representative "voted for millions of dollars in new taxes and pork barrel political bond issues ... for the prevailing wage law of 1968 [which] set the gears of inflation ... and has resulted in all state projects costing an estimated additional 20 percent ..."<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]]'' editorial, reprinted as Foster Campbell advertisement in ''Minden Press-Herald,' December 12, 1975, p. 11.</ref>
Garrett, in a newspaper advertisement, accused the Campbell family of seeking to create a political dynasty, with various Campbells holding in Webster Parish.
Garrett stressed his co-sponsorship in the House of the code of ethics for public employees, a centralized purchasing bill to stop duplications, and a listing of all state employees with their salaries. "Many persons whose employment was questionable resigned," Garrett said.<ref name=garrett>"Senate Sought by Garrett," ''Minden Press-Herald'', October 21, 1975, political supplement</ref> Garrett also had co-sponsored the establishment of Louisiana State University in Shreveport and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, the latter of which was created from the former Confederate Memorial Medical Center.<ref name=garrett/>
Garrett urged businesspeople to become involved in the political process. In an address before a civic Club in Minden, he said, "Every business has a duty to ... advise and aid elected officials. You had better get involved in politics - if you don't, you are going to be legislated out of business. ..."<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' November 26, 1975, p. 1.</ref>
In the showdown on December 13, 1975, Campbell defeated Garrett by a large margin, 15,739 (71 percent) to 6,417 (29 percent).<ref>''Minden Press-Herald,'' December 15, 1975, p. 1.</ref> The third-place primary candidate, Minden businessman Houston R. Morris, who had run unsuccessfully for state representative in 1971, endorsed Garrett in the general election, as did other rivals Patrick H. "Pat" Jones and Wade Baker. Garrett's former legislative colleague, Parey Branton, and the Minden educator, Ralph Lamar Rentz, Sr. (1930-1995), also ran for the state senate, but both trailed in the primary results.<ref>''Minden Press=Herald,'' November 3, 1975, p. 8.</ref>
In 2002, Campbell, after twenty-six years in the Senate, was elected to the PSC, a race that Garrett had lost in the 1966 Democratic primary runoff. Campbell was thereafter an unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary won easily by Republican [[Bobby Jindal]].
==Garrett's obituary==
Garrett's hobbies included the raising of [[horse]]s, [[cattle]], and bantam [[chicken]]s. He was a judge for [[poultry]] shows nationwide, a member of the American Bantam Association, and a past president of the American Poultry Association. He was a member of the Millerton Masonic Lodge #245, a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason, and an El Karubah Shriner.
Garrett died in the Homer Memorial Hospital in Claiborne Parish. He was survived by his wife of fifty-eight years, the former Meredith McEachern (1926-2012); three sons, Richie Garrett and his wife Susan of Monroe, Mark Garrett and his wife Patty of New Orleans, and Tommy Garrett and his wife Kelley of Haynesville; six grandchildren, and two brothers.
Services were held in the Haynesville [[United Methodist]] Church, with the Reverend Henry Stone officiating. Garrett was the chairman of the church's administrative board, the leader of the church finance committee, the teacher of the men's Sunday school class, and a singer in the choir. Burial was in the family plot at the Old Town Cemetery in Haynesville.
==References==
{{reflist}}
* John S. Garrett obituary, ''[[The Times (Shreveport)|Shreveport Times]]'', May 29, 2005
* http://www.politicsla.com/archives/2005/may.shtml
* Members of the Louisiana Legislature, 1880-2004 (Baton Rouge: Secretary of State)
* http://www.latech.edu/specialcollections/collections/m134.shtml
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, John Sidney}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United Methodists]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:World War II]]