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'''Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons''', sometimes known as '''Duke Lyons'''<ref name=jwgobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?pid=163756482|title=John Wilkinson Gosslee obituary (Grandson of Susybelle Lyons)|publisher=''Dallas Morning News''|date=March 21, 2013|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> (October 5, 1923 &ndash; July 31, 2007), was a socialite, [[business]]woman, and philanthropist in her native [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who was particularly active in the Family Violence Program of the Young Women's Christian Association.<ref name=tst>Margaret Martin, "Susybelle W. Lyons funeral will be held today", ''The Shreveport Times,'' August 4, 2007.</ref>

'''Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons''', sometimes known as '''Duke Lyons'''<ref name=jwgobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?pid=163756482|title=John Wilkinson Gosslee obituary (Grandson of Susybelle Lyons)|publisher=''Dallas Morning News''|date=March 21, 2013|accessdate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> (October 5, 1923 &ndash; July 31, 2007), was a socialite, [[business]]woman, and philanthropist in her native [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who was particularly active in the Family Violence Program of the Young Women's Christian Association.<ref name=tst>Margaret Martin, "Susybelle W. Lyons funeral will be held today," ''The Shreveport Times,'' August 4, 2007.</ref>

==Background==

==Background==

Named for her maternal aunt, Susybelle West Church,<ref name=wilkinsonfamily/> Lyons was one of two children of the former Margaret West (1898-1995) and [[W. Scott Wilkinson]], a Shreveport [[attorney]] and businessman, originally from Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lahistory.org/site40.php|title=Wilkinson, W. Scott|publisher=lahistory.org|accessdate=September 17, 2010}}</ref> who was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Caddo Parish, a position which he held for only one term from 1920 to 1924.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2016|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|accessdate=August 21, 2014}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, John Dallas Wilkinson (1867-1929), was also a lawyer, a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898, and the author of a book on the law and personal injuries. Her maternal great-grandfather, Nelson Jackson Scott, was a judge in Homer in Claiborne Parish, also in North  Louisiana.<ref name=wilkinsonfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/the-wilkinson-family/|title=The Wilkinson Family|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 25, 2014}}</ref>

Named for her maternal aunt, Susybelle West Church,<ref name=wilkinsonfamily/> Lyons was one of two children of the former Margaret West (1898-1995) and [[W. Scott Wilkinson]], a Shreveport [[attorney]] and businessman, originally from Coushatta in Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-w/|title=Wilkinson, W. Scott|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 6, 2020}}</ref> who was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Caddo Parish, a position which he held for only one term from 1920 to 1924.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2016|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|accessdate=August 21, 2014}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, John Dallas Wilkinson (1867-1929), was also a lawyer, a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898, and the author of a book on the law and personal injuries. Her maternal great-grandfather, Nelson Jackson Scott, was a judge in Homer in Claiborne Parish, also in North  Louisiana.<ref name=wilkinsonfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/the-wilkinson-family/|title=The Wilkinson Family|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 25, 2014; no longer accessible on-line}}</ref>

Susybelle Lyons graduated in 1940 from Clifton Ellis Byrd High School in Shreveport and then attended Stephens College, a women's institution in Columbia, [[Missouri]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://kindle.amazon.com/work/stephens-college-alumni-virginia-susybelle/115855642X/115855642X|title=''Stephens College Alumni: Virginia Shehee, Shirley Clarke, Susybelle Lyons, Lenore Carrero Nesbitt, Mark L. Taylor''|publisher=LLC: kindle.amazon.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-stephens-college-alumni-and-students/reference?page=3|title=Famous Stephens College Alumni|publisher=ranker.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>One of Lyons's Byrd High School and Stephens College classmates was [[Virginia Shehee|Virginia Ruth Kilpatrick Shehee]], the Shreveport businesswoman who was from 1976 to 1980 the first woman to serve in the Louisiana State Senate who did not succeed a husband.</ref> Lyons transferred to the [[University of Texas at Austin]], where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?pid=91936985|title=Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=August 3, 2007|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref>

Susybelle Lyons graduated in 1940 from Clifton Ellis Byrd High School in Shreveport and then attended Stephens College, a women's institution in Columbia, [[Missouri]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://kindle.amazon.com/work/stephens-college-alumni-virginia-susybelle/115855642X/115855642X|title=''Stephens College Alumni: Virginia Shehee, Shirley Clarke, Susybelle Lyons, Lenore Carrero Nesbitt, Mark L. Taylor''|publisher=LLC: kindle.amazon.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-stephens-college-alumni-and-students/reference?page=3|title=Famous Stephens College Alumni|publisher=ranker.com|accessdate=August 27, 2014}}</ref><ref>One of Lyons's Byrd High School and Stephens College classmates was [[Virginia Shehee|Virginia Ruth Kilpatrick Shehee]], the Shreveport businesswoman who was from 1976 to 1980 the first woman to serve in the Louisiana State Senate who did not succeed a husband.</ref> Lyons transferred to the [[University of Texas at Austin]], where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?pid=91936985|title=Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=August 3, 2007|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref>