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, 14:47, January 29, 2020
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Clyde W. Thompson
| nationality=[[United States|American]]
| office= [[Louisiana]] State Representative for Webster Parish
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| term_start=1944
| term_end=May 30, 1951
| preceded=James Edwin Bolin, Sr.
| succeeded=Lizzie P. Thompson
| office2=Member of Webster Parish School Board from Doyline, Louisiana
| term_start2=1930
| term_end2=1944
| birth_date=November 9, 1890
| death_date=May 30, 1951 (aged 60)
| birth_place=Doyline, Webster Parish
| death_place=
| resting_place=Doyline Cemetery
| occupation=[[Farmer]]; [[Business]]man
| spouse= Lizzie P. Thompson}}
'''Clyde W. Thompson''', known as '''C. W. Thompson''' (November 9, 1890 – May 30, 1951), was a state representative for Webster Parish in northeastern [[Louisiana]], who served from 1944 until his death in office some seven years later.. He was briefly succeeded as representative by his widow, Lizzie Price Thompson (1894-1973).
==Background==
Thompson was a native and lifelong resident of Doyline, a [[village]] in south Webster Parish near [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]]. He was a [[farmer]] and [[business]]man who operated a store and a [[cotton gin]]. In 1930, Thompson was elected to the Webster Parish School Board and became the board president in 1936 and was thereafter president of the Louisiana School Boards Association. He left the school board to take his legislative seat in the spring of 1944. [[Jimmie Davis]], then of [[Shreveport]], was the incoming [[governor]].<ref>”Doyline Resident Is Candidate for Representative: C.W. Thompson Makes Formal Announcement of Candidacy,” ''Webster Review'' and ''Signal-Tribune,'' October 5, 1943, p. 1.</ref>
The outgoing representative, James Edwin Bolin, Sr. (1914-2002), later the district attorney and a district and circuit court judge, was also a Doyline native. Bolin was away with the military in [[World War II]] and did not seek re-election.
==Legislative career==
Thompson won the position as state representative without opposition in the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[primary]].<ref name=lhr>{{cite web|url=
http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2024|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=January 29, 2020}}</ref>
In 1948, Thompson was narrowly reelected to the Louisiana House when by 83 votes he defeated a furniture dealer named George Foster, 3,887 to 3,804.<ref>''Minden Herald,'' January 23, 1948.</ref>
In 1950, Thompson joined state Senator [[Drayton Boucher]] of Springhill]] to move through the legislature a $175,000 appropriation to establish a vocational school in Webster Parish, one of the pledges of the 1948 [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] gubernatorial campaign.<ref>"Thompson, Boucher Working for Trade School in Webster," ''Minden Herald,'' May 26, 1950, p. 1.</ref> The school was thereafter established adjacent to the Griffith Stadium ball park on Constable Street in Minden. Now known as Northwest Louisiana Technical College, it was relocated in 2013 to a new site off the Interstate 20 service road in Minden.
Thompson died in the last year of his second term in the House. Governor Earl Long appointed Mrs. Thompson to finish her husband’s term. She did not seek a full term, and the position was won by E.D. Gleason of the Evergreen Community near Shongaloo in central Webster Parish. Gleason also died in office, and in 1959, Earl Long, in his last term as governor, named Mrs. Gleason to finish her husband’s term under the same circumstances as he had with his designation of Mrs. Thompson eight years earlier.<ref name=lhr/>
The Thompsons are interred at the Doyline Cemetery located on College Street across from the First [[United Methodist]] Church. An unnamed infant Thompson is marked in the cemetery by the date July 21, 1926.
==References==
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, C.W.}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Farmers]]
[[Category:Politicians]]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Schools]]