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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Odon Lessley "Don" Bacqué, Jr. | office=Louisiana State Representative <br>for Lafayette Parish (District 43) | term_start=1988..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Odon Lessley "Don" Bacqué, Jr.
| office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative <br>for Lafayette Parish (District 43)
| term_start=1988
| term_end=1992
| preceded=[[Michael F. Thompson]]
| succeeded=[[Michael J. Michot]]
| birth_place =[[Lafayette]], [[Louisiana]], USA
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|11|30}}
| residence = Lafayette, Louisiana
| party=[[Independent voter|Independent]]
| spouse=Carola Jean Lipsey "Cookie" Bacqué<br>
'''Two daughters''':<br>
Leslie Christine Bacqué, formerly Leslie B. Smith<br>
Emily Katherine Bacqué
| occupation=[[Insurance]] agent
| alma_mater=Cathedral Carmel High School (Lafayette)<br>
[[Louisiana State University]]
| religion=Roman Catholic]]
| branch =[[United States Army]]
| battles=[[Vietnam War]]
| rank=First lieutenant in the [[Special Forces]]
| serviceyears=1968-1970
}}
'''Odon Lessley Bacqué, Jr.''', also known as '''Don Bacqué''' (born November 30, 1944), is a [[Independent voter|No Party]] former state representative for District 43 in [[Lafayette, Louidisnsz|Lafayette Parish]], [[Louisiana]], who served a single term from 1988 to 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2024|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref>In 2014, he released a book of comedy about the foibles of the [[Vietnam War]], in which he served from 1968 to 1970.
==Background==
Bacqué (pronounced ''BAH KAY'') is one of four sons of Odon L. Bacqué, Sr. (1917-1993), and the former Lydia Aponte (1920-2007), a native of [[Puerto Rico]] who attended college in [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania. Bacqué's brothers are Frank R. Bacqué, M.D., William J. Bacqué, and Jean Louis Bacqué (1949-1954). His [[Roman Catholic]] parents married in 1943 and moved to Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was born the next year. His mother, who held a degree in [[Chemistry]], was a lab instructor from 1965 to 1986 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Bacque's parents and brother are interred at Lafayette Memorial Park.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=22489186|title=Lydia Aponte Bacqué|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref>
From 1959 to 1961, Bacqué, attended Charlotte Catholic High School in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[North Carolina]]. He returned to Lafayette for his senior year to Cathedral Carmel High School, from which he graduated in 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classmates.com/people/Odon-Bacque/74344001|title=Odon Bacque (Class of 1962)|publisher=classmates.com|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref> In 1966, he obtained a bachelor's degree in [[History]] from [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] and planned to enter law school but instead faced conscription by the [[United States Army]]. He entered officer candidate school and served in the former [[South Vietnam]] with the 5th [[Special Forces]], popularly known as the [[Green Berét]]. After his two years in the military, Bacqué returned to Lafayette, launched a life [[insurance]] business, was later named to the Million Dollar Round Table, and became involved in various civic affairs.<ref name=bacquejr>{{cite web|url=http://www.bolisolutionsgroup.com/Bacque.html|title=Odon L. Bacque, Jr., CLU|publisher=bolisolutionsgroup.com|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
In 1982, as the president (now called chairman) of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Bacqué supported the consolidation of the Lafayette city and parish governments.<ref name=acadian/> In 1983, Bacqué received the Distinguished Service Award given annually by the Lafayette Junior Chamber International. He organized a Vietnam Veterans group in Lafayette. He has served as the state co-chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee that built a monument in [[New Orleans]] to honor the 881 veterans from Louisiana who did not return from the war.<ref name=bacquejr/>
Bacqué is a past and current president of the Lafayette Estate and Business Planning Council. He is a past state president of the Louisiana Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, an organization of which he has been a member since 1970, when he entered the insurance business.<ref name=bacquejr/>
==Civic and political highlights==
In 1986, Bacqué was the founding chairman of Leadership Lafayette, a program sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce to train community leaders.<ref name=acadian>{{cite web|url=http://www.acadianabusiness.com/turk-file/1306|title=Turk File 07.25.2007|publisher=acadianabusiness.com|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
On October 24, 1987, Bacqué unseated the [[pro-life]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] state Representative [[Michael F. Thompson]] in the nonpartisan blanket [[primary]]. Thompson led a three-candidate field with 7,345 votes (45 percent) to Bacqué's 6,473 (40 percent). The remaining but critical 2,377 votes were polled by the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Vance Lanier.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 24, 1987.</ref> In the November 21 [[general election]], the Lanier backers swung strongly to Bacqué, who prevailed, 6,811 (57 percent) to Thompson's 5,106 ballots (43 percent). Thompson's defeat was also attributed to the failure of some 2,200 Republican voters who participated in the primary to return to the polls for the second round of balloting. The successful Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, [[Paul Hardy]], won in Lafayette Parish over the Democratic incumbent [[Robert Freeman]] at the same time that Thompson was going down to defeat.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 21, 1987.</ref>
As a freshman legislator, Bacqué stood alone in 1991, when he attempted to deny seating to newly elected representative [[David Duke]], a former figure in the [[Ku Klux Klan]], on the grounds that Duke was not a legal resident of his district. When Duke's election opponent, fellow Republican [[John Treen]], failed in a court challenge, Duke was seated but without Bacqué's acquiescence.<ref>[[Ron Gomez]], "David Duke? He's Just Another Freshman," ''My Name Is Ron And I'm a Recovering Legislator: Memoirs of a Louisiana State Representative'' (Lafayette, Louisiana:: Zemog Publishing, 2000, pp. 157-164; ISBN 0-9700156-0-7.</ref>
In 2007, Lafayette City and Parish President Joey Durel named Bacqué to fill the unexpired term of Don Higginbotham on the Lafayette Regional Airport Commission. Higginbotham, a Democrat-turned-Republican, had earlier served with Bacqué in the state House.<ref name=acadian/>
In 2010 Bacqué served for five months on the Lafayette Charter Commission.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mikestaggforlafayette.com/?tag=odon-bacque-jr|title=Odon Bacqué, Jr.|publisher=mikestaggforlafayette.com|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
In 2014, Bacqué was a political donor to Democratic [[U.S. Senator]] [[Mary Landrieu]], who failed in her bid for a fourth term in the runoff election held on December 6. He has also contributed to his own Lafayette-area then congressman, Republican Charles Boustany, Jr., of Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/odon-bacque.asp?cycle=14|title=Odon Bacqué Political Campaign Contributions: 2014 Election Cycle|publisher=campaignmoney.com|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Non-fiction writer==
In 2014, Bacqué published the e-book entitled ''A Walk in the Park: A Vietnam Comedy,'' which examines comic situations that he encountered in the military but without the cynicism of such well-known [[novel]]s as ''[[Catch 22]]'' or ''MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors.'' Bacqué told the reporter Bill Decker of ''The Lafayette Daily Advertiser'' that his "experience wasn't heroic. It was comedic. ... Those things that we did to occupy that time is what most young people do when they’re in a crazy situation."<ref name=bdecker>{{cite web|url=http://archive.theadvertiser.com/article/20140412/NEWS01/304120019/Acadiana-People-Bacque-s-book-tells-war-stories-from-behind-lines|title=Bill Decker, Acadiana People: Bacqué's book tells war stories from behind the lines, April 13, 2014|publisher=''Lafayette Daily Advertiser''|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
Bacqué had mistakenly believed that his poor eyesight would spare him from combat. Forty years after his military service ended, Bacqué found that his memories were fading until, when he was moving to another house, he found some wartime letters that he had written to his wife, the former Carola Lipsey (born November 12, 1946), known as "Cookie" Bacqué, by whom he has two daughters, Leslie and Emily. The letters quickly rekindled his Vietnam experience and enabled him to write his book.<ref name=bdecker/>
==References==
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacqué, Odon}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:North Carolina]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Independents]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
| name=Odon Lessley "Don" Bacqué, Jr.
| office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative <br>for Lafayette Parish (District 43)
| term_start=1988
| term_end=1992
| preceded=[[Michael F. Thompson]]
| succeeded=[[Michael J. Michot]]
| birth_place =[[Lafayette]], [[Louisiana]], USA
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|11|30}}
| residence = Lafayette, Louisiana
| party=[[Independent voter|Independent]]
| spouse=Carola Jean Lipsey "Cookie" Bacqué<br>
'''Two daughters''':<br>
Leslie Christine Bacqué, formerly Leslie B. Smith<br>
Emily Katherine Bacqué
| occupation=[[Insurance]] agent
| alma_mater=Cathedral Carmel High School (Lafayette)<br>
[[Louisiana State University]]
| religion=Roman Catholic]]
| branch =[[United States Army]]
| battles=[[Vietnam War]]
| rank=First lieutenant in the [[Special Forces]]
| serviceyears=1968-1970
}}
'''Odon Lessley Bacqué, Jr.''', also known as '''Don Bacqué''' (born November 30, 1944), is a [[Independent voter|No Party]] former state representative for District 43 in [[Lafayette, Louidisnsz|Lafayette Parish]], [[Louisiana]], who served a single term from 1988 to 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2024|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref>In 2014, he released a book of comedy about the foibles of the [[Vietnam War]], in which he served from 1968 to 1970.
==Background==
Bacqué (pronounced ''BAH KAY'') is one of four sons of Odon L. Bacqué, Sr. (1917-1993), and the former Lydia Aponte (1920-2007), a native of [[Puerto Rico]] who attended college in [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania. Bacqué's brothers are Frank R. Bacqué, M.D., William J. Bacqué, and Jean Louis Bacqué (1949-1954). His [[Roman Catholic]] parents married in 1943 and moved to Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was born the next year. His mother, who held a degree in [[Chemistry]], was a lab instructor from 1965 to 1986 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Bacque's parents and brother are interred at Lafayette Memorial Park.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=22489186|title=Lydia Aponte Bacqué|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref>
From 1959 to 1961, Bacqué, attended Charlotte Catholic High School in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[North Carolina]]. He returned to Lafayette for his senior year to Cathedral Carmel High School, from which he graduated in 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classmates.com/people/Odon-Bacque/74344001|title=Odon Bacque (Class of 1962)|publisher=classmates.com|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref> In 1966, he obtained a bachelor's degree in [[History]] from [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] and planned to enter law school but instead faced conscription by the [[United States Army]]. He entered officer candidate school and served in the former [[South Vietnam]] with the 5th [[Special Forces]], popularly known as the [[Green Berét]]. After his two years in the military, Bacqué returned to Lafayette, launched a life [[insurance]] business, was later named to the Million Dollar Round Table, and became involved in various civic affairs.<ref name=bacquejr>{{cite web|url=http://www.bolisolutionsgroup.com/Bacque.html|title=Odon L. Bacque, Jr., CLU|publisher=bolisolutionsgroup.com|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
In 1982, as the president (now called chairman) of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Bacqué supported the consolidation of the Lafayette city and parish governments.<ref name=acadian/> In 1983, Bacqué received the Distinguished Service Award given annually by the Lafayette Junior Chamber International. He organized a Vietnam Veterans group in Lafayette. He has served as the state co-chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee that built a monument in [[New Orleans]] to honor the 881 veterans from Louisiana who did not return from the war.<ref name=bacquejr/>
Bacqué is a past and current president of the Lafayette Estate and Business Planning Council. He is a past state president of the Louisiana Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, an organization of which he has been a member since 1970, when he entered the insurance business.<ref name=bacquejr/>
==Civic and political highlights==
In 1986, Bacqué was the founding chairman of Leadership Lafayette, a program sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce to train community leaders.<ref name=acadian>{{cite web|url=http://www.acadianabusiness.com/turk-file/1306|title=Turk File 07.25.2007|publisher=acadianabusiness.com|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
On October 24, 1987, Bacqué unseated the [[pro-life]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] state Representative [[Michael F. Thompson]] in the nonpartisan blanket [[primary]]. Thompson led a three-candidate field with 7,345 votes (45 percent) to Bacqué's 6,473 (40 percent). The remaining but critical 2,377 votes were polled by the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Vance Lanier.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 24, 1987.</ref> In the November 21 [[general election]], the Lanier backers swung strongly to Bacqué, who prevailed, 6,811 (57 percent) to Thompson's 5,106 ballots (43 percent). Thompson's defeat was also attributed to the failure of some 2,200 Republican voters who participated in the primary to return to the polls for the second round of balloting. The successful Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, [[Paul Hardy]], won in Lafayette Parish over the Democratic incumbent [[Robert Freeman]] at the same time that Thompson was going down to defeat.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 21, 1987.</ref>
As a freshman legislator, Bacqué stood alone in 1991, when he attempted to deny seating to newly elected representative [[David Duke]], a former figure in the [[Ku Klux Klan]], on the grounds that Duke was not a legal resident of his district. When Duke's election opponent, fellow Republican [[John Treen]], failed in a court challenge, Duke was seated but without Bacqué's acquiescence.<ref>[[Ron Gomez]], "David Duke? He's Just Another Freshman," ''My Name Is Ron And I'm a Recovering Legislator: Memoirs of a Louisiana State Representative'' (Lafayette, Louisiana:: Zemog Publishing, 2000, pp. 157-164; ISBN 0-9700156-0-7.</ref>
In 2007, Lafayette City and Parish President Joey Durel named Bacqué to fill the unexpired term of Don Higginbotham on the Lafayette Regional Airport Commission. Higginbotham, a Democrat-turned-Republican, had earlier served with Bacqué in the state House.<ref name=acadian/>
In 2010 Bacqué served for five months on the Lafayette Charter Commission.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mikestaggforlafayette.com/?tag=odon-bacque-jr|title=Odon Bacqué, Jr.|publisher=mikestaggforlafayette.com|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
In 2014, Bacqué was a political donor to Democratic [[U.S. Senator]] [[Mary Landrieu]], who failed in her bid for a fourth term in the runoff election held on December 6. He has also contributed to his own Lafayette-area then congressman, Republican Charles Boustany, Jr., of Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/odon-bacque.asp?cycle=14|title=Odon Bacqué Political Campaign Contributions: 2014 Election Cycle|publisher=campaignmoney.com|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Non-fiction writer==
In 2014, Bacqué published the e-book entitled ''A Walk in the Park: A Vietnam Comedy,'' which examines comic situations that he encountered in the military but without the cynicism of such well-known [[novel]]s as ''[[Catch 22]]'' or ''MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors.'' Bacqué told the reporter Bill Decker of ''The Lafayette Daily Advertiser'' that his "experience wasn't heroic. It was comedic. ... Those things that we did to occupy that time is what most young people do when they’re in a crazy situation."<ref name=bdecker>{{cite web|url=http://archive.theadvertiser.com/article/20140412/NEWS01/304120019/Acadiana-People-Bacque-s-book-tells-war-stories-from-behind-lines|title=Bill Decker, Acadiana People: Bacqué's book tells war stories from behind the lines, April 13, 2014|publisher=''Lafayette Daily Advertiser''|accessdate=April 21, 2014}}</ref>
Bacqué had mistakenly believed that his poor eyesight would spare him from combat. Forty years after his military service ended, Bacqué found that his memories were fading until, when he was moving to another house, he found some wartime letters that he had written to his wife, the former Carola Lipsey (born November 12, 1946), known as "Cookie" Bacqué, by whom he has two daughters, Leslie and Emily. The letters quickly rekindled his Vietnam experience and enabled him to write his book.<ref name=bdecker/>
==References==
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacqué, Odon}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:North Carolina]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Independents]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]