Changes

'''Brother-in-law''':<br>

'''Brother-in-law''':<br>

[[Hall M. Lyons]]<br>

[[Hall M. Lyons]]<br>

|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]

|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]<br>

}}

}}

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, 1812-2020|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=January 6, 2020}}</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>

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, 1812-2020|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=January 6, 2020}}</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>

Lyons was the daughter-in-law of [[Charlton Lyons]], often considered the "father" of the revived 20th century Louisiana [[Republican Party]],<ref>"Charlton H. Lyons," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 1 (1988), pp. 528–529.</ref> and Marjorie Hall Lyons (1895-1971), for whom the theater at [[United Methodist Church|United Methodist]]-affiliated Centenary College in Shreveport is named. In August 1944, at St. Bartholemew's [[Episcopal Church]] in [[New York City]], Susybelle Wilkinson wed Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr. (1921-2019),<ref name=chljrobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=charlton-havard-lyons-jr&pid=193541860|title=Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr.|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> a graduate of [[Yale University]] then stationed with the [[United States Army]] in Augusta, [[Georgia]]. That summer, Susybelle was living on [[Long Island]], where her father, who had been an Army officer in [[World War I]], was a colonel in [[World War II]]. The couple first resided in [[New Orleans]], where Lyons, Jr., had been born on December 11, 1921 though he immediately moved with his parents to Shreveport, where he spent the majority of his life. After the war, the junior Lyons attended and graduated from Tulane University Law School. Like his father, he became a Shreveport oilman,<ref name=lyonsfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/charlton-havard-lyons-jr/|title=Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr.|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> but a political [[Independent voter|Independent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/voter.aspx|title=Charlton Lyons, December 1921|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> Charlton Lyons, Jr., was active in community theatre as an actor and singer and was a benefactor of countless charitable drives for the YMCA, Genevieve Orphanage, and many other organizations.<ref name=chljrobit/> Between 1945 and 1956, Charlton and Susybelle had five daughters and one son, but the couple<ref name=lyonsfamily/> later divorced.<ref name=obit/> Susybelle's brother-in-law, [[Hall M. Lyons|Hall McCord Lyons]], while living in [[Lafayette]], was the Republican nominee for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district seat in 1966 and subsequently the American Independent Party choice for the [[United States Senate]] in 1972, having lost out to the Democrat [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], also of Shreveport, and former Governor [[John J. McKeithen]], a Democrat running as an Independent. The seat was vacant because of the death of Senator [[Allen J. Ellender]].<ref name=tpolgr/>

Lyons was the daughter-in-law of [[Charlton Lyons]], often considered the "father" of the revived 20th century Louisiana [[Republican Party]],<ref>"Charlton H. Lyons," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 1 (1988), pp. 528–529.</ref> and Marjorie Hall Lyons (1895-1971), for whom the theater at [[United Methodist Church|United Methodist]]-affiliated Centenary College in Shreveport is named. In August 1944, at St. Bartholemew's [[Episcopal Church]] in [[New York City]], Susybelle Wilkinson wed Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr. (1921-2019),<ref name=chljrobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=charlton-havard-lyons-jr&pid=193541860|title=Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr.|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> a graduate of [[Yale University]] then stationed with the [[United States Army]] in Augusta, [[Georgia]]. That summer, Susybelle was living on [[Long Island]], where her father, who had been an Army officer in [[World War I]], was a colonel in [[World War II]]. The couple first resided in [[New Orleans]], where Lyons, Jr., had been born on December 11, 1921 though he immediately moved with his parents to Shreveport, where he spent the majority of his life. After the war, the junior Lyons attended and graduated from Tulane University Law School. Like his father, he became a Shreveport oilman,<ref name=lyonsfamily>{{cite web|url=http://lyonsfamilytree.com/2007/11/20/charlton-havard-lyons-jr/|title=Charlton Havard Lyons, Jr.|publisher=WordPress|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> but a political [[Independent voter|Independent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/voter.aspx|title=Charlton Lyons, December 1921|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=August 23, 2014}}</ref> Charlton Lyons, Jr., was active in community theatre as an actor and singer and was a benefactor of countless charitable drives for the YMCA, Genevieve Orphanage, and many other organizations.<ref name=chljrobit/> Between 1945 and 1956, Charlton and Susybelle had five daughters and one son, but the couple<ref name=lyonsfamily/> later divorced.<ref name=obit/> Susybelle's brother-in-law, [[Hall M. Lyons|Hall McCord Lyons]], while living in [[Lafayette]], was the Republican nominee for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district seat in 1966 and subsequently the American Independent Party choice for the [[United States Senate]] in 1972, having lost out to the Democrat [[J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.]], also of Shreveport, and former Governor [[John J. McKeithen]], a Democrat running as an Independent. The seat was vacant because of the death of Senator [[Allen J. Ellender]].<ref name=tpolgr/>