Changes

|preceded=[[Charles McConnell|Charles Emmett "Jack" McConnell]]

|preceded=[[Charles McConnell|Charles Emmett "Jack" McConnell]]

|succeeded=James Allen  

|succeeded=James Allen  

|branch=[[United States Army]] Air Corps

|branch=[[United States Army]] Air Corps<br>

|rank=Captain at Clovis, [[New Mexico]]

|rank=Captain at Randall Field in Clovis, [[New Mexico]]<br>

}}

}}

'''Jesse L. Boucher''' (January 7, 1912 &ndash; December 25, 2004)<ref name=obit>Jesse L. Boucher obituary, ''Minden Press-Herald'', December 27, 2004, access date= January 16, 2015.</ref> was a north [[Louisiana]] [[insurance]] agency owner and large-scale [[real estate]] developer who served from 1958 to 1962 as the mayor of his native Springhill in northern Webster Parish near the [[Arkansas]] boundary.  

'''Jesse L. Boucher''' (January 7, 1912 &ndash; December 25, 2004)<ref name=obit>Jesse L. Boucher obituary, ''Minden Press-Herald'', December 27, 2004, access date= January 16, 2015.</ref> was a north [[Louisiana]] [[insurance]] agency owner and large-scale [[real estate]] developer who served from 1958 to 1962 as the mayor of his native Springhill in northern Webster Parish near the [[Arkansas]] boundary.  

As an outstanding football player at the end position for the Springhill Lumberjacks, young Boucher received an athletic scholarship to [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], then known as "Louisiana Normal". There he played football, ran track, and was a Golden Gloves [[Boxing|boxer]], including participation in a conference-winning mile relay race. He was president of both his senior class and the NSU student body.<ref name=obit/>  

As an outstanding football player at the end position for the Springhill Lumberjacks, young Boucher received an athletic scholarship to [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], then known as "Louisiana Normal". There he played football, ran track, and was a Golden Gloves [[Boxing|boxer]], including participation in a conference-winning mile relay race. He was president of both his senior class and the NSU student body.<ref name=obit/>  

After he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1935, he taught and coached in Webster Parish for three years: first in the Evergreen Community south of Shongaloo, then at Doyline High School in the village of Doyline, and, finally, at Minden High School [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], the parish seat of government. He was also briefly employed in 1938 by [[Warner Brothers]] Pictures as a "ticket counter" before he joined his friend Wilburn Slack in the organization of the Boucher and Slack Insurance Agency in Springhill. Owned by his cousins Drayton Boucher and Allene Boucher, the company was transferred over for his then real estate corporation for a mere $333. Prior to World War II, Boucher served for a few months as a captain in [[United States Army]] Air Corps at Randall Field Clovis, [[New Mexico]]. He resigned as captain and returned to the insurance agency. In 1940, at the age of twenty-seven, he polled nearly 40 percent of the vote in the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[primary]] against Webster Parish [[Sheriff]] [[O. H. Haynes, Sr.]]<ref>Billy Hathorn, "The Making of the Sheriff: Haynes, Batton, and Haynes, Two Webster Parish Political Families Compete for Office, 1933 to 1980," [[North Louisiana History]]'', Vol. 48 (Winter-Spring 2017), pp. 54-55.</ref> Thereafter, he entered the military from 1940 to 1944 as an officer in the [[United States Navy]] with stateside service in Pensacola, [[Florida]].<ref name=obit/><ref name=boco>The Boucher Company, Inc.: Profile of Jesse L. Boucher. boucherco.com., access date September 1, 2009.</ref>

After he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1935, he taught and coached in Webster Parish for three years: first in the Evergreen Community south of Shongaloo, then at Doyline High School in the village of Doyline, and, finally, at Minden High School [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], the parish seat of government. He was also briefly employed in 1938 by [[Warner Brothers]] Pictures as a "ticket counter" before he joined his friend Wilburn Slack in the organization of the Boucher and Slack Insurance Agency in Springhill. Owned by his cousins Drayton Boucher and Allene Boucher, the company was transferred over for his then real estate corporation for a mere $333. Prior to World War II, Boucher served for a few months as a captain in [[United States Army]] Air Corps at Randall Field in Clovis, [[New Mexico]]. He resigned as captain and returned to the insurance agency. In 1940, at the age of twenty-seven, he polled nearly 40 percent of the vote in the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[primary]] against Webster Parish [[Sheriff]] [[O. H. Haynes, Sr.]]<ref>Billy Hathorn, "The Making of the Sheriff: Haynes, Batton, and Haynes, Two Webster Parish Political Families Compete for Office, 1933 to 1980," [[North Louisiana History]]'', Vol. 48 (Winter-Spring 2017), pp. 54-55.</ref> Thereafter, he entered the military from 1940 to 1944 as an officer in the [[United States Navy]] with stateside service in Pensacola, [[Florida]].<ref name=obit/><ref name=boco>The Boucher Company, Inc.: Profile of Jesse L. Boucher. boucherco.com., access date September 1, 2009.</ref>

==Business, political, and civic activities==

==Business, political, and civic activities==

[[Category:Mayors]]

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[[Category:Democrats]]

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