Changes

Long left teaching to become an [[insurance]] agent, a representative of the State Farm Company. He is a lifetime member of the President’s Club, which is earned by fewer than 2 percent of insurance agents nationally. While in the insurance business, Long was for nine years a volunteer for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Northwestern State University. FCA, a national organization devoted to college, high school and junior-high students, attempts to instill moral and spiritual values in young people to prepare them for their future. In July 1999, Long retired from business to serve full-time as the FCA representative for Rapides, Grant, Winn, Natchitoches, Sabine, and five other parishes.<ref name=academy/>

Long left teaching to become an [[insurance]] agent, a representative of the State Farm Company. He is a lifetime member of the President’s Club, which is earned by fewer than 2 percent of insurance agents nationally. While in the insurance business, Long was for nine years a volunteer for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Northwestern State University. FCA, a national organization devoted to college, high school and junior-high students, attempts to instill moral and spiritual values in young people to prepare them for their future. In July 1999, Long retired from business to serve full-time as the FCA representative for Rapides, Grant, Winn, Natchitoches, Sabine, and five other parishes.<ref name=academy/>

   

   

In the summer of 1966, Long married the former Rose Landry, who died in 2017. The marriage produced three cchildren, Andrea Long Phillips, Pamela Long Jordan, and Richard Gerald Long (born 1976).  

In the summer of 1966, Long married the former Rose Landry, who died in 2017. The marriage produced three children, Andrea Long Phillips, Pamela Long Jordan, and Richard Gerald Long (born 1976). Long has spoken before schools, civic organizations, churches, and senior citizens organizations. He has also been an interim [[Baptist]] pastor for four churches in the Natchitoches area.<ref>http://www.longforsenate.org/about.html, Gerald Long website; no longer on-line.</ref>

Long has spoken before schools, civic organizations, churches, and senior citizens organizations. He has also been an interim [[Baptist]] pastor for four churches in the Natchitoches area. He is considered both a fiscal and social [[conservative]].<ref>For this and the preceding paragraph, see: http://www.longforsenate.org/about.html</ref>

==Election to the state senate==

==Election to the state senate==