H. M. Fowler

Hendrix Marion "Mutt" Fowler​, Sr.
Louisiana State Representative for District 24 (Red River, De Soto, Bienville, and Sabine parishes)​
In office May 1972​ – April 1, 1986​
Preceded by	At-large members:​ Joe Henry Cooper ​ John S. Pickett, Jr.​
Succeeded by	Joe R. Salter​
Mayor of Coushatta, Louisiana​
In office July 10, 1953​ – April 11, 1972​
Preceded by	Douglas Fowler​
Succeeded by	Elwood McWilliams​
Born	February 13, 1918​ Holly Springs Community, Red River Parish, Louisiana​
Died	September 16, 2014 (aged 96)​ ​
Resting place	Springville Cemetery in Coushatta​
Political party	Democrat ​
Spouse(s)	Katherine Posey Fowler (married 1941-2007, her death)​
Relations	Douglas Fowler (brother) ​ Jerry Fowler (nephew)​
Children	H. M. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. (born 1943) ​ Katharine Ann Fowler (1946-2006)​ Parents: Angus Jesse and Zula Fair Fowler​
Alma mater	Martin High School in Red River Parish ​ Northwestern State University​
Occupation	Insurance agent, Politician​ United States Army in World War II
Religion	United Methodist

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Hendrix Marion Fowler, Sr., known as Mutt Fowler (February 13, 1918 – September 16, 2014), was a politician and businessman who served from 1953 to 1972 as mayor of the small town of Coushatta in rural Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana, as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 to 1986, and later as the executive director of the Sabine River Authority.​ ​ Fowler's public career ended in indictment and a plea bargain for the circumvention of state bid laws and dissatisfaction over his having allocated scarce public monies on low-priority projects. He served forty-five days in the Sabine Parish Jail. Fowler was the third member of a Democratic political dynasty that also included two Louisiana state elections commissioners, the second of whom was indicted, convicted, and imprisoned for bribery and income tax evasion.​ ​ ==The Fowler dynasty==​ ​ Fowler was born to Angus Jesse Fowler and the former Zula Fair in the Holly Springs community near Coushatta, forty miles south of Shreveport. He had two brothers and two sisters. His older brother, Douglas Fowler, was elected three times as the Red River Parish clerk of court (1940–1952) and later served two years as Coushatta's mayor from 1952 to 1954. Douglas Fowler was elected as "custodian of voting machines" in the 1959-1960 Louisiana state election cycle and served until December 31, 1979, when ill health forced him to retire. His title had been changed under a new state constitution to "elections commissioner" effective with his last term, which began in 1976.​ ​ Douglas Fowler was succeeded as elections commissioner by his younger son, H. M.'s nephew, Jerry Marston Fowler, who, like his father, was elected five times. Jerry Fowler lost the nonpartisan blanket primary] with a third-place finish, amid allegations of impropriety which surfaced in the campaign. Suzanne Haik Terrell then defeated fellow Republican Woody Jenkins in November 1999, to claim the position. Jerry Fowler was thereafter indicted, convicted, and imprisoned for bribery and income tax evasion in connection with his official duties. Nevertheless, both Fowlers served in the elections position for a combination of just over four decades.​ ​ The youngest of the three Fowler brothers, "Mutt" graduated in 1937 from the former Martin High School in the Martin community in Red River Parish and attended Northwestern State University in nearby Natchitoches, Louisiana. He left college in March 1941 to enter the United States Army. With service during World War II, he attained the rank of sergeant and was assigned to a special group of soldiers to establish convalescent hospitals for injured military personnel on Army bases in five states. Fowler received orders to head to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of Operations, but they were soon cancelled because of the historic Enola Gay atomic bomb flight over Hiroshima, Japan.​ ​ Fowler worked for his brother, John R. Fowler (1912-1990), in the latter's drug store in Coushatta but subsequently in 1956 became an insurance agent. He turned over the insurance firm in 1982 to his son, H. M. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. (born December 6, 1943). He delivered papers for The Shreveport Times and was the Red River Parish agent for the Shreveport Production Credit Association. Fowler in 1953 became mayor of Coushatta to succeed his brother, Douglas, and served for nineteen years. In the 1971-1972 election cycle, which brought Edwin Edwards to the governorship, he was elected to the legislature, in which he remained for fourteen years. In his last election in 1983, he defeated two intra-party rivals, "Dickie" Alexander and Ray Dyess.​ ​

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