Changes

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

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

|succeeded=James Allen  

|succeeded=James Allen  

}}

}}

'''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.  

==Background==

==Background==

Boucher was born to Henry Havis Boucher (1882-1952) and the former Mary Ella Dixie" Coyle (1892-1940), in the Bodcau community near Springhill. Boucher attended Shiloh School and graduated in 1931 from Springhill High School, as did all members of his immediate family. On September 11, 1940, he married Mary Eloise Herrington, his surviving widow who was born on November 21, 1923, in Crossett in Ashley County in southern Arkansas. His brother, Augustus Ely Boucher (1924-1940), died of appendicitis at the age of fifteen on the day after Jesse Boucher's 28th birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=115414955|title=Jesse L. Boucher|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=September 10, 2017}}</ref> The death caused their mother great grief and depresson, and she committed suicide a month after Eli's passing. Henry Boucher donated the "Boucher Cemetery," now known as the Springhill Cemetery, to the city in her honor. The entire Boucher family is interred there.

Boucher was born to Henry Havis Boucher (1882-1952) and the former Mary Ella Dixie" Coyle (1892-1940), in the Bodcau community near Springhill. Boucher attended Shiloh School and graduated in 1931 from Springhill High School, as did all members of his immediate family. On September 11, 1940, he married the former Mary Eloise Herrington (1923-2021), who was born in Crossett in Ashley County in southern Arkansas. She grew up in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, where her grandfather was the chief of police. Her family moved to Springhill in 1938, where her father continued his work at the since closed International Paper Company mill. he and Jesse married on September 11, 1940 after she graduated from Springhill High School. While in high school she was employed at State Theater. After graduation from Springhill High School, she married Jesse Boucher on September 11, 1940.<ref>{{cite web40|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=eloise-herrington-boucher&pid=198051875|title=Eloise Boucher obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=March 15, 2021|accessdate=March 16, 2021}}</ref>

 

His brother, Augustus Ely Boucher (1924-1940), died of appendicitis at the age of fifteen on the day after Jesse Boucher's 28th birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=115414955|title=Jesse L. Boucher|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=September 10, 2017}}</ref> The death caused their mother great grief and depresson, and she committed suicide a month after Eli's passing. Henry Boucher donated the "Boucher Cemetery," now known as the Springhill Cemetery, to the city in her honor. The entire Boucher family is interred there.

   

   

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 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 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==