|
Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr., also known as Big Papa Lyons (September 3, 1894 – August 8, 1973), was a Shreveport oilman who in March 1964 waged, as a strong segregationist, the first determined Republican bid for the Louisiana governorship since Reconstruction. Lyons also made a strong but losing bid for Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives in a special election held in December 1961. At the time of his death, Lyons was considered "Louisiana's Mr. Republican".〔"Charlton H. Lyons, Sr. (1895-1973)", ''North Louisiana History'', Vol. 4, No. 4 (Fall 1973), p. 32〕 ==Background== Lyons was born in Abbeville in Vermilion Parish in southwestern Louisiana, to a middle-class couple, Ernest John Lyons and the former Joyce Bentley Havard. He was reared in Melville in St. Landry Parish on the banks of the Atchafalaya River. The community was accessible not by railroad but by steamboat. As a teenager, Lyons worked in a Melville soda fountain and during two summers as a water boy for a railroad gang. Lyons' maternal grandfather and namesake, Charlton Wright Havard, was president of the Bank of Melville and the owner of two or three steamboats and several plantations.〔Charlton H. Lyons, Jr., ''Songs I Heard My Mother Sing'', Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4343-4059-7, p. 68〕 In his memoir ''Songs I Heard My Mother Sing'', Charlton H. Lyons, Jr., of Shreveport recalls his father's recollection of the tranquil life in Melville:
Lyons first attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge but completed his Bachelor of Arts at Tulane University in New Orleans. In 1916, he earned a degree from the Tulane University School of Law and was admitted to the Louisiana bar. However, he lacked the funds at the time to establish his own legal practice. On August 28, 1917, Lyons married his college sweetheart and an aspiring actress, the former Marjorie Gladys Hall, who graduated from Newcomb College, the then-female counterpart to Tulane. In the spring of 1917, Maurice Fromkes painted a portrait of Marjorie Hall displayed at the Marjorie Lyons Playhouse (established 1956) at Centenary College in Shreveport. Mrs. Lyons was born on March 27, 1895, in Eagle Point, Wisconsin. The marriage ended with her death on July 11, 1971.〔〔Forest Park Cemetery, grave marker, Shreveport, Louisiana〕 From 1916 to 1917, Lyons was a teacher and an assistant principal at Glenmora High School in Glenmora in south Rapides Parish. From 1917 to 1918, Lyons was briefly the principal of Pollock High School in the community of Pollock in southeastern Grant Parish. He then entered the United States Army as a private near the end of World War I. Marjorie Lyons taught at Pollock High School while her husband was away.〔Lyons congressional advertisement, ''Minden Herald'', December 7, 1961, pg. 10〕 The Lyonses relocated to Winnfield, center of the Long dynasty, where the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr., was rising to prominence. There Lyons practiced law for several years.〔(Lyons Family genealogy site )〕 The couple then relocated in 1921 to Shreveport, where Lyons practiced law for an additional nine years. In 1930, however, he entered the oil business through his "C. H. Lyons Petroleum".〔 By the 1950s, Lyons had become so successful in his field that he was named president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He was also a director of two other trade associations, the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. He operated a cattle ranch west of Shreveport near Greenwood in Caddo Parish.〔 Lyons was appointed by United States Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay to the National Petroleum Council.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charlton Lyons」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|