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Donald Wayne Williamson, usually known as Don Williamson (born October 5, 1927), is a semiretired American businessman in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish and the largest city in north Louisiana, who served in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature between 1968 and 1980. A Democrat, he served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1968 to 1972 and then in the Louisiana State Senate from 1972 to 1980. Earlier, from 1958–1968, he was a member and later president of the Caddo Parish School Board. Williamson ran a strong but unsuccessful race for state insurance commissioner in 1979 and failed twice in bids for mayor of Shreveport in 1982 and 1986. After his political retirement, he shifted his registration in the early 1990s to the Republican Party to voice his opposition to the administration of then U.S. President Bill Clinton.〔Billy Hathorn, "The Williamsons of Caddo Parish: A Political 'Mini-Dynasty'", ''North Louisiana History'', Winter 2008, pp. 25-43; hereinafter cited as NLH〕 ==Early years, business, and family== Williamson was born in Vivian in northern Caddo Parish to Earl Guyton Williamson, Sr. (1903–1992), and the former Mamie Greer (1904–1948). He attended public schools and graduated from Vivian High School (later North Caddo High School) in 1946. He attended the Methodist-affiliated Centenary College in Shreveport for a year. In 1945, while still in high school, he married his childhood sweetheart, the former Norma Herring of Vivian. They were wed for nearly fifty-seven years until her death of a sudden stroke in 2002. In 2003, when he retired from business, Williamson married the former Rachel Nelson Dunn, former wife of Forrest Dunn, who like Williamson is a former Shreveport furniture store owner and a former Democratic member of the Caddo Parish School Board and the Louisiana House of Representatives (1976–1984). Dunn (born 1928) is the administrator of the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport.〔NLH, p. 33〕 From 1949 to 1951, Williamson worked for General Electric in the building of the United States Navy's atomic fusion plant in Schenectady, New York. This work made possible the nuclear-powered submarine advanced by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. It was essential civilian employment and granted Williamson a deferment from the draft in the Korean War. Returning to Vivian in 1951, Williamson purchased Vivian Drugs, later North Caddo Drugs. After several years, he went into the furniture business. His Vivian Furniture Company was renamed "Designer Showroom" in 1976, when the operation moved to Shreveport. The business is run by his two sons, Guy Clifford Williamson (born 1953) and Randall Whitfield "Randy" Williamson (born 1957). Two Williamson grandsons also work there: Cliff Williamson and William B. Rowe, III, a son of Williamson's daughter, Sherry Williamson Paschall (born 1948). The sons and grandsons are interior designers. Williamson also has two other grandchildren. And there are two living grown children from Rachel's marriage to Dunn: Linda Dunn Turner (born 1947) of Bossier City and Robbie Jack Dunn (born 1949) of Shreveport. James Forrest "Jimmy" Dunn (1958–1985), was killed in an automobile accident in Oklahoma.〔NLH, pp. 33-34〕 In addition to his furniture store, Willamson went into the real estate business in Vivian, a community of nearly four thousand. He played a major role in the development of the southern part of the town, which became the site of the area Wal-Mart and restaurant outlets.〔NLH, p. 34〕 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「Don W. Williamson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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