Lorris M. Wimberly

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Lorris May Wimberly, Sr. (1898-1962), was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1928-1940 and again from 1948-1956. A native and resident of Arcadia, the seat of Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, Wimberly was House Speaker from 1936-1940, 1950-1952, and from May 14-July 10, 1956. He was also the state highway department director during the 1940s and headed the Department of Public Works from 1956-1960. He was a member of the powerful Long political faction which dominated the state during most of Wimberly's public career.

Wimberly was born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rush Wimberly, I, of Arcadia. The senior Wimberly was a member of the Louisiana House from 1900-1908 and the Louisiana State Senate from 1908-1912). He was thereafter a judge. Wimberly graduated from Arcadia High School. He made his living as a cattleman and farmer and was affiliated with the former Daniel, Bryan, and Turner Insurance Agency in Arcadia.

He was twice married. From the first union was born a daughter, Faye Wimberly Mary (born 1921). She married the late Richard M. Mary, Sr. (born 1922), of Baton Rouge. After the death of his first wife, Wimberly in 1936 married the former Dorothy Knox (December 25, 1911 - November 1981) of Baton Rouge. From that union came Lorris M. Wimberly, Jr. (born 1946), a United Methodist minister. Wimberly had two grandsons: the first cousins Richard Mary, Jr. (born 1951) and Lorris Knox Wimberly (born 1975), both of Baton Rouge.

Wimberly, Jr., said that his father became affiliated with the Longs because of their shared populism. Wimberly supported state-funded textbooks, a plank in the original Huey Pierce Long, Jr., platform. The textbooks proposal was first advanced by the Longite John Sparks Patton of Claiborne Parish, adjacent to Bienville Parish, who was later a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Wimberly's first stint as Speaker occurred when Longite Speaker Allen J. Ellender of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana, was elected to the United States Senate. Wimberly served as the choice of Governor Richard Webster Leche of New Orleans (1936-1939), when Leche was forced to resign amid scandals known as the "Louisiana Hayride". From 1939-1940, Wimberly continued as Speaker under Governor Earl Kemp Long, who had succeeded to the top position from the lieutenant governorship with the departure of Leche.

Long called Wimberly back as Speaker -- in Louisiana, the governor chooses the House speaker --in the middle of his second term in 1950. Governor Robert F. Kennon replaced Wimberly as Speaker in 1952 with his choice, conservative state Representative (and later lieutenant governor) Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock of Franklin, the seat of St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Long recalled Wimberly as Speaker only briefly in 1956 before naming him to head public works.

Long and Wimberly supported James Houston "Jimmie" Davis for governor in the 1959 Democratic runoff primary because Davis, with north Louisiana roots, though he lived for years in Baton Rouge, was opposed by the epitome of urbanism in Louisiana, then New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. Long had been an unsuccessful candidate in the 1959 primary for lieutenant governor, the post ultimately going to Aycock. Wimberly did not seek office that year, as he was completing his tenure at public works.

Lorris Wimberly, Jr., is a graduate of Arcadia High School and Centenary College in Shreveport. He was called to the ministry in 1969 and has pastored in Arcadia, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and now the First United Methodist Church of Loranger in northern Tangipahoa Parish (pronounced TANG UH PAH HOE) just south of the Mississippi state line. In addition to his pastorates, Wimberly, Jr., has worked in ministries for troubled youth. He is married to the former Becky Esneault, a native of New Orleans.

Wimberly was a cousin of D.C. Wimberly, a World War II prisoner of war and later an educator in Bienville and Webster parishes.

Preceded by Robert L. Williams	State Representative from Bienville Parish Lorris May Wimberly, Sr. 1928–1940	Succeeded by E.C. Parker
Preceded by G.C. Taylor	State Representative from Bienville Parish Lorris May Wimberly, Sr. 1948–1956	Succeeded by Fletcher S. Sutton
Preceded by Allen Joseph Ellender of Terrebonne Parish	Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives Lorris May Wimberly, Sr., of Bienville Parish 1936–1940	Succeeded by R. Norman Bauer of St. Mary Parish
Preceded by Morris Lottinger, Sr., of Terrebonne Parish	Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives Lorris May Wimberly, Sr., of Bienville Parish 1950–1952	Succeeded by Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock of St. Mary Parish
Preceded by Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock of St. Mary Parish	Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives Lorris May Wimberly, Sr., of Bienville Parish May 14, 1956– July 10, 1956	Succeeded by Robert Joseph "Bob" Angelle of St. Martin Parish