Robert T. Tobin

Robert Terry Tobin
Mayor of Minden, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA
In office
February 6, 1989 – November 1989
Preceded by Noel "Gene" Byars
Succeeded by Paul A. Brown
Minden City Council member
In office
1978–1989
Preceded by New position
Succeeded by Theron W. Winzer
Personal details
Born September 10, 1910(1910-09-10)
Lucky, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died September 13, 2007(2007-09-13) (aged 97)
Minden, Louisiana
Nationality American
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Thelma McCoy Tobin (married 1932–2007)
Children One daughter (deceased)
Occupation Educator
Religion Baptist

Robert Terry Tobin (September 10, 1910—September 13, 2007) was an African-American educator who became the first and, to date, only member of his race to have served as mayor of Minden, a small city of about 13,000 residents and the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Mayor Tobin's brief nine-month service in 1989 occurred before the 2000 census confirmed Minden's status as a majority black locality.

Contents

Early years and service as an educator

Robert Tobin was the second of seven children born to Nat Tobin and his wife, Jane Patterson (1894–1982), in Louisiana's Bienville Parish village of Lucky. The family moved to Arcadia, the parish seat, so that the Tobin children could obtain a better education. Young Robert graduated from a black school in Arcadia, where he met his future wife, Thelma McCoy. At the time of his death, the couple had been married for seventy-six years and had outlived their daughter.

A World War II veteran of the 78th United States Army Signal Corps, Tobin was honorably discharged with the rank of technical sergeant and remained a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Studying at Louisiana's Southern University in Baton Rouge, a historically black institution of higher learning, and graduating with a major in science and a minor in mathematics, he subsequently attended California's Stanford University in Palo Alto, from which he obtained a master of science degree in science and secondary school supervision. He then entered the teaching profession at Castor Elementary School in the Bienville Parish village of Castor, later becoming principal of the school and subsequently transferring, at the invitation of his friend and mentor, Wilbur Leon Hayes, to the then-all-black Webster High School in Minden, where he served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal and principal. Five years after his retirement in 1970 from the field of education, the school was consolidated with the previously white Minden High School.

Political career

A Democrat, Tobin was elected in 1978 to the Minden City Council from the predominantly black District A. He defeated J. D. Hampton (born ca. 1935), 519 (67 percent) to 255 (33 percent). In 1966, Hampton became the first black official to run for the office of Minden mayor when he unsuccessfully challenged Frank T. Norman in the party primary. Hampton was also the complainant in the Webster Parish school desegregation case promoted by his United Christian Freedom Movement.[1] Tobin was reelected to city council without opposition in 1982 and 1986. In February 1989, the council appointed him, at the age of 78, as mayor to succeed Democrat Noel "Gene" Byars, who was recalled amid controversy over charging the municipality for personal expenses.

In the special election for mayor held later in 1989, Tobin ran first with 1,545 votes. Republican Paul A. Brown, a relative newcomer to Minden, trailed slightly with 1,509 ballots while future mayor Bill Robertson and Peggy J. Staples (1933–2009), the first woman ever to have served on the Minden City Council, followed with 1,028 and 452 ballots, respectively. In the runoff campaign, Brown defeated Tobin, but held the post for only a year, as Robertson rebounded in 1990 to claim the mayor's office for a full term and has served as mayor ever since, having been reelected to a fifth four-year term in 2006.

Retirement and death at the age of 97

In retirement, Tobin devoted a year to building his house and occupied his time with traveling and fishing. He was a member of civic and professional organizations, including the Webster Association of Retired Teachers, Louisiana Association of Educators, National Association of Educators, Phi Delta Kappa, Kiwanis Club, and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. As he approached his 97th birthday and 76th wedding anniversary, the couple was profiled in the September 2007 issue of Jet magazine, which was on newsstands at the time of his death.

Robert Tobin died in Minden three days after his 97th birthday and was honored with two services on September 17: at the St. Rest Baptist Church in Minden, where Tobin was a deacon and a Sunday school teacher, and at the New Prosperity Baptist Church in Lucky. Interment was at the New Prosperity Baptist Church Garden of Memories in Lucky. He often said: "By the Grace of God, I have come this far, and He will surely lead me on."[2][3][4]

Notes

References

External links

Preceded by
Noel Eugene "Gene" Byars
Mayor of Minden, Louisiana

Robert Terry Tobin
1989

Succeeded by
Paul Aaron Brown