| William George Bowdon, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA | |
| In office 1953 – June 1969 |
|
| Succeeded by | Charles Edward "Ed" Karst |
| Louisiana State Representative from Rapides Parish | |
| In office 1948–1952 |
|
| Preceded by | At-large delegation |
| Succeeded by | At-large delegation, including Cecil R. Blair |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 18, 1921 Alexandria, Louisiana |
| Died | November 17, 2005 (aged 84) Alexandria, Louisiana |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Ina Smith "Smitty" Bowdon (married 1947-2005, his death) |
| Children | W. George "Bill" Bowdon, III Two grandsons |
| Occupation | Real estate |
| Religion | United Methodist |
| Described by a friend as a "natural politician", Bowdon's career ended in scandal and a prison sentence. He rehabiliated his life in the real estate field. | |
William George Bowdon, Jr., (October 18, 1921 – November 17, 2005)[1] was the Democratic mayor of Alexandria, the largest city in central Louisiana, from 1953–1969. At thirty-one, he was (and remains) the youngest mayor in his city's history and the first to serve a four-year, instead of a two-year, term. Prior to his mayoralty, Bowdon had filled a single term in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1948-1952. He was the youngest person to hold the representative's position in Rapides Parish. One of his immediate House successors was Cecil R. Blair, who later would serve for fourteen years in the Louisiana State Senate from Rapides Parish.
Bowdon, an Alexandria native, graduated in 1939 from Bolton High School in Alexandria; among his classmates were Joe D. Smith, Jr., later publisher of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk and the industrialist and philanthropist Roy O. Martin, Jr. (1921–2007). Bowdon thereafter attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute. he graduated, however, with a degree in government from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. After graduation, the 6'4", 210-pound Bowdon immediately joined the United States Marine Corps, with training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and served in the Pacific theater in World War II, with duties in Saipan Tinian. He was discharged with the rank of captain.[2]
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Bowdon served as mayor under the former mayor-commissioner government, in which the executive mayor administered the fire, police, and sanitation departments and shared city council voting power with two full-time, elected commissioners of (1) finance and utilities and (2) streets and parks. Under his administration, the current City Hall office building was constructed, the municipal water system was expanded, and new industries, including International Paper, Procter and Gamble, and Dresser Industries, came into central Louisiana. Under Bowdon, Ray R. Allen was elevated in 1963 to the position of secretary-treasurer. In 1977, he was named the first finance director under the new mayor-council government.[3]
As mayor, Bowdon also worked to construct the city courtroom, jail, fire stations, a $6.5 million electric power plant, highway underpasses, and water storage facilities.[2]
In 1957, Bowdon was elected by his peers as vice president of the Louisiana Municipal Association. The next year, he was elected LMA president, the youngest person to have held the top position in the lobbying organization. In 1959, New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., invited Bowdon to run for lieutenant governor on an intraparty ticket in which Morrison made the second of his three unsuccessful bids for the Louisiana governorship. In joining Morrison, Bowdon signaled that he was part of the anti-Long coalition at least for the time being. "Both Chep and I have similar records for building and changing our hometowns," Bowdon said in an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune.[2]
Bowdon lost out in his race too; victory went to State Representative (and former House Speaker) Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock (1915–1987) of Franklin in St. Mary Parish. Aycock ran in the party runoff on the unofficial "ticket" with former Governor James Houston "Jimmie" Davis. Aycock, a conservative who stressed states rights, was lieutenant governor from 1960-1972.
Bowdon's long political career, however, ended in the spring of 1969, when he lost a bid for a fifth term. He finished fourth in the Democratic primary with 1,784 votes (15.7 percent). Thereafter, Bowdon was employed in real estate, which had been his source of income prior to being mayor full-time.
A series of scandals involving high municipal officials, including the finance and utilities commissioner, Democrat Leroy Wilson (1905–1978), were uncovered in Bowdon's last term as mayor, and two candidates claiming to be "reformers" went into a Democratic runoff primary. Charles Edward "Ed" Karst (1931–1992), a lawyer originally from New Orleans, then defeated John Kenneth Snyder, Sr. (1922–1993), a Pineville native, for the right to succeed Bowdon. Meanwhile, Carroll E. Lanier, an electrical contractor and future mayor, defeated Wilson for the utilities commissioner's post.
Bowdon was indicted in 1969 on theft charges for allegedly using city employees to work on personal property. In 1971, he pleaded guilty to stealing $6,641 and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He served less than a year at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in West Feliciana Parish.
"He had a little misfortune at the end of his political career, but he came back. He lived a very good life," recalled Butch Crenshaw, a former "No Party " member of the Alexandria City Council, in an interview with The Town Talk.
Former Alexandria City Judge George M. Foote (1919–2010) told The Town Talk that Bowdon was "convivial. He was a natural-born politician." Foote was a friend of Bowdon's for seventy years. An avid outdoorsman, Bowdon will be remembered by his friends' children, whom he taught to hunt and fish . . . He was respected for that," Foote said. Crenshaw said that he was twelve years old when he first met Bowdon, whose marksmanship in shooting quail was legendary. "That's how I met him. He was one of the best shots I've ever seen."
Bowdon suffered a heart attack in October 2005, and had been a patient at Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital until he returned home on November 16, and died the next day.
Then Alexandria Mayor Edward G. "Ned" Randolph, Jr., ordered that all city flags be flown at half-staff in Bowdon's honor until after the funeral services. Bowdon's "commitment and dedicated service . . . has helped to lay a solid foundation for the city of Alexandria and its citizens," Randolph said in a media release.
Bowdon's father, William George Bowdon, Sr., was the mayor of Alexandria from 1941–1945. A Bowdon uncle and several other relatives were Methodist pastors. Bowdon, who was active in the First United Methodist Church of Alexandria, was survived by his wife, Ina Smith "Smitty" Bowdon (October 9, 1922–February 26, 2008),[1] whom he met in Alexandria on the day that he returned from the Marines; a son, W. George "Bill" Bowdon, III,[2] of Baton Rouge, a retired USMC officer, and two grandsons, William George Bowdon, IV, of Bossier City and Robert Scott Bowdon of Houston, Texas. He was preceded in death by a brother, Thomas J. "Jim" Bowdon (1926–1996)[1] and a sister, Margaret B. Verdin (1923–2008) of Hartsdale, New York, and later Gaithersburg in Montgomery County, Maryland.[1][2]
The Bowdons are interred in Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville.
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
Louisiana Secretary of State, official 1969 mayoral returns, Alexandria
AID=/20051118/NEWS01/511180327
http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/boude-bowe.html
www.lamunis.org/LMR/December/LMR_DEC_05.pdf
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051230/NEWS01/512300313/1084
http://www.odmp.org/reflections.php?oid=16537&offset=125
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/OBITUARIES/80227020/1023