Leon Gary

Leon J. Gary, Sr. (July 27, 1912 – December 5, 2000), was a Democratic politician who served from 1946 to 1962 as the mayor of Houma, the seat of government of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.^[1]

Background

Originally from Patoutville in sugar-growing Iberia Parish in South Louisiana, Gary was a descendant of Juan Garrido (reduced to "Gary"), who was born c. 1737 in Malaga, Spain.^[2] Gary also lived early in his life in Jeanerette in Iberia Parish. He was married to the former Ada Lolita Theriot (1910-1995), the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Theriot. The couple had three children, Leon J. Gary, Jr., an attorney from Baton Rouge and his wife, Rhea Gary, an artist;^[3] Lolita M. "Girlie" Gary of Metairie in suburban Jefferson Parish, and Don Leon Gary (1942-2010), a geography professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.^[1][4]

Career

Gary earned his livelihood as a distributor for an oil company and later as a banker. Gary was the president in 1941 of the Houma chapter of Rotary International.^[5]

During World War II, Gary was a member of the Houma branch of the federal Office of Price Administration. Over a five-year period, the "ration board", as it was known, had regulated and stabilized prices on scarce consumer goods. The Houma OPA facility closed on November 4, 1946. Gary said that the board was "proud of one thing: We always guided ourselves when issuing critical material on a high-priority basis. Much pressure was put on us, but as a member of the program I feel that we gave such material to the people entitled to it. We did the job as well as we possibly could."^[6]

Gary's sixteen years as mayor are remembered for the expansion of the Houma electrical and water systems and mineral development. Four-inch water pipes on Main Street were replaced by 8-inch pipes.^[7] Gary also worked to establish the first municipal auditorium, the Intracoastal Canal tunnel, the Houma Navigation Channel, and a natural gas lease which eliminated or reduced property taxes for most municipal residents.^[1]

While still mayor, Gary was also an elected member of the Louisiana State Board of Education for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district, with service from 1950 to 1962. He was the board president in 1958.^[1] The body has since been reconfigured and is known as the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In 1952, Mayor Gary ran for lieutenant governor on the gubernatorial ticket headed by fellow Democrat Bill Dodd, who was also the outgoing lieutenant governor. The position however went to C. E. "Cap" Barham, a member of the Louisiana State Senate from Ruston, who defeated John McKeithen in a runoff election.

From 1957 to 1958, Gary was president of the Louisiana Municipal Association.^[8] Mayor Gary was a delegate to the 1956 Democratic National Convention, which met in Chicago, Illinois, to nominate the Stevenson-Kefauver ticket, the first party slate to lose the electoral votes of Louisiana since Reconstruction.^[9]

Defeat in 1962

Gary was forced into a second round of balloting in his reelection bid for mayor in the spring of 1962 against his intra-party rival, Conrad Joseph Picou, Sr. (1917-1964), who led a three-candidate field.^[10] Picou, a supermarket operator originally from Chauvin in Terrebonne Parish, then unseated Gary in the runoff election held on May 12, 1962. Coincidentally, Picou died exactly two years after his victory over Gary.^[11] Picou was killed by a bullet from his pistol which discharged when he tripped on the floor of his garage. Among Picou's survivors was a son, Michael Picou, who was studying for the priesthood in Covington, Louisiana.^[12]

Joining the McKeithen administration

In 1964, Gary was appointed the director of the Louisiana Department of Public Works by his former opponent for lieutenant governor, John McKeithen, then the incoming governor. This required his relocation to the capital city of Baton Rouge. Gary succeeded Claude Kirkpatrick, the DPW director under Jimmie Davis, who had run in the 1963 Democratic primary for governor against McKeithen and a large field of candidates. In 1969, McKeithen shifted Gary to the position of state highway director^[7] upon the sudden resignation of A. B. Ratcliff, Jr.^[13] After two years, Gary resigned in 1971 from the highway post to enter an undisclosed private business.^[14]

The defunct Life Magazine called Gary "the man to see whenever a state legislator wants to line up free accommodations in Las Vegas." The magazine said the go-between was an associate of Carlos Marcello, the former boss of organized crime in Louisiana. Gary denied the magazine's claim.^[14]

During his time with the McKeithen administration, Gary's former ally, Bill Dodd, was the state education superintendent.

Gary died in Baton Rouge at the age of eighty-eight; he is interred there alongside his wife and son at Resthaven Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum.^[1]

References