C. L. McCrary

Curtis L. McCrary, Sr. (October 28, 1905 – September 24, 1989), was a businessman from Arcadia, Louisiana, who represented Bienville Parish as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives for a single term from 1960 to 1964.^[1] His service corresponded with the administration of Governor Jimmie Davis, a native of nearby Jackson Parish in North Louisiana.

In 1956, McCrary ran in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Lorris M. Wimberly of Arcadia, the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, who left the legislature after lengthy service to join the administration of Governor Earl Kemp Long as the director of the Louisiana Department of Public Works. McCrary lost to Fletcher Sutton, the mayor of Gibsland, 2,030 to 1,784, in a runoff contest^[2] but rebounded to claim the seat for a full term in 1960. In 1964, McCrary was succeeded by another Democrat, businessman Len Lacy of Castor, a member of the Bienville Parish School Board, who also held the seat for one term. Lacy was the last person to have represented only Bienville Parish in the legislature. Until 1968, each parish regardless of its population had been guaranteed a seat in the 105-member Louisiana House. Bienville was thereafter combined with Jackson Parish. E. L. Henry, a Democrat from Jonesboro in Jackson Parish, defeated Lacy in the 1967 primary, and in 1972, Henry began an eight-year stint as the Louisiana House Speaker.^[1]

McCrary and his wife, Ida May McCrary (1908-1997), a native of Eros in Jackson Parish, had three sons, Curtis, Jr., and wife Jackie of Arcadia, Phillip R. McCrary and wife Sue of Monroe, Louisiana, and Dr. Robert McCrary and wife Donna of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The McCrarys are interred at Arcadia Cemetery.^[3]

References