Walter O. Bigby

Walter Oliver Bigby, Sr. (April 10, 1927 – January 2, 1980),^[1] was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Bossier Parish, having served from 1968 until 1979.^[2] Often called the "Dean of the House" because of his reputation for integrity, fairness, and hard work,^[3] Bigby was a son-in-law of banker and former State Senator V. V. Whittington of Benton, the seat Bossier Parish.

Background

A native of Vernon Parish, Louisiana, Bigby moved to Bossier Parish in 1941, where thereafter he graduated from Benton High School. He attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, having been a member of Phi Delta Phi at the time of his graduation in 1951.^[4] He also received his Juris Doctor degree from the Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge. Bigby practiced law for sixteen years. In September 1979, Bigby resigned from the legislature to begin serving as a Second Circuit Court of Appeal judge in Shreveport for what turned out to have been the last four months of his life.^[3]

Family

Bigby married Florence "Flo" Whittington (1923–2009), one of two daughters of V. V. Whittington and his wife, the former Anna Harris, of Benton. The Bigbys had a son, Walter O. "Walt" Bigby, Jr. (born 1964), a business consultant in Bossier City. Long after Bigby's death, Flo, a businesswoman in her own right, married in 1997 the widower Oscar E. Price, who served as a Second Circuit judge from 1969-1985. The marriage lasted for nine years until Price's death.^[5]

Mrs. Bigby Price graduated from Benton High School and LSU, where she obtained a degree in home economics. She worked for Delta Air Lines and taught at Haughton High School for two years before she became co-owner of Whittington and Myers Insurance Agency, an association that she maintained for three decades. She was also involved in her father's since defunct Bossier Bank and Trust Company, and she served on the board of the Bank of Benton. Her real estate career involved the development of the Greenacres and Palmetto subdivisions in Bossier Parish. She was also active in the establishment of the Kroger grocery store on the Benton Road in Bossier City and the Graybar Electric Company in Shreveport. A civic as well as a business leader, Mrs. Price was a patron of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council, the Shreveport Club, the Shreveport Symphony, the Palmetto Country Club, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Shreveport Little Theater, Goodwill Industries, Salvation Army, Providence House, American Cancer Society, and the Methodist Children's Home. First a Presbyterian, she later became a United Methodist.^[6]

Legislative service

In his first term in the legislature from 1968–1972, Bigby served with Ford E. Stinson (1914–1989) as one of two representatives from Bossier Parish. Stinson had been the only Bossier Parish representative from 1940–1944 and again from 1952-1968. In 1972, Bigby began serving for the rest of his tenure with Jesse C. Deen as the other Bossier Parish representative, for Stinson was defeated in the first primary held in November 1971. Then on February 1, 1972, Democrats Deen and Bigby faced a single Republican opponent, Glenn Earl Clark (1924–2011), a Kentucky native, United States Air Force non-commissioned officer, and a businessman in Bossier City.^[7] Clark polled fewer than a third of the ballots, as Deen and Bigby were handily elected on their own.^[2]

Bigby described Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, under whose administration Bigby served the bulk of his time as a representative, accordingly: "Edwin and I have a philosophical difference over the role of government. He honestly believes that government exists solely to take care of those who can't take care of themselves."^[8]

Prior to Bigby's death from cancer at the age of fifty-two, voters elected Democrat Robert Roy Adley, who held the then single-member District 9 seat from 1980–1996,^[2] when he stepped down to run unsuccessfully for governor. Adley returned to the legislature in 2003, when he won the special election held to determine a successor for Foster Campbell of Bossier City, who resigned the position upon election to the Louisiana Public Service Commission. After his 2007 reelection to the state Senate, Adley switched to Republican affiliation.

Walter O. Bigby grave at Hillcrest Cemetery in Haughton, Louisiana; Florence Whittington Bigby Price is buried beside her first husband.

Bigby is honored through the Walter O. Bigby Endowed Scholarship, a monetary award given to students at public or private colleges who either demonstrate high academic achievement or are actively involved in their school or community.^[9]

References