Roy R. Theriot

Roy R. Theriot, Sr. (June 26, 1914 – April 19, 1973), was the Democratic state comptroller of Louisiana from 1960-1973. Previously, Theriot (pronounced TEH RHEE OH) was the mayor of Abbeville, the seat of Vermilion Parish in south Louisiana from 1954-1960.

Theriot was born in Erath in Vermilion Parish to Lastie Theriot and the former Emerite Barras. He was educated in Erath public schools, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (at the time Southwestern Louisiana Institute), and the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. He began his law practice on June 7, 1939. He took a role in civic affairs and organized the Abbeville Dairy Festival, first held in September 1949. The celebration was renamed the "Louisiana Cattle Festival" in 1979. Theriot also organized the Acadian Boucherie Breakfast, which began in January 1960, as a means to preserve French culture in Louisiana.

On June 7, 1947, he married the former Helen Roberts (1924-1990). The couple had three children: Barbara Ellen Theriot (born 1949), married to Neal Delpha Horaist (born 1945), Roy R. Theriot, Jr. (born 1952), and Samuel H. "Sam" Theriot (born 1954). Barbara Horaist is active in the cattle festival. Roy Theriot, Jr., is a mental health technician in New Port Richey, Florida. Sam Theriot, a Democrat, is the former Vermilion Parish clerk of court (1996-2000), a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1979-1996) known for his anti-abortion stance, and a former Abbeville city council member (1978-1979).

After he won the Democratic nomination for comptroller (previously called "auditor") in January 1960, Theriot defeated the first and only Republican candidate ever to seek the administrative position, Robert Lee Clark, Jr., an accountant from Many, the seat of Sabine Parish. Theriot received 86.7 percent of the April 19, 1960, general election vote, compared to Clark's 13.3 percent. In later elections in 1964, 1968, and 1972, Theriot faced minimal or no opposition. Theriot became comptroller in the second administration of Governor James Houston "Jimmie" Davis

The Theriots were Roman Catholic and are entombed in St. Mary Magdalen Mausoleum in Abbeville. They are honored through the Roy and Helen Theriot Memorial Endowed Scholarship in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

References

*"Roy Theriot", A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. 2 (1988), p. 785, New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 5, 1959
*http://www.louisianacattlefestival.org/Our%20Festival.htm
*http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
*http://www.laffnet.org/Hall%20of%20Fame/Horaist.htm
*http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?p=Roy+Theriot+of+Louisiana&prssweb=Search&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-500&u=foundation.louisiana.edu/scholarships/2004-endowed.html&w=roy+theriot+louisiana&d=ZUP2gyQ8NSOo&icp=1&.intl=us