Len Lacy

Infobox_State Representative
name= John Len Lacy
caption= Len Lacy
office= Louisiana State Representative from Bienville Parish
term_start=1964
term_end=1968
preceded=C.L. McCrary
succeeded=Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry
office2=Member of Bienville Parish School Board
term_start2=January 6, 1931
term_end2=1964
birth_date= birth date |1900|9|8|
birth_place= Castor, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA
death_place= Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
death_date= death date and age|1998|6|7|1900|9|8|
spouse= Sallie Williams Lacy (1905-1999)
children= Doris Lacy Barnes of Newellton in Tensas Parish
Billie L. Ainsworth of Tulsa, Oklahoma
Carolyn L. Carrow of Monroe
party= Democratic
religion=Methodist
occupation= Farmer; Cattleman; Businessman
footnotes=(1) In 1970, the Shreveport Times identified then retired legislator Lacy as one of the most influential persons in Bienville Parish.

(2) Lacy and his wife, the former Sallie Williams, both served on the Bienville Parish School Board for a combined forty-one years.

John Len Lacy, usually known as Len Lacy (September 8, 1900 - June 7, 1998), was a prominent farmer, cattleman, landowner, and businessman who served from 1964-1968 as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Castor in Bienville Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Prior to his legislative service, Lacy was for thirty-three years a member of the elected Bienville Parish School Board, headquartered in the parish seat of Arcadia. He served from January 6, 1931, until 1964, when he assumed his legislative seat. In 1970, the Shreveport Times named Lacy one of the most influential persons in Bienville Parish because many who sought guidance in business or politics came to him for advice. His great public interest was in rural development.John Len Lacy obituary, "Shreveport Times", June 8, 1998, obtained through Theresa A. Douglas, Public Information Specialist, Office of Public Information, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: [e-mail]; [phone]] Lacy was born into a pioneer Bienville Parish family in the Ebenezer community south of Castor on the night of the deadly Galveston tidal wave. His grandfather was one of the first educators in Bienville Parish. His father was Henry Rufus Lacy, Sr. (1870-1956); his brother, Henry Rufus Lacy, Jr. (1902-1969), was a Castor merchant known throughout the area as Rufus Lacy.Lacy was married to the former Sallie Williams (June 23, 1905 - January 12, 1999), [ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/la/bienville/cemeteries/newebencemcastor.txt - 97k] who succeeded her husband as a school board member. She served from August 1964 until her retirement on December 14, 1972. [Statement of Bienville Parish School Board, May 13, 2008] 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 neighboring Jackson Parish. Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry, a Democrat from Jonesboro, the seat of Jackson Parish, defeated Lacy in the 1967 primary, and in 1972, Henry began an eight-year stint as the Speaker of the Louisiana House. [http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/h1880-2008.pdf] The couple had three daughters, Doris Lacy Barnes (born August 24, 1925), the widow of Orrice R. Barnes (1921-1996), [ [http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index Interactive Search ] ] , an Idaho native and the former Western Auto dealer in Newellton in Tensas Parish in eastern Louisiana; Billie L. Ainsworth and her husband, William G. Ainsworth, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Carolyn L. Carrow and husband, Guy E. Carrow, of Monroe. There were six grandchildren: J. Russell Barnes, M.D. (born 1952), of Vicksburg, Mississippi, David Lacy Barnes, M.D. (born November 11, 1954), of Monroe; Terry Ainsworth Evans of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Martha Ainsworth Healey of Edmond, Oklahoma, Stephen C. Carrow of Tulsa, and T. Scott Carrow of Jacksonville, Florida. He had ten great-grandchildren. [Lacy obituary, "Shreveport Times", June 8, 1998]

Lacy died in a Monroe hospital. The Lacys are interred in the New Ebenezer Cemetery south of Castor.

References