Adras La Borde - LaBorde's Legacy

LaBorde's Legacy

Joe Smith, LaBorde's friend and former publisher, as well as family members stayed by his side until his death from stomach cancer. He had been diagnosed with the ailment for only two weeks. The short period between diagnosis and death enabled him to fulfill his desire to be active until the end of his life.

LaBorde was a staunch conservationist. While he felt like he could not personally save the planet, he could do something about his region. He was given the Edward Meeman Conservation Award by the Scripps-Howard Foundation for "distinguished journalism in the field of conservation." He was the charter president of the Central Louisiana Press Club and held membership in the United Press Newspaper Association of Louisiana. He urged Governor Edwards to promote the state purchase of the Saline-Spring Bayou Wildlife Management Area in Avoyelles Parish. He lobbied in his columns for removal of oilfield pollution from the Little River, and he urged Edwards to acquire the land encompassing Spring Bayou. He was a former president and state director of the Rapides Wildlife Association. For a while he wrote the column "Nibbles and Potshots" on fishing and hunting for The Town Talk sports section.

LaBorde and his wife, the former Blanche Bordelon (1913–2004), also a Bordelonville native, had two sons, Adras Paul LaBorde, II (1943–1972), and Michael Anthony LaBorde (born 1947) of Baton Rouge, and a daughter, Joyce LaBorde Cessac (born 1934) of Portland, near Corpus Christi, Texas. A former kindergarten teacher, Joyce is the widow of Albert Joseph Cessac (1931-2012), a native of Perry in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, who retired as senior electrician for Sun Oil, later Koch Industries. Albert Cessac was a veteran of the Korean War and like his father-in-law active in the Knights of Columbus. There are seven Cessac children: Cheri McBurnett and husband Mark, Stephen Cessac and wife Darsha, Kenneth Cessac and wife Laura, Denise Long and husband Mike, Kevin Cessac and wife Mary, Nannette Baucom and husband Danny, and Chris Cessac and wife Jeanne Sinclair.

Adras LaBorde, II, who held a Master of Science degree in forestry from LSU in Baton Rouge, died of cancer at the age of twenty-nine. His son, Adras Paul LaBorde, III (born in Greenville, North Carolina, in 1966), is a Baton Rouge attorney in the Rowe law firm, who specializes in litigation, admiralty, and maritime law. LaBorde, III, (sometimes known as Paul Endom, after his stepfather) is a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Louisiana State University Law School.

Adras and Blanche LaBorde are interred at Alexandria Memorial Gardens.

On January 28, 2012, LaBorde, along with former Mayor Fred Baden, was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

(It is noted that LaBorde's date of birth was mathematically rare, 12-12-12.)