E. L. Henry - Henry's Legacy

Henry's Legacy

Henry's affiliations include the Council for a Better Louisiana, the Public Affairs Research Council, and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.

In 1974, Henry was honored in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., by President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., who cited his "exemplary leadership," particularly in reference to his chairmanship of the constitutional convention.

In the fall of 2001, Louisiana Life magazine named Henry one of twenty persons who have "most influenced public policy in Louisiana during the past twenty years." And that designation came after his tenure in the legislature had ended.

In 2003, he lent support to an unsuccessful effort by a group attempting to convince President George W. Bush to release Edwin Edwards from prison. "He has been ruined. There is no purpose to be served by his sitting in prison for 10 years," said the former Louisiana Speaker. Edwards was convicted in May 2000 on conspiracy, racketeering, and money-laundering charges following a four-month trial.

Henry and his wife, Frances S. Henry (born April 30, 1937), attend the University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, where Henry has taught the young adults Sunday school class for many years. On the occasion of Henry's 70th birthday in 2006, the state House expressed "enduring gratitude" for his "outstanding contributions to the state." The House resolution also said that Henry "lives his life based on his faith in his Creator." Mrs. Henry is vice chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents, which directs the state's colleges and universities, except for LSU.

On January 28, 2012, Henry, along with his friend Jerry Huckaby, a former member of the United States House of Representatives, and the late Fred Baden, former mayor of Pineville, and the late Adras LaBorde, former managing editor of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk, was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. A banquet at the Winnfield Civic Center honored the annual inductees, three living and three deceased.