William M. Rainach - Rainach's Suicide and Legacy

Rainach's Suicide and Legacy

In 1959, Rainach received the "Americanism Award" from the Caddo-Bossier chapter of the newly formed Young Americans for Freedom. He was a member of the Louisiana Farm Bureau, the Louisiana Forestry Association, the Louisiana Independent Royalty Owners and Oil Producers Association, and the American Defense Preparedness Association. In 1974, he was named "Man of the Year" by the Homer Lions Club.

Rainach, who had been in ill health, shot himself in the right temple with a .38 caliber pistol on a Thursday morning, January 26, 1978, in his backyard. His body was found by the maid. His wife, Mable Justin Fincher Rainach (May 26, 1915 – January 15, 1995), was shopping in Homer at the time. The coroner ruled the death a suicide. His suicide may have been personal in regard to his declining health. He never sought office again after his failed gubernatorial bid.

Rainach's life story and death is remarkably similar to that of a former segregationist leader in Arkansas, James D. Johnson, the 1966 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, who lost the general election to Winthrop Rockefeller, the Rockefeller family having been a bane of Rainach as well.

Services for Rainach were held on January 27, 1978, at the Trinity Southern Methodist Church, a conservative body in Claiborne Parish that had broken with the United Methodists.

In addition to his wife, Rainach was survived by two sons, William Monroe "Bill" Rainach, Jr. (born 1940), of Summerfield and later Bossier City and Rex Dean Rainach, Sr., (born 1946) of Baton Rouge, and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Rainach Wilson (September 11, 1944 - November 3, 1982).

After Rainach's death, his wife Mable donated $500 to the unsuccessful 1980 campaign waged by Woody Jenkins in his challenge to U.S. Senator Russell B. Long.

William and Mable Rainach and daughter Mary Elizabeth are interred at Arlington Cemetery off Louisiana Highway 146 in Homer.