Len Lacy - Biography

Biography

Lacy was born into a pioneer Bienville Parish family in the Ebenezer community south of Castor on the night of the deadly Galveston tidal surge. 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.

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.

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. Democrat Jamie Fair of Castor succeeded Henry in the seat in 1980 and served a single term until 1984.

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.

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