Harold Montgomery
Encyclopedia
A. Harold Montgomery, Sr. (April 19, 1911—December 17, 1995), was an agricultural
business
man and a Louisiana state senator
, who is remembered as an outspoken conservative
within his state's dominant Democratic Party
. He represented District 36 -- Bossier and Webster parishes and, later, part of Bienville Parish -- in three nonconsecutive terms in the Senate, 1960–1968 and 1972–1976.
, the "A" in A. Harold Montgomery stood for nothing. Montgomery was born in Humble
, near Houston
in Harris County
, Texas
, to Alley C. and Martha Belle Montgomery. He was one of eight children who moved in 1921 with their parents to tiny Linton in Bossier Parish. The Montgomerys then relocated to Benton
, the parish seat, so that the children could receive a better education. He graduated from Benton High School
, and with the help of a loan from an older sister, he attended the University of Arkansas
at Fayetteville
, where he received bachelor of science
and master of science
degrees in agriculture. His graduate studies were at the University of Colorado
at Boulder
.
Montgomery taught agriculture at Haughton
High School in Haughton in Bossier Parish east of Shreveport. At that time he met Azalee Wilson (1902–1985), the postmistress
at Haughton. After three years in Haughton, Montgomery moved to Ruston
, the seat of Lincoln Parish, where he taught vocational agriculture at Ruston High School
. He received many honors for his teaching abilities and his love and dedication for his students. He was also known to paddle recalcitrant boys. In 1955, Montgomery attended the White House Conference on Education.
While he was teaching in Ruston, Montgomery became aware that the area needed a feed store to supply his farmer friends. He used his savings to rent a building on West Mississippi Avenue in Ruston that became "Montgomery's Feed and Seed".
could be a money-maker for the farmers of north Louisiana and also provide a more ready market for his feed products. At the time, broiler chickens were produced only in small groups of five hundred or fewer because it was thought that the poultry should not be kept continuously in a chicken house. It was believed that the chickens should be let out in a yard for several hours a day to remain healthy. Montgomery realized that placing the chickens in a yard was not economically feasible. So, he raised five thousand birds in an enclosed environment. His foresight earned him the title of "father of the poultry industry" in Louisiana.
lawnmowers.
Montgomery held the first patent
on a rotary blade mower. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, mowers were equipped with a rotating reel assembly that was either pushed by hand or was propelled by a small gasoline
engine. This kind of mower worked well in short grass, but it clogged up in tall grass. Montgomery did not invent this mower, but he obtained the patent from a frustrated inventor in Chicago
. The first commercially produced rotary mower, the Yazoo Master Mower, was then produced by a small manufacturing plant in Jackson, Mississippi
. Montgomery was the Louisiana distributor of Yazoo until 1981, when he closed his lawnmower business in Ruston.
, 1945, after an 11-year courtship. The couple had one child, A. Harold Montgomery, Jr., or "Hal" (born 1946). Montgomery thereafter purchased their dream place, a farm
south of the village of Doyline
in Webster Parish. He named the habitation and land "Ranch Azalee" after his beloved wife. The Montgomerys occupied the estate in May 1953.
Ranch Azalee was formerly known as the Bryan House, having originally begun ca. 1804 by James Jackson Bryan. It was built in the late Federal/Greek revival style of architecture with an open dogtrot core. After Montgomery's death, Ranch Azlee was added in 1999 to the National Register of Historic Places
.
Because his business interests and his legislative duties were a considerable distance from Ranch Azalee, Montgomery drove tens of thousands of miles per year. Such a demanding schedule made him a workhorse. It also made him aware of the need for highway improvements in Louisiana.
(1905–1967), owner of the Jones Kitchen restaurant
(later known as the Southern Kitchen) in Minden. Jones was subsequently the Minden municipal fire marshal
in Minden
, the seat of Webster Parish. Jones received 6,734 votes (50.7 percent) to Montgomery's 6,542 (49.3 percent). Other candidates in the primary for the Senate seat included former Minden educator Lloyd C. Starr (1899–1982), an Arkansas
native who served on the Webster Parish School Board and was an insurance agent. Starr polled 2,039 votes. A fourth candidate, James B. Wells, finished with 917 ballots.
Then Montgomery successfully challenged Jones in the 1959-1960 primary cycle. In the December 7 primary, Montgomery led Jones, 7,929 (46.6 percent) to 6,542 (38.5 percent), but two other candidates polled a critical 2,536 votes (14.9 percent). In the runoff election on January 9, Montgomery easily defeated Jones, 11,116 (66.5 percent) to 5,611 (33.5 percent) and won sixty-eight of the seventy precinct
s in what is now a revised District 36. In his five state senate campaigns (two unsuccessful), Montgomery never faced a Republican
opponent.
In the primary held on December 7, 1963, Jones failed in a comeback attempt against Montgomery. Calling himself an "Independent", Jones endorsed the unpledged elector movement for the 1964 presidential campaign, a position originally held by Montgomery.
Oddly, Montgomery and colleague Danny Roy Moore
, who represented Claiborne and Bienville
parishes, had side-by-side desks in the far right corner of the Senate chamber. Moore noted too that he and Montgomery were the most conservative members of the chamber during the 1964-1968 term.
According to Montgomery's obituary
in the Shreveport Times, he was indeed "known as a staunch conservative. Fellow conservatives loved him, and even those who disagreed with his views respected him. All who knew him either personally or by reputation respected him for his impeccable veracity, honesty, patriotism, fairness, dedication, and his love of God
, family, home, and country."
In the 1959 and 1963 gubernatorial election years, Montgomery, like most of his constituents, opposed the candidacy of fellow Democrat deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., the mayor of New Orleans and later ambassador to the Organization of American States
. Montgomery believed that Morrison, as governor, would work to dismantle the segregated school system still in place in the state even though Morrison was openly committed to maintaining segregation. Montgomery supported State Senator William M. Rainach
of neighboring Claiborne Parish in the gubernatorial primary. When Rainach finished third in the balloting, Montgomery, like virtually all of Rainach's supporters, backed former Governor Jimmie Davis
in the Democratic runoff. Davis then defeated Morrison and thereafter turned aside Republican Francis Grevemberg
in the general election
held on April 19, 1960.
In 1963, Montgomery had supported Louisiana Public Service Commission
er John McKeithen
in the Democratic runoff election against Morrison. Then he quietly supported McKeithen's Republican opponent, Charlton H. Lyons, Sr.
, of Shreveport, in the March 3, 1964, general election. In time, Montgomery and McKeithen seemed consistently at political odds.
In 1962, Montgomery introduced a resolution in the state Senate which condemned the activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
in Louisiana. "We are outraged by the prostitution of the once great FBI, and its present misuse as a political police force, not dissimilar in method and result to the Gestapo
or the NKVD
", the Soviet secret police. United States Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy
, not FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
, was especially singled out for responsibility. Montgomery in fact admired Hoover for his strongly anticommunist stance.
The next year, Montgomery was elected chairman of the Louisiana Committee for Free Electors, an organization that grew out of a meeting of some two hundred conservative Democrats in Baton Rouge. Two representatives from each congressional district were chosen.The free elector movement, however, was abandoned with the nomination of U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona
as the Republican presidential nominee in July 1964.
attorney
, John Willard "Jack" Montgomery, Sr.
(born June 2, 1936), in the senatorial primary against Harold Montgomery. Despite the same surname, the two were not related. The "battles of the Montgomerys" (There was a rematch in 1971.) were the most heated state senate races in the district in many years.
Jack Montgomery's campaign produced a newspaper
advertisement listing those Springhill dignitaries behind the young candidate's campaign: John L. Cathcart, former principal of both Minden High School
and E.S. Richardson Elementary School
in Minden, Springhill High School principal Ed Olive, and D.C. Wimberly, a decorated World War II
POW
and an elementary school principal in Springhill. Others supporting Jack Montgomery were then Springhill Mayor James Allen and Springhill newspaper publisher Danny Scott (1930–2007). Jack Montgomery questioned why state highway funding for Bossier and, particularly, Webster Parish lagged behind other parishes in the region. In a newspaper advertisement, he cited a study which ranked Bossier in 14th place and Webster in 20th place among the twenty-three parishes of north Louisiana in highway appropriations. Some educators rallied behind Harold in an advertisement claimng to "Keep Good Government", including former Webster Parish school supervisor Ruby M. Craton (1900–1984) of Minden.
Though Harold had led Jack in the primary contest by 448 votes, Jack easily prevailed in the lower-turnout runoff election, 10,037 (55.1 percent) to 7,177 (44.9 percent). The results were nearly as bad for Harold Montgomery as they had been for "Wimpy" Jones in 1960. Harold Montgomery would concentrate on his business and seek a comeback in four years.
In a 1975 interview in Alexandria
, Harold Montgomery said that he thought that Tom Colten
, the Republican
mayor of Minden, had done a good job in office, but he never understood Colten's reported favoritism toward Jack Montgomery, a loyal Democrat, in that Harold Montgomery had sometimes supported Republican candidates, including Barry Goldwater.
Harold Montgomery's loss was attributed to the pro-McKeithen sentiment in the district, but also to the impact of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965, which applied in Louisiana state senate elections for the first time in 1967. Large numbers of previously unregistered African American
voters came to the polls, and most of them chose the McKeithen-endorsed Jack Montgomery. Opposing McKeithen in the primary was segregationist U.S. Representative John Richard Rarick
of St. Francisville
in West Feliciana Parish. Rarick ran so poorly both statewide and in the Bossier-Webster district that his candidacy offered no help for Harold Montgomery's reelection prospects even though Montgomery concentrated on his own race and was not involved in the gubernatorial primary.
Montgomery urged voter to support him -- "the Right Montgomery! -- as he referred to himself. Harold Montgomery narrowly won the primary rematch with Jack Montgomery, 14,595 (51.2 percent) to 13,889 (48.8 percent), and headed back to the state Senate in 1972 to begin his third and final term. Though the vote was close, Harold prevailed district-wide except in Claiborne Parish. After the 1971 primary, neither Harold nor Jack Montgomery again sought public office.
Harold Montgomery allied himself with newly elected Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, who had been Montgomery's state Senate colleague in 1964 and 1965. Edwards had personally befriended Harold Montgomery, and Montgomery was hence eager to get along with the new governor, considering his earlier differences with McKeithen. Edwards was a pallbearer
at Montgomery's funeral; Montgomery died in the final months of Edwards' fourth gubernatorial term.
Hal Montgomery said that his father did not approve of Edwards' flamboyant lifestyle but thought that Edwards was "a great governor who did as much for the state as any other who ever held the office." In the late 1970s, Louisiana was leading the nation in industrial recruitment. In the 1980s, as the jobs picture improved nationwide, the state economy took a downturn in Louisiana. Some noted that industrial recruitment was most successful when directed by Lieutenant Governor
James Edward Fitzmorris, Jr.
, whose two terms coincided with Edwards' first terms as governor. Still, Fitzmorris had handled industrial recruitment in the David C. Treen
administration as well.
Hal Montgomery said that while his father and Jack Montgomery were "not friends" when the 1967 campaign began, they were "not enemies" after Harold Montgomery's return to the state senate.
Hal Montgomery said that politics was frequently discussed in the Montgomery household when he was growing up in the 1960s, but he never shared his father's interests in politics and government service. As of 2006, Hal Montgomery still operated the hardware store in Ruston.
' Christian Crusade radio and college ministry, which operated during the 1960s and 1970s from Tulsa, Oklahoma
. Hargis often cited Montgomery by name on his radio broadcasts. A forerunner of what became known as the "Religious Right", Hargis and Montgomery also shared a hostility to communism
. Hargis ran into morals allegations, which dampened his ministry in 1976. Hargis's son, Billy James Hargis, Jr., still conducts a reduced version of his father's ministry.
Hargis and Montgomery were critical of Martin Luther King's perceived leftist ties within the civil rights movement
.
By Montgomery's last Senate term, segregation had legally ended, the issue ceased to be a viable political matter, and Montgomery avoided discussion of racial matters. Instead, he concentrated on getting state projects into northwest Louisiana. And it helped to have a friend in the governor's office during Montgomery's last term in office.
, held in Kansas City
, Missouri
.Such meetings were also held in 1978 and 1982 but thereafter discontinued.
Montgomery did not seek a fifth term in November 1975, under the state's newly instituted jungle primary
. His senate seat in 1976 was taken by a fellow Democrat considered more liberal and populist than Montgomery, Foster L. Campbell, Jr.
, of Bossier Parish. Like Montgomery, Campbell is a former educator. He held the seat with little difficulty for seven terms (1976–2002), when he resigned to become one of the five members of the elected Public Service Commission. Campbell unsuccessfully sought the governorship in the primary held on October 20, 2007.
Montgomery's old seat is currently held by Democrat-turned-Republican Robert Adley
of Benton. Adley, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
was a gubernatorial candidate himself in 1995.
in Haughton on U.S. Highway 80 east of Bossier City. The organizing pastor was K.E. Griffith.William Rainach had similarly helped to establish a Southern Methodist congregation in Claiborne Parish. According to Montgomery's obituary
, "his deep conservative philosophy was reflected, not only in his political life, but also in his religious life. Those who knew and love him know that 'he told it like it was.'"
, Shriners, and the Minden Lions Club. He was on the board of the Lincoln Bank
and Trust Company of Ruston and the former Peoples Bank and Trust Company (later Hibernia
) in Minden.
Montgomery died of heart failure while in an advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease
. Azalee, who was nine years his senior, had died ten years earlier. At the time of his death, Montgomery had been retired from the state senate for nearly twenty years; yet Edwin Edwards was still governor. Harold and Azalee Montgomery are buried at the Haughton Cemetery (established 1945) in Bossier Parish.
In addition to his son and daughter-in-law, Montgomery was survived by two granddaughters, Leigh Ann and Tara, and three sisters, Audrey Rodes of Benton, Jean Morgan of Lake Charles
, and Bobbie Steele of Memphis, Tennessee
, and numerous nephews and nieces.
In addition to Governor Edwards, pallbearers included Republican Congressman James O. McCrery, III
, of Shreveport, former state legislative colleague Parey P. Branton, Sr.
, a Democrat from Shongaloo
in Webster Parish, Minden dairy
man Rpy D. "Don" Hinton (1912-2011), Minden attorney
and former Webster Parish Democratic leader Henry Hobbs (who lost the 1960 state House election to Branton), and Minden banker Ralph Williams.
The Montgomery obituary defines his legacy as one of "love, honor, integrity, and love to God and country. The state and nation share in this legacy. Harold Montgomery was a true southern gentleman and statesman. . . . He loved his God and his family with a deep and profound love. In addition to his love for his family, he loved his state. This love inspired him to ask the people of his district to elect him to be their state senator. They did so, and he served in this capacity for twelve years . . . with honor and distinction."
While Montgomery was still living, the Webster Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission
in other states) named the "Harold Montgomery Road" in Doyline in his honor.
On November 19, 1983, son Hal Montgomery ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the District 12 seat on the police jury.
Note: Harold Montgomery was not related to former state Representative Billy Montgomery
, a Democrat-turned-Republican from Bossier City and Haughton.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
man and a Louisiana state senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
, who is remembered as an outspoken conservative
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
within his state's dominant Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He represented District 36 -- Bossier and Webster parishes and, later, part of Bienville Parish -- in three nonconsecutive terms in the Senate, 1960–1968 and 1972–1976.
Education and business ventures
As with the "S" in Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, the "A" in A. Harold Montgomery stood for nothing. Montgomery was born in Humble
Humble, Texas
Humble is a city in Harris County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area.As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,579. The city shares a zip code with the small Houston neighborhood of Bordersville, although people who live in Bordersville still have Humble...
, near Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
in Harris County
Harris County, Texas
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, to Alley C. and Martha Belle Montgomery. He was one of eight children who moved in 1921 with their parents to tiny Linton in Bossier Parish. The Montgomerys then relocated to Benton
Benton, Louisiana
The town of Benton is the parish seat of Bossier Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. The population was 2,035 at the 2000 census. The larger Bossier City is located south of Benton...
, the parish seat, so that the children could receive a better education. He graduated from Benton High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, and with the help of a loan from an older sister, he attended the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
at Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
, where he received bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
and master of science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degrees in agriculture. His graduate studies were at the University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
at Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
.
Montgomery taught agriculture at Haughton
Haughton, Louisiana
Haughton is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Haughton is located at ....
High School in Haughton in Bossier Parish east of Shreveport. At that time he met Azalee Wilson (1902–1985), the postmistress
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...
at Haughton. After three years in Haughton, Montgomery moved to Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
, the seat of Lincoln Parish, where he taught vocational agriculture at Ruston High School
Ruston High School
Ruston High School is a 4 year public high school located in the Lincoln Parish School District of Ruston, Louisiana, United States. The school has an enrollment of approximately 1200 students with 85 faculty members; the mascot is the bearcat. The school colors are red and white. Black students...
. He received many honors for his teaching abilities and his love and dedication for his students. He was also known to paddle recalcitrant boys. In 1955, Montgomery attended the White House Conference on Education.
While he was teaching in Ruston, Montgomery became aware that the area needed a feed store to supply his farmer friends. He used his savings to rent a building on West Mississippi Avenue in Ruston that became "Montgomery's Feed and Seed".
"Father of the poultry industry" in Louisiana
Montgomery also invested in the mass production of broiler chickens. He understood, when others did not, that the production of poultryPoultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
could be a money-maker for the farmers of north Louisiana and also provide a more ready market for his feed products. At the time, broiler chickens were produced only in small groups of five hundred or fewer because it was thought that the poultry should not be kept continuously in a chicken house. It was believed that the chickens should be let out in a yard for several hours a day to remain healthy. Montgomery realized that placing the chickens in a yard was not economically feasible. So, he raised five thousand birds in an enclosed environment. His foresight earned him the title of "father of the poultry industry" in Louisiana.
Patent on the rotary blade mower
Montgomery renamed his feed and seed store the "Montgomery Distributing Company", when he began to specialize in gasolineGasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
lawnmowers.
Montgomery held the first patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
on a rotary blade mower. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, mowers were equipped with a rotating reel assembly that was either pushed by hand or was propelled by a small gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
engine. This kind of mower worked well in short grass, but it clogged up in tall grass. Montgomery did not invent this mower, but he obtained the patent from a frustrated inventor in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The first commercially produced rotary mower, the Yazoo Master Mower, was then produced by a small manufacturing plant in Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
. Montgomery was the Louisiana distributor of Yazoo until 1981, when he closed his lawnmower business in Ruston.
Ranch Azalee
Through good management and, in Montgomery's belief, divine guidance, his business flourished, and he was financially able to marry Azalee on Valentine's DayValentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
, 1945, after an 11-year courtship. The couple had one child, A. Harold Montgomery, Jr., or "Hal" (born 1946). Montgomery thereafter purchased their dream place, a farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
south of the village of Doyline
Doyline, Louisiana
Doyline is a village in southwestern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 841 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
in Webster Parish. He named the habitation and land "Ranch Azalee" after his beloved wife. The Montgomerys occupied the estate in May 1953.
Ranch Azalee was formerly known as the Bryan House, having originally begun ca. 1804 by James Jackson Bryan. It was built in the late Federal/Greek revival style of architecture with an open dogtrot core. After Montgomery's death, Ranch Azlee was added in 1999 to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Because his business interests and his legislative duties were a considerable distance from Ranch Azalee, Montgomery drove tens of thousands of miles per year. Such a demanding schedule made him a workhorse. It also made him aware of the need for highway improvements in Louisiana.
Election to the Louisiana State Senate
Montgomery ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in the 1955-1956 Democratic primaries, having been defeated by 192 votes in the runoff election held on February 21, 1956, by Herman "Wimpy" JonesHerman "Wimpy" Jones
Herman "Wimpy" Jones was a businessman who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from Bossier and Webster parishes for a single term from 1956 to 1960...
(1905–1967), owner of the Jones Kitchen restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
(later known as the Southern Kitchen) in Minden. Jones was subsequently the Minden municipal fire marshal
Fire Marshal
A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a fire department but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement and/or investigating fires for origin and cause...
in Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, the seat of Webster Parish. Jones received 6,734 votes (50.7 percent) to Montgomery's 6,542 (49.3 percent). Other candidates in the primary for the Senate seat included former Minden educator Lloyd C. Starr (1899–1982), an Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
native who served on the Webster Parish School Board and was an insurance agent. Starr polled 2,039 votes. A fourth candidate, James B. Wells, finished with 917 ballots.
Then Montgomery successfully challenged Jones in the 1959-1960 primary cycle. In the December 7 primary, Montgomery led Jones, 7,929 (46.6 percent) to 6,542 (38.5 percent), but two other candidates polled a critical 2,536 votes (14.9 percent). In the runoff election on January 9, Montgomery easily defeated Jones, 11,116 (66.5 percent) to 5,611 (33.5 percent) and won sixty-eight of the seventy precinct
Precinct
A precinct is a space enclosed by the walls or other boundaries of a particular place or building, or by an arbitrary and imaginary line drawn around it. The term has several different uses...
s in what is now a revised District 36. In his five state senate campaigns (two unsuccessful), Montgomery never faced a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
opponent.
In the primary held on December 7, 1963, Jones failed in a comeback attempt against Montgomery. Calling himself an "Independent", Jones endorsed the unpledged elector movement for the 1964 presidential campaign, a position originally held by Montgomery.
Oddly, Montgomery and colleague Danny Roy Moore
Danny Roy Moore
Danny Roy Moore is a civil engineer and land surveyor in Arcadia, Louisiana, who served as a conservative Democrat in the Louisiana State Senate from 1964 until 1968...
, who represented Claiborne and Bienville
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
parishes, had side-by-side desks in the far right corner of the Senate chamber. Moore noted too that he and Montgomery were the most conservative members of the chamber during the 1964-1968 term.
According to Montgomery's obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
in the Shreveport Times, he was indeed "known as a staunch conservative. Fellow conservatives loved him, and even those who disagreed with his views respected him. All who knew him either personally or by reputation respected him for his impeccable veracity, honesty, patriotism, fairness, dedication, and his love of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, family, home, and country."
In the 1959 and 1963 gubernatorial election years, Montgomery, like most of his constituents, opposed the candidacy of fellow Democrat deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., the mayor of New Orleans and later ambassador to the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
. Montgomery believed that Morrison, as governor, would work to dismantle the segregated school system still in place in the state even though Morrison was openly committed to maintaining segregation. Montgomery supported State Senator William M. Rainach
William M. Rainach
William Monroe Rainach, Sr., known as Willie Rainach , was a state legislator from rural Summerfield in Claiborne Parish who led Louisiana's "Massive Resistance" to desegregation during the last half of the 1950s...
of neighboring Claiborne Parish in the gubernatorial primary. When Rainach finished third in the balloting, Montgomery, like virtually all of Rainach's supporters, backed former Governor Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
in the Democratic runoff. Davis then defeated Morrison and thereafter turned aside Republican Francis Grevemberg
Francis Grevemberg
Francis Carroll Grevemberg , was the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police from 1952 to 1955, best remembered for his fight against organized crime....
in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
held on April 19, 1960.
Other political developments
In 1960, Montgomery opposed increases requested by the new Davis administration in the salaries of elected and appointed state officials instead of pay hikes for the lower-income state workers. That same year, he supported legislation to make the dumping of litter or trash along roads in the state or parish road systems a crime punishable by fines of up to $100 or thirty days in jail.In 1963, Montgomery had supported Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in Louisiana. The commission has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms...
er John McKeithen
John McKeithen
John Julian McKeithen was the 49th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1964 to 1972. A Democrat from the town of Columbia, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms...
in the Democratic runoff election against Morrison. Then he quietly supported McKeithen's Republican opponent, Charlton H. Lyons, Sr.
Charlton Lyons
Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr., also known as Big Papa Lyons , was a Shreveport oilman who in 1964 waged the first determined Republican bid for the Louisiana governorship since Reconstruction. Lyons also made a strong but losing bid for the United States House of Representatives in a special election...
, of Shreveport, in the March 3, 1964, general election. In time, Montgomery and McKeithen seemed consistently at political odds.
In 1962, Montgomery introduced a resolution in the state Senate which condemned the activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
in Louisiana. "We are outraged by the prostitution of the once great FBI, and its present misuse as a political police force, not dissimilar in method and result to the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
or the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
", the Soviet secret police. United States Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
, not FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, was especially singled out for responsibility. Montgomery in fact admired Hoover for his strongly anticommunist stance.
The next year, Montgomery was elected chairman of the Louisiana Committee for Free Electors, an organization that grew out of a meeting of some two hundred conservative Democrats in Baton Rouge. Two representatives from each congressional district were chosen.The free elector movement, however, was abandoned with the nomination of U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
as the Republican presidential nominee in July 1964.
The battle of the Montgomerys, 1967
McKeithen was a prohibitive favorite for renomination in 1967 and ran unopposed in the February 6, 1968, general election. The governor supported 31-year-old SpringhillSpringhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, John Willard "Jack" Montgomery, Sr.
Jack Montgomery (Louisiana politician)
John Willard Montgomery, Sr., known as Jack Montgomery , is an attorney in private practice in the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, who served in the 26th District of the Louisiana State Senate for a single four-year term from 1968—1972...
(born June 2, 1936), in the senatorial primary against Harold Montgomery. Despite the same surname, the two were not related. The "battles of the Montgomerys" (There was a rematch in 1971.) were the most heated state senate races in the district in many years.
Jack Montgomery's campaign produced a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
advertisement listing those Springhill dignitaries behind the young candidate's campaign: John L. Cathcart, former principal of both Minden High School
Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
and E.S. Richardson Elementary School
E.S. Richardson Elementary School
E.S. Richardson Elementary School is a pre-kindergarten through fifth grade campus which serves parts of the eastern section of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. The school opened in the 1949-1950 academic year, with Wayne Wynn Williams, Sr. , as the...
in Minden, Springhill High School principal Ed Olive, and D.C. Wimberly, a decorated World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and an elementary school principal in Springhill. Others supporting Jack Montgomery were then Springhill Mayor James Allen and Springhill newspaper publisher Danny Scott (1930–2007). Jack Montgomery questioned why state highway funding for Bossier and, particularly, Webster Parish lagged behind other parishes in the region. In a newspaper advertisement, he cited a study which ranked Bossier in 14th place and Webster in 20th place among the twenty-three parishes of north Louisiana in highway appropriations. Some educators rallied behind Harold in an advertisement claimng to "Keep Good Government", including former Webster Parish school supervisor Ruby M. Craton (1900–1984) of Minden.
Though Harold had led Jack in the primary contest by 448 votes, Jack easily prevailed in the lower-turnout runoff election, 10,037 (55.1 percent) to 7,177 (44.9 percent). The results were nearly as bad for Harold Montgomery as they had been for "Wimpy" Jones in 1960. Harold Montgomery would concentrate on his business and seek a comeback in four years.
In a 1975 interview in Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
, Harold Montgomery said that he thought that Tom Colten
Tom Colten
Arthur Thomas Colten, known as Tom Colten , was a Louisiana politician from the 1960s to the 1990s who rose from a small-town mayoralty position to head his state's Department of Transportation and Development under three governors from both parties...
, the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
mayor of Minden, had done a good job in office, but he never understood Colten's reported favoritism toward Jack Montgomery, a loyal Democrat, in that Harold Montgomery had sometimes supported Republican candidates, including Barry Goldwater.
Harold Montgomery's loss was attributed to the pro-McKeithen sentiment in the district, but also to the impact of the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
of 1965, which applied in Louisiana state senate elections for the first time in 1967. Large numbers of previously unregistered African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
voters came to the polls, and most of them chose the McKeithen-endorsed Jack Montgomery. Opposing McKeithen in the primary was segregationist U.S. Representative John Richard Rarick
John Rarick
John Richard Rarick was a lawyer who served as a Louisiana state district court judge from 1961 to 1966 in St. Francisville, Louisiana, the seat of West Feliciana Parish, and as a Democratic U.S. representative from the Sixth Congressional District from 1967 to 1975...
of St. Francisville
St. Francisville, Louisiana
St. Francisville is a town in and the parish seat of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,712 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:St...
in West Feliciana Parish. Rarick ran so poorly both statewide and in the Bossier-Webster district that his candidacy offered no help for Harold Montgomery's reelection prospects even though Montgomery concentrated on his own race and was not involved in the gubernatorial primary.
The battle of the Montgomerys, 1971
In 1971, Harold Montgomery challenged the renomination of State Senator Jack Montgomery in the Democratic primary. In a newspaper appeal to voters entitled "Public Feels Cheated", Montgomery decried "the loss of confidence in government, . . . the thievry in office . . . a governor [McKeithen] who appoints political hacks to office" and "the failure of authorities to reign in dope pushers and drunk drivers". Montgomery also criticized "employees who don't work" and "politicians who continually ask for more money without showing any accomplishment in return." He predicted a large turnover in legislative ranks. Harold also won the endorsement of the then conservative Shreveport Journal, a newspaper that later moved far to the left politically before ceasing publication.Montgomery urged voter to support him -- "the Right Montgomery! -- as he referred to himself. Harold Montgomery narrowly won the primary rematch with Jack Montgomery, 14,595 (51.2 percent) to 13,889 (48.8 percent), and headed back to the state Senate in 1972 to begin his third and final term. Though the vote was close, Harold prevailed district-wide except in Claiborne Parish. After the 1971 primary, neither Harold nor Jack Montgomery again sought public office.
Harold Montgomery allied himself with newly elected Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, who had been Montgomery's state Senate colleague in 1964 and 1965. Edwards had personally befriended Harold Montgomery, and Montgomery was hence eager to get along with the new governor, considering his earlier differences with McKeithen. Edwards was a pallbearer
Pallbearer
A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....
at Montgomery's funeral; Montgomery died in the final months of Edwards' fourth gubernatorial term.
Hal Montgomery said that his father did not approve of Edwards' flamboyant lifestyle but thought that Edwards was "a great governor who did as much for the state as any other who ever held the office." In the late 1970s, Louisiana was leading the nation in industrial recruitment. In the 1980s, as the jobs picture improved nationwide, the state economy took a downturn in Louisiana. Some noted that industrial recruitment was most successful when directed by Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
James Edward Fitzmorris, Jr.
Jimmy Fitzmorris
James Edward "Jimmy" Fitzmorris, Jr. , is a New Orleans businessman and civic leader who was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 1972–1980...
, whose two terms coincided with Edwards' first terms as governor. Still, Fitzmorris had handled industrial recruitment in the David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
administration as well.
Hal Montgomery said that while his father and Jack Montgomery were "not friends" when the 1967 campaign began, they were "not enemies" after Harold Montgomery's return to the state senate.
Hal Montgomery said that politics was frequently discussed in the Montgomery household when he was growing up in the 1960s, but he never shared his father's interests in politics and government service. As of 2006, Hal Montgomery still operated the hardware store in Ruston.
The Religious Right
Harold Montgomery for a time supported the Reverend Billy James HargisBilly James Hargis
Billy James Hargis was a fundamentalist Protestant Christian evangelist. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his Christian Crusade ministry was broadcast on more than 500 radio stations and 250 television stations...
' Christian Crusade radio and college ministry, which operated during the 1960s and 1970s from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
. Hargis often cited Montgomery by name on his radio broadcasts. A forerunner of what became known as the "Religious Right", Hargis and Montgomery also shared a hostility to communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Hargis ran into morals allegations, which dampened his ministry in 1976. Hargis's son, Billy James Hargis, Jr., still conducts a reduced version of his father's ministry.
Hargis and Montgomery were critical of Martin Luther King's perceived leftist ties within the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
.
By Montgomery's last Senate term, segregation had legally ended, the issue ceased to be a viable political matter, and Montgomery avoided discussion of racial matters. Instead, he concentrated on getting state projects into northwest Louisiana. And it helped to have a friend in the governor's office during Montgomery's last term in office.
Retiring from the state senate, 1976
In 1974, Montgomery was an elected delegate to the first of three mid-term conventions of the Democratic National CommitteeDemocratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
, held in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.Such meetings were also held in 1978 and 1982 but thereafter discontinued.
Montgomery did not seek a fifth term in November 1975, under the state's newly instituted jungle primary
Jungle primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party. Under this system, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the next round, as in a runoff election...
. His senate seat in 1976 was taken by a fellow Democrat considered more liberal and populist than Montgomery, Foster L. Campbell, Jr.
Foster Campbell
Foster L. Campbell, Jr. , is a Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a former 26-year member of the Louisiana State Senate, and an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the October 20, 2007, jungle primary. Campbell polled 161,425 votes and won two parishes: Red River and...
, of Bossier Parish. Like Montgomery, Campbell is a former educator. He held the seat with little difficulty for seven terms (1976–2002), when he resigned to become one of the five members of the elected Public Service Commission. Campbell unsuccessfully sought the governorship in the primary held on October 20, 2007.
Montgomery's old seat is currently held by Democrat-turned-Republican Robert Adley
Robert Adley (Louisiana politician)
Robert Roy Adley , is a businessman and politician from Benton, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate...
of Benton. Adley, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
was a gubernatorial candidate himself in 1995.
The Southern Methodist Church
For many years, Montgomery loyally supported the First United Methodist Church in Haughton. As United Methodists moved to the theological left, Montgomery in April 1968 helped to organize a theologically conservative Southern Methodist ChurchSouthern Methodist Church
The Southern Methodist Church is a conservative Protestant Christian denomination with churches located in the southern part of the United States...
in Haughton on U.S. Highway 80 east of Bossier City. The organizing pastor was K.E. Griffith.William Rainach had similarly helped to establish a Southern Methodist congregation in Claiborne Parish. According to Montgomery's obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
, "his deep conservative philosophy was reflected, not only in his political life, but also in his religious life. Those who knew and love him know that 'he told it like it was.'"
Montgomery's obituary and legacy
A garrulous, extroverted, "people-type" of person, Montgomery was involved in civic activities: the Webster Parish Cattleman's Association, Masonic lodgeMasonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
, Shriners, and the Minden Lions Club. He was on the board of the Lincoln Bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
and Trust Company of Ruston and the former Peoples Bank and Trust Company (later Hibernia
Hibernia
Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe , Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ierne . In his book Geographia Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of...
) in Minden.
Montgomery died of heart failure while in an advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. Azalee, who was nine years his senior, had died ten years earlier. At the time of his death, Montgomery had been retired from the state senate for nearly twenty years; yet Edwin Edwards was still governor. Harold and Azalee Montgomery are buried at the Haughton Cemetery (established 1945) in Bossier Parish.
In addition to his son and daughter-in-law, Montgomery was survived by two granddaughters, Leigh Ann and Tara, and three sisters, Audrey Rodes of Benton, Jean Morgan of Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, and Bobbie Steele of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, and numerous nephews and nieces.
In addition to Governor Edwards, pallbearers included Republican Congressman James O. McCrery, III
Jim McCrery
James Otis "Jim" McCrery, III , is an American lawyer who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1988 to 2009; he represented the 4th District of Louisiana, based in the northwestern quadrant of the state.McCrery was a ranking member on the House Ways and...
, of Shreveport, former state legislative colleague Parey P. Branton, Sr.
Parey Branton
Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. , was a businessman from Shongaloo, Louisiana, who was from 1960 to 1972 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from what is now District 10 in Webster Parish...
, a Democrat from Shongaloo
Shongaloo, Louisiana
Shongaloo is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States.West of Shongaloo on Louisiana Highway 2 is Munn Hill, a homestead of Daniel and Rebecca Munn, established on July 26, 1900....
in Webster Parish, Minden dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
man Rpy D. "Don" Hinton (1912-2011), Minden attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and former Webster Parish Democratic leader Henry Hobbs (who lost the 1960 state House election to Branton), and Minden banker Ralph Williams.
The Montgomery obituary defines his legacy as one of "love, honor, integrity, and love to God and country. The state and nation share in this legacy. Harold Montgomery was a true southern gentleman and statesman. . . . He loved his God and his family with a deep and profound love. In addition to his love for his family, he loved his state. This love inspired him to ask the people of his district to elect him to be their state senator. They did so, and he served in this capacity for twelve years . . . with honor and distinction."
While Montgomery was still living, the Webster Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission
County commission
A county commission is a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in local government in some states of the United States. County commissions are usually made up of three or more individuals...
in other states) named the "Harold Montgomery Road" in Doyline in his honor.
On November 19, 1983, son Hal Montgomery ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the District 12 seat on the police jury.
Note: Harold Montgomery was not related to former state Representative Billy Montgomery
Billy Montgomery
Billy Wayne Montgomery, often known as Coach Montgomery , is a former educator who represented the Bossier City-based District 9 in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988-2008...
, a Democrat-turned-Republican from Bossier City and Haughton.