Ron Bean
Encyclopedia
Ronald Clarence Bean, known as Ron Bean (November 4, 1938–April 19, 2005), was a Republican
state senator from Shreveport, Louisiana
, between 1992 and 2004, who was hailed by his peers for nonpartisanship. Moreover, he was a United States Army
soldier with service in South Korea
and Vietnam
and a pilot decorated for heroism. Bean died of renal failure
at the LSU Medical Center in his native Shreveport. He had undergone two kidney
transplants and suffered from steadily declining health since 2001.
, which required hospitalization in 2003, back surgeries, a helicopter
crash in 1973 that led to his health problems, and the strains of politics. He outlived two of his three children.
"He was snake bit," said Democratic
Senate President Don Hines of Bunkie
in Avoyelles Parish, a physician who for eight years sat behind Bean in the Senate. "As soon as he got over one problem he'd have another one. But I never heard him complain one time. He met adversity and then went on with it and never let it affect his personal outlook or his demeanor or his relationship with anybody."
In 2001, Bean collapsed just outside the Senate chambers. He'd taken medication that knocked his blood pressure down to zero, said Hines who, along with others, revived Bean with CPR before emergency medical help arrived.
"Some guys are funny-funny; to me, Ron was the kind of guy who was funny with a very dry sense of humor," former Democratic state senator Donald G. Kelly
of Natchitoches
said. "I can't ever recall seeing him mad; I've seen him aggravated, but never mad. He was just ... a great guy."
Bean and Gregory Tarver
, another state senator from Shreveport, met while serving on the Caddo Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission in other states). Though Bean was a white Republican and Tarver a black Democrat, the two found that they could work together and became close friends.
"I used to drive to his house late at night and we'd go places together; we just became big buddies," Tarver said. "I could tell you a lot of funny things Ron did and I did, but none of them for print. He was a character."
Bean often told Tarver, whose family is in the funeral home business, that he'd be "the first white man you'll ever have to bury."
"That was our standing joke," Tarver said, laughing loudly. "I told him that my family had been in the business for 105 years, and we ain't buried a white man yet. We'd joke about that all the time."
Kelly said much of the talk among legislators at the funeral only days earlier for State Senator John Hainkel
of New Orleans was of their friend Bean. "It's been a tough, tough few days we've had here," Hines said. Hines had succeeded Hainkel as president of the Senate.
, an Oak Ridge
(Morehouse Parish) recalled the circumstances that led to Bean's health problems.
During the Senate's farewell bid to Bean in 2003, then-Senate president Hainkel called Bean "the ultimate in courage." He referred not only to Bean's work to expand insurance coverage for transplant patients and to encourage organ donations, but also to May 1973, when Bean, then a U.S. Army chief warrant officer, was piloting Army One, the helicopter that carried the president.
Bean carried Secret Service
agents to the Bahamas to replace the crew assigned to then-President Richard M. Nixon; the helicopter developed problems and ditched in the water. Bean ingested jet fuel that brought about his later health problems. He continued to dive and saved six of the seven Secret Service agents.
Bean was elected as a Republican to the Caddo Parish Police Jury in 1975 and served a single four-year term from 1976 to 1980. He was defeated for reelecton in the 1979 general election
by the Democrat Ponder F. McInnis (born 1940).
Bean lost his first race for the state Senate in 1987 when he was defeated by incumbent Democrat Richard Grady Neeson
(born 1946). Bean was also defeated by fellow Republican Hazel F. Beard
(born 1930) in the race for mayor of Shreveport in 1990. He received only 5,056 votes (8 percent) in the primary for mayor.
In the 1991 nonpartisan blanket primary for state senator, Bean secured a general election berth against fellow Republican Tommy Gene Armstrong
(born 1941), a conservative
candidate who was serving a one-year unexpired term in the Louisiana House of Representatives
created by the resignation of Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell, who became a state district court judge. Armstrongt had also been a member of the Caddo Parish Commission, formerly known as the police jury. In fact, Armstrong's continuous police jury service began in 1976 at the same time as that of Bean. Armstrong left the commission with a year remaining in his fourth term. Armstrong led with 13,354 votes (40 percent), and Bean followed with 8,866 votes (26 percent). Republican Ken Wright, with 6,088 votes (18 percent), ran third, and Democrat Bobby Bruce Shofner (born 1948), with 5,494 votes (15 percent), finished in fourth place. In the second contest, Bean narrowly upset Armstrong, 20,474 (51 percent) to 19,720 (49 percent).
"The third time around [1991; actually fourth time counting the police jury loss] was the charm, and the citizens were smart enough to elect him," said Diana M. Simek, another of Bean's campaign managers. "Even in the losses, he never lost his sense of humor . . . " For twelve years he served District 38, which includes Shreveport and parts of De Soto Parish.
In 1995, the conservative Christian Coalition and Family Research Council
attempted to unseat Bean in the jungle primary. In the first round, Bean led with 15,044 votes (49.6 percent) to 12,636 ballots (41.7 percent) for fellow Republican Judy Dawson Boykin (born 1952), a school board member and the favorite of many conservatives in the district. A third candidate, Democrat Jim Crowley, polled 2,652 votes (8.7 percent). In the general election, Bean was a narrow winner: 16,550 (50.8 percent) to Boykin's 15,995 (49.2 percent).
In 1999, Bean overwhelmed fellow Republican Daniel Eugene "Dan" Perkins (born 1953), another candidate of the religious right, 17,866 (71 percent) to 7,368 (29 percent). It was his last victory—and by far his most convincing. Health problems forbade his running again in 2003.
"He's got an 'R' behind his name and I've got a 'D' behind mine, but that didn't mean a thing," said Don Kelly, whose apartment was next to Bean's in the Pentagon, which houses legislators in Baton Rouge not far from the Capitol. "Ron was out to do what was right. He didn't follow this philosophy or that; he'd look at something, analyze it and then do what's best for his constituents and what's best for Louisiana."
"I think one of the most defining statements I ever heard him make was when we were driving away and he was crying," said Cheek, after talking of how close the father and son were. "He said, 'I have to remember that for 40 years I've had what some people never have in a lifetime.' That's Ron. He was always able to take a negative and make something positive out of it."
Bean was survived by his wife, Carol Grady Bean (born 1946), and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Bean of Shreveport. His funeral was in the temporary quarters of Summer Grove Baptist Church in South Park Mall in Shreveport, with his former pastor, Wayne L. DuBose officiating. One of the speakers, Huntington "Hunt" Downer
, brigadier general of the Louisiana Army National Guard, a former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and a failed 2003 gubernatorial contender, noted that Bean had risked his life to save nearly all of the men otherwise doomed in the helicopter crash. He presented a flag to Carol and Mary Bean.
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...
state senator from Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, between 1992 and 2004, who was hailed by his peers for nonpartisanship. Moreover, he was a United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
soldier with service in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and a pilot decorated for heroism. Bean died of renal failure
Renal failure
Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...
at the LSU Medical Center in his native Shreveport. He had undergone two kidney
Kidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
transplants and suffered from steadily declining health since 2001.
Humor amid personal problems
Bean's friends said that he never lost his notable sense of humor. Besides the kidney transplants, Bean contracted pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, which required hospitalization in 2003, back surgeries, a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
crash in 1973 that led to his health problems, and the strains of politics. He outlived two of his three children.
"He was snake bit," said Democratic
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...
Senate President Don Hines of Bunkie
Bunkie, Louisiana
Bunkie is a city in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,662 at the 2000 census.Bunkie is the birthplace of jazz drummer Zutty Singleton. Sue Eakin, Louisiana historian and former publisher of the Bunkie Record, resided in Bunkie for most of her life until her death in...
in Avoyelles Parish, a physician who for eight years sat behind Bean in the Senate. "As soon as he got over one problem he'd have another one. But I never heard him complain one time. He met adversity and then went on with it and never let it affect his personal outlook or his demeanor or his relationship with anybody."
In 2001, Bean collapsed just outside the Senate chambers. He'd taken medication that knocked his blood pressure down to zero, said Hines who, along with others, revived Bean with CPR before emergency medical help arrived.
"Some guys are funny-funny; to me, Ron was the kind of guy who was funny with a very dry sense of humor," former Democratic state senator Donald G. Kelly
Donald G. Kelly
Donald Gene Kelly, usually known as Don Kelly , is a prominent trial lawyer and American Quarter Horse breeder in Natchitoches who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1976 to 1996. His tenure covered three of the four terms of Democratic Governor Edwin Washington...
of Natchitoches
Natchitoches
Natchitoches may refer to:*Natchitoches , an American Indian people*Natchitoches, Louisiana, a city*Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana...
said. "I can't ever recall seeing him mad; I've seen him aggravated, but never mad. He was just ... a great guy."
Bean and Gregory Tarver
Gregory Tarver
Gregory Williams Tarver, Sr., known as Greg Tarver , is an African American businessman and Democratic politician in Shreveport, Louisiana, who served on the Shreveport City Council from 1978 to 1984 and as a Louisiana state senator from the predominantly black District 39 in Caddo Parish from 1984...
, another state senator from Shreveport, met while serving on the Caddo Parish Police Jury (equivalent of county commission in other states). Though Bean was a white Republican and Tarver a black Democrat, the two found that they could work together and became close friends.
"I used to drive to his house late at night and we'd go places together; we just became big buddies," Tarver said. "I could tell you a lot of funny things Ron did and I did, but none of them for print. He was a character."
Bean often told Tarver, whose family is in the funeral home business, that he'd be "the first white man you'll ever have to bury."
"That was our standing joke," Tarver said, laughing loudly. "I told him that my family had been in the business for 105 years, and we ain't buried a white man yet. We'd joke about that all the time."
Kelly said much of the talk among legislators at the funeral only days earlier for State Senator John Hainkel
John Hainkel
John Joseph Hainkel, Jr., was a gregarious, ruffled, and raspy-voiced legislator from New Orleans who died in office after thirty-seven years of service...
of New Orleans was of their friend Bean. "It's been a tough, tough few days we've had here," Hines said. Hines had succeeded Hainkel as president of the Senate.
"The ultimate in courage"
In 2003, the Louisiana Senate gave the ailing Bean a standing ovation after his colleague Robert J. BarhamRobert J. Barham
Robert Jocelyn Barham is a large-scale farmer from Morehouse Parish who has been appointed by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as the secretary of the state's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries...
, an Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Louisiana
Oak Ridge is a village in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 142 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bastrop Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Oak Ridge is located at ....
(Morehouse Parish) recalled the circumstances that led to Bean's health problems.
During the Senate's farewell bid to Bean in 2003, then-Senate president Hainkel called Bean "the ultimate in courage." He referred not only to Bean's work to expand insurance coverage for transplant patients and to encourage organ donations, but also to May 1973, when Bean, then a U.S. Army chief warrant officer, was piloting Army One, the helicopter that carried the president.
Bean carried Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
agents to the Bahamas to replace the crew assigned to then-President Richard M. Nixon; the helicopter developed problems and ditched in the water. Bean ingested jet fuel that brought about his later health problems. He continued to dive and saved six of the seven Secret Service agents.
A low-key campaigner
Consultant Jerry Parnell Payne (born 1942) recalled that Bean did not want his military heroism to be used in campaigns. "It was the third campaign I ran for him before I even found out about his military stories," said Payne. "Then he threw a fit and didn't want us to use any of that; we did anyway. Of all the campaigns I've run, and that's 150 or so, I never worked for a man more earnest, more honest, a guy who exhibits integrity more than Ron Bean."Bean was elected as a Republican to the Caddo Parish Police Jury in 1975 and served a single four-year term from 1976 to 1980. He was defeated for reelecton in the 1979 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...
by the Democrat Ponder F. McInnis (born 1940).
Bean lost his first race for the state Senate in 1987 when he was defeated by incumbent Democrat Richard Grady Neeson
Richard G. Neeson
Richard Grady Neeson is a former Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate who from 1980 to 1992 represented District 38 in Caddo and DeSoto parishes....
(born 1946). Bean was also defeated by fellow Republican Hazel F. Beard
Hazel Beard
Hazel Fain Beard is the first woman and the first Republican to have served as mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, since the era of Reconstruction. A fiscal conservative, Mrs...
(born 1930) in the race for mayor of Shreveport in 1990. He received only 5,056 votes (8 percent) in the primary for mayor.
In the 1991 nonpartisan blanket primary for state senator, Bean secured a general election berth against fellow Republican Tommy Gene Armstrong
Tommy Armstrong (Louisiana politician)
Tommy Gene Armstrong is a businessman from Shreveport, Louisiana, who served as a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1991-1992. He filled the unexpired term of the Democrat, Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell, who resigned to become a state district court judge...
(born 1941), a conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
candidate who was serving a one-year unexpired term in 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...
created by the resignation of Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell, who became a state district court judge. Armstrongt had also been a member of the Caddo Parish Commission, formerly known as the police jury. In fact, Armstrong's continuous police jury service began in 1976 at the same time as that of Bean. Armstrong left the commission with a year remaining in his fourth term. Armstrong led with 13,354 votes (40 percent), and Bean followed with 8,866 votes (26 percent). Republican Ken Wright, with 6,088 votes (18 percent), ran third, and Democrat Bobby Bruce Shofner (born 1948), with 5,494 votes (15 percent), finished in fourth place. In the second contest, Bean narrowly upset Armstrong, 20,474 (51 percent) to 19,720 (49 percent).
"The third time around [1991; actually fourth time counting the police jury loss] was the charm, and the citizens were smart enough to elect him," said Diana M. Simek, another of Bean's campaign managers. "Even in the losses, he never lost his sense of humor . . . " For twelve years he served District 38, which includes Shreveport and parts of De Soto Parish.
In 1995, the conservative Christian Coalition and Family Research Council
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983...
attempted to unseat Bean in the jungle primary. In the first round, Bean led with 15,044 votes (49.6 percent) to 12,636 ballots (41.7 percent) for fellow Republican Judy Dawson Boykin (born 1952), a school board member and the favorite of many conservatives in the district. A third candidate, Democrat Jim Crowley, polled 2,652 votes (8.7 percent). In the general election, Bean was a narrow winner: 16,550 (50.8 percent) to Boykin's 15,995 (49.2 percent).
In 1999, Bean overwhelmed fellow Republican Daniel Eugene "Dan" Perkins (born 1953), another candidate of the religious right, 17,866 (71 percent) to 7,368 (29 percent). It was his last victory—and by far his most convincing. Health problems forbade his running again in 2003.
"He's got an 'R' behind his name and I've got a 'D' behind mine, but that didn't mean a thing," said Don Kelly, whose apartment was next to Bean's in the Pentagon, which houses legislators in Baton Rouge not far from the Capitol. "Ron was out to do what was right. He didn't follow this philosophy or that; he'd look at something, analyze it and then do what's best for his constituents and what's best for Louisiana."
President pro tempore of Louisiana Senate
In 1999, the Senate named Bean the President Pro Tempore, after Dennis Bagneris left the state legislature to become a state appeals court judge. Bean was the first Republican to hold the pro tempore post since Reconstruction. "I am delighted that my peers thought enough of me to vote for me," Bean said. "I consider myself a moderate Republican, who can get along with folks on both sides of the fence. I hope I can contribute in a positive way to the bipartisan effort in the Senate to move the state forward."Loss of his son
Bean lost his only son, John E. Bean (February 4, 1961 – June 15, 2000), the victim of a traffic accident. Sherri Smith Cheek, his legislative assistant and his Republican successor in the state senate, said that Bean didn't "break down" until after he left the hospital, where he'd been "trying to take care of John's children and his daughter-in-law.""I think one of the most defining statements I ever heard him make was when we were driving away and he was crying," said Cheek, after talking of how close the father and son were. "He said, 'I have to remember that for 40 years I've had what some people never have in a lifetime.' That's Ron. He was always able to take a negative and make something positive out of it."
Bean was survived by his wife, Carol Grady Bean (born 1946), and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Bean of Shreveport. His funeral was in the temporary quarters of Summer Grove Baptist Church in South Park Mall in Shreveport, with his former pastor, Wayne L. DuBose officiating. One of the speakers, Huntington "Hunt" Downer
Hunt Downer
Major General Huntington Blair Downer, Jr., known as Hunt Downer , is a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Louisiana who is the assistant adjutant general of the state National Guard and the first ever director of the new Louisiana Veterans Affairs Department.A former Speaker of the...
, brigadier general of the Louisiana Army National Guard, a former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and a failed 2003 gubernatorial contender, noted that Bean had risked his life to save nearly all of the men otherwise doomed in the helicopter crash. He presented a flag to Carol and Mary Bean.
External links
- http://www.shreveporttimes.com/assets/pdf/D93317422.PDF
- http://www.newschannel6.tv/news/?mode=shownews&id=7589
- http://senate.legis.state.la.us/CommunicationOffice/NewsReleases/1999/03-29-1999_b.htm
- http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Text/Cheek/
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcinq&rqsdta=more
- http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/s1880-2004.pdf
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10069009
- http://www.ronbean.com