Shady Wall
Encyclopedia
Shady Robert Wall was a banker and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

 from West Monroe
West Monroe, Louisiana
West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,250 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, who served nonconsecutively as a 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...

 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...

 from 1948–1956 and 1968-1984. Wall is remembered for his colorful dress, speeding in his Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...

, flamboyant personality, gifts to local charity, and his penchant for packing a pistol in his boot holster. He was also an iron-fisted chairman of the House Retirement Committee in his later legislative tenure.

Wall as a legislator

Wall's legislative tenure corresponded with the administrations of Governors Earl Kemp Long, Robert F. Kennon
Robert F. Kennon
Robert Floyd Kennon, Sr., known as Bob Kennon , was the 48th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1952-1956. He failed to win a second non-consecutive term in the 1963 Democratic primary....

, John J. McKeithen, Edwin Washington Edwards, and 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...

. Of the governors between 1948 and 1984, Wall served under all except 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...

.

At the start of his second term in the legislature, Wall, allied with Governor Kennon, challenged the reelection of U.S. Representative Otto E. Passman of Monroe, whose service extended from 1947-1977. He polled only 7,199 votes to 28,404 for the popular incumbent.

Ron Gomez
Ron Gomez
Ronald James Gomez, Sr., known as Ron Gomez , is a veteran print and broadcast journalist, author , and businessman from Lafayette, Louisiana, who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from Lafayette Parish, from 1980-1989. From 1990-1992, he was the secretary of natural resources in...

, a House colleague from Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...

 in Wall's last legislative term from 1980–1984, describes him, accordingly:

"He swore Shady was his real first name. He also claimed that he was the only member of the legislature who could prove that he was legally sane since he had spent some time in a mental institute and had a certificate of release to prove his soundness of mind. . . . He had dabbled in real estate, advertising, and 'investments', and he had married well and become the president of a bank in West Monroe. He loved guns and firearms and kept a cache of them in his apartment at the Pentagon Barracks adjacent to the Capitol
Louisiana State Capitol
The Louisiana State Capitol building is the capitol building of the state of Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the Louisiana State Legislature, the governor's office, and parts of the executive branch...

. He reportedly had a bowl of hand grenades displayed on a dining room table like a still life display of fruit. He had also reportedly fired a pistol at an [unnamed] representative who made the mistake of incurring his ire. [It] seems this colleague and several others were playing a childish prank on Shady one night and got caught. They were fleeing the scene when Shady opened fire. Luckily, he missed. No one is quite sure whether that was intentional."

Gomez describes Wall at fifty-eight as "a tall, well proportioned man [and] totally gray. He dressed with a flair. He wore white linen suits, brightly colored ties and ankle high boots. It was not uncommon for him to have a small revolver in an ankle holster tucked inside a boot. . . . As a younger man, he was quite dashing with a dazzling smile. But his most arresting features were his eyebrows . . . thick and black [and] shaped lie an upside down V and, combined with eyes that seemed to dance crazily when he grinned, gave him a devilish look."

Gomez recalls a day in the House in the early 1980s when Wall pulled a pistol on Representative Carl Gunter, Jr., of Deville
Deville, Louisiana
Deville is a census-designated place in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 in Rapides Parish
Rapides Parish, Louisiana
-Military Installations:*Camp Beauregard *Esler Airfield *England Air Force Base *Camp Claiborne *Camp Livingston -Demographics:...

 after Gunter inadvertently disconnected Wall's conference call with his banking colleagues. At that point, the House sergeant-at-arms, Richard L. Barrios, and Representative John C. Ensminger
John C. Ensminger
John Clifford Ensminger, Sr. , is a State Farm Insurance agent in Monroe, Louisiana, who served for two decades in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature. Ensminger was elected in 1972 as a conservative Democrat to the Louisiana House of Representatives from Ouachita Parish, now District...

, also of West Monroe, grabbed Wall to prevent him from harming the shaken Gunter.

House Retirement Committee

As chairman of the House Retirement Committee, Wall required that all bills have his pre-approval and be credited to him as the author. According to House rules, however, only the author of a bill has control over the proposed legislation, and only the author can bring up the bill before the House for debate once it has received committee clearance. Ron Gomez, a freshman member on Wall's committee, said that despite the chairman's dictatorial methods, Wall "had saved the state millions of dollars by killing hundreds of special interest retirement bills. At that time, every group in state government had its own separate retirement system. The teachers had one, the state police another, judges had their own [etc.] . . . Each had different rules, different investment plans. Each employed a staff, each had paid actuaries. It was a mess. It hasn't changed much."

Gomez continued:

"Thus, he was in total control of every bill that came before his committee, no exceptions. If you wanted to introduce legislation dealing with an area of retirement you went to confession with Father Wall. He was one of the few House members who had a private office in the Capitol at the time. In fact, he had a suite of offices on the ground floor. Long before the House was wired to bring the audio proceedings . . . to almost every office, Shady had speakers in his office bringing him the audio proceedings of the House. He was rarely in the chamber unless he had bills to present. If you needed to see Chairman Wall, you made an appointment and went to his office. If he blessed your idea for new legislation, he would introduce the bill, drafted the way he wanted it and under his name. . . . "

In 1982, the since defunct Baton Rouge Enterprise named Wall's committee the second "worst committee in the legislature", with only Labor and Industrial Relations deemed even worse. The Enterpise said that Wall's committee "isn't so bad, except that it's not a committee. It's Shady's classroom" in which he handles his "bored and unruly children."

Gomez said that Wall once told him that most appearing before the legislature regarding retirement benefits "consider themselves experts on retirement. They're not. They're just hired guns trying to milk the system. Some of them are actuaries, . . . . [saying] they can predict the future. They can't. They lie. . . . "

In 1980, State Treasurer Mary Evelyn Parker
Mary Evelyn Parker
Mary Evelyn Dickerson Parker is a former Democratic state treasurer of Louisiana, having served from 1968-1987. She was the first woman to have held the position. Prior to her tenure as treasurer, she held several appointed positions in state government...

 appeared before Wall's committee to request that the state's lesser constitutional officers, such as herself as well as the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, education superintendent, agriculture commissioner, elections commissioner, and insurance commissioner, be treated for retirement purposes under the same formula employed since the 1970s for governors, judges, and legislators. Wall refused to budge and adjourned the committee when Gomez insisted that his amendment be heard. Gomez was seeking not to expand benefits to the other constitutional officers but to roll back the payments for future governors, legislators, and judges to the level of the state constitutional officers. Gomez said that his self-defined "fairness and parity bill never came up again, and the good old boy system rolled along until the 1996, when a new flock of reform legislators finally did away with legislative retirement. . . . with the passage of term limits by this same group, the retirement question was almost moot."

In 1971, Wall announced his candidacy for governor of Louisiana but withdrew and ran inatead for reelection to the legislature.

Wall's Monroe penthouse

In addition to the large Wall residence in West Monroe, Wall maintained a pink stucco penthouse
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...

 on the ninth floor of the old Hotel Penn (built for $250,000 in 1928) in downtown Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...

, with a scenic overlook of the Ouachita River
Ouachita River
The Ouachita River is a river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana.-Course:...

. The Penn had 232 rooms, each with a private bath, running hot and cold water and electric fans, and banquet hall frequented by politicians, planters and oilmen. According to Marion Edwards, younger brother of former Governor Edwin Edwards, Wall told him that "the air is just a bit sweeter up here," referring to the penthouse. In time, many of the businesses, including the banks, vacated the area about the Hotel Penn and moved to outlying malls to be closer to residential areas. In 2004, Melody Olson and her husband, Kim, bought the Penn Hotel for $341,000 to convert it into condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

s and live in Wall's former penthouse. The purchase price was only the start. The Olsons have since invested $2 million to restore the structure, having installed a new and larger elevator and replaced all the windows. Melody Olson predicts that the Penn will offer "the finest downtown living in the area. I see the lights coming back on in downtown Monroe and the very thought of it all excites me." Olson's architect, Jerry Madden, said that the former downtown hotels in Monroe "represent a fine era of architecture since most of them were constructed of reinforced concrete and have stood the test of time."

In 1958, the singer Webb Pierce
Webb Pierce
Webb Michael Pierce was one of the most popular American honky tonk vocalists of the 1950s, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the decade. His biggest hit was "In The Jailhouse Now," which charted for 37 weeks in 1955, 21 of them at number one...

, a native of West Monroe, recorded a rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

 record, "The New Raunchy"/"I'll Get By Somehow" for Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 under the name Shady Wall. It is unclear why Pierce chose the name Shady Wall, for he must have heard of Wall, the two having been nearly the same age, both with Monroe connections, and Wall having been a legislator from West Monroe a full decade before Pierce recorded the song.

The charitable Wall

Wall's father-in-law, William C. Feazel
William C. Feazel
William Crosson Feazel was a short-term United States Senator from Louisiana. Born near Farmerville, the seat of Union Parish, he attended the public schools and engaged as an independent oil and natural gas producer....

 (1895–1965), was an oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

man originally from Farmerville
Farmerville, Louisiana
Farmerville is a town in and the parish seat of Union Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,808 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 in Union Parish
Union Parish, Louisiana
Union Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville....

 in north Louisiana, with business interests in both Monroe and Shreveport
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....

. During most of 1948, he served under appointment from Governor Earl Long as an interim U.S. Senator, having held the seat until the election of Russell B. Long
Russell B. Long
Russell Billiu Long was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987.-Early life:...

, son of Huey P. Long, Jr., and nephew of Earl Long. Feazel also served a single term in the Louisiana House from Ouachita Parish
Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
-National protected areas:* Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge* D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 147,250 people, 55,216 households, and 38,319 families residing in the parish. The population density was 241 people per square mile...

 from 1932-1936. Wall's wealthy wife, the former Lallage Feazel (October 28, 1913–February 25, 1999) was nine years his senior but outlived him by fourteen years. Like her father, she too was residing in Shreveport in Caddo Parish
Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Caddo Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Shreveport; as of 2000, the population was 252,161...

 in northwestern Louisiana at the time of her death.

Wall once gave $10,000 for a Cabbage Patch doll
Cabbage Patch Kids
Cabbage Patch Kids is a line of dolls created by American art student Xavier Roberts in 1978. It was originally called "Little People". The original dolls were all cloth and sold at local craft shows, then later at Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia...

 at a Monroe charity auction in a bidding war against fellow banker Billy Lewis. Wall died of cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...

 in his sixty-third year. Mrs. Wall left $18 million in her will to Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

 for the encouragement of "creativity" among faculty and staff at the not-religiously-affiliated institution in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

.

There is a Shady Wall Memorial Endowment Scholarship in Banking, but the website offers no location of the scholarship.
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