W. L. Rambo
Encyclopedia
Willard Lloyd Rambo was a Democratic
member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
, having represented districts in the north central portion of the state during the 1950s and the 1960s. As a native and lifelong resident of tiny Georgetown
in Grant Parish north of Alexandria
, Rambo was a member of the Long political dynasty
through his second marriage to the former Mary Alice Long (born August 1, 1928).
Rambo was born to Simeon Royal Rambo (1885–1961) and the former Rosa Barrett (1891–1964). Mary Alice, also a Georgetown native, was the daughter of Olney Andrew Long (1894–1967) and the former Zuleia Puckett (1907–1992). She was the granddaughter of William Jefferson Long (1849–1943) and the former Sarah Lucy Wright (1860–1948). Mary Alice Long Rambo's grandfather was a half brother of Huey Pierce "Hugh" Long, Sr., the father of the Louisiana "Kingfish".
Rambo attended several U.S. Army Air Force training schools in Montgomery, Alabama
. He served during World War II
in the China
-Burma theater under general Claire Chennault, having flown aviation fuel across The Hump
of the Himalayas
. The soldiers constructed airport
s, which were quickly destroyed by Japan
ese bombers. Rambo was later given an award by the government of China
for his service. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
and the American Legion
.
Rambo was a successful oil
field drilling contractor
in Georgetown. He was a member of the Masonic lodge
. He was Baptist
.
Rambo flew his own plane. Mary Rambo became a pilot herself and entered competitions known as the Powder Puff Derby
, having last competed in 1968. The Rambos launched a popular Saturday night rodeo
in Georgetown to provide entertainment for rural
youth. Rambo was also a strong supporter of the 4-H Club
, a creation of the Extension Service
of the United States Department of Agriculture
. On April 17, 2008, Rambo was posthumously honored for his work in the establishment of the Jesse Harrison 4-H Camp near Colfax
, the first such facility in Grant Parish. He was inducted in Baton Rouge into the "4-H Hall of Fame" on the occasion of the centennial of the organization.
With his wife as his campaign manager, Rambo was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives
in 1952. The anti-Long Robert F. Kennon
was elected governor
in the same election. Rambo won his second term in 1956, when he became the House floor leader for his wife's kinsman, Governor Earl Kemp Long, who returned to office after a four-year hiatus.
In 1960, Rambo ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate
, having lost to another of his wife's kinsmen, the incumbent
Senator Speedy O. Long
(1928–2006) of Jena
in La Salle Parish. Rambo was, however, elected to the Senate in 1964, when Speedy Long opted not to seek a third Senate term but to run unsuccessfully on the John McKeithen
ticket for insurance
commissioner. The district included Winn, Caldwell, La Salle, and Grant parishes. In the general election
held on March 3, 1964, Rambo defeated the Republican William Stewart Walker
(1914–1999), a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel
from Winnfield, by a lopsided 81-19 percent vote. Walker was a cousin
of prominent Alexandria businessman Morgan Wailes Walker, Sr.
, a former president of Trans-Continental Bus Lines, which reached into forty states; a member and president of the Rapides Parish School Board, and chairman of the board of the former Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, since Capital One
. Later that year, Stewart Walker carried the Republican Party
banner in a hard-fought and competitive congressional general election against Speedy Long.
As a senator, the cigar
-chomping Rambo worked closely with the McKeithen administration and was considered among the governor's most loyal allies in the upper chamber. Rambo served until 1968, when he was succeeded in revised districting by two anti-Long state senators, Cecil R. Blair
of Lecompte
in Rapides Parish, and J.C. "Sonny" Gilbert of Sicily Island
in Catahoula Parish in a revised districting plan. Ironically, Blair was also a native of Sicily Island. Rambo ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana House in 1968 in an at-large multi-parish race. Rambo ran again for the Senate in the 1971 primary for the Senate in a single-member District 31 seat (Natchitoches, Grant, Winn, Red River Parish
, and northern Rapides parishes). He ran ahead of veteran incumbent Sylvan N. Friedman
of Natchitoches
but lost the primary runoff to Paul Lee Foshee, Sr.
, a Natchitoches crop duster who had served in the state House from 1960 to 1964.
In 1975, Rambo ran again for the Louisiana House but was defeated by the conservative Democrat Richard S. Thompson (1916–1997) of Colfax
, the seat of Grant Parish.
Rambo died of heart failure in a hospital in Houston
. He is interred in the Georgetown Cemetery in Georgetown. Rambo had four children, including from his first marriage, eldest son William Larry Rambo (born 1939) of Houston. From his marriage to Mary, Rambo was the father of Kitty Rambo Calabrese (born 1947) of Baton Rouge, Willard Ransom Rambo (born 1949) of Memphis, Tennessee
, and Henrietta Rambo Evans (born 1958) of Pineville
in Rapides Parish.
On January 28, 2006, Mary Long Rambo, who resides in Alexandria, was presented with the "Friends of Earl K. Long Award" by the Louisiana Political Museum
and Hall of Fame in Long's hometown of Winnfield.
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 both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
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...
, having represented districts in the north central portion of the state during the 1950s and the 1960s. As a native and lifelong resident of tiny Georgetown
Georgetown, Louisiana
Georgetown is a village in Grant Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 301 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in Grant Parish north of 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....
, Rambo was a member of the Long political dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
through his second marriage to the former Mary Alice Long (born August 1, 1928).
Rambo was born to Simeon Royal Rambo (1885–1961) and the former Rosa Barrett (1891–1964). Mary Alice, also a Georgetown native, was the daughter of Olney Andrew Long (1894–1967) and the former Zuleia Puckett (1907–1992). She was the granddaughter of William Jefferson Long (1849–1943) and the former Sarah Lucy Wright (1860–1948). Mary Alice Long Rambo's grandfather was a half brother of Huey Pierce "Hugh" Long, Sr., the father of the Louisiana "Kingfish".
Rambo attended several U.S. Army Air Force training schools in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
. He served during 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...
in the China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
-Burma theater under general Claire Chennault, having flown aviation fuel across The Hump
The Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces based in...
of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. The soldiers constructed airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
s, which were quickly destroyed by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese bombers. Rambo was later given an award by the government of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
for his service. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization in the United States. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, VFW currently has 1.5 million members belonging to 7,644 posts, and is the largest American organization of combat...
and the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
.
Rambo was a successful 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....
field drilling contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
in Georgetown. He was a member of the Masonic lodge
Masonic 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...
. He was Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
.
Rambo flew his own plane. Mary Rambo became a pilot herself and entered competitions known as the Powder Puff Derby
Powder Puff Derby
The Powder Puff Derby was the name given to a transcontinental air race for women pilots inaugurated in 1947. For the next two years it was named the "Jacqueline Cochran All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race"...
, having last competed in 1968. The Rambos launched a popular Saturday night rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
in Georgetown to provide entertainment for rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
youth. Rambo was also a strong supporter of the 4-H Club
4-H
4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...
, a creation of the Extension Service
Agricultural extension
Agricultural extension was once known as the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education...
of the United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
. On April 17, 2008, Rambo was posthumously honored for his work in the establishment of the Jesse Harrison 4-H Camp near Colfax
Colfax, Louisiana
Colfax is a town in and the parish seat of Grant Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town, founded in 1869, is named for the vice president of the United States, Schuyler M. Colfax , who served in the first term of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, for whom the parish is named. Colfax is part of...
, the first such facility in Grant Parish. He was inducted in Baton Rouge into the "4-H Hall of Fame" on the occasion of the centennial of the organization.
With his wife as his campaign manager, Rambo was elected to 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...
in 1952. The anti-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....
was elected governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
in the same election. Rambo won his second term in 1956, when he became the House floor leader for his wife's kinsman, Governor Earl Kemp Long, who returned to office after a four-year hiatus.
In 1960, Rambo ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate
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...
, having lost to another of his wife's kinsmen, the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Senator Speedy O. Long
Speedy O. Long
Speedy Oteria Long was a Jena lawyer who was a Democratic U.S. Representative from central Louisiana between 1965 and 1973. Prior to his tenure in the since disbanded Eighth Congressional District, Speedy Long had been a member of the Louisiana state Senate...
(1928–2006) of Jena
Jena, Louisiana
Jena is a town in and the parish seat of La Salle Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,971 at the 2000 census.In September 2006, Jena became the focus of national news stories in the United States for a racial controversy involving its school system and a group of students known...
in La Salle Parish. Rambo was, however, elected to the Senate in 1964, when Speedy Long opted not to seek a third Senate term but to run unsuccessfully on the 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...
ticket for insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
commissioner. The district included Winn, Caldwell, La Salle, and Grant parishes. 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 March 3, 1964, Rambo defeated the Republican William Stewart Walker
William Stewart Walker
William Stewart Walker, usually known as Stewart Walker , was a lieutenant colonel from Winnfield, Louisiana who, during World War II as a United States Army major, rescued 380 of his fellow soldiers from behind enemy lines in Belgium in December 1944...
(1914–1999), a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
from Winnfield, by a lopsided 81-19 percent vote. Walker was a cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
of prominent Alexandria businessman Morgan Wailes Walker, Sr.
Morgan W. Walker, Sr.
Morgan Wailes Walker, Sr. was a businessman from Alexandria, Louisiana, who was involved in dairying, farming, bus transportation, hotels, banking, and education. He was a director of the Trans-Continental Bus system, which operated in time in more than forty states. Walker introduced Guernsey...
, a former president of Trans-Continental Bus Lines, which reached into forty states; a member and president of the Rapides Parish School Board, and chairman of the board of the former Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, since Capital One
Capital One
Capital One Financial Corp. is a U.S.-based bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking and savings products...
. Later that year, Stewart Walker carried the Republican Party
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...
banner in a hard-fought and competitive congressional general election against Speedy Long.
As a senator, the cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
-chomping Rambo worked closely with the McKeithen administration and was considered among the governor's most loyal allies in the upper chamber. Rambo served until 1968, when he was succeeded in revised districting by two anti-Long state senators, Cecil R. Blair
Cecil R. Blair
Cecil Ray Blair was a Rapides Parish farmer and businessman who was a Democratic member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1952 to 1956...
of Lecompte
Lecompte, Louisiana
Lecompte is a town in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,366 at the 2000 census....
in Rapides Parish, and J.C. "Sonny" Gilbert of Sicily Island
Sicily Island, Louisiana
Sicily Island is a village in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 453 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sicily Island is located at ....
in Catahoula Parish in a revised districting plan. Ironically, Blair was also a native of Sicily Island. Rambo ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana House in 1968 in an at-large multi-parish race. Rambo ran again for the Senate in the 1971 primary for the Senate in a single-member District 31 seat (Natchitoches, Grant, Winn, Red River Parish
Red River Parish, Louisiana
Red River Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Coushatta. It was one of the newer parishes created in 1871 by the state legislature under Reconstruction...
, and northern Rapides parishes). He ran ahead of veteran incumbent Sylvan N. Friedman
Sylvan Friedman
Sylvan N. Friedman was a Louisiana politician, a rare Jewish member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature...
of Natchitoches
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
but lost the primary runoff to Paul Lee Foshee, Sr.
Paul L. Foshee
Paul Lee Foshee, Sr. , is a retired crop duster from Natchitoches, Louisiana, who served nonconsecutively in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature during the 1960s and 1970s. From 1960 to 1964, beginning at the age of twenty-seven, Foshee served a single four-year term as a state...
, a Natchitoches crop duster who had served in the state House from 1960 to 1964.
In 1975, Rambo ran again for the Louisiana House but was defeated by the conservative Democrat Richard S. Thompson (1916–1997) of Colfax
Colfax, Louisiana
Colfax is a town in and the parish seat of Grant Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town, founded in 1869, is named for the vice president of the United States, Schuyler M. Colfax , who served in the first term of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, for whom the parish is named. Colfax is part of...
, the seat of Grant Parish.
Rambo died of heart failure in a hospital in 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 ...
. He is interred in the Georgetown Cemetery in Georgetown. Rambo had four children, including from his first marriage, eldest son William Larry Rambo (born 1939) of Houston. From his marriage to Mary, Rambo was the father of Kitty Rambo Calabrese (born 1947) of Baton Rouge, Willard Ransom Rambo (born 1949) 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 Henrietta Rambo Evans (born 1958) of Pineville
Pineville, Louisiana
Pineville is a city in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is adjacent to the city of Alexandria, and is part of that city's Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,829 at the 2000 census....
in Rapides Parish.
On January 28, 2006, Mary Long Rambo, who resides in Alexandria, was presented with the "Friends of Earl K. Long Award" by the Louisiana Political Museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and Hall of Fame in Long's hometown of Winnfield.