Evelyn Kinnison Blackmon | |
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Louisiana State Representative from District 15 (Ouachita Parish) | |
In office 1984–1988 |
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Preceded by | Shady Wall |
Succeeded by | Charles Anding |
Personal details | |
Born | November 2, 1924Louisiana, USA |
Died | May 21, 2014 | (aged 89)
Resting place | Mulhearn Memorial Park in Monroe, Louisiana |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Dr. Edward S. Blackmon, Jr. (deceased) |
Children |
Dr. Larry Blackmon |
Residence |
West Monroe Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, US |
Alma mater | University of Louisiana at Monroe |
Occupation | Real estate businesswoman |
Dr. Larry Blackmon
Jan B. Mattingly
Evelyn Kinnison Blackmon (November 2, 1924 – May 21, 2014) was a Realtor from West Monroe, Louisiana, USA, and from 1984 to 1988 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 15, the first and thus far only woman to hold that particular legislative seat.
Born in Standard in northern La Salle Parish in North Louisiana, Blackmon was one of two daughters of Robert Samuel Kinnison and the former Emma Horne. Her surviving sister is Dorothy Kinnision, also of West Monroe. In 1967, Blackmon became the first woman to receive a degree in industrial management from the College of Business Administration of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
In 1968, she became the first woman elected president of the Louisiana Realtors Association. She was instrumental in securing the property which became the West Monroe Post Office as well as the acquisition of Glenwood Mall and its conversion to a Medical Mall. In 1974, she was the first woman in Louisiana to receive the Realtor designation of "Certified Commercial Investment Member." She was the first woman named to the Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry, an appointment that she received in 1976 from then Lieutenant Governor Jimmy Fitzmorris. She was a former director of the West Monroe Chamber of Commerce.
In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 1983, Blackmon led the Republican insurance agent Robert Charles Payne (born c. 1943) by 14 votes, 3,244 (22.5 percent) to 3,230 (22.4 percent). Four other candidates held the actual majority of the votes cast, 55 percent, but were eliminated in the general election between frontrunners Blackmon and Payne.Blackmon then defeated Payne, 5,295 (53.9 percent) to 4,523 (46.1 percent), but her seat would turn Republican with the 1995 election.