Raymond Laborde | |
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Louisiana State Representative for District 28 (Avoyelles Parish) |
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In office May 1972 – 1992 |
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Preceded by | P. J. LaBorde (no relation) |
Succeeded by | Charles Addison Riddle III |
Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives | |
In office 1982–1984 |
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Preceded by | Frank P. Simoneaux |
Succeeded by | Joseph A. "Joe" Delpit |
Mayor of Marksville, Louisiana | |
In office 1958–1970 |
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Preceded by | Edgar Coco |
Succeeded by | Ben LaBorde (no relation) |
President of the Louisiana Municipal Association | |
In office 1962–1963 |
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Preceded by | Charles Cassidy |
Succeeded by | W. H. "Booty" Scott |
Louisiana Commissioner of Administration | |
In office 1992–1996 |
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Preceded by | Dennis Stine |
Succeeded by | Mark Drennen |
Personal details | |
Born |
Raymond Julian Laborde August 18, 1927 Marksville, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, USA |
Died | January 17, 2016 | (aged 88)
Resting place | St. Joseph Cemetery No. 1 in Marksville |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Nellie Sanchez Laborde (married 1951-2016, his death) |
Children |
Ronald Martin Laborde (deceased) |
Alma mater | Loyola University New Orleans |
Occupation | Department store owner |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Military service | |
Service/branch | Louisiana National Guard |
Ronald Martin Laborde (deceased)
Minnie C. Lafargue
Donald A. Laborde
Charles Laborde
Raymond J. Laborde, II
Raymond Julian Laborde, I (August 18, 1927 – January 17, 2016), was an American department store owner and a Democratic politician in his native Marksville in Avoyelles Parish in south Central Louisiana. He was the mayor of Marksville from 1958 to 1970 and thereafter served five terms from 1972 to1992 in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was a gubernatorial floor leader, Speaker Pro Tempore from 1982 to 1984, and in his last full term the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
After his election without opposition to a sixth House term in the 1991 nonpartisan blanket primary, Laborde immediately resigned to become commissioner of administration in the fourth and final nonconsecutive term of his boyhood friend, Governor Edwin Washington Edwards.
Laborde was born to Dr. Emeric M. Laborde (1901–1969), a Marksville dentist, and the former Minnie L. Neck (1899–1994). As students at Marksville High School, Laborde in 1943 defeated Edwin Edwards for senior class president. In his first year in the House as an Edwards floor leader in 1972, Laborde balked at Edwards' call for a $1 billion tax increase. "And, oh man, did I catch hell. When I got back home, Edwin had put the word out, and everyone was calling me. Let me tell you, it was mighty uncomfortable. I couldn't wait for him to call a special session, so I could get back there and get that tax passed," Laborde said in a 2007 interview with Alexandria Daily Town Talk.
After graduation from Marksville High School, Laborde enrolled at his father's alma mater, Roman Catholic-affiliated Loyola University in New Orleans, where at the age of eighteen he played on the 1945–1946 Loyola national championship basketball team. He graduated from Loyola in 1949 and then launched his Raymond's Department Store at 317 North Main Street in Marksville. He was later a captain in the Louisiana National Guard.