Drayton Boucher
Encyclopedia
Drayton Rogers Boucher was a Louisiana
state legislator from Springhill
in northern Webster Parish
, Louisiana
, affiliated with the Long
faction
of state Democratic
politics. Boucher represented Webster Parish for a single four-year term in the Louisiana House of Representatives
from 1936 to 1940. and three terms in the State Senate
from a combination district including Webster and Bossier parishes from 1940 to 1952. In the Senate, he succeeded Coleman Lindsey
(1892–1968) of Minden
, who in 1939 became lieutenant governor
upon the succession to the governorship of Earl Kemp Long.
in Shelby County
, Alabama
. Augustus’s wife, Drayton Boucher’s paternal grandmother, was Jennie B. Cox (1852–1885), a Louisiana native.
Boucher attended Springhill High School but graduated in 1927 from a three-member class in a one-room school in Asherton
in Dimmit County
about midway between Laredo
and Eagle Pass
in south Texas
, where Robert Boucher had temporarily relocated the family to become an onion
farmer
. (Since 1999, Asherton has had no high school; students are bused to the nearby county seat of Carrizo Springs
.) Boucher procured a scholarship as salutatorian
of the country school and attended Sul Ross State University
in Alpine
, from which he received in 1932 a bachelor of science
degree in biology
. He was thereafter a lifelong promoter of his "alma mater
" and on occasion visited former professors in Alpine.
cadet for a year at March Field in Riverside
, California
. From 1934 to 1936, he was a school principal and teacher at a one-room school in Taylor
, Arkansas
, north of his native Springhill, an experience which prompted him as a future legislature to advocate higher teacher pay. He also sold patent medicine
. While placing an advertisement in the newspaper
in Minden, forerunner of the ‘’Minden Press-Herald
’’, Boucher was urged by the editor to run for the Webster Parish seat in the state legislature in the 1935–1936 election cycle. Days later, the legendary Huey P. Long, Jr., was dead from an assassin
’s bullet, and Boucher, at the age of twenty-eight, several months thereafter won the seat. He had visited nearly every home in Webster Parish in narrowly winning the House seat.
In September 1940, freshman Senator Boucher urged newly elected anti-Long Governor Sam Houston Jones to call a special legislative session to repeal many of the “reform” measures passed earlier in the year. The remark was carried in newspaper
s nationally. In 1946, Boucher proposed in a letter to Governor Jimmie Davis
the enactment of a 10 percent amusements tax, including theater tickets, in Louisiana for teacher pay increases, a proposal carried in the motion picture trade magazine
Boxoffice. The proposal was contingent on the expected failure of a one-cent state sales tax measure for educational purposes. He also worked for passage of the bill to require a distinct odor be placed in natural gas
for safety considerations. Previously, the lack of natural scent in the product had contributed to suffocation and/or death.
In 1944, Boucher won his second term by defeating his lone opponent, Arthur Ray Teague of Bossier City. In 1948, Boucher won his third term by 51 votes, having defeated Clarence D. Wiley (1909–1976) of Minden, later the Webster Parish clerk of court, 3,950 to 3,899.
In 1950, Boucher joined State Representative C.W. Thompson
to move through the legislature a $175,000 appropriation to establish a vocational school in Webster Parish, one of the pledges of the 1948 Earl Kemp Long gubernatorial campaign. The school was thereafter established adjacent to the Griffith Stadium ball park on Constable Street in Minden and is pending relocation to a new site off Interstate 20
.
Boucher did not seek a fourth term in 1952. He was succeeded in the Senate by John Jones Doles, Sr.
, a banker from Plain Dealing
in Bossier Parish, who served from 1952 to 1956, during the administration of Governor Robert F. Kennon
, also of Minden, but was usually allied with the Long faction. From 1956 to 1960, Boucher was a member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee. He was an alternate delegate in 1956 to the Democratic National Convention
in Chicago, which nominated Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois
and Estes Kefauver
of Tennessee
, the first Democratic ticket since 1876 to lose Louisiana to a Republican, Dwight D. Eisenhower
. Boucher served on the Louisiana State Mineral Board (1956–1958), the Louisiana Commission on Aging (1958), Louisiana Insurance Rating Board (1959–1960), and the Louisiana Contractors’ Licensing Board (1960–1963).
Boucher was personally and politically close to Governor Earl Long, who sometimes visited in the Boucher home in Springhill. In 1958, Long appointed Boucher to fill the newly established position of director of the state Board of Registration. The title was changed thereafter to “custodian of voting machines”. The duties of elections administration were removed by the legislature at Long’s insistence to a separate department from the office of then anti-Long Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr.
After a year, Long replaced Boucher in the position with Douglas Fowler
, a powerful local politician in Coushatta
, the seat of Red River Parish. Years later, another Louisiana secretary of state, Al Ater
of Ferriday
in Concordia Parish
, reversed the process begun by Boucher and returned the elections duties back to the secretary of state's office after the separate elections department was abolished.
Long named Fowler as the custodian because Boucher did not intend to seek the position in the 1959–1960 election cycle, and Long wanted one of his appointees in the running as the appointed incumbent. Fowler won the post in a Democratic runoff primary and held it until his pending retirement and subsequent death in 1980. In 1976, the name of the position was changed again to the "elections commissioner", now an appointed position.
. Boucher was an active member of the Masonic lodge
. As a Shriner, he was active in fundraising for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Shreveport. He was an active member of the Jefferson Baptist
Church in Baton Rouge.
who teaches physics
at Louisiana State University in Shreveport
. Erma was a daughter of Ernest Emery Nickerson (1891–1975) and the former Ada Moore (1894–1982). Boucher divorced his wife, and on September 23, 1961, he wed Evelyn Aydell Coleman (born August 16, 1931), a native of Walker
in East Baton Rouge Parish
. The pair procured the marriage license in Minden from Webster Parish Clerk of Court Clarence D. Wiley, who oddly had been Boucher's unsuccessful intraparty opponent in 1948. Evelyn, twenty-four years Boucher’s junior, ultimately completed a 30-year career as a legal assistant in the Louisiana Department of Hospitals.
After the divorce, Erma Boucher continued to reside in Springhill, where for many years she, and later her son, operated a successful retail clothing store, the Fashion Shop. She is interred at Springhill Cemetery in a separate row from her former husband.
business, Alleane Haynes O’Neal, since deceased, of Springhill and Gus M. Boucher (1917–2001) of Shreveport, later Mansfield
, There was also a granddaughter, Janel Boucher (born 1977) of Shreveport. A second brother, Rupert Boucher of Bossier City and later Baton Rouge, preceded him in death. Memorial services were first held at the Jefferson Baptist Church; a second service under the direction of Bailey Mortuary was held in Springhill, with interment at Springhill Cemetery.
Boucher was a cousin
of Jesse L. Boucher
(1911–2004), an insurance agent who served as mayor
of Springhill from 1958 to 1962. Jesse Boucher was the father of three daughters, including actresses Sherry Boucher
(born 1945), now a Bossier Parish real estate agent once married to the late George Peppard
, and Savannah Smith Boucher
, who is also a producer. Gary Boucher is hence a third cousin of the two actresses. Through an aunt, Stella Boucher Jones (1872–1946), Drayton Boucher was a first cousin of Herman "Wimpy" Jones
(1905–1967) of Minden and Bossier City
, who from 1956 to 1960 held the same Bossier-Webster Senate seat as Boucher.
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...
state legislator from Springhill
Springhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in northern Webster Parish
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....
, 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...
, affiliated with the Long
Earl Long
Earl Kemp Long was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Louisiana for three non-consecutive terms. Long termed himself the "last of the red hot poppas" of politics, referring to his stump-speaking skills...
faction
Political faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
of state 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...
politics. Boucher represented Webster Parish for a single four-year 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...
from 1936 to 1940. and three terms in the 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...
from a combination district including Webster and Bossier parishes from 1940 to 1952. In the Senate, he succeeded Coleman Lindsey
Coleman Lindsey
Isaac Coleman Lindsey, known as Coleman Lindsey , was a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate, a district judge, and from 1939 to 1940, the lieutenant governor under Governor Earl Kemp Long....
(1892–1968) of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, who in 1939 became lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
upon the succession to the governorship of Earl Kemp Long.
Early years and education
Boucher was born in Springhill to Robert Riley Boucher (born 1880) and the former Lula K. Rogers (1880–1909). The couple married on November 14, 1905. Boucher’s mother died before she was thirty and when he was less than two years of age, and his father subsequently married the former Carrie Cook. Three children, Drayton Boucher’s half-siblings, Gus, Rupert, and Alleane, later married to Floyd Haynes, were born from his father’s second marriage. Robert Boucher’s father and hence Drayton’s grandfather, Augustus C. Boucher (1850–1890), was a native of HarpersvilleHarpersville, Alabama
Harpersville is a town in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 1,620. The small town is growing due to the growth of big business on Highway 280...
in Shelby County
Shelby County, Alabama
Shelby County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama and a part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. It is named in honor of Isaac Shelby, Governor of Kentucky. The county seat of Shelby County is Columbiana. As of 2010 U.S. Census the population was 195,085. Shelby...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. Augustus’s wife, Drayton Boucher’s paternal grandmother, was Jennie B. Cox (1852–1885), a Louisiana native.
Boucher attended Springhill High School but graduated in 1927 from a three-member class in a one-room school in Asherton
Asherton, Texas
Asherton is a city in Dimmit County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,342 at the 2000 census. U.S. Highway 83 runs through Asherton....
in Dimmit County
Dimmit County, Texas
Dimmit County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 10,248. It is named for Philip Dimmitt, a major figure in the Texas Revolution. The reason the county name differs is because the bill creating the county misspelled Dimmitt's name...
about midway between Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
and Eagle Pass
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County The population was 27,183 as of the 2010 census.Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the Rio Grande. The Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras Metropolitan Area is one of six...
in south Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where Robert Boucher had temporarily relocated the family to become an onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
. (Since 1999, Asherton has had no high school; students are bused to the nearby county seat of Carrizo Springs
Carrizo Springs, Texas
Carrizo Springs is a city in and the county seat of Dimmit County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,655 at the 2000 census.The name of the town comes from the local springs, which were named by the Spanish for the cane grass that once grew around them. It is the oldest town in Dimmit...
.) Boucher procured a scholarship as salutatorian
Salutatorian
Salutatorian is an academic title given, in the United States and Canada, to the second highest graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is traditionally based on grade point average and number of credits taken, but...
of the country school and attended Sul Ross State University
Sul Ross State University
Sul Ross State University , a public university in Alpine, Texas, is named for former Texas governor, Civil War general Lawrence Sullivan Ross. It was founded in 1917 as Sul Ross Normal College and was made a university in 1969....
in Alpine
Alpine, Texas
Alpine is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,786 people at the 2000 census, and had increased to 5,905 by 2010.-History:...
, from which he received in 1932 a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. He was thereafter a lifelong promoter of his "alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
" and on occasion visited former professors in Alpine.
Political career
After college, Boucher was a United States Army Air CorpsUnited States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
cadet for a year at March Field in Riverside
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. From 1934 to 1936, he was a school principal and teacher at a one-room school in Taylor
Taylor, Arkansas
Taylor is a city in Columbia County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 566 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Taylor is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, north of his native Springhill, an experience which prompted him as a future legislature to advocate higher teacher pay. He also sold patent medicine
Patent medicine
Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...
. While placing an advertisement in the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in Minden, forerunner of the ‘’Minden Press-Herald
Minden Press-Herald
The Minden Press-Herald is a Monday-Friday daily newspaper published in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, by Specht Newspapers, Inc...
’’, Boucher was urged by the editor to run for the Webster Parish seat in the state legislature in the 1935–1936 election cycle. Days later, the legendary Huey P. Long, Jr., was dead from an assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
’s bullet, and Boucher, at the age of twenty-eight, several months thereafter won the seat. He had visited nearly every home in Webster Parish in narrowly winning the House seat.
In September 1940, freshman Senator Boucher urged newly elected anti-Long Governor Sam Houston Jones to call a special legislative session to repeal many of the “reform” measures passed earlier in the year. The remark was carried in newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s nationally. In 1946, Boucher proposed in a letter to Governor 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...
the enactment of a 10 percent amusements tax, including theater tickets, in Louisiana for teacher pay increases, a proposal carried in the motion picture trade magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Boxoffice. The proposal was contingent on the expected failure of a one-cent state sales tax measure for educational purposes. He also worked for passage of the bill to require a distinct odor be placed in natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
for safety considerations. Previously, the lack of natural scent in the product had contributed to suffocation and/or death.
In 1944, Boucher won his second term by defeating his lone opponent, Arthur Ray Teague of Bossier City. In 1948, Boucher won his third term by 51 votes, having defeated Clarence D. Wiley (1909–1976) of Minden, later the Webster Parish clerk of court, 3,950 to 3,899.
In 1950, Boucher joined State Representative C.W. Thompson
C.W. Thompson
Clyde W. Thompson, known as C.W. Thompson , was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who served from 1944 until his death in office. He was briefly succeeded as representative by his widow, Lizzie P...
to move through the legislature a $175,000 appropriation to establish a vocational school in Webster Parish, one of the pledges of the 1948 Earl Kemp Long gubernatorial campaign. The school was thereafter established adjacent to the Griffith Stadium ball park on Constable Street in Minden and is pending relocation to a new site off Interstate 20
Interstate 20
Interstate 20 is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I‑20 runs 1,535 miles from near Kent, Texas, at Interstate 10 to Florence, South Carolina, at Interstate 95...
.
Boucher did not seek a fourth term in 1952. He was succeeded in the Senate by John Jones Doles, Sr.
John J. Doles
John Jones Doles, Sr. , was a banker in Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish who served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1952 to 1956, the tenure corresponding with the administration of Governor Robert F. Kennon...
, a banker from Plain Dealing
Plain Dealing, Louisiana
Plain Dealing is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States best known as the birthplace of former U.S. Representative Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. The population was 1,071 at the 2000 census...
in Bossier Parish, who served from 1952 to 1956, during the administration of Governor 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....
, also of Minden, but was usually allied with the Long faction. From 1956 to 1960, Boucher was a member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee. He was an alternate delegate in 1956 to the Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
in Chicago, which nominated Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, the first Democratic ticket since 1876 to lose Louisiana to a Republican, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. Boucher served on the Louisiana State Mineral Board (1956–1958), the Louisiana Commission on Aging (1958), Louisiana Insurance Rating Board (1959–1960), and the Louisiana Contractors’ Licensing Board (1960–1963).
Boucher was personally and politically close to Governor Earl Long, who sometimes visited in the Boucher home in Springhill. In 1958, Long appointed Boucher to fill the newly established position of director of the state Board of Registration. The title was changed thereafter to “custodian of voting machines”. The duties of elections administration were removed by the legislature at Long’s insistence to a separate department from the office of then anti-Long Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr.
Wade O. Martin, Jr.
Wade Omer Martin, Jr. was the Democratic Secretary of State of Louisiana under five governors, having served from 1944 to 1976...
After a year, Long replaced Boucher in the position with Douglas Fowler
Douglas Fowler
Wiley Douglas Fowler, Sr. , was a local politician from rural Red River Parish in north Louisiana, a loyal supporter of Governor Earl Kemp Long, and his state's chief elections officer from 1959, until declining health forced his retirement, effective December 31, 1979...
, a powerful local politician in Coushatta
Coushatta, Louisiana
Coushatta is a town in and the parish seat of rural Red River Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is situated on the east bank of the Red River. The community is approximately forty-five miles south of Shreveport on U.S. Highway 71...
, the seat of Red River Parish. Years later, another Louisiana secretary of state, Al Ater
Al Ater
Alan Ray Ater , known as Al Ater, is a farmer and businessman from Ferriday, Louisiana, who served from 1984-1992 as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 21 in the eastern portion of his state....
of Ferriday
Ferriday, Louisiana
Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
in Concordia Parish
Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Concordia Parish borders the Mississippi River in eastern Louisiana. The parish seat is Vidalia. As of 2000, the population was 20,247. It is part of the Natchez, MS–LA Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Prehistory:...
, reversed the process begun by Boucher and returned the elections duties back to the secretary of state's office after the separate elections department was abolished.
Long named Fowler as the custodian because Boucher did not intend to seek the position in the 1959–1960 election cycle, and Long wanted one of his appointees in the running as the appointed incumbent. Fowler won the post in a Democratic runoff primary and held it until his pending retirement and subsequent death in 1980. In 1976, the name of the position was changed again to the "elections commissioner", now an appointed position.
Business and civic activities
On exiting politics, Boucher remained in Baton Rouge and attended Louisiana State University Law Center though he never procured legal credentials. Instead, he concentrated on Drayton Boucher Real Estate and his Evelyn Corporation. He was also a partner in Acadian Oil and Gas in LafayetteLafayette, 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...
. Boucher was an active 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...
. As a Shriner, he was active in fundraising for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Shreveport. He was an active member of the Jefferson 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...
Church in Baton Rouge.
Two marriages
In 1935, Drayton Boucher married the former Erma Nickerson (February 8, 1914—February 21, 2004), The couple had one child, Gary Robert Boucher (born April 25, 1950), an engineerEngineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
who teaches physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Louisiana State University in Shreveport is a branch of the Louisiana State University System in Shreveport, Louisiana. Opened in 1967, LSUS is the only public four-year university in the Shreveport-Bossier metro area....
. Erma was a daughter of Ernest Emery Nickerson (1891–1975) and the former Ada Moore (1894–1982). Boucher divorced his wife, and on September 23, 1961, he wed Evelyn Aydell Coleman (born August 16, 1931), a native of Walker
Walker, Louisiana
Walker is a town in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,801 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area...
in East Baton Rouge Parish
East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
East Baton Rouge Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Baton Rouge, Louisiana's state capital. As of the 2010 census, the population was 440,171. The parish has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is the most populous parish in the state...
. The pair procured the marriage license in Minden from Webster Parish Clerk of Court Clarence D. Wiley, who oddly had been Boucher's unsuccessful intraparty opponent in 1948. Evelyn, twenty-four years Boucher’s junior, ultimately completed a 30-year career as a legal assistant in the Louisiana Department of Hospitals.
After the divorce, Erma Boucher continued to reside in Springhill, where for many years she, and later her son, operated a successful retail clothing store, the Fashion Shop. She is interred at Springhill Cemetery in a separate row from her former husband.
Death at 75
Boucher died after a lengthy illness from colon cancer at the age of seventy-five. In addition to his second wife and son, Boucher was survived by a sister and brother, both in the insuranceInsurance
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...
business, Alleane Haynes O’Neal, since deceased, of Springhill and Gus M. Boucher (1917–2001) of Shreveport, later Mansfield
Mansfield, Louisiana
Mansfield is a city in and the parish seat of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,001 at the 2010 census. Mansfield is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, There was also a granddaughter, Janel Boucher (born 1977) of Shreveport. A second brother, Rupert Boucher of Bossier City and later Baton Rouge, preceded him in death. Memorial services were first held at the Jefferson Baptist Church; a second service under the direction of Bailey Mortuary was held in Springhill, with interment at Springhill Cemetery.
Boucher 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 Jesse L. Boucher
Jesse L. Boucher
Jesse L. Boucher was a north Louisiana insurance agency owner and large-scale real estate developer who also served from 1958-1962 as the mayor of his native Springhill in northern Webster Parish....
(1911–2004), an insurance agent who served as mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Springhill from 1958 to 1962. Jesse Boucher was the father of three daughters, including actresses Sherry Boucher
Sherry Boucher
Sherry Lynn Boucher, or Sherry Boucher-Lytle , is a former American actress who was once married to actor George Peppard. She is now a Realtor in Bossier Parish in northwestern Louisiana. She is a younger sister of actress Savannah Smith Boucher.Boucher was born in Springhill in northern Webster...
(born 1945), now a Bossier Parish real estate agent once married to the late George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
, and Savannah Smith Boucher
Savannah Smith Boucher
Savannah Smith Boucher is an American actress originally from Springhill in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Her younger sister, Sherry Boucher, is a former actress who was the third wife of the late actor George Peppard....
, who is also a producer. Gary Boucher is hence a third cousin of the two actresses. Through an aunt, Stella Boucher Jones (1872–1946), Drayton Boucher was a first cousin of Herman "Wimpy" Jones
Herman "Wimpy" Jones
Herman "Wimpy" Jones was a businessman who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from Bossier and Webster parishes for a single term from 1956 to 1960...
(1905–1967) of Minden and Bossier City
Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...
, who from 1956 to 1960 held the same Bossier-Webster Senate seat as Boucher.