Enoch T. Nix
Encyclopedia
Enoch Talton Nix was a banker and civic figure from Bossier City
, Louisiana
, who served for thirty years on the elected Louisiana State Board of Education and its successor organization established under the Louisiana State Constitution of 1974, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
.
in Bienville Parish
. He had two sisters, Sybil Nix and Laura Nix Bell. Nix graduated from Castor High School in Castor
under principal E. R. Minchew
. He then received a bachelor's degree
in agriculture
from Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge
. Upon graduation from LSU, he was accepted into flight school in the United States Navy
. He received a commission in 1942 in the United States Marine Corps
. He flew the F4U Corsair
in the Pacific theater. At the conclusion of the war, Nix was assigned with units which patrolled the border of Nationalist China and the Soviet Union
.
in northwestern Louisiana, where he was, first, an associate county agent. In 1950, however, he joined the former Bossier Bank and Trust Company (1923–1986), since part of Chase
. He left BB&T prior to 1971 but remained in the banking field for the remainder of his career. Thereafter, he became the BBT president, the vice-president of United Mercantile Bank under its organizer and chairman Ira E. Moss (1905–1994), and the board chairman of the Gibsland Bank and Trust Company, based in Gibsland
in Bienville Parish.
Nix was a member of the Shreveport Club, University Club, Palmetto Country Club, Shreveport Committee of One-Hundred, Kiwanis International, and the board of the Bossier Housing Authority.
, Nix represented the then Third Louisiana Public Service Commission
district on the 11-member state board of education, headed during part of his tenure by the then elected Education Superintendent Bill Dodd. He was already serving on the board in 1963, when Shelby M. Jackson
, a native of Concordia Parish
, was still the superintendent but who left that position in 1964, having run unsuccessfully for governor. By 1966, Nix was the board president. Among his colleagues were W. E. Whetstone
of Monroe
, Fred L. Tannehill of Pineville
, and J. Marshall Brown of New Orleans
, a former state representative
and a Democratic National Committeeman from Louisiana.
Late in 1972, while Nix was still board president, two African American
students, Denver A. Smith and Leonard Brown, Jr. (both born 1952), attending the large historically black
Southern University
in Baton Rouge, were shot to death by buckshot from sheriff's deputies during a mass demonstration. Police had been called to the campus after students seized an administration building in connection with their demands for improved housing, food service, and input in administrative matters. It was at Southern University at New Orleans
, however, where the greatest fallout from the shootings occurred, as protesting students there launched a boycott of classes. Nix ordered the students to return to class "or we [state board] shall recommend to the governor (Edwin Washington Edwards) and the legislature that a study begin immediately to determine a more effective utilization of the facilities on the campus." Nix was hence indirectly threatening to seek the closure of SUNO, an issue again considered in 2011, not because of demonstrations or racial unrest but because of the high costs of operating the institution, the deterioration of campus buildings, and the minuscule rate of graduations. Governor Bobby Jindal
proposed that SUNO be merged with the nearby University of New Orleans
, but his plan required a two-thirds vote of the legislature.
in Ruston
, and a schoolteacher for twenty-eight years at Bossier High School in Bossier City.
The Nixes were members of the Airline Baptist
Church in Bossier City. The Nixes died three years apart. They are buried at Hill Crest Cemetery in Haughton
in Bossier Parish.
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...
, 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 for thirty years on the elected Louisiana State Board of Education and its successor organization established under the Louisiana State Constitution of 1974, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education was created during the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, called by then Governor Edwin W. Edwards...
.
Early life, education and military service
Nix was born to Henry and Maude Nix in JamestownJamestown, Louisiana
Jamestown is a village in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 149 at the 2000 census.Lee Smith, a retired professional baseball player, was born there in 1957.Enoch T...
in Bienville Parish
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
. He had two sisters, Sybil Nix and Laura Nix Bell. Nix graduated from Castor High School in Castor
Castor, Louisiana
Castor is a village in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 209 at the 2000 census. It was established in 1900. The name "Castor" refers to the genus Castoridae beaver....
under principal E. R. Minchew
E. R. Minchew
Elmer Reid Minchew, usually known as E. R. Minchew , was a prominent Louisiana educator whose career spanned the forty-six years from 1929 to 1975.-Background:...
. He then received a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
. Upon graduation from LSU, he was accepted into flight school in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He received a commission in 1942 in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. He flew the F4U Corsair
F4U Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and...
in the Pacific theater. At the conclusion of the war, Nix was assigned with units which patrolled the border of Nationalist China and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Business career
Released from the military, Nix settled in Bossier ParishBossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
in northwestern Louisiana, where he was, first, an associate county agent. In 1950, however, he joined the former Bossier Bank and Trust Company (1923–1986), since part of Chase
Chase (bank)
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is a national bank that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of financial services firm JPMorgan Chase. The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000...
. He left BB&T prior to 1971 but remained in the banking field for the remainder of his career. Thereafter, he became the BBT president, the vice-president of United Mercantile Bank under its organizer and chairman Ira E. Moss (1905–1994), and the board chairman of the Gibsland Bank and Trust Company, based in Gibsland
Gibsland, Louisiana
Gibsland is a town in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. Conveniently near Interstate 20 and less than an hour from both Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana, Gibsland offers small town living with access to urban amenities...
in Bienville Parish.
Nix was a member of the Shreveport Club, University Club, Palmetto Country Club, Shreveport Committee of One-Hundred, Kiwanis International, and the board of the Bossier Housing Authority.
Board president
A DemocratDemocratic 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...
, Nix represented the then Third Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in Louisiana. The commission has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms...
district on the 11-member state board of education, headed during part of his tenure by the then elected Education Superintendent Bill Dodd. He was already serving on the board in 1963, when Shelby M. Jackson
Shelby M. Jackson
Shelby M. Jackson was a Democratic superintendent of public education in Louisiana who served from 1948-1964. In the early 1960s, he tried in vain to block federally-authorized school desegregation. Jackson was posthumously honored in 1994, by the naming of the "Shelby M...
, a native of 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:...
, was still the superintendent but who left that position in 1964, having run unsuccessfully for governor. By 1966, Nix was the board president. Among his colleagues were W. E. Whetstone
W. E. Whetstone
William Edwin "Ed" Whetstone was a businessman and civic leader from Monroe, the seat of Ouachita Parish in northeast Louisiana, who served as the Fifth Congressional District member of the Louisiana State Board of Education during the 1960s and 1970s.Whetstone was born in the village of Oak Ridge...
of 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...
, Fred L. Tannehill 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....
, and J. Marshall Brown of 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...
, a former state representative
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...
and a Democratic National Committeeman from Louisiana.
Late in 1972, while Nix was still board president, two African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
students, Denver A. Smith and Leonard Brown, Jr. (both born 1952), attending the large historically black
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
Southern University
Southern University
Southern University and A&M College is a historically black college located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Baton Rouge campus is located on Scott’s Bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in the northern section...
in Baton Rouge, were shot to death by buckshot from sheriff's deputies during a mass demonstration. Police had been called to the campus after students seized an administration building in connection with their demands for improved housing, food service, and input in administrative matters. It was at Southern University at New Orleans
Southern University at New Orleans
Southern University at New Orleans is a historically black university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, however, where the greatest fallout from the shootings occurred, as protesting students there launched a boycott of classes. Nix ordered the students to return to class "or we [state board] shall recommend to the governor (Edwin Washington Edwards) and the legislature that a study begin immediately to determine a more effective utilization of the facilities on the campus." Nix was hence indirectly threatening to seek the closure of SUNO, an issue again considered in 2011, not because of demonstrations or racial unrest but because of the high costs of operating the institution, the deterioration of campus buildings, and the minuscule rate of graduations. Governor Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
proposed that SUNO be merged with the nearby University of New Orleans
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...
, but his plan required a two-thirds vote of the legislature.
Family and death
Nix was married to the former Billie White (September 1, 1922–November 7, 1998), a Castor native, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William O. White, a graduate of Louisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
in Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
, and a schoolteacher for twenty-eight years at Bossier High School in Bossier City.
The Nixes were members of the Airline 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 Bossier City. The Nixes died three years apart. They are buried at Hill Crest Cemetery in Haughton
Haughton, Louisiana
Haughton is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Haughton is located at ....
in Bossier Parish.