R. Harmon Drew, Sr.

Richard Harmon Drew, Sr.
Minden City Judge
In office 1948–1954
Preceded by	Robert "Rob" Watkins
Succeeded by	Cecil C. Lowe
Minden City Judge
In office 1978–1984
Preceded by	Graydon K. Kitchens, Jr.
Succeeded by	Harmon Drew, Jr.
Interim Minden City Judge
In office 1988–1988
Preceded by	Harmon Drew, Jr.
Succeeded by	John Cecil Campbell
State Representative from District 10 (Webster Parish)
In office 1972–1978
Preceded by	Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.
Succeeded by	Bruce Martin Bolin
Personal details
Born	February 5, 1917(1917-02-05) Minden, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	December 18, 1995(1995-12-18) (aged 78) Minden, Louisiana
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	(1) Margaret Taylor Elam Drew (married 1940-1977, her death) (2) Chloe Waters Powell Drew (married 1978-1991, her death)
Children	Elizabeth Taylor Drew "Beth" Weaver (1942-1996) Richard Harmon Drew, Jr. (born 1946) Margaret Caldwell Drew Colvin (born 1950)
Occupation	Judge; Attorney
Religion	Presbyterian
(1) A conservative Democrat, Drew served on his party's state executive committee, as a delegate to the 1973 state constitutional convention, and for seven years in the state legislature, but he was known for his political independence in general elections and friendship with various Republicans. (2) Drew was descended from one of the first families to have arrived in Webster Parish before the middle of the 19th century. (3) Drew served three stints as the Minden municipal judge and at one point was succeeded by and preceded by his son Harmon Drew, Jr.

Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. (February 5, 1917 — December 18, 1995) was a fourth generation judge and a former Democratic state representative who was descended from pioneer families of Webster Parish in north Louisiana. The first Drew in the area, Newett Drew (born in 1772 in Virginia), established a grist mill on Dorcheat Bayou in 1818 in what became the former community of Overton, subsequently wiped out by yellow fever. Drew's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all held judicial positions in either the city of Minden, or Webster and surrounding parishes. His son, Richard Harmon Drew, Jr. (born 1946), of Minden is currently serving his second 10-year term on the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal, based in Shreveport.

Education and early years

Drew was born in Minden to Judge Harmon Caldwell Drew (February 16, 1889 — September 1, 1950) and the former Annie Lucile Grigsby (March 25, 1896 — August 10, 1974). His paternal grandfather was Judge Richard Cleveland Drew. His great-grandfather, Richard Maxwell Drew, died at the age of twenty-eight but had been a district judge and state representative from 1848 to 1850. Harmon Drew, Sr., graduated in 1933 from Minden High School. He attended Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. (The school closed in 2002.) He then obtained his bachelor's degree from Louisiana Tech University (then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute) in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish. He graduated from the Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge and was admitted to the bar in 1941.

Thereafter, Drew was a sergeant with the United States Army Air Corps, specifically the 13th Air Force Service Command, during World War II. He was stationed in the southwest Pacific Theater.

After military service, Drew served simultaneously from 1945-1948 as the Minden city attorney and the assistant district attorney under D.A. Arthur Wallace of Benton for the 26th Judicial District (Webster and Bossier parishes).

In 1952, a Cadillac driven by the singer Lefty Frizzell crashed into the Drew home on Elm Street while Frizzell was speeding through Minden. Harmon Drew, Jr., recalls that his father always thought Frizzell, a native of Corsicana, Texas, had a "bad attitude".

In 1975, fire engulfed the Drew home, and Representative Drew and his first wife narrowly averted death though the rescue efforts of Minden firefighters.

Judicial elections

In 1948, Governor Earl Kemp Long, winner in the first Democratic primary, appointed Drew to the Minden city judgeship, which had become vacant by the death of Judge Robert "Rob" Watkins. Drew had supported Long in the 1948 gubernatorial primary, in which his father's old rival, Robert F. Kennon, was also a candidate. However, Judge Harmon Caldwell Drew had engaged in a heated political confrontation with Huey Pierce Long, Jr., in 1933 when the then U.S. senator visited Minden. Nevertheless, Harmon Drew, Sr., had reconciled with the Longs for the time being. After he secured the city judgeship by appointment, Drew, Sr., was elected later in the year to a full six-year term. Drew's uncle, Allyn Sidney "Skeet" Drew, older brother of Harmon Caldwell Drew, was the first judge of the Minden City Court, having taken office in 1928.

Late in 1952, Drew, while still city judge, ran unsuccessfully in a special election for the position of Bossier-Webster district attorney. He was defeated in a runoff by Louis H. Padgett (1913–1980) of Bossier City. The two-parish totals were 5,887 for Padgett and 3,417 for Drew, who ran particularly poorly in northern Webster Parish. Eliminated in the first round of balloting was later Judge Cecil C. Lowe of Minden. In the campaign, Drew had allied himself with the Bossier Parish lawyer Monty M. Wyche, who would have handled the western portion of the 26th Judicial District in Benton, with Drew in charge of the eastern part in Minden. Similarly, Padgett had allied himself with the Minden attorney John B. Benton, Jr. (1924–2009), who wound up with duties in the eastern part of the district. Padgett remained as district attorney until December 29, 1970, when he was succeeded by his colleague, John Benton.

In 1954, Drew did not seek reelection and was succeeded in that post by Cecil C. Lowe, another unsuccessful DA candidate from 1952, who in a runoff election for city judge defeated fellow Democrat A. Eugene Frazier. Drew therefore resumed his private practice of law in Minden from 1955 to 1978.

On July 23, 1960, Drew ran in the 26th Judicial District for the new Division B state judgeship, but he was defeated by fellow Democrat Enos Carr McClendon, Jr. (1917–2003), of Minden, originally from Claiborne Parish, who retired from the bench in 1978. Drew won in Webster Parish but lost to McClendon in Bossier Parish. The sons of Drew and McClendon, Harmon Drew, Jr., and Carr McClendon, III, were schoolmates, but their friendship survived their fathers' conflicting political ambitions.

In 1968, Drew was elected to the first of three terms on the Democratic State Central Committee. Even though he was a party official, Drew was "pretty independent and very conservative" and supported Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in 1980 and 1984, respectively, said his son Harmon, Jr. In 1978, Drew released a letter of support for Republican congressional candidate Jimmy Wilson, a former state House colleague from Vivian in north Caddo Parish. Wilson lost a disputed election to Democrat Claude Anthony "Buddy" Leach, who had also been a House colleague of Drew's.

In the 1963 Democratic primary, Drew had backed then New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., considered the most liberal of the major primary candidates. Morrison lost to John McKeithen, who polled a large majority in both Minden and Webster Parish in the Democratic runoff primary. A former Minden resident, former Governor Robert Kennon, was also running in the 1963 primary and finished in fourth place statewide. In 1940, Kennon had defeated Drew's father, Harmon Caldwell Drew, for a seat on the appeal court where Harmon Drew, Jr., still serves.

Legislative service

In 1971, Drew entered the race to succeed State Representative Parey P. Branton, Sr., a conservative Democrat from Shongaloo, in central Webster Parish. Branton did not seek a fourth term in the state House but instead ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. Drew faced a crowded field in the Democratic primary. He narrowly led in the balloting with 3,026 votes (25.2 percent). In second place was the late attorney and former mayor of Springhill, Charles E. McConnell, who received 2,916 ballots (24.3 percent). McConnell had also unsuccessfully challenged Branton in 1967. In third place was the Minden educator Ralph Lamar Rentz, Sr. (1930—1995), who polled 2,739 votes (22.8 percent). Rentz proposed that Webster Parish establish a two-year educational program past the twelfth grade of high school to assist students seeking four-year college degrees, a reform implemented in Bossier Parish in 1967 which eventually became Bossier Parish Community College. Minden businessman Houston Morris finished in fourth place with 2,101 votes (17.5 percent). Two other candidates, including N.J. Cone, Jr., split the remaining 1,216 votes (10.1 percent). In that same primary, Drew was reelected to the Democratic State Central Committee by defeating Minden physician Ronzee McIntyre Bridges, Sr. (1926–1992), a member of the Webster Parish School Board who had previously supported Richard M. Nixon for U.S. president. That tabulation was 7,303 (60.2 percent) for Drew and 4,821 (39.8 percent) for Bridges.

Drew hence went into a December 18, 1971, primary runoff with McConnell, who advocated revision of the state tax code, greater industrial development, and the expansion of vocational technical education. While a close race had been expected, Drew, with strong support in the Minden area, easily defeated McConnell, 6,774 votes (57.7 percent) to 4,965 (42.3 percent).

The fiscally prudent Drew warned his colleagues of the limits of excessive spending. He supported the state's right-to-work law. He also worked to raise the minimum compensation for workers injured on the job even though he was not considered a favorite of organized labor.

In 1975, Drew was unopposed for his second term in Louisiana's first jungle primary, in which all candidates regardless of party appear on the same ballot.

A year after he entered the legislature, Representative Drew was also elected on a nonpartisan ballot as a Webster Parish delegate to the 1973 Louisiana constitutional convention held in Baton Rouge. The convention wrote the document that voters approved in 1974 to replace the Constitution of 1921. The convention included familiar political names like State Senator Sixty Rayburn of Bogalusa in Washington Parish but also individuals who would later become major players in Louisiana politics: future Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner James H. "Jim" Brown, then of Ferriday in Concordia Parish, and future Governor Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III, of Bossier Parish. Also in the delegation from Webster Parish was the Republican mayor of Minden, Arthur Thomas "Tom" Colten. The convention adopted a streamlined constitution that modernized governmental procedures and largely strengthened executive power. It was strongly supported by then Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. Ironically, both Drew's father and grandfather had been delegates to the two previous constitutional conventions, respectively.

Drew did not complete his second term in the legislature. He instead ran once again for Minden city judge, the post that he had left twenty-four years earlier. In 1978, Drew regained the city judgeship by defeating Minden attorney Henry Hobbs, a fellow Democrat and frequent candidate for office. Drew received 4,710 votes (70 percent) to 1,978 ballots (30 percent) for Hobbs. Drew did not seek reelection in 1984 and was succeeded by his son, Harmon, Jr.

Drew was succeeded in the legislature by a 28-year-old Minden attorney, Bruce M. Bolin (born 1950), the son of another former state representative and judge, James E. Bolin (1914–2002). Bruce Bolin won a special election on December 16, 1978, over the Minden businessman and Webster Parish Police Juror Achillea Gust "Ike" Kirkikis (1926–2004). In 1990, Bolin, like Drew twelve years earlier, resigned from the legislature. Bolin became a 26th Judicial District judge. Also in the state House race was the third-place candidate, outgoing Minden Mayor Jacob E. "Pat" Patterson.

After leaving the city judge's position for the second time, Drew resumed his law practice. Then in 1988, when his son vacated the city judgeship for the district court, Drew, Sr., returned to the city bench as an interim appointee selected by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Previously governors had made such appointments, but the new state constitution of 1974 placed that decision in the hands of the Supreme Court.

Drew's obituary and legacy

He spent more than four decades assisting those who were attempting to recover from alcoholism. He founded the Minden Alcoholics Anonymous chapter.

Drew was twice married. His first wife, the former Margaret Taylor Elam (December 16, 1919 — November 27, 1977), was a native of Mansfield, the seat of De Soto Parish. Margaret's father, Joseph Barton Elam, Jr., was a lobbyist in Shreveport for Standard Oil Company. Her grandfather, Joseph Barton Elam, Sr., was the first mayor of Mansfield, a member of the Louisiana House, and a U.S. representative. The Elams moved from Mansfield to Shreveport when Margaret was eight years old and lived in the Fairfield neighborhood. After Elam's premature death of a heart attack in 1932, Mrs. Elam, the former Margaret "Maggie" Taylor, relocated the family to Baton Rouge so that they would be near LSU to provide more easily for her four children's education. Margaret Drew was the youngest of Maggie's children.

Harmon and Margaret hence met at LSU. She was an undergraduate in education and a cheerleader, and he was in law school. They were married in St. James Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge on December 7, 1940, exactly one year before a cataclysmic event would forever change their generation.

Margaret bore Harmon's three children: Judge Drew, Jr., of Minden (married to the former Jean Talley of Bogalusa in Washington Parish), Elizabeth Taylor Drew Weaver (December 27, 1942 — January 14, 1996) of Minden, married to Harold Weaver, and Margaret Caldwell Drew Colvin (born 1950) of Springhill, married to James W. Colvin. Margaret, who did substitute teaching for years in Minden schools, died of lung cancer, the same affliction that took the life of her father-in-law.

In November 1978, Drew married Chloe Waters Powell (1919–1991), who had worked for more than three decades for the former Minden Bank and Trust Company. She was the widow of Ralph Powell (1911–1977) of Minden. Drew acquired a stepdaughter through the second marriage, Sue Powell Kincaid (born 1948) of Burkburnett in Wichita County, Texas, and her husband, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel James W. Kincaid.

Drew died of stroke and cardiovascular disease at his Minden residence after a lengthy illness. Memorial services were held at Rose Neath Funeral Home on December 20, 1995, with the Reverend T. W. Barnes (1913–2006), then the pastor of Minden's First Pentecostal Church, and the Episcopalian priest William R. Bryant officiating. Burial was in the Drew family plot at the Minden Cemetery. Drew was a Presbyterian.

Drew was preceded in death by a sister, Katie Elizabeth Drew Carey (February 7, 1915 — June 30, 1971), a Minden real estate broker. Other survivors included eight grandchildren and two nephews, Richard Drew Carey, a Minden businessman, and Dr. Thomas Drew Carey (born 1947), a dermatologist in Ruston, and a niece, Katie Lucile Carey Sims (born 1948), a businesswoman in Houma.

Grave of Judge R. Harmon Drew, Sr.

Pallbearers were Harry Stahl, Bob Dickson, Sam Walker, Webster Parish Police Juror Charlie Odom, businessman Carroll Toms, Deputy Steve Fomby (son of Henry Fomby), Marshal John Walker, Sr., and Judge John Cecil Campbell. Honorary pallbearers were former Representative and Shongaloo Mayor Parey Branton, David Williams, Norman McGuire, Harry McInnis, Sr. (1913–2003), Warren E. Dietrich (1912–2002), Cecil P. Campbell (1909–1996), Jack Howe, and the Webster Parish Bar Association.

Drew was a charter member of the Minden Jaycees, a charter member and a past president of the Minden Civitan Club, past post commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a member of the American Legion, and a past president of Minden Riding Club.

In 1976, he was named "Alumnus of the Year" from Sigma Nu fraternity at Louisiana Tech. In 1977, he was honored as Minden's "Man of the Year." The family suggested memorial donations to either Minden's Alpha House to aid alcoholics or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. For a city of limited size, Minden is known as one of the strongest supporters of St. Jude Hospital through annual community-wide fundraising projects.

References

• http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:qhIkpbXTUycJ:homepages.rootsweb.com/~celam/obits.htm+Harmon+Drew&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=18R. (Harmon Drew, Sr., obituary, Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, December 20, 1995)

• Drew's obituary, Minden Press-Herald, December 19, 1995.
• http://www.press-herald.com/news/Feb02/0221news.html
• http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
• http://www.mindenmemories.com/Thirties%20-%20Minden%20High%20School%20Girg.htm [contains photo of Drew at age 16, Class of 1933]
• http://www.kemper1844.org/history.html
• http://www.mindenmemories.com/Drew%20Family.htm (History of the Drew family)

Legal offices
Preceded by Robert Watkins	City Judge of Minden, Louisiana Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. 1948–1954	Succeeded by Cecil C. Lowe
Preceded by Graydon K. Kitchens, Jr.	Minden City Judge Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. 1978–1984	Succeeded by Richard Harmon Drew, Jr.
Preceded by Richard Harmon Drew, Jr.	Minden City Judge Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. 1988–1988 (interim)	Succeeded by John Cecil Campbell
Preceded by Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.	State Representative from District 10 (Webster Parish) Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. 1972–1978	Succeeded by Bruce M. Bolin