Virginia Shehee

Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee (born 1923) was a civic leader in Shreveport, Louisiana She served from 1976- 1980 as state senator from District 38 in Caddo Parish. She won her seat in the 1975 general election by twenty-three votes over incumbent Democrat Cecil K. Carter, Jr. She was defeated in 1979 by Democrat, Richard G. Neeson, who held the seat until 1992.

Business success

Kilpatrick Life Insurance Co. building on Marshall Street in Shreveport

Upon the death of her mother, Nellie Peters (1901–1971), Shehee became president and CEO of Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company and the family-owned Rose-Neath Funeral Homes, founded in 1936 by her father, Lonnie Benjamin Kilpatrick.

She is chair-emeritus of the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, renamed in her honor in 1996. She was a member of the American Council of Life Insurance and chair of the Louisiana Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association.

"First Woman" designations

• Shreveport Community Council "Special Humanitarian Award for Outstanding Service"
• Clyde E. Fant Memorial Award for Community Service
• Designated "Mr. Shreveport" by the Optimist Club
• "Business Leader of the Year" by Shreveport Chamber of Commerce
• Louisiana's first elected female state senator, Shehee served during the second administration of Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. She served on the transition team of Governors Buddy Roemer and Mike Foster. In 2007, she was named vice chair of Bobby Jindal's ethics team.

Service and philanthropy

Service includes the Louisiana Committee of 100 (for economic development), Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal and Louisiana Board of Regents Foundation. A 1943 graduate, she was a trustee of Centenary College of Louisiana. She served as chair of the orchestra board of the Shreveport Symphony and worked to restore the historic Strand Theatre and other downtown renewal projects.

• 1989: "Benemerenti Medal" for outstanding community service
• Humanitarian Award from the Arthritis Foundation
• Liberty Bell Award from the Shreveport Bar Association
• Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews
• 1994: Shreveport Medical Society "Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of Medicine in Shreveport" for support for the biomedical institute.
• 1994: Louisiana Center for Women and Government Hall of Fame at Nicholls State University
• 1994: Junior Achievement's North Louisiana Business Hall of Fame
• Alumni halls of fame of Centenary College and Byrd High School.
• 2002: Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations
• 2009: Louisiana 4-H Club Hall of Fame.

Family

Shehee Stadium at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana

From her first marriage to John Guy, she had three children: Ann Shane Shehee, Andrew Michael Shehee, and Nell Elizabeth Shehee Kramer. She is the widow of William Peyton Shehee, Jr. (1919–2004), with whom she had a daughter, Margaret Scott Shehee Cole. On March 25, 2006, the Centenary College baseball park was named for and dedicated to Peyton Shehee.

Shehee's sister, Ann Kilpatrick Peters (1937–2011) was co-owner and a director of both Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company and Rose-Neath Funeral Homes.

Shehee's self-published biography Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee: First Lady of Shreveport was released in 2010 through Sarah Hudson-Pierce's Ritz Publications.

References

Political offices
Preceded by Cecil K. Carter, Jr.	Louisiana State Senator from District 38 (Caddo and De Soto parishes) Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee 1976–1980	Succeeded by Richard G. Neeson