Billy Boles

William Russell Boles Sr., known as Billy Boles (April 30, 1927 – August 16, 2008),^[1] was a Monroe attorney and banker who, at twenty-four, served a single term in the Louisiana State Senate. He represented his native Richland as well as neighboring Franklin and Catahoula parishes in northeastern Louisiana from 1952 to 1956, during the administration of Governor Robert F. Kennon, his fellow Democrat. Boles succeeded and preceded the pro-Long state senator, Ralph E. King Sr., a physician from Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish.^[2]

Career

Boles was born on Louisiana Statehood Day to Vernon and Ruth Boles in Rayville, the seat of Richland Parish, located east of Monroe. He attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeast Junior College) on a basketball scholarship and then served eighteen months in the United States Navy. Thereafter, he procured his Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish. He was student body president of his law class at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.^[3]

Boles and a close friend, State Senator Jamar Adcock of Monroe (service: 1960-1972), co-founded what is now Regions Bank of North Louisiana, originally the American Bank in Monroe. Adcock and Boles also started Fidelity Bank in Slidell, the Colonial Bank in New Orleans, and Progressive Bank in Metairie in Jefferson Parish. They bought into the former Bossier Bank and Trust Company in Bossier City and the Jena Bank in Jena in La Salle Parish. Boles met Adcock when they were LSU students. Their First Fidelity Mortgage Company was later part of Chase.^[4]

Known for his close ties to important Louisiana politicians, including Governors John J. McKeithen and Edwin Washington Edwards, Boles was in 2004 inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.^[5] At the time of his death, Boles was semi-retired in Monroe in the practice of law with his son, William Boles Jr. (born 1956).

Boles was married until his death for sixty years to the former Mary Catherine Furlow (ca. 1928-2010), a native of Elizabeth in Allen Parish, Louisiana, and the daughter of Adelaide and John Furlow. She was Roman Catholic.^[6] The couple is remembered for their philanthropy through the Catherine and William R. "Billy" Boles Terrace on the seventh floor of the library at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.^[7]

In addition to his wife, Boles left behind three daughters and a son: Linda Boles Campbell (born 1949) and husband George M. Campbell Sr. (born 1948) of Monroe, Diane Boles Kirtland (born 1951) and husband Walter Kirtland (born 1946) of Baton Rouge, attorney Janet Boles Crawford (born 1954) and husband, Baton Rouge attorney-lobbyist Scott Holland Crawford (born 1953), originally from Minden in Webster Parish, and attorney William R. Boles Jr. Boles had eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services were to be held on August 19 in the First Baptist Church of West Monroe, with entombment in Mulhearn Memorial Park Mausoleum.^[3]

References