Cecil K. Carter Jr.

Cecil Kay Carter Jr. (October 19, 1929 – August 31, 1987), known as C. Kay Carter, or C. K. Carter,^[1] was a businessman from Shreveport, Louisiana, who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1972 to 1976 for Caddo and DeSoto parishes.^[2]

Background

Carter was born in Cleburne in Johnson County near Fort Worth, Texas, to Cecil Carter Sr. (1907–1967), a carpenter, and his wife, the former Nettie Carlock (1909–1982).^[3] The Carters moved to Shreveport, and he attended Fair Park High School and Centenary College.

Career

Before his legislative term, Carter on August 13, 1966, finished a strong third in the race for Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat on the State Board of Education. Incumbent Robert H. "Bob" Curry of Shreveport, son of a 19th century state representative for Bossier Parish, Robert Houston Curry, had twice been elected by his colleagues as the board president and won another term as a board member. The other major candidate in the race was Lonnie O. Aulds, a real estate businessman from Shreveport who subsequently served for a term for one term in the Louisiana House.^[4] Carter ran newspaper advertising showing him shaking hands with George C. Wallace, former governor of Alabama, who was preparing for a 1968 independent run for the American presidency. In the advertisement, Carter stressed his support for "local control of education," rather than federal intervention spurred by civil rights issues.^[5] Governor John McKeithen appointed Carter to the Louisiana Board of Public Works.^[6]

In 1975, Carter after one tern was unseated in his Senate District 38 by twenty-three votes by a fellow Democrat, Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee, an officer of the Kilpatrick Funeral Homes and Life Insurance companies in Shreveport.^[7]

In 1980, Carter was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives from the 4th congressional district. He was eliminated in the nonpartisan blanket primary, and the position went to Buddy Roemer, later the governor of Louisiana. Roemer defeated his then fellow Democrat, the incumbent Buddy Leach in the 1980 general election.^[8]

In 1983, Carter sought a state senatorial comeback but was blocked by incumbent Democratic Senator Richard G. Neeson, who had unseated Shehee in 1979 after her single four-year term.^[9]

Death and legacy

At the time of his death in 1987 at the age of fifty-seven, Carter was again seeking political office. He was challenging two-term State Representative Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell in District 4 in southwestern Shreveport. Waddell subsequently became a judges of the Louisianaz 1st Judicial District Court. Carter had left a candidate forum early. An off-duty firefighter found Carter slumped in his idling car parked off Hollywood Avenue in Shreveport. He had died of a heart attack.^[1] Mrs. Carter, whose first and maiden names are unavailable, was the district supervisor of the Louisiana Tourist Commission.^[10]

Carter is interred, alongside his parents, at Forest Park West Cemetery in Shreveport.

A scholarship in the field of construction is endowed in Carter's name at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.^[11]

References