Lonnie Odell Aulds (August 14, 1925 – March 22, 1984) was a businessman from Shreveport, Louisiana, who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Shreveport in Caddo Parish in northwestern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He served a single term from 1968 until 1972.

Background

Aulds was born near Farmerville in

Union Parish Union Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de l'Union'') is a parish located in the north central section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,107. The parish seat is Farmerville. The parish was created on Ma ...

North Louisiana North Louisiana (french: Louisiane du Nord), also known locally as Sportsman's Paradise, (a name sometimes attributed to the state as a whole) is a region in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The region has two metropolitan areas: Shreveport-Bossier Ci ...

to Henry Leonard Aulds, Sr. (1897–1956), and the former Hazel Duty (1899–1972). According to the

1940 census The United States census of 1940, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.3 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people. The census date of record w ...

, he had two brothers, Henry Leonard Aulds, Jr., and Charles Glen Aulds, and two sisters, Lillian (later Armstrong) and Nellie Sue (later Davis), who were eleven years apart in age. He served from 1943 to 1946 in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in the Pacific Theater of Operations during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Aulds graduated in 1950 from Centenary College in Shreveport and later taught real estate in night school there. In 1957, he organized the Aulds-Horne & White Investment Company in Shreveport and was a principal in the real estate firm, Woodland Development Corporation. He was a president of the North Louisiana Economic Development Corporation. Highly active in various civic and community organizations, he was affiliated with the Jaycees and then the Chamber of Commerce. Aulds was a member of the

Kiwanis Club Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...

, the

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

Shriners Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Shriners International describes itself ...

, the

Forty and Eight veterans organization ''La Société des 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux'' ( en, "The Society of 40 Men and 8 Horses"), commonly known as the Forty and Eight, is a nonprofit organization of U.S. veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. ...

, and the American Legion.

Political career

Aulds was an elected member of the Caddo Parish Police Jury from 1960 to 1968. He was the jury vice president in 1963 and the president from 1964 to 1966. The police jury, the parish governing body, is now known as the Caddo Parish Commission. In 1966, Aulds was a candidate for the Louisiana State Board of Education for the seat representing the 4th congressional district. He vowed if elected to work to expand

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...

and higher education opportunities in the district. He lost to fellow Democrat and incumbent board member Robert H. Curry of Shreveport. That board was reorganized under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 into the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Another candidate in the race, Cecil K. Carter, Jr., was later elected to a term in the Louisiana State Senate. In 1967, as a police juror and with extensive experience in real estate, he was a member of the site selection committee for the Northwest Louisiana School for the Mentally Retarded. The seven-member committee was headed by then State Representative and later U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. Other members of the panel included Representative

Frank Fulco Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

, later Representative P. J. Mills, and

Edgar Hull Edgar Hull Jr. (February 20, 1904 – October 25, 1984), was a Louisiana physician. He was part of the founding faculty of the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans, and later served as Dean of the Louisiana State University ...

, dean of the

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport (LSU Health Shreveport) is a public university focused on the health sciences and located in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is part of the LSU System and is composed of three different scho ...

. The completed facility is now known as the Northwest Louisiana Developmental Center, located at 5401 Shed Road in

Bossier City Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had a ...

. Aulds left the police jury to run successfully for the state House of Representatives in the 1967–1968 election cycle, when Democrats swept the Caddo Parish offices. His colleagues included the Shreveport businessman Dayton Waller as well as the long-term members Algie D. Brown and Frank Fulco. Early in his first session of the legislature the freshman Aulds was named to replace veteran Representative Fulco on the House Budget Committee at the request of

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

John McKeithen John Julian McKeithen (May 28, 1918 – June 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of Louisiana from 1964 to 1972. Early life McKeithen was born in Grayson, Louisiana on May 28, 1918. His father was a ...

. The matter sparked discord in the Caddo Parish delegation, but McKeithen tried to smooth over the hard feelings with self-deprecating humor in an engagement in Shreveport in mid-February 1969.

Personal life

At forty-four, Aulds on December 31, 1969, married 20-year-old Katherin B. Aulds (born 1949) in Harrison County, Texas. Katherin Aulds was a florist for twenty-five years until she became a

funeral home A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral. Services ...

owner after completion of the course in

mortuary science Mortuary science is the study of deceased bodies through mortuary work. The term is most often applied to a college curriculum in the United States that prepares a student for a career as a mortician or funeral director. Many also study embalmi ...

Southern University at Shreveport Southern University at Shreveport (SUSLA) is a junior college in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is part of the historically black Southern University System. SUSLA, pushed to fruition by the administration of Governor John J. McKeithen, opened for in ...

. Their son is James Linard Aulds (born c. 1972). Aulds died in Shreveport at the age of fifty-eight. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church on Texas Avenue in downtown Shreveport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aulds, Lonnie O. 1925 births 1984 deaths Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives People from Farmerville, Louisiana Politicians from Shreveport, Louisiana Businesspeople from Louisiana American real estate businesspeople Parish jurors and commissioners in Louisiana Centenary College of Louisiana alumni Centenary College of Louisiana faculty United States Navy sailors United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American politicians American United Methodists 20th-century Methodists Members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks