Raymond Julian Laborde, former Marksville Mayor and State Representative passes away

Former State Representative and Marksville businessman Raymond Laborde passed away Sunday morning.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday (Jan. 20) in St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marksville, with interment in St. Joseph Cemetery #1. Visitation will be at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home in Marksville from 2-10 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 19).

He was a graduate of Marksville High and Loyola University.

He was the mayor of Marksville from 1958–1970 and served five terms from 1972–1992 in the Louisiana House of Representatives.[He was a gubernatorial floor leader, Speaker Pro Tempore from 1982–1984, and in his last full term served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

He was married to Nellie Sanchez Laborde and they had six children:

Raymond J. Laborde, II
Charles Laborde
Donald A. Laborde
Minnie C. Lafargue
Ronald Laborde
Rachel Laborde Karam

Below is a small biography of Laborde's life:

Laborde was born to Dr. Emeric M. Laborde (1901–1969),[5] a Marksville dentist, and the former Minnie L. Neck (1899–1994). As students at Marksville High School, Laborde in 1943 defeated Edwin Edwards for senior class president.[6] In his first year in the House as an Edwards floor leader in 1972, Laborde balked at Edwards' call for a $1 billion tax increase. "And, oh man, did I catch hell. When I got back home, Edwin had put the word out, and everyone was calling me. Let me tell you, it was mighty uncomfortable. I couldn't wait for him to call a special session, so I could get back there and get that tax passed," Laborde said in a 2007 interview with Alexandria Daily Town Talk.[6]

After graduation from Marksville High School, Laborde enrolled at his father's alma mater, Roman Catholic-affiliated Loyola University in New Orleans, where at the age of eighteen he played on the 1945–1946 Loyola national championship basketball team.[7] He graduated from Loyola in 1949 and then launched his Raymond's Department Store at 317 North Main Street in Marksville.[8] He was later a captain in the Louisiana National Guard.[6]

In 1951, Laborde married the former Nellie Sanchez. The couple has six children, Donald A. Laborde, Raymond Laborde, II, Charles Laborde, Minnie C. Lafargue, Ronald Laborde, and Rachel Karam.

Avoyelles Parish has been known for its colorful but mostly local politicians. One who stood out, F.O. "Potch" Didier, sheriff from 1960–1980, actually spent seven days in his own jail after having been convicted of malfeasance in office.[6] The mothers of Laborde and Didier had the common maiden name of Neck (pronounced "Nicks") and were distant cousins.

In 1954, the 27-year-old Laborde ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Marksville but narrowly lost to Edgar Coco (1905–1970),[5] scion of a prominent local family. Four years later, Laborde unseated Coco. From 1962–1963, he was president of the Louisiana Municipal Association.[12] He ran in the 1963–1964 election cycle for the since defunct position of custodian of voting machines (later elections commissioner), an office unique to Louisiana when created in the late 1950s by Governor Earl Kemp Long. Laborde was defeated in the runoff by the one-term incumbent, Douglas Fowler of Coushatta, the seat of Red River Parish in north Louisiana. At the time, candidates for statewide constitutional offices were often affiliated with gubernatorial tickets. Laborde ran with the slate headed by former New Orleans Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison, a ticket which included later state Senator Claude B. Duval of Houma for lieutenant governor and State Representative Jack M. Dyer of Baton Rouge for insurance commissioner. All were defeated with the election of John J. McKeithen as governor and the reelection of Clarence C. Aycock as lieutenant governor.

After his initial election to the legislature, Laborde rarely faced serious opposition. In the 1983 primary, in which Edwards returned for a third nonconsecutive term by defeating Republican Governor David C. Treen, Laborde prevailed over fellow Democrat Johnny Bennett, 10,633 votes (59.3 percent) to 7,346 (40.7 percent).Though considered a strong Edwards ally, he was Speaker Pro Tempore in the Treen administration and later Ways and Means chairman under Governor Buddy Roemer, who defeated Edwards in the 1987 primary.

In 1978, Laborde was named "Avoyellean of the Year".[14] In 2003, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.