![]() ![]() They had four children, Anna, Victoria, Stephen and David. ![]() Edwards graduated LSU Law School four years later and married Elaine Schwartzenberg, a classmate at Marksville. He became a Navy pilot in California but as his squadron was about to deploy to the Pacific, Japan surrendered and World War II ended. He graduated Marksville High School in 1944 and began his life of public service at 17 when he joined the United States Navy. When he was 15, Edwin taught himself electricity and wired his home and many others. His father Clarence was a farmer and his mother Agnes was a midwife credited with nearly 2,000 births. Edwin Edwards was born in a two-room farm house in the small community of Johnson seven miles outside Marksville, Louisiana, in Avoyelles Parish. He was one month shy of his 94th birthday. The Southern University Marching Band will lead a funeral procession along a roughly 1 mile (1.6 kilometer) route to the Old State Capitol, built in the 1800s, for a private funeral for family and invited guests.Louisiana’s 50th governor, Edwin Washington Edwards, was born on August 7, 1927, and passed from this world on July 12, 2021. On Sunday, a state police honor guard is to carry Edwards’ casket down the Capitol steps to a horse-drawn carriage. He was convicted in 2000 for a bribery and extortion scheme to rig Louisiana’s riverboat casino licensing process during his fourth term. He was tried and acquitted on corruption charges in the 1980s during his third term. But he also was frequently touched by accusations of wrongdoing.īy his own count, Edwards was the subject of two dozen investigations. I love Louisiana, and I always will.”Įdwards drew praise for leading a push for a new state constitution and bringing Black people into state government in the 1970s. Visitors received a commemorative card with Edwards’ photo and bearing one of his quotes: “I tried to help as many people as I could and I hope I did that, and I hope, if I did, that they will help others too. Large bouquets of flowers, a row of Louisiana and American flags and photos documenting Edwards with prominent politicians, on the campaign trail and with his family, lined the path around the casket. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who is not related to Edwin Edwards, was among the first to pay his respects to the former governor’s family - before the public and media were allowed inside the vast, ornate hall where the casket rested on the Louisiana state seal.Įdwin Edwards’ wife, Trina, more than 50 years his junior, and their 7-year-old son Eli - the ex-governor’s fifth child - returned to the visitation area once it was opened to the public, and Edwards’ other children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren mingled with mourners as well. Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, who lived in the same Gonzales neighborhood as Edwards, personally managed the memorial events, arranged the display and stood in Memorial Hall between the Louisiana House and Senate chambers as visitors arrived. Troy Carter, a Democrat who served in the Louisiana Legislature during one of Edwards’ terms, described the former governor as “just someone that you could never question his love of the people of Louisiana.” He helped a lot of poor people,” she said. The history of this state cannot be told without telling the story of Edwin Edwards.”Īngela Smothers, 65, a retired substitute teacher, also traveled the 80 miles (128.75 kilometers) from New Orleans to the state’s capital city to see the Democratic former governor one last time. “You cannot study Louisiana politics without studying Edwin Edwards, the good, the bad, the indifferent. “I couldn’t miss it,” said Kevin Hagan, 30, a one-time political science student who drove from New Orleans for Edwards’ public memorial event. ![]() That prison term, however, wasn’t front of mind to those who came to say their goodbyes to Louisiana’s most prominent and charismatic elected official since firebrand populist Huey Long was governor and U.S. Edwin Edwards on Saturday, saying their farewells at a public viewing in the marble-trimmed main hall of the state Capitol where the powerful and flamboyant politician served 16 years.Įdwards was the only person elected four times as Louisiana’s governor during a career of remarkable highs and lows.The quick-witted politician dominated the state’s politics for decades, but a corruption scandal sent him to federal prison for about eight years after he left office. (AP) - Mourners steadily filed by the flag-draped open casket of former Louisiana Gov. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.īATON ROUGE, La. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. ![]()
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