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Alvan Henry Lafargue
b.14 Oct 1883 Marksville, Avoyelles, Louisiana, USA
d.11 Feb 1963 Sulphur, Calcasieu, Louisiana, USA
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. 2 Mar 1878
Facts and Events
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvan_Lafargue Lafargue was educated in the Avoyelles Parish schools, Louisiana State University, the Tulane University Medical School, and the Memphis Hospital Medical School, since the University of Tennessee Medical Center, from which he graduated in 1910. He married the former Florestine Richard of Baldwin in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, daughter of Arthur Richard, a sugar planter, and the former Blanche Dumesnil. The couple had four children, Alvan, Jr. (1913–1994),[10] Myron J. Lafargue (1914–1973), Irene L. Owens (1917–1969), and Prudence L. Burns (1924–2009).[1][11] An active Democrat, Lafargue was the mayor of Sulphur from 1926 to 1938, only the second mayor to be elected to a four-year term, first in 1926, then 1930 and 1934.[14] during which time he initiated many municipal improvements. The town was in debt, and he made so many visits to a bank in Lake Charles that some said with humor that the people there thought he worked at the bank. In time, Sulphur was put in the financial black.[6] He also served on the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee.[3] A Roman Catholic, Lafargue was a member of the men's organization, the Knights of Columbus. He was active in Rotary International and Woodmen of the World. In 1925, Dr. Lafargue founded the bi-parish Calcasieu-Cameron Fair and served many years afterwards as president of the organization. From 1932 to 1934 and again in 1949, Dr. Lafargue was president of the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals. He was the founding president of the organization in 1932. His daughter, Prudence Burns, was the state fair president in 1984.[15] In 2008, a Lafargue grandson, Gerold J. LaFargue (with capital "F"), a former assistant Attorney General of Louisiana, was named grand marshal of the parade.[16] In 2014, the fair begun by Dr. Lafargue was moved from its 12-acre site at 923 Lewis Street in Sulpuur to the West Calcasieu Events Center near Interstate 10.[17] Lafargue developed the Businessmen's Club of Sulphur, which later became West Calcasieu Association of Commerce. He won the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of America. He was a director of the American Red Cross. He was president of the Gulf Beach Highway Association, which promoted the construction of U.S. Highway 27. He was vice-president of the Louisiana Division of the Old Spanish Trail Association, which lobbied for the extension of U.S. Highway 90 from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts.[3][1] Lafargue died in Sulphur at the age of seventy-nine. He is interred at Orange Grove Cemetery in Lake Charles.[1] He once said that his great accomplishment was having never turned away a patient in need.[6] The Lafargue Family papers are deposited at the archives of Tulane University.[3] The Dr. Alvan LaFargue House at 210 West Lincoln in Sulphur (built 1918) is among the sties of the Sulphur Historic Area Tour.[18] The Lafargue House is also included in the Historic Calcasieu Parish Guide, 2013.[19] References
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