Carl Buell Close Sr. (October 17, 1907 – December 28, 1980), was a Democratic politician from

Alexandria, Louisiana Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat and largest city of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River of the South, Red River ...

, who served as a member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...

from 1944 to 1947, when he stepped down to become the mayor of his adopted city of Alexandria, a post he held until 1953.

Early life

Close was one of six children of a country physician, Edgar Close (1871-1948), originally from Carbondale in southern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and the former Mary Louvenia Patton (1873-1948), a native of

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places Australia * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin Canada * Inukjuak, Quebec, or "Port H ...

in Boone County in northwestern

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. Close was born in rural Robertsville near Morrilton in Conway County in north central Arkansas.

Personal life

Edgar and Mary Close married in 1891 and died in 1948 some eight months apart. In 1935, Carl Close married Sarah Ella Jordan (1907-1959) of

Atkins Atkins may refer to: People * Atkins (surname) Places in the United States * Atkins, Arkansas, a city * Atkins, Iowa, a city * Atkins, an unincorporated community in Bossier Parish, Louisiana * Atkins, Nebraska, an unincorporated community * Atk ...

in Pope County, Arkansas. Their son and only child, Carl Close Jr., was born in 1936 in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The junior Close graduated from Bolton High School in Alexandria and

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

in Ruston, was an officer in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, and worked as data processing specialist in Alexandria, where he died in 2000 at the age of sixty-three.Obituary of Carl Close Jr., '' Alexandria Daily Town Talk'', July 21, 2000 Close Sr., subsequently married the former Ilie Jewel Willis (1907-1995).

Political career

Close served in the House during the administration of

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

Jimmie Davis James Houston Davis (September 11, 1899 – November 5, 2000) was an American singer, songwriter, and Democratic Party politician. After achieving fame for releasing both sacred and popular songs, Davis served as governor of Louisiana from ...

alongside the two other at-large representatives from

Rapides Parish Rapides Parish () () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 130,023. The parish seat and largest city is Alexandria, which developed along the Red River of the South. ''Rapides'' is th ...

, John R. Hunter Jr., and C. H. "Sammy" Downs, later a

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

and a gubernatorial aide under

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

. Close became mayor halfway into an unexpired term. He served with Commissioners Ben F. Bradford and W. H. Smith, who like Close was a former state representative. In 1948, Close attracted attention by discounting the debilitating effects of a

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

Central Louisiana Central Louisiana ( French: ''Centre du Louisiane''), also known as the Crossroads, is a region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The largest communities in the region as of the 2010 Census were Alexandria (47,893), Natchitoches (18,323) and ...

. Two weeks later, W. W. Thomas at the municipal airport seeded a cloud with forty pounds of

dry ice Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and Sublimation (phase transition), sublimes directly from the solid state to the gas ...

. Soon .85 of an inch of rainfall followed. In 1949, Close won a full term as the mayor. Close was succeeded in the House and as mayor by the same man, his fellow Democrat,

William George Bowdon Jr. William George Bowdon Jr. (18 October 1921 – 17 November 2005) was an American politician who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives and as the youngest ever mayor of Alexandria from 1953 to 1969. He was a member of the Democratic par ...

, who held the mayoralty for sixteen years until his third-place finish in the 1969 Democratic primary. Ed Karst then defeated John K. Snyder for the position. Close, Bowdon, Karst, and Karst's successor, John K. Snyder, all served under the former

city commission City commission government is a form of local government in the United States. In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically of five to seven members, typically on a plurality-at-large voting basis. These commissio ...

system, which was superseded in 1977 by the mayor-council

home rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...

charter. Carroll E. Lanier in the spring of 1977 became the first mayor under the mayor-council government. Close died in Alexandria at the age of seventy-three. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park near Pineville, along with his first wife and son. His daughter-in-law, Betty Anne Reeves Close (born 1937) of Alexandria, and two grandsons survive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Carl B. 1907 births 1980 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Louisiana Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Mayors of Alexandria, Louisiana People from Morrilton, Arkansas 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature

Early life

Personal life

Political career

See also

References