Benjamin Burras Rayburn (August 11, 1916 – March 5, 2008) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as a Democratic member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) 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 re ...

. He also served as a member for the 12nd district of the

Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate is composed ...

. Born in

Sumrall, Mississippi Sumrall is a town in Lamar County, Mississippi. It is part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,421 at the 2010 census. History Sumrall was one of many new towns incorporated along the Mississippi ...

. Rayburn attended at the Sumrall High School, where he later attended at the Sullivan Memorial Trade School. He served as a member of the Washington Parish Police Jury, in which he was considered as the youngest member of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. Rayburn served from 1944 to 1948, in which he had also served as the vice president. He had served as a member of the Louisiana Cattleman's Association. In 1948, Rayburn won the election for an office of the

. He succeeded Murphy R. Williams. In 1951, Rayburn was succeeded by N. L. Smith for which he was resigned to serve for the 12nd district of the

. He succeeded politician

H. H. Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

. Rayburn was honored the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad ho ...

by the Loyola University. In 1993, he was honored in the

Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame is a museum and hall of fame located in Winnfield, Louisiana. Created by a 1987 act of the Louisiana State Legislature The Louisiana State Legislature (french: Législature d'État de Louisiane) ...

. In 1996, Rayburn was succeeded by

Phil Short Philip Granville Short, known as Phil Short (born January 31, 1947), is a retired military officer formerly from Covington, Louisiana, USA, who served in the Louisiana State Senate for District 12 (St. Helena, St. Tammany Tamanend (histor ...

for the 12nd district of the Louisiana State Senate. In the 1990s, Rayburn politician career had ended of scandal for which his

colleague Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues. A colleague is a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respect each other's abilities to work toward that purpose. A colleague is ...

who was attorney

Larry S. Bankston Larry Stephen Bankston, Sr. (born January 22, 1951), is an attorney from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served from 1988 to 1996 as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from the southeastern District 15 ( East Baton Rouge, East Fe ...

. He had stated "I'm going to wait until I see the allegations before I make a comment". His daughter Tommie Jean had tried to help out Fred Goodson, a store owner. He was considered not guilty for which he had lost his offer for his 12nd district office term of the

. In 2006, Rayburn's name was honored into the

Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) (French: ) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquart ...

prison place Washington Correctional Institute, in which was renamed to the

B.B. Rayburn Correctional Center B.B. "Sixty" Rayburn Correctional Center is a Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections prison for men in unincorporated Washington Parish, Louisiana, near Angie. History The facility was originally named the Washington Correctional ...

. Rayburn died in March 2008 from complications of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

at the St. Tammany Hospital in

Covington, Louisiana Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is par ...

, at the age of 91.

References

1916 births 2008 deaths People from Sumrall, Mississippi Democratic Party Louisiana state senators Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives 20th-century American politicians Deaths from lung cancer in Louisiana {{Louisiana-politician-stub