- Ashton J. Mouton
Infobox_Mayor
name= Ashton Joseph Mouton, Sr.
order=
office=Mayor of Lafayette,Louisiana , USA
term_start= 1948
term_end= 1956
predecessor=Claude C. Colomb
successor=Jerome E. Domengeaux
office2=Louisiana Collector of Revenue
term_start2=1964
term_end2=1970
|birth_date= birth date |1916|10|16
birth_place= Lafayette inLafayette Parish ,Louisiana , USA
death_date= death date and age|1988|1|31|1916|10|16
death_place=Lafayette, Louisiana
spouse= Stella Rose Dupuis Mouton
children=Stella Rose Mouton; Ashton J. Mouton, Jr. (born 1947); twins Catherine Anne and Carolyn Anne Mouton; and John Mouton
profession=Business man
religion=Roman Catholic
footnotes=Having earlier been declared one of his state's most successfulmayor s by the Louisiana Municipal Association, Mouton ran forlieutenant governor in 1963 on the intraparty Democratic ticket withJohn McKeithen . When McKeithen won, but Mouton lost, McKeithen named his ticket-mate as the state's Collector of Revenue.Ashton Joseph Mouton, Sr. (
October 16 ,1916 -January 31 ,1988 ), was a United States businessman andpolitician who became, at thirty-one, the youngestmayor in the history ofLafayette, Louisiana . A Democrat, Mouton was elected mayor in 1948. He served two four-year terms and left office in 1956. In 1963, Mouton was an unsuccessful contender forlieutenant governor on an intraparty ticket with the winninggubernatorial candidate, John Julian McKeithen of tiny Columbia, the seat ofCaldwell Parish , in northeastern Louisiana.Mouton was born in Lafayette (also
Lafayette Parish ) to Edwin Mouton, Sr., and the former Georgie McBride. He was educated at Mount Carmel Elementary School and Cathedral High School in Lafayette. In 1939, he obtained a degree inbusiness administration from Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now theUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette . He married the former Stella Rose Dupuis, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J.W. Dupuis, Sr., of Youngsville inLafayette Parish . They had five children: Stella Rose; Ashton J. Mouton, Jr. (born 1947); twins Catherine Anne and Carolyn Anne (born 1953); and John Mouton. The twins were remarkable in that they were the first pygopagusconjoined twins to be successfully separated. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818902,00.html?promoid=googlep/ "Prayer & Surgery"] , "Time", Sep. 28, 1953] There is also a namesake grandson, Ashton J. Mouton, III, of Lafayette (born 1983).From 1939-1941, Mouton was the administrative assistant in the Lafayette
municipal finance office. He served in theUnited States Army duringWorld War II from 1941-1945. After the war, Mouton started a career inlife insurance .Mouton succeeded Claude C. Colomb (
July 19 ,1889 - December 1973) as mayor. He was recognized widely for his mayoral success, even being honored onMarch 10 ,1955 , by theLouisiana Municipal Association and its trade publication, the "Louisiana Municipal Review", as one of the outstanding mayors in Louisiana at the time. Over the next several decades, Lafayette became the fourth largest city in the state. At the time of Mouton's service, Lafayette, as did many other Louisiana communities, had a commission form of citygovernment . He was succeeded as mayor byJerome E. Domengeaux (March 3 ,1919 -May 27 ,1999 ).After his mayoral years, Mouton became an independent
oil andnatural gas lease broker. He held various state-level appointments too, including the Mineral Board (1950-1952), Board of Tax Appeals (1956-1958, commissioner of conservation (1958-1960, collector of revenues, (1964-1970), director of hospitals (1970-1971), and administrative assistant to the director of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement in 1972. The three former appointments were in the administration of GovernorEarl Kemp Long , and the three later positions were under his mentor John McKeithen. Mouton was affiliated with the powerful Long faction of Louisiana politics.In 1965, Mouton sued the Schwegmann Brothers Giant Super Markets, Inc., to collect for the state sales, use and occupational license taxes plus interest in the amount of $62,517.98. Schwegmann appealed the assessments to the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals. Ten years later, the tax board ruled in Mouton's favor, some five years after he had left the collector's position. The former super market was owned in part by then state Representative
John G. Schwegmann ofJefferson Parish . Thereafter, Mouton sued to collect another $103,290.59. Schwegmann answered and denied liability. The two cases were consolidated in the trial court by consent of the parties. In the trial, Mouton was upheld in both cases. In 1971, Schwegmann unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor on a platform to cut government spending.Mouton began selling
real estate in 1976 and was associated with an agency in Lafayette from 1978 until his death ten years later.In his lieutenant governor's race, Mouton failed to make the Democratic runoff primary, which was won by the
incumbent Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock of Franklin, the seat ofSt. Mary Parish . Aycock defeated future state SenatorClaude B. Duval of Houma inTerrebonne Parish . Also running on the McKeithen-Mouton ticket for the new position ofinsurance commissioner was futureU.S. Representative and then State SenatorSpeedy O. Long (1928-2006) of Jena, the seat ofLa Salle Parish . Long was defeated byDudley A. Guglielmo , anItalian-American politician.Mouton was a member of the
American Legion , theKnights of Columbus (aCatholic men's organization), and Mardi Gras Krewe of Gabriel.Mouton is interred in the Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery.
References
*"Ashton J. Mouton", "A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography" (1988), p. 588
*Mouton obituary, "Lafayette Daily Advertiser", February 2, 1988
*"Lafayette Daily Advertiser", March 7, 1948; March 11, 1955; November 17, 1963; June 27, 1970
*https://www.fastcase.com/Yahoo/Start.aspx?C=65423d4d77a8b12e0a5a8edd40320d49a823a1047be507f2&D=10792c96699fcb81910f929b8d8c25d83fe96b50f98118d3&AffiliateConst=Yahoo
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