Eugene Campbell
| Eugene Preston "Gene" Campbell | |
| In office June 6, 1908 – June 1, 1916 | |
| Preceded by | Albert H. Gillespie |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | J. A. Cross |
| In office May 26, 1920 – January 30, 1940 | |
| Preceded by | J. A. Cross |
| Succeeded by | Doretta Katie "Rhetta" Schuchs Campbell (interim) |
| Born | February 18, 1870 Concordia Parish, Louisiana |
| Died | January 30, 1940 (aged 69) Ferriday, Concordia Parish |
| Resting place | Natchez City Cemetery in Natchez, Mississippi |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Doretta Katie "Rhetta" Schuchs Campbell |
| Children | Ruby Maude Chandler Campbell Fulton |
| Alma mater | Louisiana State University |
| Occupation | Parish official |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Eugene Preston Campbell, known as Gene Campbell (February 18, 1870 – January 30, 1940), was a long-serving sheriff in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana. He held the position for nearly twenty-eight years from June 1908 until 1916 and again from 1920 until his death, which occurred two weeks after his reelection to an eighth four-year term as sheriff, which never materialized.
His longevity in office is almost as long as another Concordia Parish sheriff, Noah W. Cross, who served from 1940 to 1948 and again from 1952 to 1973, a total of almost twenty-nine years. Campbell died at the age of sixty-nine; Cross at the age of sixty-eight.
Background
Campbell was born and reared on the Black River in Concordia Parish, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Campbell, who were among the early pioneers of the region. F. L. Campbell was named assessor of Concordia Parish in 1888 by Governor Francis T. Nicholls and again in 1892 by Governor Murphy J. Foster, Sr. Eugene Campbell was himself appointed assessor by Governor Newton C. Blanchard. Campbell had five brothers, including a twin who died in early childhood. He played the position of end and was named a letterman on the first football team of Louisiana State University in 1893. Three years later, Campbell graduated from LSU.[1]
Campbell and his wife, the former Doretta Katie "Rhetta" Schuchs,[2] a native of Vidalia, the seat of government for Concordia Parish, had an adopted daughter, Ruby Maude Chandler Campbell Fulton (1917-1985), and husband, Dudley Gilbert Fulton, Sr. (1915-2003), of Clarks in Caldwell Parish.[1]
Two Sheriff Campbells
After Campbell died in Ferriday of a lingering illness,[3] Mrs. Campbell served as sheriff under appointment of Governor Earl Kemp Long for four months from February 8, until June 1, 1940, when she was succeeded by Noah Cross, who won a special election for his first term in office.[4] Doretta Campbell was the daughter of Michael James Schuchs (1845-1905) and the former Julia A. Brunk (1846-1909). She was quickly buried on July 25, 1941, the same day as her death.[3] Mrs. Campbell was not the first widow appointed in Louisiana to fill the remaining term of her husband as sheriff. In 1936, when Sheriff Wyatt Luther Nugent of Grant Parish was killed in the line of his duty, his widow, Lydia Ann Rosier Nugent, served briefly thereafter.[5]
No woman was elected sheriff in Louisiana until 1956 when Eloise Bouanchaud was elected in Pointe Coupee Parish to succeed her late husband.[6] The next time a woman was elected sheriff in Louisiana was in 1999, when Beth Oakley Lundy won the position in Calcasieu Parish, which encompasses Lake Charles.[7] Lundy polled 51.5 percent of the vote cast against a fellow Democrat in the nonpartisan blanket primary.[8]
Services for both Campbells were held in Vidalia at the family residence, which was designed in Queen Anne Revival style architecture and was included on the National Register of Historic Places. The residence burned to the ground in January 1991.[9] Both Campbells are interred at Natchez City Cemetery.[1][3]
The Tensas Gazette in neighboring St. Joseph in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, opined at the time of Campbell's death:
There was probably no other man in public life in this section at least, who had a greater hold on the people of his parish than Gene Campbell enjoyed. Indeed, it was often said that Gene Campbell held every public office in Concordia Parish in the hollow of his hand. ... The heavy load laid upon him in the last year of his life almost proved his undoing and unquestionable hastened his death. Gene Campbell's own weakness ... was his devotion and loyalty to his friends, oft at his own prejudice ...[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Death of Hon. E. P. Campbell," Tensas Gazette, February 1940.
- ↑ Doretta “Rhetta” Schuchs Campbell (1877-1941), Findagrave.com [1], accessed February 4, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Mrs Campbell Died Yesterday: Splendid Lady of Vidalia Called by Death, Buried Yesterday", The Natchez Democrat, Natchez, Mississippi, July 26, 1941.
- ↑ List of Sheriffs of Concordia Parish, Concordia parish Library, Main Branch in Vidalia.
- ↑ Frances Nugent Petrus. The Shreveport Times. Retrieved on July 25, 2014.
- ↑ Sheriff's Widow Wins Election in Point Coupee. Monroe News Star (April 18, 1956).
- ↑ First Woman Sheriffs in the United States of America. reocities.com. Retrieved on July 25, 2014.
- ↑ Election returns: Calcasieu Parish. staticresults.sos.la.gov (October 23, 1999). Retrieved on July 25, 2014.
- ↑ Sheriff Eugene P. Campbell House. archiplanet.org. Retrieved on May 30, 2012.