Charles Camille "Charlie" de Gravelles, Jr. (born June 24, 1913), and Virginia Wheadon de Gravelles (born December 4, 1915) are a retired Lafayette couple who held major leadership positions in the Louisiana Republican Party from 1968-1972 and 1964-1968, respectively. De Gravelles was the party chairman, and Mrs. de Gravelles was the national committeewoman. When de Gravelles assumed the chairmanship, the Louisiana GOP had only 28,427 registered members, barely 2 percent of the state's voters. For a brief time in 1968, both de Gravelleses were on the Republican National Committee, a husband-wife combination that has not since repeated itself. June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Lafayette is a city located on the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. ... This Article does not cite its references or sources. ... // The Republican Party (often referred to as the GOP, for Grand Old Party) is one of the two major political organizations in the United States two party system; the Democratic Party is the other. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... // The Republican Party (often referred to as the GOP, for Grand Old Party) is one of the two major political organizations in the United States two party system; the Democratic Party is the other. ... Bush/Cheney, 2004 campaign manager Ken Mehlman is the current chairman of the RNC. The Republican National Committee (RNC) provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. ...

Early years, family, and education

De Gravelles (pronounced DE GRA VELLES) was born to Dr. and Mrs. Charles Camille de Gravelles, Sr., in Thibodaux, in Lafourche Parish. His father practiced in several cities and was the last doctor in New Iberia to make house calls. De Gravelles graduated from Thibodaux High School in 1929. Thibodeaux (pronounced TIB-uh-doe; IPA: ) is a small city located on the banks of Bayou Lafouche in northwestern Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. ... Lafourche Parish is a parish located in the south of the state of Louisiana. ... The small city of New Iberia is the parish seat of Iberia Parish, in the US state of Louisiana, 125 miles (201 km) west of New Orleans. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Virginia Wheadon was born in Alexandria, to John Samuel Butler Wheadon and the former Anna Kilpatrick. Her father owned the former Rapides Hotel on Second Street. The building was torn down about 1960. Mrs. Wheadon was a homemaker and a legal secretary. Virginia lived next door for a time to the family of Nauman Steele Scott, I. Nauman Scott, II, with whom she recalls having ridden tricycles together, went on to become a U.S. district judge in the Western District of Louisiana, based in Alexandria. (Scott died in 2001.) Virginia's grandfather was a sheriff, and her great-grandfather was a judge. Virginia graduated from Bolton High School in 1931 and attended Louisiana normal school in Natchitoches for two years. Thereafter, she transferred to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she received her degree in education and met Charles. Alexandria is a city in Louisiana, U.S.A.; it is the parish seat of Rapides Parish, on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Nauman Steele Scott, II (June 15, 1916 - September 19, 2001), was a Republican-appointed federal judge in the Western District of Louisiana from 1970 until 2001, who ordered cross-parish busing guidelines in 1980 to foster racial balance in Rapides Parish public schools. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... A normal school is an institution for training teachers. ... The city of Natchitoches (pronounced ) is the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. ... Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, generally known as Lousiana State University or LSU, is a public, coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the main campus of the Louisiana State University System. ... Capitol Building Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana, a state of the United States of America. ...

Charles and Virginia married on September 14, 1935. They eloped and were wed by a justice of the peace in Woodville, Mississippi, in Wilkinson County. De Gravelles noted in 2006 that he had been "happily married for 71 years." Their elopement came the same week that the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr., lay dying in a Baton Rouge hospital from the hands of an apparent assassin. September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Woodville is a town located in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. ... Wilkinson County is a county located in the state of Mississippi. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Huey Pierce Long, Jr. ...

The de Gravelleses had five children, twin sons (born 1949) and three daughters, one, Alix de Gravelles, deceased. The sons are Charles Nations de Gravelles, an Episcopal archdeacon, and John W. de Gravelles, an attorney, both of Baton Rouge. The surviving daughters are Claire Cloninger, a writer of books and contemporary Christian music in Fairhope, Alabama, in Baldwin County near Mobile, and Ann McBride Norton of Bali, Indonesia. Son-in-law Ed Norton works for the Nature Conservancy in environmental projects, and daughter Ann is a photographer with her own company, Photo Voice. The Nortons often visit Ambassador and Mrs. Grover J. Rees, III, in East Timor. Most of Rees' family resides in Lafayette, and the de Gravelles children grew up with Rees and his siblings. 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... The word episcopal is derived from the Greek επίσκοπος, transliterated epískopos, which literally means overseer; the word, however, is used in religious contexts to refer to a bishop. ... Fairhope is a city located in Baldwin County, Alabama. ... Baldwin County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. ... Nickname: The Azalea City Coordinates: Country US State Alabama County Mobile Founded 1702 Incorporated 1814 Mayor Sam Jones Area    - City 412. ... This is the current Indonesian Collaboration of the week. ... The Nature Conservancy is an environmental organization, founded in 1951. ... Grover Joseph Rees, III (born 1951), a Louisiana lawyer, is the United States ambassador to the Democratic Republic of East Timor. ...

The de Gravelleses had 13 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, as of July 2006.

A man of the oil industry

De Gravelles received his degree from LSU and completed all but one course in law school. He was not admitted to the bar. Instead, he was hired in 1937, in the Great Depression, when a recession had returned within the depression, by Standolin Oil and Gas Company (later Amoco) in Lake Charles. He was dispatched to the Anse la Butte area to buy leases for the company. His position was referred to as that of a landman. He knew some French and had a French last name but was not Catholic; yet the company believed that he could connect well with the local people at Anse la Butte. In 1940, de Gravelles moved permanently to Lafayette. He remained with the same company until his official retirement in 1999. He actually "retired" and was called back by the company for several years thereafter. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn which started in 1929 (although its effects were not fully felt until late 1930) and lasted through most of the 1930s. ... named, see Lake Charles (body of water). Lake Charles, (French: Lac Charles), is the fifth largest city in the US state of Louisiana. ... In the Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term Landman referred to a seaman with less than a years experience at sea. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ...

During his time in Lafayette, de Gravelles watched the city grow rapidly because of the expansion of the oil industry. He lauded Amoco as an employer and said that he fully enjoyed his time in the oil field.

Lafayette's first registered white Republicans

The de Gravelleses became active in local and state politics but never ran for office themselves. In 1940, he and Mrs. Gravelles became the first two whites in many years to register as Republican voters in Lafayette Parish. The only registered Republicans then were a few blacks, who were then largely frozen out of the pivotal Democratic primaries. Mrs. de Gravelles recalls that she, as a 24-year-old housewife, campaigned for Wendell Willkie over Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who swept Louisiana, the South, and the nation. Another Republican, David W. Pipes, Jr., unsuccessfully sought the Acadiana-based Third Congressional District seat in that same election. The de Gravelleses hence are among the oldest living Republicans in the state of Louisiana. Lafayette Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. ... Wendell L. Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie (February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was a lawyer in the United States and the Republican nominee for the 1940 presidential election. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Republican Party. ... FDR redirects here. ... David Washington Pipes, Jr. ... Map of Acadiana Region with the Cajun Heartland USA subregion highlighted in dark red. ...

Louisiana GOP mulls Nixon and Reagan

Charles de Gravelles succeeded Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr., of Shreveport in Caddo Parish, the 1964 Republican gubernatorial nominee, as the Louisiana party chairman. Mrs. de Gravelles recalls Lyons as "a wonderful, compassionate man" who was a true pionner in the development of a two-party system in Louisiana. De Gravelles and Lyons were pledged to the nomination and election of former Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Charlton Havard Lyons, Sr. ... Shreveport, Louisiana is the third largest metropolitan city in the state of Louisiana, USA. It is located in Caddo Parish, and as of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 200,145. ... Caddo Parish is a parish located in the state of Louisiana. ... A governor is an official who heads the government of a colony, state or other sub-national state unit. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ...

A minority in the state delegation, however, seemed enchanted with a potential unannounced third candidate, then California Governor Ronald W. Reagan, who had stumped for Lyons in the winter of 1964 by giving stemwinder speeches in Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Baton Rouge. De Gravelles summed up the majority opinon of the Louisiana party when he said, "much as I admire Governor Reagan, I feel that Nixon has a broad appeal and is the best qualified man in either party." The chairman predicted that Nixon would be vigorously challenged in Louisiana, not by the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, but the third-party forces pledged to then former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, Jr. Most of the Louisiana GOP delegates did favor Reagan as a vice-presidential choice in 1968, a selection that ultimately went to Maryland Governor Spiro T. Agnew, who was forced to resign in 1973 for tax evasion and bribery. Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), and the 33rd Governor of the state of California (1967–1975). ... Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... Governor George Wallace (in front of door) standing defiantly against desegregation while being confronted by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach at the University of Alabama in 1963. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Spiro Theodore Agnew, born Spiro Anagnostopoulos (November 9, 1918–September 17, 1996), was the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1973 under President Richard M. Nixon. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... Bribery is a crime implying a sum or gift given alters the behaviour of the person in ways not consistent with the duties of that person. ...

De Gravelles expressed hope that Louisiana voters might be persuaded to support the Republican ticket despite Wallace's appeal to blue collar white voters. Louisiana was one of five states to support Wallace in 1968. The Nixon-Agnew electors drew 257,535 votes (23.5 percent) in Louisiana, to Wallace's 530,300 (48.3 percent) and Humphrey's 309,615 (28.2 percent). Nixon ran 26,55 votes ahead of his 1960 showing in raw popular votes in Louisiana, but his 1968 showing was 5.1 percentage points below the previous standing. A blue-collar worker is a working class employee who performs manual or technical labor, such as in a factory or in technical maintenance trades, in contrast to a white-collar worker, who does non-manual work generally at a desk. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...

The de Gravelleses each attended one national GOP convention: he in 1972 in Miami Beach, and she in 1964 in San Francisco. Miami Beach is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

In his later political activities, de Gravelles in 1993 tried to recall the late Democratic Mayor Kenneth F. "Kenny" Bowen from office on grounds that Bowen was too much of a "micromanager" and too unstable to run the city efficiently and fairly. Though sufficient signatures were obtained to have the recall election, the judge disqualified many of the names, and Bowen completed his third and final term in office. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Kenneth Francis Kenny Bowen (February 9, 1926 -- May 2, 2002) was a three-term Democratic mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, the fourth largest city in the state, according to the 2000 census. ...

Political Hall of Fame

Charles and Virginia de Gravelles have won several joint awards, primarily for their two-party and Republican activities. They have been honored by Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and the Louisiana Republican Party for lifetime achievement. Mrs. de Gravelles has been cited by the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she was a 50-year member as of 2006. Founded in 1949, the Freedoms Foundation is located adjacent to the Valley Forge National Historic Park, and sits on ground that was once part of General Washingtons encampment. ... The Village of Valley Forge is an unincorporated settlement located just outside of Valley Forge National Historic Park in Schuylkill Township of Chester County, Pennsylvania. ... The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a sororal association dedicated to historic preservation, education, and patriotic endeavor. ...

They will, moreover, be inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield on January 27, 2007. They will be the first couple honored together by the organization, which began honoring Louisiana politicos in 1993. Former Congresswoman Corrine Claiborne "Lindy" Boggs of New Orleans was inducted in 1994, a year after posthumous honors were given to her husband, Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr. The de Gravelleses' rival, Kenny Bowen, who had been a budding Lafayette Republican in the 1960s before he moved to the Democratic camp, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002, shortly before his death. Winnfield is a small city located in Winn Parish, Louisiana. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Lindy Boggs Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Lindy Boggs (born March 13, 1916) is a United States political figure who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as ambassador to the Vatican. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

The de Gravelleses remain reasonably active for a couple in their 90s, but Charles is confined to a wheelchair. They are Episcopalians.

References

Billy Hathorn, "The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920-1980," Master's thesis (1980), Northwestern State University at Natchitoches

Interview with Charles and Virginia de Gravelles, July 20-21, 2006

http://www.louisiana.edu/Academic/LiberalArts/HiGe/OCS/HTML/interviewees/biographies.htm.

http://www.cityofwinnfield.com/museum.html