James L. Cathey Jr.

James L. Cathey Jr. (September 18, 1919 - February 29, 1996), was a Democratic politician who served from 1973 to 1977 as the tenth mayor of Bossier City in northwestern Louisiana. An Air Force veteran of World War II, he had achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He joined the Bossier City Police Department and served as deputy chief and police chief for varying terms. He was highly active in civic organizations, and on various boards.
Background
Cathey was born in Arcadia, the seat of government of Bienville Parish. In 1920, at the age of one year, he moved with his parents to Bossier City, where he grew up and lived much of his life. After attending local segregated schools, he attended Centenary College in Shreveport and Kansas State Teachers College, now Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Karen (she married Fred Green of Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Kathe (she married Mr. Newsome of Bossier City, and worked as an I.T. database administrator at Centenary College.
Cathey served in both the United States Army and the United States Air Force during and after World War II. He was a bomber pilot during the war and subsequently attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. He was assigned to Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City.
Cathey and his wife were long active in the First United Methodist Church of Bossier City. He was a past chairman of the church board and the Council on Ministries. He also attended the annual statewide Methodist conference.
Chief Cathey was known for strict enforcement of the blue laws, which then required many businesses to close at midnight Saturday. Cathey was a Bossier Parish deputy sheriff from 1957 to 1961 and 1970 to 1973 under Sheriff Willie Waggonner. He was the first juvenile officer of Bossier Parish.
In 1975, The Shreveport Times published a picture by its chief photographer, H. Langston McEachern, showing Mayor Cathey destroying a pinball machine confiscated from the Turf Lounge, one of the nightclubs of The Bossier Strip, known for its Country and western music. The Strip was an entertainment district that flourished in the 20th century prior to the establishment of legal gambling and the construction of casinos along the Red River.
In 1976, Cathey and neighboring Mayor Calhoun Allen of Shreveport hosted U.S. President Gerald R. Ford Jr. in a question-and-answer session for local officials. Ford at the time was in Louisiana campaigning against former Governor Ronald W. Reagan for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination.
Cathey died in Bossier City in 1996 at the age of seventy-six. He is interred alongside his wife at Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport.<ref namebio/><ref namedlwc/>

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu