Born Longview, Gregg County, TX; reared in East Texas Oil Field (White Oak) to age 12, then in the Piney Woods of East Texas (Nacogdoches).  Graduated from Lake Charles High School 1960; attended and graduated from first McNeese State College--later named McNeese State University; then graduated from Tulane University College of Law, Class of 1966.  Officer in Louisiana Army National Guard during Viet Nam Conflict; former assistant professor of Criminal Justice on Campus at L.S.U. in Baton Rouge; married to Janice Carol Johnson, native of Lake Charles; three successful and talented sons; appointed by Governor Edwin Edwards to a four year term as the representative from the Seventh Congressional District on the first Board of the Louisiana Imports and Exports Trust Authority.  Former Elected Member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committe, and perennial elected member of the Calcasieu Parish Democratic Executive Committee.  Member of the Board of Directors of First Assembly of God Church of Lake Charles.  Recently retired from the private practice of law after more than forty-one years.  2007 Democratic Candidate for Governor of Louisiana.