Grove Stafford

David Grove Stafford, Sr.
Louisiana State Senator for Rapides Parish
In office 1940–1948
Preceded by	George W. Lee
Succeeded by	C. H. "Sammy" Downs
Louisiana State Senate President Pro Tempore
In office 1944–1948
Preceded by	Frank B. Ellis
Succeeded by	Dudley J. LeBlanc
Personal details
Born	September 26, 1897 Alexandria Rapides Parish Louisiana, USA
Died	June 21, 1975 (aged 77) Alexandria, Louisiana
Resting place	Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville, Louisiana
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Emily Gaiennie Stafford
Relations	Leroy Augustus Stafford (grandfather) Thomas Overton Moore (maternal great-grandfather) David Theophilus Stafford (uncle)
Children	Grove Stafford, Jr. Emily Stafford Brame McNeely Margaret S. Daniel George Mason Graham Stafford
Parents	Leroy Augustus and Bertha Moore Hyams Stafford
Residence	Alexandria, Louisiana
Alma mater	Missing
Occupation	Attorney

David Grove Stafford, Sr., known as Grove Stafford (September 26, 1897 – June 21, 1975), was an attorney in Alexandria, Louisiana, who represented Rapides Parish as a Democrat in the Louisiana State Senate for two terms from 1940 to 1948 during the administrations of Governors Sam Houston Jones and Jimmie Davis. Under Davis, Stafford was the State Senate President Pro Tempore.^[1]

Descended from two prominent families, Stafford was the fifth of eight children of Leroy Augustus Stafford, Jr. (1869-1923), an Alexandria native and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. His grandfather, also named Leroy Augustus Stafford, was a general for the Confederate States of America in the Civil War who was mortally wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. His uncle, David Theophilus Stafford, was a four-term Rapides Parish sheriff from 1888 to 1904.^[2] Stafford's mother, the former Bertha Moore Hyams (1870-1959), was a granddaughter of Louisiana Civil War Governor Thomas Overton Moore. The youngest of Stafford's siblings, Thomas Overton Moore Stafford (1905-1973),^[3] was an uncle by marriage of the late U.S. Representative Harold B. McSween of Louisiana's 8th congressional district, since disbanded.^[4]

Grove Stafford and his wife, the former Emily Gaiennie (1903-1974), had four children, Alexandria attorney Grove Stafford, Jr.; Emily Stafford Brame McNeely (1926-1997), who died in Crowley in Acadia Parish; Margaret "Patti" Daniel, and George Mason Graham Stafford.^[5]

Stafford was succeeded in the state Senate in 1948 by C. H. "Sammy" Downs and the return of Earl Kemp Long to the governorship.^[1] He subsequently served on the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors in the administration of Long's second successor, Robert F. Kennon. He was a defendant in the appeal of a suit brought forth from 1953 to 1955 against LSU by the African-American civil rights attorney A. P. Tureaud of New Orleans.^[6]

Stafford died in Alexandria at the age of seventy-eight and is interred at Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville, alongside his wife.^[5]

Grove Stafford, Jr. (born December 1928), a Republican,^[7] graduated from the Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans and is affiliated with the Alexandria firm Stafford, Stewart and Potter,^[8] formerly Stafford and Pitts.

References

1. "Membership of the Louisiana State Senate, 1880-Present: Rapides Parish" (PDF). senate.la.gov. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
2. "Leroy Augustus Stafford, Jr. (father of Grove Stafford)". Findagrave.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
3. "Bertha Moore Hyams Stafford (mother of Grove Stafford)". findagrave.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
4. "Alice McSween Stafford (sister-in-law of Grove Stafford)". findagrave.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
5. "David Grove Stafford, Sr.". findagrave.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
6. "Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical et al, Appellants, v. Alexander P. Tureaud, Jr., a Minor, by Alexander P. Tureaud, Sr., his father, Appellee". openjurist.org. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
7. "Grove Stafford, December 1928". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
8. "David G. Stafford". intelius.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.