Extracted from The Alexandria Daily Town Talk (Alexandria, LA)
Thursday, September 11, 2003

Verdis Dowdy

Services for Mrs. Verdis Dowdy will be held at 10 a.m., Thursday, September 11, 2003 in the chapel of Hix-son Brothers, Alexandria with Reverend B. G. Dyess officiating. Burial will be in Jena Cemetery.

Mrs. Dowdy, 77, of Alexandria died Tuesday, September 9, 2003, in her resi-dence.

She was editor of Louisiana Municipal Review and the Town Talk where she won many state and national awards Director of Tourism for Rapides Parish for many years. She was on the Board of Directors for Tourism, Council for State of Louisiana an historian. During World War II she was a civilian employee for the Strategic Air Command. She was owner and tour director of Verdis Dowdy Tours.

Mrs. Dowdy was very well know politically and wrote speeches for Russell Long, Gillis Long, Edwin Edwards and many other politicians.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Charley and Allie Valentine [sic Volentine] Hawthorne.