Benny Gay Christian
Benny Gay Christian was from 1964 to 1974 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Richland Parish in the northeastern portion of his state. A resident of Rayville, he also represented Caldwell and Madison parishes during portions of his tenure. In his last two years, he served alongside fellow Democrat Lantz Womack, a banker from Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, Louisiana.
Christian served during both administrations of Governor John McKeithen and the first two years of the first term of Edwin Washington Edwards. Christian resigned from the House midway in his third term. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Francis C. Thompson of Delhi, who remained in the House until 2008, when he was sworn into office in his first term in the Louisiana State Senate. Thompson began serving his third and final term in the state Senate on January 11, 2016.
Christian was married to the former Jean Eddins, who attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, then Northeast Louisiana University, from which she received a master's degree. She taught for eighteen years at Holly Ridge High School in the Holly Ridge community in Richland Parish. She then became a supervisor of Business and Office Education in the capital city of Baton Rouge and traveled for a decade as part of her job duties. She worked under four superintendents, Bill Dodd, Louis J. Michot, J. Kelly Nix, and Thomas Clausen. After retiring from the state Department of Education, she taught at Spencer and Gonzales business colleges until she was seventy-two. She died in Monroe in 2013, a day before her 88th birthday.
Christian and his wife had two children, Raymond G. Christian of Baton Rouge and Carol Jean Christian Sorey and husband, Danny, of Monroe. The Christians are interred at the Masonic Cemetery in Rayville.
