Dennis Paul Hebert, politician, died at 88

  Dead Famous

Dennis Paul Hebert, Sr., born on October 7, 1926 and died September 11, 2015, he was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 73 in Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes, who served from 1972 to 1996.

Dennis was unseated by a narrow margin in the 1995 general election by the Republican Henry “Tank” Powell, 7,803 (50.8 percent) to 7,563 (49.2 percent).

A native of Ponchatoula in Tangipahoa Parish, he was one of six children of Charles Bentley Hebert and the former Majorie Eschenberg.

He resided in his later years in the capital city of Baton Rouge with his second wife, the former Ruth Glass Lincecum.

As a representative, he was chairman of the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee and vice-chairman of the House Governmental Affairs Committee. He was a member of the Ponchatoula City Council from 1961 to 1972 and the Mayor Pro Tem from 1969 to 1972.

In his youth, he labored in the strawberry fields, graduated from Ponchatoula High School, where he played football and basketball, and attended Southeastern Louisiana University, then College, in Hammond.

Dennis was an amateur boxer and from 1948 to 1954 was employed by Louisiana Power and Light Company.

He retired in 1983 from Shell Oil in Norco in St. Charles Parish with twenty-nine years of service to the company.

Dennis was affiliated with the Roman Catholic men’s organization, the Knights of Columbus, Lions International, the Ponchatoula Fire Department, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation, Baton Rouge Alzheimer’s Association, the American Heart Association, and the Audubon Society.

As a sports referee, Dennis was a member of the Louisiana High School Athletic Officials Association and the National Baseball Congress Umpire Association.

He was the 1961 “Ponchatoula Citizen of the Year”, the 1997 Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival King, and the 1989 grand marshal of Krewe of Erin.

Dennis had an interest in ornithology, history, travel, and western films, even having appeared in several movies filmed within Louisiana.

Dennis Paul Hebert died at age 88 on September 11, 2015.