Obituaries: Lewis B. Gay, Sabine Parish G-000 Source: Sabine Index, Many, La., Jun 9, 1933 Submitted by: Tammy Larche-Smith tammy@cp-tel.net ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The Sabine Index - Lewis B Gay 9 Jun 1933 - Colonel Lewis Benton Gay, 78, expired at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday at the Allen sanitarium at Converse, from the effects of an attack of paralysis. Funeral services were at the family residence in Zwolle 3:30 p.m. Wednesday conducted by the Rev. J. Cude Rousseaux, pastor of Many and Zwolle Methodist churches. Interment was at 5:30 the same afternoon at 5:30 at Robeline; the services at the grave being conducted by the Masonic order. Pallbearers were the mayor and aldermen of Zwolle: Mayor Joe B. Parrott, Aldermen, D. F. Peterson, F. A. Keelen, M. L. Corley, Joseph Knouse, and friends as follows: Tom Gaul, G. E. Martinez, J. G. Harrelson, R. B. Leone and Robert Pearson. Col. Gay was born in Sabine parish on Bayou Toro near the present village of Sandel January 22, 1855, being the son of Louis Allen Gay and Mary Elizabeth Nash. The parents died while Lewis Benton was a child and the young man was reared in Many by his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Nash, he later being employed on a plantation near Alexandria, then returned to Many and became identified with the mercantile business of the then pioneer village. He married Miss Lula Fox of Alexandria, returning to Many with his bride on a steamboat to Grand Encore, and completing his journey with a horse and buggy. With the building of the T. & P. railway thru Robeline, Col. Gay saw the possibilities of the mercantile business along the railroad and moved there to embark in business. After several years successful trading in Robeline, in 1902 with the building of the K.C.S. railway through central Sabine parish, the development spirit seized Mr. Gay and he moved to Zwolle, erected the first home to be built in that town, the same he was living in at the time of his death. Mr. Gay was agent for the Arkansas Townsite company, owners of original Zwolle, but wasn't long delayed in embarking in the mercantile business, where he enjoyed a splendid patronage until he was employed by the Sabine Lumber company, which had just started operations at the new town. Until the day of his death Col. Gay remained in the employ of the Sabine Lumber company. Immediate surviving relatives of Col. Gay are: L. B. Gay, Jr., Colfax; Mrs. T. C. Webb, Baton Rouge; Mrs. W. H. Moores, Peason; and Col. R. L. Gay, daddy of Sabine parish oil fields and president of the police jury. He is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Lavinia McKnight of Dallas, Texas. All of the immediate kin were present at the last illness and funeral. Col. Gay was always open and above board on all public issues, ready to fight for what he believed right, a lover of development and progressiveness. He was a member of the Sabine parish Democratic Central committee and the Board of Alderman of the Town of Zwolle at the time of his death, was a member of the Zwolle Methodist church, Masonic Lodge, and Scottish Rite lodge at Shreveport.