Chris Faser Jr.

Christian Faser Jr. (May 28, 1917 – January 17, 2004), technically Chris Faser III, was a Democrat who served in both the Mississippi and the Louisiana House of Representatives, best known as a confidant of Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis.

Background

Faser was born in Monroe in Ouachita Parish in northeastern Louisiana, one of three children of Chris Faser Sr. (1884–1955),^[1][2] a plane crash victim, and the former Pearl Wrenn (1887–1958), a native of Bolivar County, Mississippi. The senior Fasers relocated in 1940 from Monroe to Winona in Montgomery County in north central Mississippi, where they operated a pharmacy business.^[3]

Political life

In 1942, Chris Faser Jr., at the age of twenty-five, was a staff member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission in Baton Rouge, when singer-politician Jimmie Davis, then of Shreveport, joined the commission as one of the then three (since five) elected members. Davis soon left the PSC to run successfully for governor. Faser became a confidant of the Davis campaign, which pushed to victory in a Democratic runoff election over the Covington lawyer Lewis L. Morgan. He then became Governor Davis's chief of staff. By c. 1950, with Davis out of office, Faser had relocated to Winona to join his parents in management of the pharmacy. During this time, he was elected to the Mississippi legislature. In 1959, after the deaths of both of Faser's parents, Davis convinced Faser to return to Baton Rouge to manage Davis's second successful campaign for governor^[4] in which the musician-politician defeated rivals DeLesseps Story Morrison, William M. Rainach, Bill Dodd, James A. Noe, and Francis Grevemberg.

In 1968, Faser was elected to one of seven seats for East Baton Rouge Parish in the Louisiana House. Though he served for only one term,^[5] he was the floor leader for Davis's successor as governor, Democrat John McKeithen.^[4] Upon leaving the legislature, Faser became the manager of the Capitol House Hotel and the Bellemont Motor Hotel, both in Baton Rouge. Governor Edwin Edwards, McKeithen's successor, appointed Faser to serve on the Louisiana Tourist Development Commission. He also was a board member of the Louisiana Retired State Employees Association and became the first vice president of that organization before Alzheimer's disease compelled his retirement.^[4]

Death

Faser died early in 2004 and was survived by his second wife, Pearl Fletcher Faser (born May 1926), also the first name of his mother. He had a son, Christian Faser III (1940–2014), by his first wife, Maritza "Biz" Faser. Chris Faser III was an employee of the Louisiana Department of Insurance who retired to rural Batchelor in Pointe Coupee Parish, where he died at the age of seventy-four late in 2014.^[6]

Faser also had two step-children, Jamie Taber Tarwater (born July 1961) and Ronald (last name not mentioned in obituary). After services at the First United Methodist Church, he was interred at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum. His honorary pallbearers included Louisiana politicians Donald Ray Kennard, W. Fox McKeithen, Francis C. Thompson, Aubrey W. Young, Robert "Bobby" Freeman, B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn, Risley C. Triche, Eugene McGehee, and Colonel Bo Garrison of the Louisiana State Police.^[4]

References