Preceded by Rollo C. Lawrence Spouse(s) Eloise Hutchinson Kees Name Willie Kees, | Succeeded by H. L. Willis Residence Pineville, Louisiana Political party Democratic Party | |
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Born August 30, 1916
Place of birth missing ( 1916-08-30 ) Resting place Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville Parents William, Sr., and Julia Elizabeth Bradford Kees Died June 12, 2002, Pineville, Louisiana, United States | ||
William Ezra Kees, Jr., known as Willie E. Kees, Jr. (August 30, 1916 – June 12, 2002), was a businessman who served from 1946 to 1952 as the mayor of Pineville, Louisiana.
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Background
Kees was descended from a prominent Central Louisiana family which operated Kees General Store on the Red River. He was the third of four children of William "Billy" Kees, Sr. (1881-1938), who was named the Pineville postmaster in 1911, when the mail office was located in the Kees store. His mother was the former Julia Elizabeth Bradford (1886-1961). He had two sisters, Ruby Kees Wise (1905-1975) and Myrtle Lucille Kees Freeman (1913-1998), and a brother, Stafford Kees (1919-1991).
Career
A Democrat, Kees was elected mayor at the age of twenty-nine. That same year a flood of the Red River spilled over into Pineville because of insufficient levee height and strength. However, the taller and stronger levee held in the sister city of Alexandria. Mayor Kees set forth to bring the levee on the eastern side of the river on par with that in Alexandria.
In 1948, Pineville had only one police car and one fire truck. With city finances at a low ebb, Kees went to mother’s Kees General Store to obtain gasoline for both vehicles. Nearly seventy years later the size of the city and its service employees have mushroomed beyond what many at that time would not have thought likely or possible.
Kees resigned as mayor midway in his second term in August 1952 to become director of the 1,150-patient Louisiana Colony and Training School at nearby Kingsville. He was succeeded as mayor by H. L. Willis, a five-year member of the Pineville City Council and a long-term building superintendent for his alma mater, Louisiana College. Early in 1955, Kees was installed as superintendent of the state school. This brought him into conflict with clinical director William P. Hurder, a psychologist and physician, with whom he had earlier shared authority. Kees' promotion touched off charges of "politics" in his selection. State Representative Cecil R. Blair of Alexandria defended the selection. Because of the controversy, Kees resigned from the school to return to the private sector.
Kees and his wife, the former Eloise Hutchinson (1917-2005), and other family members are interred at Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville.
Kees Park, located at the intersection of the Pineville Expressway and Louisiana Highway 28 East, is named for William Kees, Sr. The facility, which began on a modest scale in 1952, hosts a large number of community events.