Fred L. Schiele

Fred Lyle “Buddy” Schiele, Sr.
Louisiana State Representative from Concordia Parish
In office 1964–1968
Preceded by	S.P. "Jack" Crane
Succeeded by	David I. Patten
Sheriff of Concordia Parish
In office April 6, 1973 – July 1980
Preceded by	Noah W. Cross
Succeeded by	John Patrick
Personal details
Born	November 28, 1933 Vidalia, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	January 24, 2002 (aged 68) Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA
Resting place	Natchez City Cemetery in Natchez, Mississippi
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Maxine Smith Schiele (married 1954-2002, his death)
Children	Fred Schiele, Jr. Carole Ann Schiele Rice Patricia Leigh Schiele Alan Maxwell Schiele Steven Lowery Schiele, II
Residence	Vidalia and Alexandria, Louisiana
Occupation	Farmer; Sheriff
Religion	United Methodist Church
(1) Schiele had already been a one-term state representative, when his former legislative colleague, Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, tapped him to succeed Noah W. Cross as sheriff of Schiele’s native Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana. (2) Schiele managed Edwards’ gubernatorial campaign in Concordia Parish in 1971–1972. (3) After his seven years as sheriff, Shiele completed his college degree later in life and was employed thereafter by the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

Fred Lyle Schiele, Sr., known also as Buddy Schiele (November 28, 1933 – January 24, 2002),^[1] served from 1964 to 1968 as a United States Democratic Party member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Concordia Parish^[2] in the eastern portion of the state adjacent to the Mississippi River.

Schiele (pronounced SHE LEE) did not seek reelection in the 1967 primary election but instead unsuccessfully opposed incumbent Sheriff Noah W. Cross of Ferriday.

Background

Schiele was one of four sons born in Vidalia, the parish seat of Concordia Parish, to Catesby Edward Schiele and the former Lucille Rountree (1897–1977). He graduated in 1951 from Vidalia High School. In 1981, at the age of forty-eight, he procured his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.^[3] Prior to his involvement in politics, Schiele ran a cotton gin in Ferriday, the other principal city of Concordia Parish. He also served on the board of First Federal Savings and Loan in Vidalia.^[4]

In 1954, Schiele married the former Maxine Smith (1937-2009), a 1955 graduate of Vidalia High School. The couple had five children: Fred Schiele, Jr. (born 1955), a former deputy sheriff for his father and the appointed chief of police in Ferriday chief of police, who later entered the trucking business in Dallas; Carole Ann Schiele Rice (born 1960) and Patricia Leigh Schiele (born 1962), both of Loranger in Tangipahoa Parish; Alan Maxwell Schiele (born 1964), a deputy sheriff in East Baton Rouge Parish, and Steven Lowery Schiele, II (born 1975) of Port Vincent, a village in Livingston Parish. Steven is named for Steven Schiele, I, a first cousin who was killed in an automobile accident in 1971. There were also three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.^[5]

Political life

On April 6, 1973, more than five years after he first ran for sheriff of Concordia Parish, Schiele was appointed to the office by Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, pending a special election, after incumbent Noah Cross was forced to resign after twenty-five years in office because of the failure of the appeal of his federal conviction of perjury.^[6] Edwards settled on Schiele because the two had been legislative colleagues, and Schiele managed Edwards' 1971–1972 gubernatorial campaign in Concordia Parish.^[4]

Sheriff Schiele won a full term in the 1975 election, but he was unseated in 1979 by fellow Democrat John Patrick, an insurance agent. He then completed his college degree and was employed thereafter by the Probation and Paroles section of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety. Schiele attempted a comeback in 1987, when he challenged incumbent Sheriff Hubert Lee McGlothin (1940–2004), who had previously been the mayor of Ferriday. In the 1987 contest, Schiele polled 1,155 votes (12.8 percent).^[7] McGlothin resigned midway in his second term as sheriff as a result of a criminal conviction. The Concordia Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body, then appointed Randy Maxwell, effective August 31, 1990, to serve until a special election was held on March 21, 1991. In that all-Democrat contest, Maxwell defeated Schiele, 4,619 (62.9 percent) to 1,900 (25.9 percent). Two other candidates shared the remaining 11.3 percent of the vote.^[8] Maxwell was unopposed in the nonpartisan blanket primary for sheriff on October 19, 1991, and has since remained in the position though he has had close elections.^[9]

Death

The probation and paroles division relocated the Schieles to Alexandria, where he died of a massive heart attack at the age of sixty-eight. He was Methodist. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Schiele, a native of Natchez, Mississippi, moved to Loranger to be near her two daughters. Schiele, like Sheriff Cross his predecessor, is interred at the Natchez City Cemetery across the Mississippi River from Vidalia.^[10]

References

1. Roots Web.com:http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
2. "Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1880–2008, "Compilations by Dirk Thibodeaux, Kathryn Barker, Kevin Blanchard, Alan Manda, Suzanne Hughes, Travis Gautreau, Laura Edmonston, Robyn Cockerham, Frances Thomas, and Suzie Johnston:http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/h1880-2008.pdf
3. Statement of Fred Schiele, Jr., July 2008
4. "Schiele to Succeed Cross in Appointment", Concordia Sentinel, April 4, 1973, p. 1
5. Alexandria Daily Town Talk, obituary, January 5, 2002; statement of Maxine Smith Schiele, July 2008
6. ’’Concordia Sentinel’’, Ferriday, Louisiana, April 11, 1973, p. 1
7. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results, October 24, 1987:http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10248715
8. Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results, March 23, 1991:http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=03239115
9. Joey Martin, "Randy Maxwell: 'Still a lot to do'", Concordia Sentinel, October 18, 2007:http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=807
10. Natchez City Cemetery records, Natchez, Mississippi