Jean Baptiste Adoue

Jean Baptiste Adoue, Jr. (November 4, 1884 – November 17, 1956) was the mayor of Dallas, Texas from 1951 to 1953.

Early career

He is born in Dallas County, Texas as a son of Jean Baptiste Adoue, Sr. and Mittie Neosha "Simpson" Adoue who had four children. In 1906, he graduated in law from the University of Texas at Austin and with that he went back to his home town to practice law for the following year before working with Adoue Sr. at the National Bank of Commerce (formerly known as Flippen, Adoue, and Lobit which changed when his father became president in 1892). He went on to marry Hester Ann Allen on October 12, 1909 who gave him two children. At that institution, in 1924, he followed his father's steps to become president at his father's death (by suicide in his home on June 24). After Ms. Allen died, he re-married on May 12, 1937, his second wife with whom he had no kids was Mary J. Wilson. From 1939 to 1947 he was president of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce for which he financially strengthen earning him the Linz Award for community service in 1943.

Life as a mayor

In 1942 and re-elected in 1943 and 1945, he was sitting at the city council where he became well known and appreciated. This resulted in a 1949 mayor election in which he participated where he lost to Wallace H. Savage, though he received the most votes as an elected council member. By 1951, another mayor vote by the public brought him into office. During his term as a mayor which resulted in clashes between his office and number of unions, he passed a public-works program with which the Love Field would be expanded. When re-election came, Adoue didn't run for a second term as he saw his health decline.

He went back to his banker job after his mayor office term where he worked till his death on November 17, 1956, while working. He was buried at Crown Hill Memorial Mausoleum, Dallas, Texas.

Feats

He was once on the list of top ten tennis players in Texas and was sitting on the board of director of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association for thirty years. He was also a Member of American Arbitration Association, American Bar Association, Newcomen Society and Phi Delta Theta.

References

• Find-A-Grave site