Cathy Long, won husband’s US House seat after his death
Cathy Long, a Louisiana Democrat who won her husband’s U.S. House seat after his death in 1985, has died in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She was 95.
Her family says dementia was the cause.
Long beat three competitors with 56% of the vote. She didn’t run for reelection to the seat Gillis Long had held for a total of 16 years.
Mary Catherine Small was born in Dayton, Ohio. She joined the Navy at age 20, during World War II, serving at a Navy hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Longs met at Louisiana State University, where both enrolled after the war. They married in 1947.
Their daughter, Janis Long, says her mother probably worked on Gillis Long’s campaign for LSU student body president, as well as all of his later campaigns.
___
This story has been corrected to show that it was Long’s daughter, not her son, who made the comment.