Claude "Raywood" LeMaire, born May 15, 1937 and died September 11, 2018 in a local care center. He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Vinton, Knights of Colombus 4th Degree Member, Louisiana State Mayor's Association, and served as the President of the Sheriff's League for 20 years.
He was born in Cow Island, Louisiana in 1937. After he attended school at E. Broussard in Cow Island, he began his first career in the oilfields, starting in Evangeline. In 1957, he followed a brother and sister to the town of Vinton where he met his wife of 53 1/2 years, Dorothy Plummer LeMaire.
He later went to work in the offshore oilfields but in 1962 his career ended in a bad oilfield accident. A few years later, he bought and successfully ran The Liquor Store in the Town of Vinton. This is when he became interested in politics. In 1968, he decided to run for Alderman for the Town of Vinton, and he won election. He served 18 months as an Alderman. After Mayor Venissat passed away, he decided to run for Town Mayor. In 1971, he won the election and became the Mayor of the Town of Vinton. He served as mayor for a total of 22 1/2 years. In 1971, he helped secure a $1 million dollar grant to build a new water tower for the town and redo all of the 100 year old water lines in Vinton. At the time, a new sewer system cost $2.5 million dollars. He asked the townspeople to support by passing a 1 cent sales tax. At the time Vinton had the only system like this in the state of Louisiana. Through revenue sharing with federal government, the town saved money and every three years the town was able to resurface all of the streets in Vinton needing resurfacing at no cost to the citizens of the town.
He was most proud of helping, with Bill "Cuz" McCardle, to start and build up the Ward 7 Vinton Recreation for the youth in Vinton, where he also served the community as a baseball, softball, and basketball coach, and umpire for many years. Mr. Raywood, as he was known, was also a huge Vinton Lion Fan and supporter.
He is preceded in death by his loving wife of 53 1/2 years, Dorothy Plummer LeMaire; his parents, Raoul LeMaire and Agnes Faulk LeMaire; brothers, John LeMaire, Cleveland LeMaire, Paul LeMaire, Issac LeMaire, Bernard LeMaire, and Allen LeMaire; and sister, Verna LeMaire LeBlanc.
Survivors include his sister, Irene LeMaire Courvelle of Vinton; his brother, Thomas LeMaire of Luling; his children, Bryan LeMaire of Vinton, Kayla LeMaire Foreman and husband, Jimmy of Vinton, Barton LeMaire and wife, June of Hooper, Utah, Samantha LeMaire Guillory and husband, Ronald Guillory of DeQuincy, Natalie LeMaire Fruge' and husband, Kip of Wylie, Texas, Jodi LeMaire Yaber and husband, Bobby of Anahuac, Texas, Valerie LeMaire Burnett and husband, Preston of Vinton, and Blake LeMaire and wife, Codey of Vinton; twenty-seven grandchildren; forty-three great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.
