Jean M. Doerge

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left|thumb|State Representative Jean Doerge greets friends at a Minden High School alumni gathering.]

Infobox_ State Representative
name= Jean McGlothlin Doerge
office= Louisiana State Representative from District 10 (Webster Parish)
party= Democrat
term_start= 1998
term_end= Incumbent
preceded= Everett Gail Doerge
succeeded= Incumbent
date of birth= birth date and age|1937|06|04
date of death=
place of birth= Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana
religion= Methodist
occupation= Educator
spouse= Everett Doerge, married 1957-his death in 1998
children= One daughter, Sheri Doerge Lester

Jean McGlothlin Doerge (born June 4, 1937) is a retired school teacher and a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Minden, who has represented District 10 (Webster Parish) since the death in 1998 of her husband, Everett Doerge. In 2007, her colleagues named her to the House Appropriations Committee, a key panel that approves state spending. Doerge (pronounced DURR GHEE) is also a member of the Hurricane Katrina Memorial Commission and the Legislative Democratic Caucus.

Early years, education, family

She was born to Thomas McGlothlin (1903-1966) and the former Cora Vercher (1904-1975) in tiny Galbraith in Natchitoches Parish in central Louisiana. She was the middle child in a family of seven daughters. She graduated from Cloutierville High School in Natchitoches Parish. Thereafter, she attended Northwestern State University (then College) in Natchitoches, where she met Everett, a native of Minden. They married in August 1957, and both graduated in 1958. Later, she received her master's degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and thirty additional hours of credits in education from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston.

Mrs. Doerge first taught at Minden High School when it was ranked among the ten best schools in the state. For several years, the Doerges moved around, having been teachers for two years in Arp in Smith County. Texas. When Everett went to Northwestern as an assistant coach, Jean worked in an office in Natchitoches. Later, she resumed teaching in the town of Cotton Valley in Webster Parish.

In March 1965, the Doerges adopted their daughter, Sherie, now a Minden High School teacher who is married to Kevin Lester. Sherie and Kevin have two sons. In 1966, Mrs. Doerge returned to Minden High School and worked in the business education department until 1992, when both she and her husband retired.

Campaigns and elections

Everett Doerge then ran for the Louisiana House, winning by only seventy-one votes over the Republican incumbent Eugene S. Eason of Springhill.

Doerge was a big reelection winner in 1995, when he defeated two Republican women. He died near the end of his second term. Jean, widowed at the age of sixty-one, ran in the special election to succeed him and was an easy winner. She polled 3,048 votes (67 percent) to defeat the Democrat-turned-Republican Mack Garrett, who obtained 1,481 ballots (33 percent). She was subsequently elected to full terms in both 1999 and 2003 without opposition. She is seeking her third full term in the jungle primary set for October 20, 2007.

Legislative accomplishments

In 2001, Mrs. Doerge worked to establish a special district to authorize the creation of a fire and emergency training service district, only the second created in Louisiana. She helped various residents in the Dubberly community in south Webster Parish obtain water service when their wells went dry. She also helped to secure a grant for the Cotton Valley water system.

She has worked to obtain services for Springhill. In 2002, she helped the Springhill Medical Center obtain placement in the Rural Hospital Coalition, a move which enabled the facility to obtain additional funds. She pushed for the designation of a tourism center in Springhill, with appropriate directional signs to the new facility. She also worked for a jogging trail in Frank Anthony Park and for the funding to renovate the Spring Theater.

She pushed for funding to relocate the Northwest Technical College (formerly the Northwest Vocational Technical School) in Minden into a new building.

Doerge pulled strings to obtain special surgery in St. Louis, Missouri, for a cerebral palsy patient, 5-year-old Jeremy Logan Curtis. Had she not acted, the child would have been a permanent invalid. The surgery was successful, and the child was thereafter able to walk and play and faces a bright future.

Doerge's "alma mater", NSU, inducted her into the College of Business Hall of Distinction. Her name is engraved on a plaque located in the foyer of Russell Hall. The Louisiana Police Jury [equivalent of county commission in other states] Association presented her with the "Friends of the Parishes" award.

A cancer survivor

Doerge is also a breast cancer survivor. In an interview with Juanita Agan of the "Minden Press-Herald", the Methodist Doerge attributed her recovery to the will and love of God and His answer to her prayers for strength and endurance, the care of her physicians, the love of her family, and the concern of friends. Late in 2004, she was declared cancer-free.

Reelection in 2007

Doerge easily retained her seat in the October 20, 2007, jungle primary. She received 6,681 votes (57 percent) to 4,133 (35 percent) for the conservative Republican Ronnie Lavelle Broughton (born 1942) of Minden, the president of the Webster Parish School Board. An African American candidate, Terrell Mendenhall of Cullen, polled 915 ballots (8 percent). Broughton had committed to the victorious Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal, but Doerge had proclaimed her neutrality in the governor's race.

In his campaign, Broughton questioned why Louisiana Highway 371 remains a two-lane road. He had promised if elected to "bring transportation dollars home to our area." Broughton also proclaimed himself a pro-life candidate: "Life starts at conception, marriage is between a man and woman, and the Second Amendment should be protected and held sacred."

References

http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=49&Itemid=70

http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/members.asp?ID=10

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=06209860

http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BZZ83331

http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=44014827

http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

http://www.jeandoerge.com/acommplishments.html

"Minden Press-Herald", June 1, 2007

http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10200760