Lula Wardlow
| Lula Ethridge Warlow | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Montgomery, Grant Parish, Louisiana, USA | |
|
In office 1926–1930 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 9, 1876 Grant Parish, Louisiana, USA |
| Died | August 1, 1970 (aged 94) Austin, Travis County Texas, USA |
| Resting place | Mount Zion United Methodist Church Cemetery in Wheeling in Winn Parish, Louisiana |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Felix Graves Wardlow (married 1901-1970, her death) |
| Relations | Stephen L. Gunn (great-nephew) |
| Children |
Felix Ray Wardlow |
| Parents | James Wesley and Alpha Jane Baker Ethridge |
| Alma mater | Moody Bible Institute |
| Occupation | Christian minister, businesswoman |
| Religion | United Methodist Church |
Felix Ray Wardlow
Lula Ethridge Wardlow (April 9, 1876 – August 1, 1970) was an American businesswoman, United Methodist minister, and the first woman ever elected mayor of a Louisiana community. She served from 1926 to 1930 in Montgomery (population 730 in the 2010 census), a town in northern Grant Parish.
Wardlow was born in Grant Parish to James Wesley Ethridge (1852-1912) and the former Alpha Jane Baker (1848-1949). Both of her parents were from distinguished pioneer families. James Wesley Ethridge was a planter, merchant, and owner of a cotton gin. She was educated in the Montgomery public schools and studied for two years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. On April 3, 1901, she married Felix Graves Wardlow (1871-1974), a merchant and farmer in Montgomery, located some forty miles north of Alexandria in north central Louisiana and twenty-five miles southeast of .
She became a lay preacher in 1909 and was admitted, pending study and internship, in the then Methodist Protestant Church in 1912. She was ordained an elder in 1916 and was conference evangelist from 1913-1920. She was the pastor of the Hicks circuit from 1921 to 1922 and other circuits in north Louisiana thereafter.
Wardlow was elected mayor of Montgomery as a Democrat but on a call for "reform" and incorporation of the Montgomery community. She was re-elected to a second two-year term in 1928 but resigned in 1930 to devote more time to family and the ministry. Her great-nephew, Stephen L. Gunn, was elected Montgomery mayor some seventy-two years after Wardlow vacated the office. Gunn, an Independent, who also served in the Louisiana House of Representatives, was elected mayor in 2002 and again in 2006 with minimal opposition.
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