Zelma Charles Wyche - Submitted for the USGenWeb by Richard P. Sevier 6/3/2012

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Zelma Charles Wyche - Madison Parish, Louisiana 

From Tallulah Madison Journal September 29, 1999

The Celebration of Life for Mr. Zelma Charles Wyche, 81, of Tallulah, will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, 
September 30, 1999 at the Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church, North Walnut and Craig Streets, with the 
Reverend Dennis Xxdden, pastor, officiating.

The Reverend Dr. Bobby Joe Xxacer, Decatur, Ga., will deliver the eulogy, at the church at 9 a.m. Interment 
will be at the Oakwood Cemetery, Tallulah, under the direction of' Miller Funeral Home, Tallulah.

The Hour of Reflections with xxxx and Masonic Rites will be at 7 p.m. at the Tallulah-Madison Community 
Center, Beech and Neal Streets, Tallulah from 6 - 9 p.m., Wednesday, September 29, 1999.

Mr. Wyche, former Mayor, Alderman and Chief of Police in Tallulah, died Friday, September 24, 1999 after 
a lengthy illness. Affectionately known as "Mr. Civil Rights of Louisiana," the World War II veteran devoted 
over fifty years fighting for rights of Blacks and the poor. In 1947, he was one of eight black men to 
file a lawsuit against the Registrar of Voters, Madison Parish officials and the governor of the State of 
Louisiana for the right of Blacks to vote. Fifteen years later, the lawsuit was won. He was one of the 
first Blacks to register to vote and run for public office in Tallulah which resulted in the first Black 
elected official in 1966.

As an activist in Madison Parish and throughout Louisiana, Mr. Wyche organized Tallulah's first Boy Scout 
troop number 152, the Madison Parish Voters' League and was instrumental in the building of three apartment 
complexes in Tallulah, including Wyche Apartments. He is a former President of the Madison chapter of the NAACP, 
Chairman of' the Madison Parish Hospital Service District Board, President of Delta Community Action, Chairman 
of the Louisiana Delegation National Democratic Convention, Miami, Florida, 1972 and Chairman of the Political 
Action Commission of the Fifth District Black Caucus. In 1978, he was the dinner guest of President Jimmy Carter 
at Blair House. Ebony Magazine featured him in January 1970, "Black Law-man in KKK Territory."

Mr Wyche was an active member of Starr Lodge number 953, IBPOE of W, the Masons and numerous other organizations. 
His awards, honors, citations, plaques and honor programs have been numerous. 

The Chairman of the Deacon Board of Greater Mt. Olive Baptist church is survived by his wife of 59 years, 
Myrtle Washington Wyche, Tallulah: one daughter, Elois Wyche Saucer (Bobby), Decatur, Ga.; one son, Dr. 
Ronald Charles Wyche (Stella), New Orleans; one great - granddaughter, Cydney Leah Ayana Edwards; two nieces, 
Earlean Sills and Audrey Crenshaw, Phoenix, Az.; two nephews, Clifton Ennis, Jr. Phoenix, and Glenn Edward Ennis, 
Los Angeles, Calif.; sisters-in-law, Willena Brun, Chicago, Ill., Martha Revallion (Mark) of Universal City, Texas, 
Rosie Lee Wyche, Tallulah, and Mary Wyche, New Orleans; one brother-in-law, Lloyd Washington (Mastic Arm), 
San Antonio, Texas; a dear cousin, Clarence J. Clark, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.; one God-son, Joseph M. Scott, 
Detroit, Mich., other cousins, relatives and friends.