Sixty Rayburn

Benjamin Burras Rayburn (August 11, 1916 – March 5, 2008) was an American politician. He served as Democratic member for the 12nd district of the Louisiana State Senate, and as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Rayburn was born in Sumrall, Mississippi. He attended Sumrall High School and Sullivan Memorial Trade School. He served as a member and vice president of the Washington Parish Police Jury from 1944 to 1948, at the time being the youngest member of a police jury in Louisiana.

In 1948 Rayburn was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. In 1951 he was elected for the 12nd district of the Louisiana State Senate, serving until 1996, when he was succeeded by Phil Short.

Honors Rayburn received included an honorary doctorate from Loyola University in 1959 and an induction into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2006 the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections renamed the Washington Correctional Institute as the B.B. Rayburn Correctional Center.

Rayburn died in March 2008 from complications of lung cancer at the St. Tammany Hospital in Covington, Louisiana, at the age of 91.