[Music] what stands out in my mind when i think of terry landry is his commitment and his drive for those who are in need in the state of louisiana he loves to help he loves to give it's part of his dna a remarkable man who rose from humble beginnings a natural-born leader a vietnam veteran and the first african-american to serve as superintendent of louisiana state police these are just a few of the accolades for former state representative and new iberian native terry c landry senior he is the eighth child of nine born to the late linus and agnes chatman landry he was a lot like my mother and father a lot like my mother and father always doing things for people he had favorite adults in the in the community and he was always doing something for them as a young boy terry often played the game of cops and robbers with his friends terry always liked that game but terry was always the cop the others were the robbers he brought them for justice that's one thing right and wrong i've always seen that in him i can remember in high school that was during the beginning of integration principal would go to get him to come and help him to solve some of the problems between the kid the races really after graduating from new iberia's senior high terri joined the army and served honorably for three years before returning home he became an officer with a local police department before leaving to work for shell oil company in 1975 terry married the love of his life sharon broussard and they raised three beautiful children but his desire to be a police officer never left him and in 1978 terry entered the louisiana state police academy he served in many positions patrol trooper detective sergeant chief of staff commander of the crime lab and more he continued his training at the lsu police executive institute and the fbi academy by 1997 terry was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 2000 governor mike foster appointed him as superintendent of louisiana state police throughout his years of service terry saw the need to help at-risk young people along with another new iberia native and businessman william dorray he started the louisiana state police foundation to address the needs of underserved youth he loved these young people he saw things in them that maybe parents didn't see terry mentioned to me about his chartering of a summer camp his mission would take kids throughout the state of louisiana and would come to his camp and be mentored by state troopers it will work very very well and uh to this day thousands of kids have gone through terry landry's camp i say that because yes it is a louisiana state tour foundation camp but my to me it is terry landry's camp in november 2011 terry was elected to the louisiana house of representatives and became the first to serve iberia lafayette and saint martin parishes in the newly created house district 96. he was a staunch advocate for public education affordable health care medicaid expansion responsible gun control and prison reform i've seen him go from a trooper into the legislation as a desire to improve the state not for personal gain although terry no longer serves as an elected official he continues living his passion by remaining engaged in community services for underserved citizens he's very sensitive to the needs of people and particularly i think poor people people who may not have the ability to necessarily articulate the problems and the challenges that they face on a day-to-day basis sometimes he becomes the voice of the voiceless terry's wife sharon broussard landry lost a courageous 10-year battle with cancer in their 44 years of marriage she was devoted to and supported terry in all of his career endeavors along with their three children the landry's have five grandchildren i think he's had dreams from young dreams that we may not have understood as we were growing up but dreams that i think he has fulfilled in many ways and that dream was be a significant service to other people [Music] you