COUGHLIN SAUNDERS FOUNDATION

F. Hugh Coughlin and R. Rife Saunders incorporated the Coughlin Saunders Foundation in Louisiana in 1950. Mr. and Mrs. Coughlin moved to Alexandria in 1938, and Mr. Coughlin, an engineer with experience in utilities, became vice-president and then president of Louisiana Ice and Electric (now CLECO) and led the company's transition into a modern utility company. Mrs. Coughlin, a former opera singer and voice coach, worked as a volunteer with both youth and adult choirs and produced both un-staged and staged opera in Alexandria... In 1939, Mr. and Mrs. Saunders moved from Mississippi to Alexandria, where he became a dealer for GM's Chevrolet Motor Company and a dealer and distributor for GM's Cadillac Automobile Company. Like the Coughlins, the Saunders believed in the future of Central Louisiana and were involved financially with CLECO.