Garland Forman named Bunkie Rotary's 'Citizen of Year’

Bunkie Councilman-At-Large Greg Prudhomme described long time Bunkie Record editor Garland Forman as a man who “has always been available and willing to help” as he honored Forman with Bunkie Rotary Club’s Citizen of the Year award Thursday night.

He was born on a rainy Friday the 13th in Ville Platte where he was the first of three children of Ray and Velma Forman. The family lived in Pineville where he graduated from Pineville High School in 1976. He continued his education at Louisiana College on an athletic scholarship awarded to him by the late Coach Billy Allgood. He met his wife, Debbie Passman, at LC in 1976 and they married in 1978. They have four children:  Patrick, Susan, Jason and James. They have three grandchildren:  Ethan, Colin and Nora.

Forman developed a love for journalism by visiting his father, who was a newspaper carrier at the Alexandria Town Talk. This has carried him through his 32-years-and-counting career in the newspaper industry.

He worked for the Eunice News and KEUN-FM in Eunice before he was hired as a stringer for the Ville Platte Gazette in 1985.

In August of 1987 he was given the career opportunity that led him to Bunkie when he was named Bunkie Record sports editor. Less than a year later, in May of 1988, he earned the title of editor at the Bunkie Record.

It was through the 31 years Forman spent at the Bunkie Record, that he became integrated into the community of Bunkie and had a profound impact on its residents’ lives as a member of the Chamber of Commerce Board for several years, including two years as president; as a member of the Bunkie Rotary Club since 1988, serving three two-year terms as president; as chairman of the Louisiana Corn Festival for two years; and as president of the Bunkie Panther Club, which supports local high school sports, since the early 1990’s.

The avid sports lover has also served as Chairman and Co-chairman of the Rotary Lions Golf Tournament for 15 years, never missed local high school sporting events in Bunkie, and served several years on the All-State Committees for high school sports.

Even though Forman did not reside in Bunkie, Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charles Riddle said, “He loved it like it was his home.”

Riddle continued, “He was always fervent (having or displaying a passionate intensity) in his writing and promoting of Bunkie.”

Upon accepting his award Thursday evening, Forman said, “I want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart, especially my wife, kids, my father and step mother. This means a lot to me, and Bunkie means a lot to me. I really appreciate this. Thank y’all.”

During his time with the Bunkie Record, he also contributed work to the Marksville Weekly News and the Avoyelles Journal.

Through his 31-years with the Bunkie Record, he was also instrumental in earning an impressive amount of awards for the small time newspaper including the coveted Newspaper of the Year honor three times since 2005, Editorial Sweepstakes six times, Best Investigative Reporter seven times and over 400 other newspaper awards.

He has also served as the Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Louisiana Press Associations Contest Committee and was named to the LPA Board of Directors in 2007. In 2016, he became LPA President which he served for two years.  He was President of the Louisiana Sports Writer Association for two years and on the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

In September of this year, he said goodbye to Bunkie - a place has considered home for more than three decades.  His move was one that didn’t take him out of the news business, but instead brought him back to one of the first papers he wrote for when he accepted the promotion to the position of Publisher at the Ville Platte Gazette.

The impact Forman had in the Bunkie community is what he said he hopes to have in Evangeline and Allen Parishes. “Bunkie and Avoyelles Parish were very good to me during the last 31 years, and I’ll never forget that,” said Forman. “But, now that I am in Ville Platte, I hope to be able to build the same close friendships with local leaders and the community just as I was able to do in Bunkie. I also hope to have the same positive impact on the Evangeline and Allen Parish communities just as I did in Avoyelles Parish.”

In his new position he is responsible for overseeing the production of several local newspapers in Evangeline and Allen Parish including the Ville Platte Gazette, Kinder Courier, Oakdale Journal, The Basile Weekly and the Acadian Press.