Here is another photo from the Mac Ward collection, showing Mr. Ward interviewing the great astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. in Monroe. I found a newspaper article that stated he stopped in Monroe with his family on the way to Houston, TX where they were moving! The stop happened July 29, 1962, a little over a year after his famous flight in space!
https://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-mac%3A3
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 