Paul A. Kennon

Paul Atherton Kennon Jr. (January 27, 1934 – January 8, 1990), was an American architect, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Dean of the School of Architecture at Rice University, Texas, US.

A native of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana, Kennon studied for his undergraduate degree at Texas A & M University, followed by earning a Master's degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan. He worked for seven years as a designer for architect Eero Saarinen and the former Gladys Bookout (1910-2001), originally from Shreveport. The couple divorced. A college graduate, his mother for years was executive secretary at Arkansas-Louisiana CITGO.

About 1945, Gladys Kennon married Taylor W. O'Hearn of Shreveport. In 1964, when blacks were still mostly disenfranchised in Louisiana, O'Hearn was elected at-large from Caddo Parish as a state representative. He was one of two Republicans elected that year, the first to serve in the state house since Reconstruction. The other was also elected at-large from Caddo Parish.