Armand J. Brinkhaus, was born on November 7, 1935. He was a lawyer from his native town of Sunset in St. Landry Parish and was a Democratic former member of both the Louisiana House of Representatives (1968-1976) and the Louisiana State Senate (1976-1996). He is particularly known for his promotion of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL).

Brinkhaus graduated from Sunset High School, The Roman Catholic Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). From the latter, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1958. In 1960, he received his Juris Doctorate from Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law. He was a member of the American and St. Landry Parish bar associations, the American Judicature Society, and the American Trial Lawyers Association. He served on the board of St. Landry Homestead Federal Savings Bank, the Opelousas-St. Landry Chamber of Commerce, Doctor’s Hospital of Opelousas, and the South St. Landry Community Library. Brinkhaus was affiliated with the Southwest Rehabilitation Center, the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts of America, Lions International, the Benevolent and Protective Orders of Elks, Women of the World, and other organizations as well.

Brinkhaus and his wife, the former Margaret Bellemin, had seven children. She is a native of Grand Coteau, in St. Landry Parish.

Brinkhaus created the Dr. Armand L. and Julia Thoms Brinkhaus Fund to benefit the Dupré Library at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Also on November 7, 2009, the Acadian Museum in Erath inducted Brinkhaus into the “Order of Living legends”.