Every so often, County Progress asks our distinguished Judges and Commissioners to allow us a glimpse into their public lives, giving us a fresh appreciation for the myriad of roles and responsibilities they shoulder every day. Our thanks to Oldham County Commissioner Quincy Taylor for taking the time to visit with us.
YOUR HISTORY:
I was born and raised right here in Oldham County, as were my dad and his parents; in fact, they were some of the first people to build a home in Vega. Growing up in a very talented and artistic family, we were always working on some kind of project. My dad was an exceptional wood crafter and excellent gunsmith and marksman. We grew up hunting and fishing and spending lots of time outdoors when we weren’t working on projects.
My mom grew up just a couple of counties north of us in Texline. You really can’t live any further north and stay in Texas. My mom was a very talented seamstress, cook, and artist. She taught me what it meant to be involved and to volunteer, whether it be at school, at church, leading Girl Scouts, or so many other activities. I was the oldest of their three girls and was always the most outspoken and outgoing. Sometimes that trait got me in some tight spots, but more than anything, I always knew if I needed help, all I had to do was call.
I graduated from Vega High School in 1976, the Bicentennial, and have been a red, white, and blue kind of girl ever since! I earned an Associate’s Degree in Fashion Design from a small college in Arlington and stayed in the Dallas area for five years before deciding it was time to come back home. I just wasn’t meant to be a city girl. I wasn’t home for long when I started dating a Vega guy who was also born and raised in Oldham County, as were his parents and grandparents. David and I married in 1983 and celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary in January.
We have two sons who were born exactly a year and a week apart, and we are very blessed that they both have chosen to raise their families in Vega. Clifford, our oldest, works for Xcel Energy and is married to his wife, Chelbye, who has her own salon. They have blessed us with our two favorite grandsons, Cohen and Cove. Clay, our youngest son, manages our family grocery store and is married to his wife, Stephanie, who is in the insurance business. They have blessed us with our two favorite granddaughters, Landree and Preslee. I am so thankful that they are right here raising their kids, and I don’t have to miss a moment of their lives.
I have had so many jobs and learned so many things throughout the course of my life, and I certainly wouldn’t trade for any of them. While I was in college, I worked for a florist and a costume designer. After college, I worked for a Dallas Fashion Design firm as a sample maker sewing the first one of each design. Before I left Dallas and moved back home, I went to work for a family in Arlington who hung wallpaper in new homes; this was a trade that went on to make a good living for me for quite some time. When I moved back to Vega, I started my own wallpaper business and even hung wallpaper in Westgate Mall when they were first building. It was an interesting job to say the least!
When I wasn’t hanging wallpaper, I would work at the local greenhouse and floral shop. Then, along came marriage and kids, and it was time to find something I could do at home. I started a balloon business, which was very popular at the time, and I delivered balloon bouquets and made decorations for parties and proms. When the kids got old enough and busy in school and the balloon business kind of dwindled down, I was at home one night reading our little local newspaper, The Vega Enterprise. I got to the classified section and saw there was an ad that the paper was for sale. I knew at that very moment that I wanted to buy that paper and do that job, so off I went to visit with the owner. A deal was made that in July of 1995, I would become the editor and publisher of The Vega Enterprise. And so it was, and still is. When I took over the paper, it was still being typed on a typewriter and cut and pasted on pages to be shot and burned onto plates for printing. Needless to say, in the past 29 years that I have had the paper, so very many things have changed. I will say I dug in my heels on quite a few of those and still do every time they throw some new technology at this old lady! But, when I finally cave in to the technology, it sure does speed up my job and make things so much easier. I just have a love for the old, antiquated way of doing some things.
After having the paper for a year and realizing that I still had a lot of free time on my hands, I made the decision to run for County Commissioner in 1996. I had been to a few meetings trying to get some things noticed and taken care of, and I thought, “I can do this job!” I filed to run, and the rest is history. I wasn’t the first woman to run for Commissioner, but I was the first woman to win the office in Oldham County. I did find out at my school for newly elected Commissioners (28 years ago) that I was in a very unique position being a Commissioner and having control of the local press. Our previous Judge, Donnie Allred, and I used to have a lot of fun with the editor of the paper being on the Commissioners Court.
I am currently running for my 8th term and am unopposed for only the third time out of the eight. Campaigning is hard but very necessary work if you want to be elected. I have always enjoyed campaigning and spending time with the people who have voted me into office. I have found that looking someone eye to eye and shaking his or her hand is the best way to gain a vote – that and doing the best you can at the job you were elected for.
IS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED?
This job is exactly what I expected and so much more. The very best part is the way the people in Oldham County work together and become family, and even though many of these people move on to other things, mostly retirement, we still always remain family. We as County Commissioners and County Judge take our jobs very seriously, but we can still have fun together even though there may be an occasional vote in the other direction.
I think our county is among very few in Texas that only have three road precincts. Only three of our four commissioners have roads and roadmen. Each of the three of us has 50 miles of road to maintain and repair, and we have one roadman each and one maintainer. The rest of the equipment like the loader, the shredder, the dump truck, etc., we all share among the three precincts. In my years as Commissioner, I have only had two roadmen. The one I have now has worked for me for 20 years.
I have learned so much over the past 28 years in every area of this job as a County Commissioner. I think the two hardest elements of my job are the budget and trying to keep constituents happy. Thankfully, our budget times have gotten much easier with the appearance of the wind industry in our county, and, well, you know how it is trying to keep the people happy!
TYPICAL DAY:
There is no such thing as a typical day in the life of an Oldham County Commissioner. Each one of us on our Commissioners Court has our own business or job besides being a Commissioner. We do not have offices in the courthouse. If our constituents need to reach us, they generally call us or run into us at the post office or the grocery store.
Some days I’m at the courthouse, some days I’m at the grocery store (our family business), and some days I’m working on the newspaper. In Vega, if you need me and can’t find me, just go ask at the grocery store, as they more than likely know where I am.
Most days consist of returning calls and messages, checking in with my roadman to see what he has going on, getting the mail, and checking on our store. Then, I will probably be found at my store office or home office working on the paper or working on things like this article. I’ll probably talk to the County Judge once or twice during the week and see what he has going on, and I usually check on any trouble spots that I have received phone calls on and get them on the list to do, and just move on with my week! Everyone knows that Wednesday is newspaper day and that I have to get it out to press, so they all know I can get a little cranky if they don’t leave me alone with anything that can wait until Thursday! I generally stay pretty busy, and if I don’t have something to do, then I will find something!
BIGGEST CHALLENGE:
Being present at all Commissioners Court meetings has always been a big deal to me. That is one of the most important parts of the job because that is what the people elected me to do – make those choices and decisions on their behalf. In all of my years of being a Commissioner, I had only missed one meeting in 25 years until I didn’t have a choice but to miss about eight months of meetings. In December of 2021, I was diagnosed with Large B Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with three gene mutations. My cancer had grown a very large tumor the size of my fist between my heart and my lung. After two biopsies, it was determined that I would begin chemo as soon as my port was put in. I had already lost about 50 pounds because the tumor was pressing on my heart to where it stayed beating in exercise mode all the time. I got my port and began chemo on Dec. 28, 2021, and had a total of six week-long chemo treatments every four weeks in the hospital. All of this was taking place while COVID was still on the forefront with masks and protection required and still very much being passed around. I never knew what most of my nurses’ and doctors’ faces looked like. I only saw their eyes! After the second chemo treatment, I contracted COVID, and before all was said and done, I had COVID between every remaining chemo treatment for a total of five rounds of COVID. Only one landed me in the hospital on the third go around, but I got out of there as soon as I could. It was then that my oncologist informed us that the chemo was working, and the tumor was dead! Only three more rounds of chemo, and if it was completely gone, then I wouldn’t have to do any radiation. Now, fast forward through the last three chemo treatments and the after-chemo scan, and the tumor was gone! Thank you, God, and thank you for all who prayed for me! By God’s grace, I am still here and I know he has something more for me to do! After six months of chemo and six months of sleeping sitting up in my recliner or hospital bed, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel! I could start getting back to some sort of normal! Of course, stubborn one that I am, I couldn’t wait to get back to my meetings, so as soon as my bloodwork showed that I had somewhat of an immune system, I surprised them all and showed up at court! We were all still sitting spaced apart because of COVID anyway, so I wasn’t too worried! Me and my bald head were quite happy being back where I belonged!
FAVORITE THING ABOUT BEING A COUNTY COMMISSIONER?
I cannot pick just one favorite thing about being a County Commissioner, as there are too many! I love the people! We have so many good people in these 254 counties, good people who want to serve the people of their county and the State of Texas, and this has given me the opportunity to be friends with a whole bunch of them! These are friends who I will never forget! I have learned and continue to learn so much about our government and the processes it takes to get things done. I love our associations that we get to be a part of and help support! My plug here is to say, “If you’ve never served as an officer or a committee member for any of your associations, please consider doing so. This is the best opportunity to get to know those who serve just like you do and to make friends while you’re working together.” It takes all of us to make this work! I wouldn’t trade not one minute of my time as a County Commissioner, and I truly feel that it is somewhere that I can make a difference now and for future generations! https://countyprogress.com/quincy-taylor/