J. Harrell West

Bishop, Nueces County, Texas 1910 - 2010 One Hundred Years of South Texas Heritage!

[This history is part of the written collection from the Bishop Chamber of Commerce

records, and believed to have been compiled by Mrs. Gail Tubbs in 1960 for Bishop’s

Golden Jubilee celebration.]

J. H. West, Bishop's most distinguished present-day citizen, was elected

president of the Texas Farm Bureau in 1958, after serving as secretary-treasurer

and district director during the formative years of that organization.

He is the only Bishop citizen who ever had the distinction of having the Governor

of Texas proclaim a special day in his honor; the only local citizen who is a

familiar figure in Washington as the spokesman for powerful farm groups;

probably the only Texas farmer who can fly to London for consultation on the

international cotton situation then turn up Sunday morning to teach the men's

class in the First Baptist Sunday School, of which he was superintendent 14

years, and Monday morning with clear mind sit down at his desk at the Barkley-

West Elevator firm ready for decisions on storage and marketing the grain crop.

Better known at home as just Harrell West, he is a

quiet-spoken friendly man, who makes his point clear to his

listener whether it be showing a farm laborer the right way to

run a furrow or discussing parity with an important

statesman. (Only ones he can't out-talk are his two young

grandsons.)

The Bishop community has seen Harrell West grow up

from a young farmer, thrust out on his own early by the

death of his father, to a "man who has devoted his

outstanding talents and much of his time to the

improvement of the condition of the farmer and the

improvement of the science of farming". When he was

elected to the presidency of the Farm Bureau, a

special "Harrell West Day" was proclaimed in Bishop

and important personages, including Governor Price

Daniel, from all over the state gathered here for a

testimonial dinner in his honor. But Harrell West's closest

friends were of the opinion that he enjoyed far more the

high school commencement nights when as president of

the Board of Trustees he handed out diplomas to the

sons and daughters of his home town, with the

opportunity to add his advice to them on the Bishop of

tomorrow.

J. Harrell West

J. Harrell West shown here in 1968 as Mayor of Bishop

at the groundbreaking of the new federal post office.