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| Chances
are good that those citizens of Wellington
whose age is less than 60 years may sometimes wonder just what the
man whose name adorns the Bura Handley Community Center was really
like. Perhaps this small accounting of history will provide some answers
to that question, as well as a degree of insight into the character,
integrity, and sheer genius of the man whom I was privileged to call
my “Dad”, while others simply referred to him as “Mister Wellington.”
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| "Portrait
of Bura Handley as the Wellington City Manager, seated at his drafting
table in the Community Building he built with WPA labor. This picture
hung in the Community Building until his death in 1965. It now hangs
proudly in my den." - Phil Handley |
| No man, living
or dead has ever contributed more to the development, heritage and
quality of life within the community of Wellington,
Texas than Bura Handley. Serving as the City Manager for thirty-nine
years, he was directly responsible for numerous projects that materially
improved the life style of every citizen of Wellington,
and earned the community its well deserved reputation as “The Jewel
of the Panhandle.” A much abbreviated list of his accomplishments
would include: |
- Construction
of the Community Building (built with WPA labor).
- Marion Air
Park, to include the community swimming pool.
- Founding
of the Wellington Volunteer Fire Department, of which he was the
Chief for twenty-five years.
- Paving the
majority of Wellington’s streets.
- Development
of the wells and pumping station where the City’s golf course
is now located.
- Construction
of the water reservoir located on the north side of town, and
too many other noteworthy accomplishments to list.
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Born
on October 11, 1898 to “Hamp” and Henrietta Handley, Bura was the
oldest of seven children. After his dad purchased a small 40-acre
farm just north of Wellington,
the family became members of the community when they moved to that
farm from a half-dugout located on the Prairie Dog Town Fork
of the Red River just south of Childress.
Bura was the “kingpin” of the Handley children and was forced to drop
out of school after the seventh grade to help support the family.
By the time he was seventeen years old, he was the head mechanic at
the Ford Garage. He then started the Wellington Machine Shop with
his good friend “Monk Leggett. After he was hired to run the City
Light Plant, he was quickly promoted to the position of City Manager,
which he occupied from 1922 to 1961. Although his formal public education
ended at completion of the 7th grade, it by no means stopped his quest
for knowledge which he quickly assimilated into his extraordinary,
technically oriented brain. A ready example of his remarkable engineering
expertise is the fact that he was one of less than a dozen engineers
in the State of Texas that held a “Grade A” Water Well Operators Certificate,
which he earned by passing the onerous qualification test administered
at Texas A&M University. This stunning accomplishment earned him the
respect of every municipal engineer in the state.
Bura
Handley’s accomplishments speak for themselves. However, to fully
appreciate just what kind of man he was, I would offer these personal
insights of which I have direct knowledge. To put this into perspective
for those who did not know him, think of a man similar to that portrayed
in the 2003 movie, Seabiscuit. Recall how the movie began…
with the star sitting in front of his deserted bicycle shop and nodding
off with no customers in sight, only to be awakened by the sound of
the first automobile he had ever laid his eyes upon… a faltering Stanley
Steamer. When asked if he could repair the vehicle, he replied “Of
course.” When the sun came up the next morning, he had completely
disassembled the machine, studied it, and knew not only how it worked,
but also how to make it operate even better. Such would have been
an accurate reflection of the man named Bura Handley. He once told
me: “I have wheels in my head, and if I look at a piece of machinery
and really think about it, I know how it works.” That wasn’t bragging,
for he could really do it. I would offer the following episodes as
examples: |
- When broadcast
radio was in its infancy, he studied the technology and built
the first radio in the Texas
Panhandle. Sitting on the floor above the old Wellington Fire
Station, he built it from scratch through such actions as winding
copper wire around oatmeal boxes to make condensers. Using a “whisker
and crystal” to explore the shortwave frequency spectrum, he had
heard nothing beyond the “wee-oh” sounds emitted through his homemade
headset on the evening of September 14, 1923. Suddenly, he heard
the voice of the ring announcer at the Polo Grounds in New York
City, who was describing the world’s heavyweight championship
fight between Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo. One can only imagine
the thrill he must have felt. He told me that unlike the dramatic
ring announcers of today, this one stuck strictly to the facts.
As Dempsey methodically knocked Firpo down seven times in the
first round, the announcer’s comments were only: “Dempsey knocks
Firpo down”, after which he could hear the crowd cheering. He
said that the only emotion the announcer ever showed occurred
when he exclaimed: “Firpo knocks Dempsey through the ropes.” When
Dempsey survived the first round and then proceeded to knock Firpo
out in the second round, he said that he ran down to the telegraph
office where a large crowd of men eagerly awaited the Morse coded
results of each round. He said that when he told them that Dempsey
had knocked Firpo out in the second, they all laughed… and had
he been a betting man, he could have taken their last dollar.
- He built
a race car which he named “Bevo.” It was the fastest automobile
any of the local citizens had ever seen. When a special racing
car, sponsored by Ford Motor was touring the country to show-off
their state-of-the-art racing machine, they were scheduled to
put on a demonstration at the racetrack oval located in Childress.
When their “front man” was told that Bura Handley had the fastest
car in the area, he eagerly arranged that Bura would pit “Bevo”
against the Team Ford car in a twenty-five lap race to show just
how technically advanced and superior their machine really was.
Bura lapped the Team Ford car twice.
- In about
1950 lightening strikes were burning up the electric pump motors
on the water wells located east of town. Bura had repeatedly told
West Texas Utilities representatives that this was occurring because
they had not installed lightening arrestors on their transmission
lines and that the resulting surge from the lightning strikes
were systematically destroying the pump motors. West Texas Utilities
brushed his complaints aside until he informed them that on the
next occasion of a fried motor, The City of Wellington
would be sending the repair bill to them. I was watching my Dad
sitting on his haunches as he worked on some piece of machinery
on the east side of the Community Building when a new Chevrolet
coupe drove up and a nattily dressed young man got out and asked
to see the City Manager. When “Bo” Yates, the City Waterworks
Superintendent pointed to Bura, who continued to work on the task
at hand, I vividly remember the smirk on the face of the young
man as he introduced himself as a West Texas Utility electrical
engineer from the main office in Dallas
and said: “Now I understand Mr. Handley that you have told my
company that you were going to bill us for the next pump motor
that goes out after a thunderstorm, because you think it is our
fault.” Without looking up, Dad replied, “Yeah, that’s right.”
The young man then launched into an impressive monologue that
was loaded with technical jargon, formulas and electrical transmission
theory that went on for fully five minutes. He concluded with
words that I remember to this day: “So you see Mr. Handley, it
could not possibly be the fault of West Texas Utilities that your
pumps are being burned up.” I shall also never forget the opening
words that my Dad spoke without raising his eyes from the piece
of equipment upon which he continued to work: “Well son, in the
first place… What followed was a point-by-point rebuttal of each
and every fancy-sounding formula and theory that totally discredited
the harangue just delivered. By the time he had finished, the
young engineer was reduced to saying nothing beyond “yes sir”
and “no sir” as he painfully realized that he had just attempted
to bamboozle a man who had obviously forgotten more about electrical
engineering that he would ever know. Before he slunk into his
new Chevy to drive back to Dallas,
he concluded by saying: “Thank you Mr. Handley for clearing this
up and I’m sure that we won’t have any more trouble in the future.”
Bura simply replied, “You’re welcome son, glad to have helped.”
- During a
trip back to Wellington
about twenty years ago after my Dad had passed away in 1964, I
was getting a haircut in the old Cicero Gulley Barbershop on the
south side of the square when an elderly gentleman approached
me and said that he wanted to tell me a story about my dad. He
said that during the Great Depression, he along with many others
were about to starve to death and he was doing everything he could
to feed his family. He said that he had located some old copper
pipe that remained buried over on the west side of town and he
was laboriously digging it out foot-by-foot to sell it for the
pennies it brought when sold to a scrap dealer. He said that when
Bura saw what he was doing he said: “Let me give you a hand.”
In short order he had started an old iron-wheeled tractor, rigged
some extenders to the studs on the left drive wheel, fastened
the exposed end of the copper pipe onto the extenders, and driven
the length of the run of the buried pipe, winding it onto the
wheel. A task that would have taken him a week to complete had
been finished in minutes. Tears glistened in the old gentleman’s
eyes as he completed his story by saying: “I’m sure that you already
know this Phil, but you daddy was the greatest man I ever knew.
They just don’t make ‘em like him no more.”
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Bura’s
engineering genius and managerial skills did not go without notice
by other large municipalities through the Southwestern States. Despite
more than a few very attractive offers of employment that would have
materially increased his wealth many times over, his unflinching sense
of loyalty and dedication to the good citizens of Wellington
always prevailed, and in the end he declined every offer.
Bura Handley was without doubt the finest gentleman I ever knew and
I shall always consider myself one of the luckiest men alive to have
been his son. He was indeed a special breed and the pride of Wellington,
Texas, the community he faithfully served for his entire life.
We shall not likely see his likes again.
Phil Handley
Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
"They
Shoe Horses, Do'nt They?" August
21, 2007 Guest Column
Editor's Note:
People like Bura Handley are the unsung heroes of their respective
towns and they deserve recognition, belated though it may be. Things
were a lot tougher back then and people need a reminder that the things
they take for granted today were hard-won. We're proud to include
this article in Texas Escapes. |
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