Parker County Today December 2015 | Page 37

staff for five years. “I saw  firsthand how he took care of his constituents, from the veteran who was in need of his disability to the widow who needed help on her husband’s social security claim,” she said. “It was extraordinary what a day in his Fort Worth office was like. Many times we had 10 to 15 people at a time who needed help.” Bodiford believes Wright was an “extraordinary man” who made a difference. “Whether you agreed or disagreed with his politics, Jim Wright always did the right thing  for Fort Worth and the surrounding counties,” she said, “and made Texas roads his first love as Chairman of the Public Works Committee for so many years.” to his opponent’s supporters after winning election to Congress, Jim Wright has left an indelible impression on the nation, and he has never forgotten his Parker County roots.  “Someone asked him to run for mayor and because he’s a public servant at heart, he did it. When I asked him to talk to a group of students at Weatherford High School, because he’s a servant at heart, he did it. He is the epitome of what public service is all about,” Tison says. “When it came to someone asking him to do something I don’t think Jim Wright ever stopped to think about whether it was for the Democratic Party or the Republican Party; he did it because he was a public servant. I think we’re called to be leaders of people —how we respond to that is important, and Jim Wright is an example of how one should respond.”  __________________________ Drug Screening 817-734-8836 • 817-304-1664 [email protected] • Pre-employment & Post Accident Testing • DOT & Non DOT Drug & Alcohol Testing • State Approved Driving Safety Course • CPR Classes & DOT Physicals • DISA Collections • Lab & MRO Services • Rapid Screens 24/7 mobile service providing a quality convenient service to save you time and money. Update: Speaker Jim Wright’s life took him up the “Hill” from Weatherford and Parker County, but he never lost his fondness for this place, nor did he leave it unchanged. “His love for Weatherford and his family was evident [by] the selection of his burial site when he died,” said local realtor and longtime resident Jamie Bodiford. “He could have been buried at Arlington National Cemetery or the Historical Texas State Cemetery in Austin but chose Old Greenwood [Cemetery in Weatherford] where his family is buried.”  Bodiford, who lived next door to the Wrights growing up, said Wright’s leadership as Weatherford’s mayor in his mid-20s was visionary. “Speaker Wright took the Weatherford Power and Light Department to the next level and had the vision to build Lake Weatherford and at the time insisted on aboveaverage-size pipes to take us into the next century,” she said. Jimmie Lee Bodiford, Jamie’s mother, worked as Wright’s administrative assistant in Fort Worth for 30-plus years, and Jamie, herself, just out of college with a degree in political science, served on Wright’s S&S On Site Alesia Stewart Leaders in 3D Mammography I don’t just want a Mammogram, I want Peace of Mind. C M Y CM MY CMY © Copyright 2015 Solis Mammography K Schedule at SolisMammo.com or Call [phone] 18 locations across DFW including: 914 Foster Lane, Weatherford, Texas 76086 DECEMBER 2015 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY CY 35