Lumpkin was loyal public servant

Robert Lumpkin’s persistent Oklahoma drawl echoed in Tucumcari City Council chambers for a dozen years and in the halls of public service for many more.

That voice has been silenced.

Lumpkin died last week, succumbing to cancer.

It wasn’t that long ago, in fact last fall, when I joined Lumpkin and others to help clean up the city’s new disc golf course, a project he championed for months before it became reality.

He seemed healthy then, doing his share and more in the cleanup effort. And he was putting his time, effort and money into something he believed in.

That was typical.

Even after his devastating cancer diagnosis just a few weeks ago, he attended two more Tucumcari City Commission meetings by telephone.

In the first, he sounded like good old Robert Lumpkin. In the second, you could tell something was not quite right. The usual energy wasn’t quite there.

But there he was, serving the city, as usual.

He didn’t let much get in the way when it came to serving Tucumcari, the city he called home for 46 years.

As an advocate, he was persistent and methodical, and persistent.

In opposing the proposed Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority pipeline from Ute Lake to Clovis and Portales, for example, he would always start from the beginning.

He would say Ute Lake needed to maintain certain levels in order to maintain its recreational lake status. Then he would tell you how low the lake was after 13 years of drought and how the pipeline could bring the level below what was needed for boating and fishing.

It was the same when he proposed that the city re-purpose a tax meant for developing Ute Lake water sources for some cleanup projects, like leveling the ruin of the Sands Dorsey building downtown.

He prevailed on repurposing the tax funds and, after seven years, the Sands Dorsey ruin became a vacant lot. The pipeline? To be continued.

And Tucumcari now has a disc golf course.

Lumpkin got results.

He also learned enough about renewable energy to do consulting work.

It was the teacher in him that made him start with the basics.

I think he must have been good.

He taught for 30 years, most of it in Tucumcari, and he maintained friendships with students even as they became grandparents.

Before he dedicated himself to local public service, he served his country with the U.S. Marine Corps, seeing action in Vietnam in 1967.

In the last election, Lumpkin said he was seeking yet another term on the commission because “the people of Tucumcari have treated me so nicely.”

Robert, you returned the favor many times over.

Steve Hansen writes about our life and times from his perspective of a retired Tucumcari journalist. Contact him at:

stevenmhansen

@plateautel.net