According to Jim Stewart (the Lubbock radio personality, not the actor), he has led a “blessed” life; at least, that’s how he remembers it. He was born in Paris (Texas, not France) in 1941. His father served his country in WWII and in Korea, but when he got home, he mostly just worked at odd jobs. His mama had to go to work, which meant “I had a ‘black mother’ who took care of us. We were close till the day she died. Nobody had much money back then, but everybody helped each other.” See? Blessed.
When Jim was 12, the family moved to Lubbock. “I graduated from Lubbock High School in ‘59 –the year after Mac Davis. My first job was driving a milk truck for Bell Dairy, but then I enlisted in the Army.” It was the Vietnam years, and Jim fully expected to be deployed. He was sent to Fort Carson for boot camp. “I don't know why, but I was assigned to drive the Jeep for the commander for the three months I was there. Maybe they liked the way I said, ‘Yes, Sir.’ When I was sent to Ft. Knox, they made me Jeep driver for the company commander there. My permanent duty was at Ft. Hood. I served my full three years as Jeep driver for the base commander. When my three years was up—on the very day I got my discharge papers—my unit was shipping out to Vietnam.” By that time, he had a wife and kids, so he went home to his family. Blessed.
Jim came back to Lubbock and worked for Bell Dairy again before joining the Lubbock Police Department in 1964. “My toughest assignment was on May 11, 1970. I was working 3-11; we were out doing Driver’s License checks on Parkway Drive. We could see a storm building, and it was raining hard. Around 10:00 pm, we saw two tornadoes, and the sirens came on. At 2 am, the chief sent me over to Smiley Wilson Junior High to help oversee the makeshift morgue for the 26 people whose bodies had been recovered. It’s where the families had to go and identify them. That was one of the longest nights I'd ever spent. I knew three of the people whose bodies were brought in.”
Jim left LPD after 10 years in 1975. Tom Allen, News Director of Channel 13 at the time, asked him to do their police report which he did for six months. When the station’s Ag Reporter retired, Jim stepped in. “I had never been a farmer, but I knew lots of farmers and respected them.” Jim was on one of the first tractors rolling into the nation’s capital in the massive Farm Strike of 1977, when thousands of tractors drove to Washington DC. “At that time, there was a payphone on every corner; we would stop, and I would call in with my eyewitness report. When it was time for me to go home, the boss asked me to stay three more days because they needed eyes on the ground.” Serendipitously, he flew home from that exciting trip on the Concorde. Blessed.
By that time, Jim was married to Doris whom he’d met while working at LPD. He did a short stint in Scott’s Bluff, NB, but in 1981, KFYO called and asked, “Are you ready to come home yet?” For the next 22 years, Jim Stewart was the voice farmers relied on for Ag News. He retired from radio in 2002, “but since I loved to work, I got me a job at United. They called me the VP of ‘Carry-outers.’”
In 2005, Wade Wilkes, owner of KRFE, was deployed to the Middle East again, and the station needed somebody to do their Ag Report. That was 17 years ago. Jim continues on KRFE-580AM every afternoon from 12:30 to 1:30. He talks about the weather, the markets, the economy, politics, and everything in between. He has frequent guests, like commentator Tim Snyder of Dallas and Sid Miller, Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. “I love this job. I’ve learned so much from farmers. They are the salt of the earth, and they’re smart. If they tell you something, you can take it to the bank.”
When Jim remembers his career as a police officer, he smiles. For some reason, he often found himself escorting celebrities—some you may have heard of—like Dolly Parton and Tom Jones. He even got to be Elvis Presley's bodyguard for a day and a half. As a reporter, he has interviewed five sitting Presidents, one-on-one. Once, in Atlanta, Pres. George HW Bush walked into a pressroom full of reporters and said, “Stewart, how’s everything in Lubbock?” When George W. Bush was Governor of Texas, he met Jim once, and after that, he always called him “Jimbo.” Blessed.
Recently, TTU Chancellor Robert Duncan recognized Jim Stewart for his part in launching the tradition of tailgating at Texas Tech football games in 1981. He has a plaque to prove it. Someone should call in to his show and ask him to tell that story.
There really is only one good word to describe Jim’s life—from driving Jeeps in the Army to driving celebrities around Lubbock to his beautiful wife of 48 years to launching Texas Tech’s tailgate tradition to his four children, eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren to his longstanding radio presence as Lubbock’s Ag Reporter. Blessed.
We at Texas Life Magazine are honored to share Jim’s story with our readers. Jim is deeply devoted to helping others in any way he can. A passion of his is to do everything he can to raise funds and assist those at the Texas Girls and Boys ranch in Lubbock. He works tirelessly to ensure that the kids at the ranch have everything they need. In 1972, Texas Boys Ranch- now Texas Girls & Boys Ranch- was first considered by concerned citizens of Lubbock who wanted to make a difference in the lives of homeless, neglected, and dependent boys of the South Plains area. Texas Girls & Boys Ranch Foster and Adoption Team works tirelessly to recruit and train families in Lubbock and around the South Plains to respond to the need for surrogate families for displaced children in our community. If you would like to serve or help, please visit their website at www.txgbr.org
Special thank you to Senior Link Magazine in Lubbock for sharing this great article with our publication. We also want to extend a special thank you to Becky Justice-Ford, owner of The Legendary Coyote Store in historic Gail, TX, for making this cover story possible. Becky works tirelessly to ensure each of her customers experience the absolute best in quality entertainment, as well as some of the finest food in all of west Texas. Our cover stories would not be possible without you Becky and we thank you for being a part of the Texas Life family and always supporting our publication.
