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GVEC Coor, Thomas - April 22, 1987

Interview with Thomas Coor

Interviewer: Karen Yancy

Transcriber: Karen Yancy

Date of Interview: April 22, 1987

Location: Seguin District Office, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, Gonzales, TX

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Begin Tape 1, Side 1

Karen Yancy: This is Karen Yancy. Today is April 22, 1987, and I’m conducting an oral interview with Mr. Thomas Coor, manager of the Seguin District of Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative [GVEC].

What year did you begin working for GVEC and in what position?

Thomas Coor: As a groundman. That was July 7, 1947.

Yancy: Okay. What promotions did you receive, and how did your job change as a result of them?

Coor: The promotions were in steps. You first worked yourself from groundman up to be an apprentice and then to a lineman. Then we went into what they called general foreman at that time. From general foreman, I passed to line superintendent, and from line superintendent, I passed to Seguin District manager.

Yancy: Okay. And at what time did you retire?

Coor: January 16, 1987.

Yancy: Okay.

Coor: No, no, let me take that back, it will be in June; I don’t know what day in June right now.

Yancy: Okay.

Coor: I can’t be specific.

Yancy: Okay. What experience did you bring to GVEC?

Coor: Very little in the electrical field. I went out of high school and into the United States Navy in World War II. When I returned from the Navy, I went to different odd jobs around Gonzales at that time, and finally the last one was with GVEC.

Yancy: Okay. What were you responsibilities as manager of the Seguin District?

Coor: In charge of all maintenance and operations of the Seguin District—roughly fifty employees—all of the Guadalupe County and part of Wilson County.

Yancy: Okay. What departments were under your direction, and what were their responsibilities?

Coor: The line department does construction and maintenance of the electrical system of GVEC. The Seguin District business office—the Seguin business office—it pertains to the billing and collecting. Part of the member service organization, which pertains to the members in this district and the appliance service shop. Part of these responsibilities, but not the whole division, but not the whole department (referring to these same departments in Gonzales). Some of the engineering department and also keeping the transportation equipment serviced.

Yancy: How did each department in your division grow since you began working at GVEC?

Coor: I moved into Seguin in 1949, there were approximately, I’d say, eight to twelve employees at that time, and over the years, we just progressed on upwards to what we’re at now, fifty, I believe.

Yancy: Did the energy situation change the services your division offered? And how so? Oh, like the cost of energy going up—

Coor: It didn’t change our operations that much. It just helped us to be more aware of the cost that you were spending towards the up-keep and the maintenance of the line and the construction of the line and to deal with the consumers over the cost of the electricity. We had to be sure to explain that in the right way.

Yancy: Okay. What you would describe as your most important accomplishments? What changes did you implement? How successful have they been?

Coor: I don’t know. I thought about this one; Hallmark asked me before this interview. I guess you’re talking about enjoyment of what I was doing or—

Yancy: Yeah.

Coor: The most enjoyable part of the work that I was doing at that time when I was young was seeing a lot of people getting central service or electricity to their homes who hadn’t had service before.

Yancy: Mm-hmm.

Coor: —is to see the joy in the people’s face when you energize the transformers on the line. That was the most enjoyable thing I remember and also how appreciative the people, the membership was of getting service—and they still do. The outages that we’ve had over the years, we’ve had some timely outages, and how the membership was with us during these outages. Those are the things I can remember worthwhile is the people working in conjunction with us.

Yancy: Okay. In your opinion, what makes GVEC distinctive? Is it customer satisfaction, conservative expansion, or something else?

Coor: I believe it would be membership satisfaction. I don’t believe you can have a successful organization without the membership being happy with what you’re doing. And the management and the employee team that we have now—I’ve seen great progress there.

Yancy: Okay. Have there been any innovations in your division while you were manager? If so, what were they? Were they any changes, big changes or anything?

Coor: Not real large changes, there were some more, how would you say more time given to the employees on education, as far as training the employees. More awareness of safety equipment. We have a first-class fleet of trucks to work with, tools. Like I say, the management team is really helped the employees in this respective.

Yancy: What do you see at the future of your division and of GVEC?

Coor: The future of this division of Seguin, I—and the Guadalupe County area, I think will be one of the major parts of the GVEC system, which it is now, I believe. The growth area is in the west area, in Guadalupe County. I think it’s going to continue east, but right now we have the biggest growth in the west area. And I think we will grow in the amount of employees, the equipment, the expansion of our building, and our lines. I think we will be producing or selling more kilowatt hours of electricity than is going on, which means growth in membership. I don’t see a big change in the cost, not too much of a big change unless something drastic happens, because the hold that management has on the development of the energy crisis is significant.

Yancy: Is there anything else about the Seguin District that you want to tell me?

Coor: I’m just happy to be a part of it for these thirty-nine years. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. I’ve seen some hard times. I’ve seen a lot of good times. I’ve just enjoyed the fellowship of the employees and the members.

End of interview