J.G. Walker Posthumously Honored
by Substation Commissioning
Wood County Electric Cooperative Inc. (WCEC) commemorated the construction of the Dallas Water project on June 20, 2008, by re-commissioning the Yantis substation in honor of the late Jesse G. (J.G.) Walker, Jr. Walker was born in 1924, a life-long resident of Wood County, and a well-known dairyman and resident until his death in 2003. Notably, he served the members of WCEC for 34 years as a director of the cooperative, with 20 of those years acting as president of the board.
During his years of WCEC board service, Walker was instrumental in securing ownership stakes in generation and transmission plants which gained affordable and reliable power through large wholesale purchases. To that end, he worked tirelessly on both the North East Texas Electric Cooperative and Tex-La Electric Cooperative of Texas boards to help shape power purchases and the policies of those two organizations that WCEC still enjoys today. In later years, Walker was also present during the formation of the East Texas Electric Cooperative board, another partnership formed to purchase large amounts of wholesale power.
It’s timely that the Yantis substation be renamed for J. G. Walker during the completion of the Dallas Water Utility project located at the Lake Fork Reservoir. New dual purpose transmission lines that will serve the pumping station at Lake Fork will add reliability to the section of WCEC’s system that feeds the Yantis area and sections surrounding Alba and Pilgrim’s Rest. This project completed a transmission tie which had been in WCEC’s long range plan and was accelerated in tandem with the construction pace of the Dallas project. The cost for installation of much of the supporting equipment was paid for by the City of Dallas, but many members of WCEC will also reap benefits.
About the decision to honor Walker, Debbie Robinson, CEO and General Manger of WCEC said, “It is so very fitting to have this substation named after J.G. His leadership was marked by the highest integrity and professionalism, and he was dedicated to the ideals of the cooperative spirit. I’m convinced he would have been especially proud of this project, which brings stronger reliability to the district he served so well. And, I know he would have especially embraced the great cost savings we were able to achieve by making the improvements to our system in conjunction with the Dallas project.”