Horace McQueen Leaves Legacy
By Wayne Stewart
Special to The Messenger
To call Horace McQueen an East Texas legend does no disservice to the word “legend.”
Generations of people woke up with Horace every morning on his farm and ranch show. They would hear about the weather, news, and happenings of the day and of course agriculture reports.
Horace McQueen was the voice and presence of East Texas agriculture. His voice was unmistakable and so was his style for telling things like he saw it.
I last visited Mr. McQueen a few weeks ago while he was in a nursing home. He was still keenly aware of the goings-on in the world. He knew the politics of the day and he still had his finger on the pulse of agriculture in our region. His mind was as sharp as ever, but his body was starting to betray him.
It’s heartbreaking to see time take its toll on our heroes. It’s heartbreaking to see his wife Carole, who stood by his side for 70 years, deal with the loss of her husband. She was there by his side, whether it was running a cotton farm in west Texas or keeping track of their cattle, and becoming his caretaker in these final years — Carole was always there.
She saw a side of Horace most people never see; the loving husband and father and a good friend to those around him.
Greg Grant, a horticulturist who used to teach at SFA and now serves as a Smith County Texas AgriLife Extension agent, left a post about the impact Horace McQueen had on his life.
“As a kid in Longview, his voice on TV woke me up every morning and I’d go watch the show with my dad,” Grant said. “I even wrote him a letter in 9th grade asking about a future in horticulture. He responded on air and also wrote me back. We later became friends and even did several interviews. He was a legend. One of a kind. He made a difference in my life and countless others. Thank you, Horace.”
Christina (Stewart) and I share a similar experience with Horace. It was 2005 and we were working for the Palestine Herald-Press and we had talked our publisher into creating a twice-a-month farm and ranch publication.
We had been going for a couple of months, the publication was struggling to gain advertisers, but we were hanging in there. I had written a story about hay prices and I had mixed up bale and bail. Horace sent me a very nice e-mail telling me to hang in there.
Soon, within hours after that, I was in the office and I got a phone call; the voice on the other end said, “This is Horace McQueen.” I didn’t believe it, because I had seen Horace McQueen on television and this did not sound like him.
Turns out, it was. We talked for a bit and he ended up writing for us. He didn’t have to, but he knew how important agriculture was and is to our area and there was no voice for it. With this one act of generosity, he gave legitimacy to what we were trying to do, and in essence, he gave us a new career trajectory.
By that time Horace had retired from doing his TV show, but he had a syndicated radio program originating right here in Houston County. While he was still doing his television show he would do a call-in show with KBHT 93.5 out of Crockett. The station was owned by Nicol Broadcasting, and Ansel Bradshaw recalled doing the show with Horace.
“We talked about agriculture, we talked about current events and we would even talk about coffee sometimes,” Bradshaw recalled. “Sometimes I would interview him and he would say he had a great recipe for cookies. This was back before the Internet was so widespread and he would say, ‘Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to KBHT and they will mail you the recipe,’ when he would do that we would be pulling these envelopes out of our mailboxes for days — just because Horace said it was good.”
Horace, Nicol Broadcasting and Computer Parts Unlimited teamed up to create a syndicated radio show for Horace when he retired from his television work. Eventually, Bradshaw noted, he was featured on 14 different radio stations across East Texas.
“We had to figure out how to do that from scratch,” Bradshaw recalled of doing a syndicated show. “That ran for several years in the early 2000s.”
Before bringing his television operation to East Texas, Horace started in West Texas. He moved back to the region in the 1970s. Houston County was home, though, as he was born in Latexo in 1938. He went to Texas A&M and was a proud Aggie. Over the years he received many accolades and honors for his work. He was involved in several business ventures, not just agriculture and broadcasting, but his heart was always with the agriculture producers.
Over the years Christina and I did a few stories on the McQueens. They invited us out to see their Murray Grey cattle and we did several stories on Carole’s quilting endeavors. One year we made ribbon cane syrup and they came out to get a can or two. Carole went back and made some great cookies out of it — it wasn’t any good for anything else.
When we were at their house there always was a hot cup of coffee waiting, and Carole made some of the best cookies, and I will happily admit this as well, she makes the best coconut meringue pie I ever had — and I’ve had a lot over the years. I was at an event one time with another pastor friend and his wife and Carole had made some pies. The pastor asked his wife if she wanted to take a leftover pie home. She said no, then he said, “but Carole McQueen made it.” The pie was promptly loaded in their car and driven away. The McQueens were such a warm and welcoming couple.
Today, I serve as their pastor. I am not as good about visiting and checking on people as I should be, but I count them as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s with a heavy heart I have to say goodbye to not just a legend, but a friend God put in my path to help shape me into the man I have become.
There are so many who can share a similar story about Horace and Carole. Our lives would not be the same without them. May God grant Carole and the McQueen family comfort and peace during this time of mourning and loss.
Horace, until we meet again, that’s #30.
