A thinker and a doer. It’s not often that you find someone who is good at both, but for lifetime Quitman resident RT Bridges, it’s just something that comes naturally. From managing paper companies to helping manage the City of Quitman to creating the Lake Country Classic Car Club, Bridges has spent his lifetime thinking about things that should be done and then finding ways to do them. 

Bridges was born in Quitman in 1940. He moved to Dallas at 18 and immediately started working. He worked for Dallas Paper Company for many years. When his daughter turned six, he moved his family back to Quitman so she could attend school at Quitman ISD while still working a job where he traveled for the paper company. About a year after returning to Quitman, he took a job in Tyler with East Texas Paper company and worked for them in many roles, including as a manager at their Longview operation. When the business sold, Bridges jumped at the opportunity to work in Quitman as the city secretary. Bridges worked for the city from 1991 until he retired in 2005 at age 65. 

During Bridges’ time as city secretary, he worked closely with long-time Mayor Larry Robertson on multiple projects that would improve Quitman. Bridges spoke very humbly of his own role in the many changes and events that took place during his tenure secretary, but he played a key role in many of the successful projects that took place during that time.

Bridges first spoke of one of the biggest undertakings when the city went through the process of acquiring the former Governor Jim Hogg State Park. The park was losing money and the state had short-listed it for closure. The state was interested in negotiating the sale of the park to the city for $10 and began negotiations with the city through Mayor Robertson.

Robertson asked Bridges to go to the park and “take your ledger with you. Write down what we want the state to do for us to take the park.”

Robertson said that Quitman might be buying the park for $10, but the state also needed to give the city other incentives to take on the park which was in a state of disrepair.

Bridges took his ledger and made a list of all the repairs needed which included painting buildings, fixing roofs and replacing the old bathrooms.

With the list in hand, Robertson and Bridges approached the state with their terms. It gave the city all that it asked for plus added some cash as operating capital to get the renovations started. In addition to the new bathrooms, the city undertook the project of replacing the pavilion’s roof at that time. A metal roof had been proposed, but it was so controversial among town members that the city went with a traditional wooden shingles style. (The whole pavilion was replaced this past summer and was rebuilt from the ground up. The new pavilion sports a metal roof.)

Bridges said that several of the buildings at the park also needed to be painted. He said that funds were running low after the other project. Local resident Orville Lindsey heard about the situation and came to chat with him one day at City Hall.

Mr. Lindsey’s church wanted to give back to the community and offered to pay to have the buildings painted if the city would allow it. Bridges enthusiastically agreed on behalf of the city and the work commenced. 

A few years later, Robertson and Bridges would put their heads together again and envisioned an RV park at the “new” city park. Robertson saw a need for a place in town for RV travelers, and Bridges visualized utilizing the unused land adjacent to the park to create a space for short and long-term RV renters. Bridges sketched out the idea and they presented it to the city council, which approved and funded the project.

While Quitman City Park was probably one of the biggest projects he worked on during his tenure with the city, Bridges was also involved with the remodeling and reopening of the swimming pool at the Quitman Youth Foundation.

The pool had been in disrepair for a long time. After kids began to cut their feet on the rough bottom of the pool, the Youth Foundation made the decision to close the pool due to the liability and their lack of funding for repairs. Kids in Quitman no longer had a public pool to make memories in during the summer months.

That’s when Gary Simpkins stepped in and spoke to Bridges at City Hall. They approached the City Council about taking over the pool, repairing and reopening it. Bridges said he spoke to Bob Hibbard, who was head of the Winnsboro prison at that time, about possibly getting some help with manual labor for the remodeling project. Hibbard offered to send a work crew but said “you’ll have to buy hamburgers and french fries for their lunch.”

Bridges replied, “Boy, you got it!” According to Bridges, the work crew “came down, emptied the pool, tore everything out, and did a whole lot of work for hamburgers!”

Bridges also spoke about projects he was involved with that improved the sewer and water systems. He was also part of a team that secured a road grader so that the city could begin repairs on roads that had been neglected for many years. 

As busy as Bridges was with the city, he also was active in the community. He was quietly instrumental in helping with the Carroll Green Civic Center, serving on the board of directors. He spoke of the many times that Civic Center manager Clent Tucker would call him after it had rained and asked if he “had a minute?” They would discuss the latest leaks from the storms, and Bridges often ran over to the Civic Center and helped Tucker with the task of mopping up after the rains. Bridges also spoke of the dedication of the board members, coming down and helping him and Tucker paint the inside of the center by themselves. 

Bridges would also team up with his brother Preston to form the Quitman Lake Fork Kiwanis Club during this time period. A man from another Kiwanis club had come to speak with Preston Bridges about a loan at the bank and then discussed the possibility of starting a Kiwanis club in Quitman.

Preston called RT and asked him to come down to the bank where they proceeded to list a couple dozen people they thought might be interested in forming the club. RT would go on to be president of the club and help with several projects. He proudly spoke of how he made the motion to start the flag program and Preston seconded his motion. The Kiwanis Club sells subscriptions to residents to have flags put on their lawns throughout the year for various holidays. This is a big fundraiser for the club and finances some of the projects they do that benefit the kids in the community.

Bridges retired from the city in 2005, but kept busy with Kiwanis Club projects. Bridges is proud of the work the club did to build a community basketball court at Quitman City Park, along with the park’s splash pad and awnings that provide cover from the sun during the summer months. Bridges is actively spending much of his free time now helping the club as they clean up land that will be used as a dog park and will be part of a walking trail. The club has been meeting regularly to clear the land on their own. They recently installed a metal bridge at the future dog park that Bridges proudly said “will be here long after we’re all gone.” 

This might be enough to keep most people occupied, but not Bridges. He also found time after retiring from the city to start a car club. Bridges said that he always enjoyed going to Dairy Queen for coffee several mornings a week where he met with his friends. The conversations often gravitated to the classic cars that several of them owned.

After talking among themselves, they convinced Dairy Queen owner Sherry Dupre (who married Bridges) to allow them to hold a car show. They even convinced Dupre to hire local legend Dale Cumminings to sing at the event. Dupre agreed, but said the men had to plan everything and that they could only hold a show once a month during summer months.

Their first show in 2010 had a great turnout with about 25-30 cars lined up in the parking lot. The second show had even more. That’s when Bridges got the idea to form a car club. He grabbed a clipboard from Dupre and went around to everyone showing their cars and asked if they wanted to form a car club. He said if he had enough interest, he’d call everyone and they would have a meeting. He ended up with two pages of names and phone numbers. He called everyone, set up a meeting, and the Lake Country Classics Car Club was formed.

He has served as president of the club on four occasions and has enjoyed taking his antique cars to events. He currently has a powder blue ‘57 Chevy. Bridges has owned seven 1957 Chevys over the years, including two convertibles. 

The Lake Country Car Club has grown over the years and they’ve had to move their monthly “Cruise-In” from the DQ parking lot to Quitman City Park and then to the downtown square. They have recently decided to move back to the park and began their monthly “Classics and Coffee Cruise-In” March 16 from 8 to 10:30 a.m. They’ll have free coffee, donuts and a food truck on hand. The car club raises money throughout the year for local groups including their big fundraiser in November that benefits Quitman’s Christmas Sharing program. 

Bridges has been instrumental in helping the city and the community grow over the years. Bridges is invested in the success of Quitman and its people. He said he feels so strongly about Quitman because he grew up and went to school here. He raised his family here.

“I mean, it’s just home,” he said. “I love to see Quitman growing. It’s full of good businesses and good people.”

To Bridges, the key to motivating other community members to get more motivated to be involved is easy. He said you motivate people “a little at a time. That’s how Kiwanis has grown so much. When we started, we barely had enough to get a charter. We try to get people involved in something as they come to visit or think about joining. The more you can get them involved, the more they get a warm fuzzy feeling about it. And that makes them want to do more.”

Bridges also proudly suggested that if anyone wants to get involved in the community and help Quitman grow, they should “just join Kiwanis. We will find something for you to do for the city.”