Lisa Bright

Lisa Bright of Mineola has been named the manager of the Mineola Civic Center.

She replaces Nancy Murphy, who is retiring Oct. 14 and moving to Virginia to be closer to family.

Bright has served as assistant director of the center, working with Murphy, since 2017.

She is also well known for her affiliation with Gene’s Photography, assisting her husband, Gary, with the studio started by his father.

One of Bright’s first tasks will be to find her replacement, a job that should be made easier by the number of quality applicants who applied for Murphy’s position.

Bright said she hopes to have the task completed quickly and a new assistant in place.

He noted that she and Murphy have worked well together.

“She is a vivacious person, and I know she will be missed,” Bright said.

Murphy said she is thrilled that Bright has accepted the manager’s position.

“She will make a great manager,” Murphy said.

Bright said the center has a number of large RV rallies planned into 2024, as well as the usual weekly and monthly activities at the center.

She plans to continue the good things the center has been doing as well as add some new things.

Bright, along with her husband, are both Mineola High School graduates, as well as their two children. They now have five grandchildren, including two who are local.

She moved here in the fifth grade when her father decided he did not want to raise his children in the “big city” of Garland and purchased a 100-acre farm in Hoard.

She has been involved in the First Baptist Church of Mineola.

Murphy hopes to make the transition by mid-October, when she will be moving to Chesapeake, Va. to be nearer to her children and grandchildren. The younger grandkids will be nearby in Virginia Beach and the others are in South Carolina, which will be much closer than Mineola.

Murphy is also a Mineola grad and returned to the community in 2015 to accept the manager’s position. She had been working in Tyler since 2003 but kept ties to the community with a booth at a downtown shop.

“I will miss Mineola,” she said.”I was born and raised here. I have deep roots.” But she said it will be important to be involved in the lives of her grandchildren and help out when they can.

“It has been my great honor to have served this community in this capacity,” she said. “I have tried to be fair and to carry out the directives of the civic center board. I am happy to pass the mantle on to Lisa.”