Richard Allen Waterfield, known as Dick Waterfield (August 24, 1939 – February 26, 2007), was a rancher in the Texas Panhandle who from 1987 to 1991 was a Republican member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

for District 88, including his native

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, Texas. Waterfield was particularly known for his advocacy of home meal-delivery systems for the elderly and disabled.

Background

Waterfield was one of two sons born to Richard Bruce Waterfield and the former Marjorie Jones (1904–1961). He graduated from Canadian High School and then attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he was a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...

. He then operated his family ranch and was the president and co-owner of Canadian Feed Yards. He was the president of the interest group, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, and a director of the First State Bank of Canadian.

Political career

In 1987, Waterfield succeeded the veteran Democratic State Representative John W. "Buck" Buchanan of Dumas in Moore County. In 1990, Waterfield won the Republican nomination for Texas's 18th congressional district in a primary challenge to former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Bob Price of Pampa. However, Waterfield lost the general election to the incumbent Democrat Bill Sarpalius of Amarillo. Waterfield received 63,045 ballots (43.5 percent) to Sarpalius' 81,815 votes (56.5 percent). Waterfield had resigned his state House seat to make the congressional race, and in 1991, his legislative seat passed to fellow Republican David Swinford of Dumas. In 1991, Waterfield, having relocated permanently to the capital city of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, became the assistant to Democrat-turned-Republican

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

, the future governor of Texas who in 1990 had unseated the Democrat

Jim Hightower James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, Progressivism in the United States, progressive political activist, and author. From 1983 to 1991 he served as the elected commissioner of the Texas Department of ...

in a heated race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner. In the new position, Waterfield worked to establish the Texas Agriculture Finance Authority. He soon resigned the position.

Later years

After leaving the agriculture department, Waterfield was active in the Austin business community, having owned Waterworks Productions and Waterfield and Associates, Inc. Waterfield died in Austin at the age of sixty-seven. Services were held at Riverbend Church and at the First

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

Church in Canadian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterfield, Richard A. 1939 births 2007 deaths Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Ranchers from Texas Businesspeople from Texas People from Canadian, Texas Politicians from Austin, Texas Oklahoma State University alumni 20th-century American legislators American United Methodists Burials in Texas 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century Methodists