A changemaker locally and nationwide, former United States Representative and Tarleton State alumnus Charles (Charlie) Stenholm has left a legacy in both the agricultural policy industry and the Tarleton community.
To honor this legacy, Dr. Jean Lonie, Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, is spearheading a project consisting of a series of interviews to capture the stories that bring Stenholm’s legacy to life.
“He was one of a kind in a lot of ways,” Lonie said. “He was really passionate about the Constitution, his district, ag policy, and agriculture as a whole. He is exactly what you would think of someone who was first and foremost a farmer, then an ag teacher, then an elected official.
“But what has been amazing to me is that the more I talk to people about this project, the more it seems that everyone knew him, and everybody’s got a story. So, our goal is to try to do right by him and help collect those stories.”
In the Spring of 2023, Stenholm was working with Tarleton State’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to coordinate a reunion for the staff members who had been with him during his time in Congress. However, Stenholm passed before the event could take place.
“This [project] stems from the desire we have to honor him in a way that he did not get to pull off,” Lonie said.
The end goal of the project is to make the interviews available online to preserve his legacy and the stories for future generations.
“We want to make these accessible to our students,” Lonie said, “and for anybody studying agriculture or policy, or that may be interested in a future in politics. So that they have these stories to go back to hear about this person who is such a valued and valuable leader in the ag policy space.”
Another goal of the interview series is to demystify the process of being involved in policy and politics.
“It does not mean every one of us has to go run for office somewhere,” Lonie said. “But our elected officials need to know what is important to us, and the ripple effect of what they’re doing. [Policy] works best when we all lend our voices.”
The project consists of personal interviews with Stenholm’s former staff members, friends, colleagues, community members and those who knew him best—essentially anyone with a connection to the former congressman.
“We [interviewed] a Tarleton alum that went on to be a secret service agent for President George W Bush,” Lonie said. “But he got his start in that line of work from a letter of support from Congressman Stenholm, because he went to Tarleton and happened to bump into him.”
Stenholm has a deep connection to Tarleton. Not only was he an alumnus of the university, but he was an instructor following his time in Congress. He taught the college’s agriculture policy class. When Stenholm took a step back from teaching, Lonie took over the course’s instruction.
“He was able to give some really important, real-world stories to highlight how we all need to be thoughtful in what we believe, in what we say, and in how we back it up,” Lonie said.
His lessons in the classroom carried over important ideas that have left lasting impacts on the lives of his former students.
“That was his point,” Lonie said, “that you could be so casual with what you say that you can’t ever live true to the ideals behind it. [He said] that you have got to be really dialed in on what is important to you, what you believe in, and what you are willing to back.”
In addition to the impact Stenholm had on Tarleton and its students, he also had a respected impact in D.C.. He worked in the legislature to save the farm credit system, he helped write the farm bill, and he worked adamantly to get a balanced budget.
“He was a really interesting person in that he believed in bipartisanship,” Lonie said, “and he was guided by the Constitution. That seems really straightforward, but that isn’t always how it shakes out, and that impacts policy.
“He believed that there were problems that we needed to solve and address, and we needed to find a way to do that within the framework of the Constitution.”
The recorded interviews will be posted at a later date. However, a replica of Congressman Stenholm’s office is displayed in the O.A. Grant Humanities building and his legislative archive is currently available through the library.
“He was one of the brightest, hardest working, most humble people I have ever met,” Lonie said. “You would never guess it when you met him. ‘Hi I’m Charlie,’ is how he introduced himself. No auras. Nothing fancy. Just, ‘Hey I’m Charlie.’”