By Chris Moore

Chris.moore@panews.com

 

In his final weeks as Nederland mayor, R.A. “Dick” Nugent is still taking calls and overseeing final steps on the city’s purchase of a new fire engine.

When polls close May 4, the city will have a new mayor for the first time in 16 years.

 

‘I can take you there’

Nugent was born in his grandmother’s home in Alexandria, Louisiana on Oct. 15, 1934.

“For years and years, my children would not believe it,” Nugent said last week, laughing. “I had to get half of the family to tell them that it was true.”

Nugent’s father worked at Texaco in Port Arthur at the time and his mother went to live with her mom for help with the pregnancy and birth.

“After they were married and it was time for me to come along, my mother went to live with her family,” he said. “There was no one from her family over here to help. She wanted to have physical help, which she was able to get over there.”

Two weeks after Nugent was born, he and his mom returned to Port Arthur.

“My (paternal) grandmother owned a (fourplex),” Nugent said. “There were two apartments on top and two on bottom. When we moved back, our family lived in one of the bottom ones and my grandmother lived in the other. She rented out the top two. I can still take you there.”

 

‘Two Bulldogs and a Westernaire’

In 1955, Port Neches opened Goodrich-Gulf and the Nugents relocated there.

While in Port Neches, a friend of Nugent set him up on a blind date.

“There was a young lady that lived across the street that was single also,” Nugent said. “We never dated. We were just good friends. Our parents knew each other. She and my (future) wife worked together. She introduced (us) and thought we would get along. Little did she know, it happened.”

Nugent and his bride Patsy moved to Nederland and grabbed a home on South Fourth Street and had three children before moving to Tipps Drive.

Nugent said, “I had two football players and a Westernaire,”referencing the high school drill team.

 

‘I guess I’m blindsided’

In, 1956, prior to meeting his wife, Nugent was a volunteer firefighter for Port Neches.

“I was working shift work [at Texaco], and they liked that,” Nugent said. “I was available half of the time.”

After moving to Nederland, then Mayor C.R. Mostyn asked Nugent to volunteer for the Nederland Fire Department.

“When I transferred, my equipment and everything came with me,” Nugent said. “They made an even trade because the two fire chiefs were brothers. Johnny and Leroy Cormier were the chiefs. Leroy, who was the chief in Port Neches, fussed at me.”

Nugent stayed as a volunteer until he ran for Nederland City Council.

“I ended up being president of the volunteer firefighters,” Nugent said. “After my second year, I was helping Johnny run the thing. I don’t know how that happened. That’s how a lot of my life is. I guess I’m blindsided. I go into something and next thing you know, I’m deep in it.”

 

‘If I go down, they’ll pick me up’

Nugent said he had a few scares while working with the fire department.

“I enjoyed it,” Nugent said. “My wife worried about me getting hurt. I told her I was out there with the gang. If I go down they will pick me up. We were careful. We learned a lot.”

One night, Nugent saw the truck go towards Port Neches and he followed.

“We had some that got a little hairy,” Nugent said. “You have a 4-inch hose that takes three men to handle. I found out in Port Neches that it takes more than two men to man it.”

The First Baptist Church caught on fire and firefighters were trying to prevent the flames from spreading to the next building.

“We learned to count the people on the hose,” he said. “The fire got ahead of all of us. The main church is ablaze and was trying to go down the covered walk way. The chief called for another line to be dropped but not to charge it.”

Nugent said he knew he had three people behind him, but he did not look back to take inventory of who it was.

“What I didn’t know was that I had three civilians behind me that didn’t know what they were doing,” he said. “I charge the thing and we went in there. It was terrible. We were inside the building.”

Nugent said he felt the line fighting more and when he looked back, the others working the line had left.

“We found out later, it got too hot,” he said. “They weren’t bunkered down like I was. Nobody told me. I went down and was by myself. Some guys saw me go down and dragged me out of it. They laid me down, but they didn’t know it was in an ant bed.”

Groggy, covered in ants, Nugent was taken to an ambulance to be treated.

“They called my wife and told her I was in the hospital in Port Arthur,” he said, adding she was angry. “It was Father’s Day, too.”

 

In 1965, Nugent served as the city emergency manager for three years prior to running for City Council. He was in charge of having a plan for residents should a natural disaster occur. Nugent got permission to use Central Middle School as a shelter and talked to the Red Cross about providing food, if necessary.

 

‘A bloody knock-down, drag-out thing’

In 1968, Nugent ran for City Council against Jack Evans, who had been on the council for 17 years.

“I ran, and it was a bloody, knock-down, drag-out thing,” Nugent said. “They brought up stuff I never even heard of. We had a tough one.”

Nugent said Dr. Raymond Benski joined the race, as well.

“We wanted to go in and shake them up,” Nugent said. “Away we went. Back in those days, there was one little building. When you ran for any kind of public office, they counted with tally marks. That’s how they counted the votes. Right there in the fire station. You could look and peak and see how many tally marks you got. It was kind of fun.”

Those running for office found shade under a single tree outside of the building.

“We all fought to get under that tree,” Nugent said, laughing. “It was a little, scrawny tree. We all wanted underneath it, because we got blood red from being sunburnt.”

Nugent said he and Benski shared some laughs in the heat of the day.

“I was used to being outside and I was about the color of that door,” Nugent said pointing to the brown door of his office. “Dr. Benski was as red as could be. He said ‘Come here, Dick.’ He took his sunglasses off and said ‘I’m going to have white marks on my eyes and I’m going to be permanently burnt on my head.’ I told him it proved he was human. He was a good guy.”

Once the votes were counted, the margin were close, but Evans did not receive enough votes to win outright. Benski had the fewest votes, which led to a run off between Nugent and Evans.

Once again, the margins were close.

“I beat Jack,” Nugent said. “I beat him by four votes. As they say, the rest is history.”

 

 

While on the council

Nugent work in the research lab at Texaco while on the City Council. Nugent served on the council from 1968-1988. In 1980, Jefferson County Judge Richard LeBlanc approached him for a job as an administrative assistant.

Nugent, who was tired of working behind a desk, said he’d accept the job if the judge could match the salary and benefits. LeBlanc and Nugent agreed he could stay on the City Council as long as it didn’t affect his job. In 1988, Nugent decided to step away from the council because of the workload, but he couldn’t stay away for long.

Eight years later, Nugent returned to the council and positioned himself to run for mayor in 2003 after Homer Nagel stepped down for health reasons.

 

‘I was part of a team’

Nugent said over his 16 years as mayor, he is most proud of working with others for the betterment of the city.

“I was part of a team,” he said. “I led the meeting. I like to feel like, as mayor, I didn’t do anything by myself. I started the thinking process. When we get to that table, there are five votes. They have as much authority as the mayor.”

Nugent said he aimed to be fair more than anything else.

“I tried to think about things ahead of time,” he said. “If I made a decision, I thought about it before I made a vote. I’ll sit down with anyone. We all work for the city.”

Nugent said because of his health, he thought about stepping down for the past three years. In 2007, he was diagnosed with cancer and lost one leg.

After a recent tumor didn’t respond to chemotherapy, Nugent said he realized the end is near.

“Whenever they said it was inoperable, I realized that was Him telling me to get ready,” Nugent said, pointing toward Heaven. “That’s it. Wrap it up.

“They told me I might have a year. Might. That was a year and a half ago. I’m way past my guarantee. My time is up.

“I knew I couldn’t sit there and wait. That wasn’t right to the people that put me here. That was the man up stairs telling me to get my butt out of the way.”