Reprint from the Progress Times - July 20, 2007
©Progress Times 2006 - All Rights Reserved

Gen Long legacy includesLandry Mural, vital downtown

By Kathy Olivarez

Many people have lived in Mission throughout the years, but few have had a more positive impact on the city than Gen Long, who recently resigned during her fifth term as Mission City Councilwoman. She resigned due to family illness requiring Long and her husband, Bill Long to stay in Oklahoma to care for family members.

"I love Mission and I really hate having to leave and give up my responsibilities in the city," said Long in a telephone interview with the Progress Times. “If it were not for these family obligations, I would not be leaving. I hope to return to Mission once this situation has been resolved."

For the past several months the Longs have been living in Oklahoma caring for Bill’s elderly mother. Thinking that this was to be a short-term obligation, Long has commuted back and forth between Mission and Oklahoma to complete her council obligations. However, what was one relative needing care has become two relatives needing long-term care and the family obligations have become too demanding for Long to keep commuting.

"I know that I am not being an effective councilwoman and it is time for me to let someone else take over the responsibility," said Long. "But I would not do so if it were not for the situation here."

Long’s love of Mission has been obvious in the many ways she has dedicated herself to serving the City of Mission and the Rio Grande Valley. Gen and Bill Long moved to Mission from McAllen in 1982 and immediately set about making a difference in the city and in the Valley.

The most obvious is the way the Longs began renovating much of the downtown area. In the 1990s there were many vacant buildings in the downtown area. The Longs purchased their first building in 1991 and have since renovated 15 buildings in the downtown area. While some of them have now been sold to new owners, several of the properties still belong to the Longs. Instead of being just another small town with a dead downtown area, Mission has a thriving downtown and much of the credit goes to the Longs.

Two buildings stand out in Long’s mind as making her most proud. One was the renovation of the historic Border Theatre, which had become so rundown no one wanted to attend movies there. The Longs cleaned the building, painted it, replaced the seating, air conditioning system and authentic neon sign and got a state historical designation for the theater. Today the theater is an economic asset to the downtown area, showing first run movies at a fraction of the cost of the newer theaters.

Long also takes special pride in the restoration of what she refers to as the Tom Landry building located at the intersection of Tom Landry and Conway Avenue. It is so named because of the mural of the life of Mission’s hometown hero, Tom Landry. Long researched Landry’s life from a young man involved in local sports through his professional football career and time as coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

"The opportunity to meet the Landrys and become friends with them means a lot to us," said Long, who, with her husband, is an avid football fan.

Because her husband was involved in the agriculture industry, Long has had a deep interest in Valley agriculture. In 1986, she founded Texas Agri-Women, a women’s organization that worked on agricultural issues important to the Valley.

She served as president of the organization three years.

During that time she made 15 or 20 trips to Washington, D.C. to lobby government officials on issues that were important to the Rio Grande Valley and worked closely with former Congressman Kika de la Garza. She served as vice-president of American Agri-women, the national organization for two years. The organization worked on issues involving trade and marketing of American agricultural products.

In 1990, as a result of those trips, the Secretary of Agriculture invited her to participate in Clear Water 2020, a national committee, which made several trips to different countries to study water issues.

Then President George Bush appointed her to the National Agriculture Users Advisory Board, where she served for five years. The board oversaw a science and education budget.

In 1992, Long decided to run for city council and won a seat to fill an unexpired term. Since then she has served four full terms and was two years into her fifth term, bringing her years of service on the council to 15 and a half years.

When asked what she considered to be the most important accomplishments of her years as councilwoman, Long said that construction of a new police station, a new city hall and the renovation and addition to the Speer Memorial Library were high on her list. She was instrumental in seeing the Mission Market Square built to draw shows and business into downtown Mission.

While on the council, Long has served as the city’s liaison to Amigos del Valle, an organization designed to serve the needs of the Valley’s older citizens. During her tenure the 202 housing, a 59-unit elderly housing project, was built on Matamoros Street along with a new senior citizen center.

The need for children to have a safe place to play has led Long to push for new parks within the city. Long campaigned hard to get the Bannworth Park in Sharyland developed soon after she became a member of the council. She has supported development of other parks such as the Madero Park and the new Bentsen Palm Park now under construction.

Long has always had an appreciation for Rio Grande Valley history and worked to see that it was preserved. She served as president of the Mission Historical Society and from there it was an easy step to heading the transition of Mission’s old city hall into the Mission Historical Museum. Long served as acting director for six months while the building was cleaned and readied to be used as a museum. Later she was elected as the museum’s first president.

Long also enjoys art and it was through her efforts that the Upper Valley Art League relocated their headquarters to Mission, using the old Kika de la Garza building next to the library.

"I really hope that this family situation will be resolved soon and we will be able to return to Mission," said Long at the conclusion of the telephone interview. "But this is a time in my life that family must come first," she said sadly.

Regardless of how long it takes for the Longs to return home to Mission, they can leave Mission with the knowledge that they left the city better than they found it. They were two citizens who really made a difference in the community by making it a better place to live and play.