The pioneers who founded Victoria County Electric Cooperative (now Victoria Electric Cooperative) in 1938 and then built it from the ground up made some truly courageous decisions in the face of risk.

That beginning, and the fantastic results of those early decisions, take a front-row seat in 2003, which is the 65th anniversary year of the Cooperative.

When you really think about it, what those leaders were called upon to do was awesome. They signed their names on dotted lines to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to carry out a plan never before attempted on such a massive scale. Those loans were to be repaid with revenues from sales of electricity in a market that hadn't even been established. The project was pursued with fine-tuned calculations, deeply-studied advice, and no little amounts of faith, courage and foresight.

Reading through the minutes of those meetings in 1938 and 1939, one gets an excellent picture of people who refused to let problems or complications spoil their dreams. With every meeting came a new issue that somehow had to be resolved. And that's exactly what they did--generate resolution.  In order to build power lines across the countryside, right-of-way problems had to be overcome. The project would be stalled or even killed if power lines couldn't be built across county roads or government-owned rights-of-way.  At a meeting in the Victoria County courthouse held on January 14, 1939, VCEC board president Herbert A. Wischkaemper called the meeting to order in which Victoria County was to be asked for permission to cross its right-of-way. In addition to the Co-Op Board, members of the County Commissioners Court were officially in attendance.

The meeting was a critical step for the Co-Op's future. In order for rural electrification to work, it was mandatory that there be cooperation between important organizations. Local government was (and is) a vital ingredient in the formula.

The Co-Op's request was granted by the commissioners. County officials passed a motion to allow Co-Op lines to cross county rights-of-way, including roads. Signing the resolution for Victoria County were County Judge J.J. Woodhouse and Commissioners H.G. Farber, S.F. Ruschhaupt, J.B. Payne, and William Scherrer.

Another important decision made by the Co-Op Board on January 14, 1939, was to purchase liability insurance. Nothing would stall the project faster than a high-dollar accident or injury. A resolution by Gil Onderdonk, seconded by Henry C. Koontz, allowed the purchase of necessary insurance from local agent E.J. Dysart.

Big steps were being taken and big hurdles crossed, but there was a lot more still to do. After the January meeting, the Co-Op suffered a setback with the death of vice-president W.V. Coffey. A glowing resolution passed by the board commended him for his important contributions to the effort. Board member Alonzo B. Dentler was elected to fill the vice-president post, and Mack H. Key was added to the board to replace Mr. Coffey.

An important fact recognized by the Co-Op organizers was that the successful marketing of electric service could be carried out only if people took advantage of the new technology. At its meeting on February 24, 1939, the Board passed a resolution that all electric equipment dealers be notified about the status of the program, especially noting that people would be needing to have their houses wired along with needing sources from which to purchase appliances and equipment that utilized electricity.

Other major items were handled at the March meeting. Eugene H. Houchins, system attorney, was authorized to contact the Lower Colorado River Authority regarding access to a supply of wholesale electric power. Houchins was also directed to lease an office for Co-Op operations. Engineer V.L. Beavers was authorized to begin staking. And F.C. Rather was chosen as the system's superintendent, which made him the equivalent of the first Co-Op manager.

The choice of Mr. Rather as superintendent took some interesting administrative footwork. The job requirements for the position noted that the superintendent had to be between 25 and 50 years of age. Mr. Rather was 54 at the time he was hired. It created a serious administrative--if not legal--problem.

But the Board solved the dilemma quickly, especially since Rather was the man they wanted. A special resolution exempted Rather from the age requirement. The resolution noted that he was older than the job description allowed, but it went on to say that Rather had "the energy and vitality of a person much younger." He was hired at a salary of $125 per month.

A second employee, Isabelle McNeil, was hired by the Co-Op as the stenographer-bookkeeper. Her salary was set at $100 per month.

The Board also received bids for the Co-Op's first vehicle. The item of choice was a 1939 Chevrolet pickup purchased from Atzenhoffer Chevrolet Company for $620.73. Optional equipment on the truck wasn't specified in the minutes, but it's a sure bet that the Chevy had no air conditioning.
 
Sensitive to the importance of marketing the electric power they were going to provide, members of the Board personally went from farm to farm soliciting memberships. They were paid $3.50 per day and four cents per mile, and they worked long hours, determined to make sure everybody who wanted electricity knew about the program and signed up.

A critical item was that of making sure potential customers and members would be ready to use electricity. Without wired houses, the program wouldn't work.  Especially sensitive to this issue, the Co-Op Board arranged for a line of credit, funneled through the Co-Op from the Rural Electrification Administration (now the Rural Utilities Service, or RUS). The loans to Co-Op members helped with expenses related to installing wiring. It was this kind of pragmatic foresight which helped make the program a success.

One reason why there were big-city skeptics about rural electrification was because the cost of constructing power lines across vast rural areas appeared to be too high to be justified. VEC would never have been able to succeed if the assumed costs for construction had held true. And, this fact was a primary reason behind why the private power companies didn't want to serve in rural areas.

But a few years before electric co-ops all over the country were being organized, a man named Morris Cooke, the first administrator of REA, orchestrated an approach to power line and facilities construction which dramatically cut the cost of installing the lines. Such savings made the program possible in areas where there were very few meters connected over several miles of line.

Wally Walleck, the early-on Co-Op employee who was a vital part of that original construction effort, applied those cost-saving techniques as he worked with a host of others to actually build the original lines for the Cooperative. Wally recalled in an interview that what the construction crews lacked in equipment they replaced in savvy, creativity, and just plain hard work.

The original loan from REA for $140,000 to initiate line construction and handle other expenses was authorized by the Co-Op Board on March 6, 1939. Using those funds, construction of line was authorized by the Board "in the counties of Calhoun, Jackson, Victoria and those adjacent."

Minimizing expenses while delivering good service was as important in those early days as it is now. Budgetary constraints and coping with fiscal realities has always been a major challenge of system operations, even from the very early days. The problems in finance have changed over the years, but the bottom line of holding costs to a minimum is always the priority concern.

Whether it was hiring the first superintendent, buying the first vehicle, or signing the first loan, Victoria County Electric Cooperative's first officials set out on a venture of faith, believing that their calculations, strategies and plans would turn out to be successful. And the program worked out magnificently as lights came on and appliances hummed with the vigor of a new and wonderful technology.