Oral History Interview

Interviewee: Marty Leonard
Interviewer: Mark Olson
April 24, 2024

Mark O: Hello. Welcome to another edition of Beneath the Surface, an oral history project at the Tarrant Regional Water District. My name is Mark Olson, senior video producer here at TRWD. We’re using this project to conduct interviews with long term employees to capture their thoughts, experiences, and insight, covering their careers at the water district.

But today, April 24th, 2024, we’re taking a little detour to speak with Marty Leonard, former TRW board member first elected to the Water District Board in 2006, a position she held for 17 years before leaving in 2023. I could spend the next hour introducing Marty, talking about her accomplishments and the accolades she’s accumulated over the course of her life.

But rather than do that, let’s keep it short and just say, Marty is a beloved icon of the Fort Worth community, who has spent much of her adult life doing service work and making our community a better place to live. She’s a nature and wilderness lover, a conservationist who cares deeply about sustainability, and the people who call this place home. I also hear through the grapevine she can swing a pretty mean golf club… Marty, welcome.

Marty L: Thank you very much, Mark. I don’t swing a mean golf swing anymore. I don’t, I haven’t played golf in a lot of years, but, I found, found out, I started at a very early age when I was three years old. So, I certainly had had lots of golf experience along the way because of my father, basically. But, but anyway, just recently I am, after not having played golf in lots of years, I decided one day I’m just going to go out and see if I still hit a golf ball. And I’ve done it 2 or 3 times, just for kind of fun.

And of course, the golf equipment now is totally different than what I grew up with. And so using it, just trying it out is different. It’s very, very different. But anyway, it was kind of fun to do. Just experimenting I guess. I’ve found I was – in between the bad shots – I could hit a few good ones. That’s for sure. But, it’s kind of fun to try.

Mark O: Yeah, well, maybe it’s like riding a bike, you know, you had the hang of it when you were younger…

Mary L: I think that’s true. They say that. So, it really never totally goes away. I think that’s true. But, I’m sure if I practiced a little bit it would help.

Mark O: Alright. That’s good. So, let’s dive in a little deeper into your background here in the city of Fort Worth, and the fact that you’ve, you’ve lived here basically your entire life. And so this community and you have evolved over the course of this time. So can you just kind of give us a little, a little bit more of the story of your background here with the City of Fort Worth and where things led you to the point where you ended up here at the Tarrant Regional Water District?

Marty L: Well, I have lived here all my life except for a very brief period of time that, after I got married. And my husband was in the Navy at that time, but didn’t care much for the Navy. So he, well, he wasn’t in that much longer. And then we moved back here, and he was a banker. So, but I grew up here, of course, and, in Fort Worth all my life. And, you know, I’ve been, I use the word ‘blessed’ because that’s the way I feel about it. But privileged I don’t like as much because I don’t feel like I’m privileged at all.

But, having grown up with the family I did and, certainly with my father’s influence in this community, I guess some of it rubbed off on me. I don’t know exactly. I can’t came by, but I didn’t do it purposely. But as my life evolved, I became a, you know, a volunteer basically. I didn’t have to spend all my time doing any kind of particular work or job or that kind of thing, because my father had provided for me and my husband provided for me, as well.

But, you know, Fort Worth is definitely home to me or even Tarrant County for as far as that goes, except growing too fast now. But, it’s growing out. So it’s not the small Cowtown that I used to think of, but, you know, life changes and so we all have to adjust to it, I guess.

But, anyway. And so, I never, unfortunately, never had any children, so I didn’t have a family and kids to take care of like, although I have, I had eight godchildren at one time, and I got a couple of namesakes. Even a dog was named after me at one point, so (by my good friend) and so, I evolved into – one of the first things I got involved with after I moved back here – and I was in my early 20’s. I was playing so competitive golf at that time, so I was traveling a little bit, doing some of that.

But, as I got involved with the Fort Worth Junior League, most people don’t have some idea about, It’s totally a volunteer training program, basically. And of course, the league is, does so much good in the community. And I got involved with that. That was that’s where I really got my start, I guess. And knowing how to be a volunteer; knowing what to do, that kind of thing. And so that was a wonderful intro to me.

And then I got involved in a couple of organizations here that I had known about when I was a kid growing up, because I went to school with a lot of the kids from Lena Pope Home. They just call it Lena Pope now, but it was Lena Pope Home and, it was originally an orphanage, and then it evolved into lots of other types of care for kids. And that’s one of the reasons we’ve been around since the 1930’s. So that’s a reason. And I knew Miss Pope, which was or was it real, special that I remember her, of course, very well.

But anyway, I got involved. And, you know, gradually, if you take leadership roles and/or they’re given to you or whatever, they force them on you or whatever it happens to be, you know, that’s how, you know, one can lead to another kind of thing. And of course, I have lots of different interests. And, nature center is the one thing that I’ve been very much involved with, because I love the outdoors and I love I think nature is so important to our lives. It certainly is in mine. I can’t do without nature or any better than I could do without water or, food or whatever, that kind of thing. So, I just think it’s so critical to our well-being.

So, I evolved through the years, you know. I just kept getting involved, and then, you know, people want to get you involved. And there are all kinds of ways to do that. And certainly the the water district was one of them, although I didn’t have my sights set on doing that, it just sort of evolved over a period of time.

I remember when there were, there was, two openings on the board early, early on. I didn’t want to run against anybody particularly. And there were two vacancies, I think, or whatever. And so I thought, well, maybe this was a good time for me to try it. And of course, I hadn’t had a female on the board prior to that. And, which was not a big deal, I don’t think. But anyway, so, I just, one thing led to the other, and I even, when I was considering running for the board, I looked back and I had seen that I had saved a number of different articles and publications and things about water and water conservation in particular. And, so, obviously the interest, I think in, in water, in particular in conservation, was sort of, dormant for me for a while until the opportunity seemed to come up for me to maybe take a run at it.

And of course, back in those days the elections were very different than they are now. They’re very political now, like everything else, it seems like. But, years ago, they weren’t. And when I ran there, some of the men had been on, whom I knew, had been on the board for a long, long time. And of course, I called it a good old boy system, because that’s kind of what it was, and that’s the way it functioned. But successfully. It was not done in a wrong kind of way. That’s just the way the set up was. And that slowly changed and evolved. And,to where it’s a very different situation now.

The needs and the issues are still the same, basically. It’s just how people go about doing things nowadays. And of course, it’s like, as I said, it’s has become a very political situation. And I had to go through some of that when I was running for the board and also when I was serving on the board. And some of it was, a little controversial, I guess you might say. And, but we worked our way through everything, and our mission was always very, very clear. And in my mind, it was. And I knew how I wanted to be involved and wanted to give to the community whatever I could to improve or maintain and improve, the water district and our, our system. So that’s sort of how it brought me to get involved, originally.

Mark O: Okay. So you mentioned something about the mission and that mission being really important mission. Can you elaborate a little bit more on what it is that
you were looking to do or. wanting to do?

Marty L: You know I can’t say that I had any exact goals or that kind of thing. I just knew the importance of water and good water. Pure water. You know, that kind of thing. And, as I say, I didn’t have any particular targets, other than maybe, because I know we need to conserve it. And there’s there’s only so much water you’re going to get. I mean, you know, the good Lord provides the rain and, you know, we can’t make it. And we can’t do without it.

And so, it was pretty clear cut to me, the flood control part of the of of TRWD’s mission was also important to me because I had, had actually witnessed our 1949 flood here. And realized, you know, how devastating that that can be and that we needed… But the mainly, I guess it was, is making sure, as best I could from my perspective and helping the water district do the same thing, provide for upcoming needs in terms of the water, because we’re growing so rapidly and adding lots of human beings to this area, into the earth.

And, you know, there’s, as they say there’s limited amount of water, but it’s been, it was my goal, I guess, to not only work on the conservation side of it, but also supply side in looking at different ways to do better, do different. Have different procedures of how we provide water for people.

And, and of course, I have the greatest admiration and, for the water district. I always have. And, got a wonderful staff and, and, progressive. Always looking and always trying different things. And sometimes we failed, when we were trying to get a different source of supply. That kind of thing. But always on the forefront, I think. And, that’s, I think that’s become very obvious to, to the community.

Mark O: Right. Because, I mean, this community’s not here, doesn’t exist without the Trinity River in the first place or any of the water resources that we have available to us today. And in order to get that, and you’re part of the TRWD board, so you understand that there’s an immense amount of planning that has to take place.

Marty L: Yeah, you’ve got to be forward thinking, for one thing. You got and you got to get good people on, which we have. And, you know, the staff makes a – I mean, the board can only do so much. And of course, we know we set policies and do all those kinds of things. But you all do the real work and the staff does. And, I think we’ve had, you know, in my opinion, from having known a lot of, all the staff for all these years I’ve been on there, you know, I think we have, superior staff. And, you know, there, there are difficulties along the ways. And sometimes you make mistakes, you know, but, not so much so here, I don’t think.

Mark O: So, let me ask you this. I know that when I first started working here at the Tarrant Regional Water District, which is in 2002, nobody knew who TRWD was.

Marty L: No. Correct.

Mark O: And that’s starting to change. And that started to change during some of your tenure on the board. And so I think that’s a positive thing. What, what are your thoughts on that? Like we were so far under the radar, you would mentioned TRWD to somebody and they would have no clue…

Mary L: No idea what TRWD stood for, what it was even. No question about that. And, and I guess some of…well, back in back in the early, my early days, I guess before I was…just as I was being elected. You know, there was a small election for the board in February. I think, generally speaking. And the current board, because I remember getting it, would send out a postcard and it would have these names on it. Most of whom were already on the board recommending and vote.

It was not part of big election like it is now. And it was, I think there were – when I ran the first time, I believe there were 11 candidates. Because it sort of opened up. And the other, before it had been a small election. I can’t remember whether it was, 2000 people or 3000 people or something like that. Very small amount that actually elected the board. So it sort of, you know, that was the way it kept going. But that that began to change. And, and I’m not sure exactly what led to the election becoming part of our general elections, you know, that we have in the spring. And so it was a lot different situation after, after that.

And, but we always had, you know, I think, I think we always had, good men, I will say, because that’s what it was, what they were at in those early years. But it has evolved and developed. And I think the very fact it’s become a political thing and people vote for people and all that has brought it more, more attention. But you’re absolutely right. It was a sort of an unknown entity. And of course, the most important one you could possibly have.

Mark O: Okay, so water supply obviously, you got to think long term to make sure that you’re going to have enough to meet the demands of the people who are coming after you, you know, the next generations. But flood control, flood protection. That’s something that’s, you know, nobody talks about it. Nobody thinks about it. We do. But until it’s like on you, right? And so I know that you alluded to it a little bit that you witnessed some of this stuff, and I remember you telling me a story about what you witnessed. And so I was wondering if you might be able to retell that a little bit?

Mary L: I could do that pretty easily. My father was, built Colonial Country Club golf course the same year I was born actually in 1936. And it’s in a river bottom area, basically, and still is, of course. And, of course, the ‘49 flood, it was it was devastating, you know, at the time. And as a result of it, of course, the golf course had to change. They had to put up levies. Not only on the golf course, which I was personally aware of, of course. But also, all over the community. And of course, some of that we’re trying now to to change that if we can, we get our bypass channel and all in and we’ll be able to maybe remove some of the levies and have a more open view of the Trinity and, I look forward to that.

I hope I live long enough to see that actually take place. I’m working at it, so…
But, I went with my dad to Colonial, as close as we could get to it. And, there were workers, literally, there was – there was some people that lived on the place, not very many, but a few of them – and there were workers that were up in the tree tops. And these are big old, oak trees and, and, different, you know, big trees had been there a long time. And just to survive, you know, until somebody could rescue them.

And of course, I remember also driving down West seventh Street as far as we could get before, you know, from from where I lived and, further west. And, seeing it was just, for a youngster or kid, I wasn’t real young at that point, but… it was quite a sight.

And one of the interesting stories I always loved to tell is off the subject a little bit, but not too much. My dad was a merchant, and owned, started Leonard Brothers, which became, covered seven city blocks downtown in North end of Fort Worth. Years later, it was very, very, popular place, I guess you might say. Be one of the things people loved to shop at Leonard’s.

But what Leonard’s did, and this was one of their, things that they, many ways that they attracted customers and did things. They, if you, if you lived in that Linwood area, which was the area that was so impacted, the neighborhood area. If you lived there and you had bought an appliance at Leonard’s. And it flooded and they needed to have it repaired. They would pick it up and take it, fix it, and bring it back for nothing. So that was quite that’s been documented in both, pictures and also in the Leonard Museum.

So, but anyway, that was another part of flooding. So of course, flooding is, you know, so devastating, of course, as we all know. So I think the water district’s done a really good job of trying to prepare for that and plan for that and do as much as we can.Particularly with the, the yeah, of course, the IPL project’s a whole other story. But, that’s more water supply, I guess. But, anyway, so I a very vivid memories of the, of the flood in 1949.

Mark O: Yeah. Hopefully all all of that’s in our past.

Marty L: Well yeah. Hopefully, that’s correct.

Mark O: That is that’s that’s… amazing stuff.

Marty L: It it is. And when you think of what could happen that, that the district’s working hard to make sure doesn’t happen. And, of course that’s part of our, as you well know, part of our mission. So…

Mark O: So, I know that you’re a nature lover, a conservationist. Something that goes with those two things is this idea of sustainability. And how do you? How? I know that the water district has started to move in that direction when it comes to this long-term planning, like, how can we do this and, use the resources that we have as efficiently as possible. And so one of those projects was the wetlands water recycling project. And, and that was something that came to fruition – it had started before you got here – (Yeah). But came to fruition under some of your leadership. And and so I’m just curious what your thoughts are on that.

Marty L: Well, that’s I think, that’s one of the most to me, exciting things. And I think it’s amazing process. I remember the first time I went down there and saw it. I’ve told many people. I said, they take water out of the Trinity. It doesn’t look, it certainly doesn’t look like anything you’d want drink for sure. And, you know, running through all the cells and then back into, of course, into our reservoir there. And I said, then when it gets to the end, so you can take a glass and look at it. It looks like a regular glass of water, you know. And that, that impressed me.

And of course, I love all the nature involved with that, too, because wetlands, of course, attract lots of birds. And I’m a bird watcher as well. But, and, and now we’re, we’re continuing that of course with Cedar Creek. So, I think the wetlands, and that’s one thing, that there’s a lot more emphasis on wetlands now than there used to be. Not just for TRWD, but I think in general terms for the state it because I’m involved in some things and elsewhere.

And it’s a natural thing, you know, really when you get right down to it. And I love it that it happens that way too. You have to do what I call artificial things sometimes to make other things work. But to me, that’s nature’s way of which we know, because that’s the way It used to be a lot more of until we came along and messed it up sometimes.

Mark O: What are some of your favorite memories here at TRWD as a member of the board of directors?

Marty L: Well, I would say it’s not a memory, but it’s a collection of memories. And, I guess I would, it’s people. It’s the staff that I’ve gotten to know. And if, you know, we’ve had a wonderful what I call working relationship. And, to me of course, that’s the whole, that’s what makes TRWD what it what it is. The staff here, they’re so dedicated and, hard working. And I’ve had the opportunity to get to know every one of them just about and had wonderful relationships with everybody, from my perspective anyway, and I think the staff as well.

And, oh, gosh, memories. You know, one of them actually was, was I just related to was seeing Richard Chambers. And seeing that to me was very exciting. And of course, we’ve had other projects where we’ve gone and seen the progress on the IPL pipeline, which is just incredible. It’s that, I just, I can’t think that big, but the district has in cooperation with Dallas, of course. And, gosh, what a great, unusual, cooperative venture that has been to provide, you know, more supply for us and, and in a better way to get it to us.

So, you know, I guess, as I say, I guess my memories mainly, it’s a collection of memories, certainly, but it has more to do, I think, with getting to know the staff.

And, I’ve got some memories that, you know, that I just soon pass, you know, that we had along the way too. It hasn’t been all just smooth sailing through the years. We’ve had some interference from some other people, (and outside of our district, I mean), and, but we worked through all of that. I think now it’s in a very, cooperative situation and not dealing with some of the issues we had to deal with some people that didn’t like what we’re doing.

Mark O: Well, you know, the IPL was something that’s kind of setting a precedent for the future of water here in North Texas. And that is seeing two of the largest water providers in the state of Texas working together. And you’re starting to see a little bit more of that with, especially here in North Texas, with the cooperation among some of the larger water providers – North Texas Municipal Water District, City of Dallas Water Utilities, TRWD, Upper Trinity Regional Water District. So, that is something that 20 years ago, no one would have imagined. (Exactly). And you’ve gotten an opportunity to keep pushing that stuff along.

Marty L: Pretty obvious what we need to do, I think. There’s not much question about that. And that needs to, it needs to be a cooperative situation. Of course, I think the, I don’t know how much influence the state water board has, you know, when that came about. And obviously sort of overseeing for the whole state. Definitely, we’ve come a long way. Probably because we, we not only needed to, we’ve almost had to. To have the cooperation and the working together and taking advantage of the things that are produced by working together. So, I’m sure there’s more to come on that for sure.

Mark O: One of the things that allowed us to delay some projects over the course of your tenure here at the board was a little word called conservation, which is something that we didn’t do a whole lot of, I don’t believe until – well, drought started to wake us up a little bit – and then you got on the board.

Marty L: Well, it was a focus of mine. It certainly wasn’t the only one because I was interested in the overall situation. But gosh, I can remember in the early years, our budget just for, for conservation was practically nothing compared to our overall budget. And it wasn’t, it wasn’t an emphasis. It hadn’t had to be, I guess you might say, prior to that. But it was becoming more and more obvious that we’ve got to do the best job we can of conservation, and not wasting water because it’s a precious gift that we, you know, we only get so much of it. And we’ve got to take care of what we get and use it properly. So that was a big area for me to, to help push along, as you might say.

And, certainly we’ve come a long way. And with the campaigns we do now. And the city also is, the city of Fort Worth that is, is I’ve dealt with them, too. I was on a, they had a group that, water group that met for a number of years. And they made a lot of progress in the things they’re doing too. And people became, you know, it became pretty obvious that we were going to have to implement a lot of these things. Whether it’s the days you water or how much you water or how you do it or that kind of thing. Because of course, we know the landscape use, landscape, water for landscaping is the biggest one source of wasting water, I guess you might say, or not using it properly. And people are a lot more aware of that now than they used to be. And, I really applaud the district for what they’ve done through the years.

And, of course, we’ve engaged, or we’ve expanded our staff, you know, in that, in that area and worked cooperatively with the other water providers and, I’ve been really happy. It never, it never seems to do as much as I’d like for it to. But, no matter how hard we try, because some people just don’t, you know, it’s hard to convince people sometimes. But I think everybody’s, because of the droughts we’ve had to.

And I was just reading an article in the paper this morning about how they’re projecting, of course, we’re going to get hotter, drier for years to come. And that’s the way our climate is going to be. So I don’t know. But, you know, certainly the, there’s an awareness now that I don’t think there was before. And the water district had a lot to do with that, with different campaigns and doing it in cooperation with, makes sense for the whole metroplex area to get the same message. And here’s what you need to do and here’s what you don’t need to do, you know, that kind of thing. So, I’ve been very pleased to see, and I’m not taking credit for that, but it was one area that I was particularly interested in. And, it’s come a long way.

Mark O: Yes. It has, it certainly has. And now again, that’s another area where you’re seeing kind of this teamwork between water providers all getting on board and having one message for this one media market. And it really has made a difference over the course of time. And it’s kind of allowed us to get a little breathing room in planning for the next moves and what we’re doing going forward.

Marty L: And I think that’s one of the things that, have such respect for the water districts for, is that, you know, even though you’ve been successful in a lot of ways, there’s always new things that can be explored. And you’re constantly looking ahead and looking to the future, trying to figure out, you know, how we can maintain, where we, where we have water in the water that we need, and you use it wisely.

Mark O: Yep. Is there anything else other than what we’ve talked about that you would like to add or say, or… How do you feel about your experience working here at the water district or being on the board here at the water district?

Marty L: Well, I you know, I was happy to do it to put it one way. I was glad to lend whatever support I could as a board member and tried to use good judgment and make good decisions, that kind of thing. And, so it was and, I had been, I had been on other boards as well that were different, totally different missions, of course. And whether it was Lena Pope or anything like that or Nature Center. But, but, it was a different experience for me to, to be elected. I never thought I’d run for anything. I never thought I was going to be, you know, be involved in elections and some of that I didn’t really care for very much. But, had to do it in order to, you know, to be a part of it. So, I was glad to do that. So…

And I did it for plenty long enough. I was on a long time. It was time for somebody else to come, move in. And with different ideas, perhaps, that kind of thing. I miss it though. I miss, I miss mainly the, of course, the personnel, the people that I’ve gotten to know. Both at the board level and staff level.

Mark O: Well, I will say that, I’ve, I’ve told other people, hey, I’m going to get to interview Marty Leonard when she comes in, and and just about everybody, with no exceptions. Tell her I miss her. Tell her I miss her.

Marty L: Well, I do too. And, Well, I appreciate that very much. And I feel the same way.

And, wonderful video that you all did for me when I went off of the board. You know, it was a lot of fun. But, the thank you, Marty visual, was really. And I felt, and I feel that from the staff. I mean, I felt a closeness and a warmth and, and certainly I’ve tried to return all of that as well.

And, so it’s been a wonderful experience for me, you know. And I just hope that, that what I was able to give is, and help with, helps sustain the district in the right kinds of ways.

Mark O: For millions of people that rely on us.

Marty L: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. The importance of this organization is to the, to every one of us as individuals or as a community is beyond understanding almost. Really is. So, I’m happy that I was able to be, a part, only a part, but a part of it. And…

Mark O: Yeah, very valuable part, for sure.

Marty L: Well, I hope so.

Mark O: So, I’ve asked this of the two previous guests, you’re guest number three. But anyways, are there any words of encouragement or words of wisdom that you could share with the people that are just getting started here at the Tarrant Regional Water District, who may not have their, have the bearings that, you know, the older folks do, the ones that have been here for a while? But, is there any words of wisdom that you might be able to share with them?

Marty L: Of course what I would say to the district in general and to the staff in general is just keep doing what you’re doing. And that’s a broad term, I know, but the water district has been so successful in what they’re doing and that they needed, obviously they’re doing the right kinds of things. And of course, the new folks just, you know, it’s a learning process and they just need to observe other folks around them and how they, and learn about what the what the history is, because I think that’s valuable, too.

So I’d say, you know, just make sure you maintain, your reason for what you’re doing and why you have a job at the water district. That there’s a mentality, I think, among certainly within our organization, of success. And, continue to, continue to, you know, to not only maintain what we have, but to be looking forward all the time. The new possibilities or opportunities.

Mark O: Okay. Alright. (Alright). So, with that, I just want to say thank you so much for coming in and talking with us for a little bit. And sharing some of your insight and some of your experiences here at the Tarrant Regional Water District. And we look forward to seeing more visits from you as the time comes forward.

Marty L: Well, I hope it’s been of some value to you. That’s the most important thing, you know. And I’m sure I’ll get away from here and think about a couple things. If I do, I’ll pass them on to, you know, we can see. But you know, there’s so much it’s, you know, it’s hard. I’ve been trying to think about it because I know you’re going to ask me some of these questions. So, try to give you, you know, what would be of some value to maintain the history of the water district.

Mark O: All right. Well…

Marty L: Thank you very much.

Mark O: Thank you. Marty.

Marty L: Okay.

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