French Steps Down as Phillips Conservation District Supervisor after 64 years!

To put into context how long Bill French has dedicated his time to the Phillips County Conservation District, these are a few things that were happening when he started his career in 1957.

Toyota had just started selling cars in the U.S., Frisbees are released and become wildly popular, the New York Giants baseball team moves to San Francisco, the Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles. The top movies that year are The Bridge on the River Kwai and Twelve Angry Men. The new songs Wake Up Little Susie, That’ll Be the Day, and Jailhouse Rock are heard over the radio for the first time.

“I really enjoyed working with the supervisors. You have to, if you’re going to do it as long as I did.” French said. “I think everyone hits a point when they know it’s time to step away and I have hit that point.”

Fellow board members say about French is that, “His dedication to everything he does in life is apparent in his marriage, his family, his land, and his time on the board. He is committed to everything he does.” They also said that “Bill is one of those guys that when he says something, you feel like you should be writing it down or recording it.”

French told the story of how he got started with the supervisors. He said he was at his folks’ farm south of Wagner. A good friend of his came over and told him to put a clean shirt on and come with him, he had a job for him. His friend took him into town to a board meeting and he was appointed that night. He was 23 years old when he started.

When French was asked about the changes he saw in Phillips County over his tenure, he said, “You know, everyone always says, In the good old days, what they don’t realize is the good old days are now. I don’t know how they did it back in the pioneer days. If they didn’t get any rain for a long time, they would have to take their herds all the way to the Missouri River. I can’t imagine doing that. We have really made a lot of improvements with the overall quality of ranch life over the years.”

French continues to work on his ranch south of Malta with his wife Corky, whom he married a couple of years after starting on the board.

“I still do as much as I can here on the ranch. If the job is a little rough, I’ll play my old man card and have the boys do some of it.” French said. “My happiest days are spent here on the ranch. I like being home.”