Great Uncle Phil Sayers Sr. - Harris County Commissioner

Philip Edgar Sayers Sr. (1901-1972) is one of my maternal-side great uncles.  He was married to my grandfather's sister, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wanda Guokas Johnson Sayers (1901-1980).  Uncle Phil served as the Precinct 3 Commissioner for Harris County, Texas, from 1949 through 1968.  Here is his official portrait, which hangs on the ninth floor of the county's administration building at 1001 Preston in Houston.

This image courtesy Janet Hodson Sayers.  Also available at http://archives.hcpl.net/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15978coll9/id/21/rec/1

Philip was born May 25, 1901, in Houston, the sixth of eight sons of Thomas Green Sayers (1866-1910) and Almyra S. "Mina" Fawcett Sayers (1866-1956).  

Philip attended Houston public schools, including the old Central High School for two years before transferring to the San Marcos (Texas) Baptist Academy.  I found Philip in the 1920 yearbook; he was a sophomore that year, assistant secretary of his class and a sergeant of "A" Company in the ROTC.  Here's his yearbook photo:

Philip then attended Texas A&M in College Station, studying agricultural engineering, then worked for an engineering and construction company for a year. During that time, he was seriously injured when a horse fell with him.  He spent a year in hospitals recovering from injuries sustained in this accident.

In 1925 he was employed by the United Fruit Company.  For two years, he was the overseer of over 500 men at a banana plantation of 480 acres and a cattle ranch of over 2000 acres in Guatemala.  He then moved to Columbia and served as division inspector. He traveled extensively in South America and the Caribbean and returned to Houston in 1929.

I wish I knew the story of how Phil and Lizzie met.  They were married June 7, 1929, by a county justice of the peace.  Lizzie was a recent widow (her first husband, Ralph Johnson, died of tuberculosis) with three young sons.  The following year, Phil and Lizzie and the boys are living on Westfield Road in what was then rural north Harris County.  The 1930 Census lists his occupation as poultryman on a chicken farm, destroyed by a flood later that year.  Later that same year, his first son, Thomas Green Sayers (1930-1991) is born, followed by Philip Edgar Sayers Jr. (1932-2013) two years later.

Next, Philip Sr. was employed in the office of City Fire Marshall John Steel. He transferred to the city health department, then directed by Dr. Hutchinson, as a milk inspector. In the spring of 1932 he took a position as a state livestock inspector, working there for two years.  In 1934, he began working with the Gibson Grain Company. 

The 1937 city directory indicates Phil is working at the Hardy Street Feed Store, 5005 Hardy Street.  On the 1940 Census, he's the manager of a feed store.  By 1941, he owns one of his own, Sayers & Son at 6200 Hardy Street on the north side, pictured below (photo courtesy Janet Hodson Sayers).

Politics must run in the Sayers blood - his great-half-uncle, Joseph Draper Sayers, was Governor of Texas 1899-1903.  He was elected to the board of trustees of the Aldine Independent School District in 1941, and was chosen to act as its secretary. Philip first ran for the Harris County Commissioners Court (the governing body for a Texas county) in 1944, and was elected to it in 1948, representing Precinct 3, which was then the north side of the county, where he lived and worked.  Phil was reelected four more times, serving a total of twenty years and retiring at the end of 1968. Here's a campaign card from 1952, courtesy Janet Hodson Sayers.

County commissioners are responsible for overseeing maintenance of county roads, bridges and parks, and other services within their precincts, as well as running the whole county along with the elected chief executive, the county judge.  Probably the most exciting project Uncle Phil was involved with as a county commissioner was the construction of the Astrodome in Houston, the world's first indoor sports stadium.

The groundbreaking for what was originally called the Harris County Domed Stadium--using Colt .45s firing blanks instead of shovels--took place on January 3, 1962.   This was a clever play on the original name of what later became the Houston Astros baseball team - they were first called the Colt .45s.  Below (from the left), County Commissioners W. Kyle Chapman, V. V. "Red" Ramsey, County Judge Bill Elliott, and Commissioners Phil Sayers and E. A. "Squatty" Lyons take their turn at the groundbreaking (photo courtesy Janet Hodson Sayers).

You can see Uncle Phil in these other photos from the groundbreaking, in the same suit and white hat:

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/astrodome/item/359

Judge Roy Hofheinz presides at the groundbreaking of the Astrodome :: Image Collections

Phil and Lizzie lived at 16710 Waycreek Drive, on the far northwest side of Houston, for the rest of their lives.  Here is a picture of them (courtesy Janet Hodson Sayers) in retirement on the front steps of their home.  Phil died of lung cancer the day after his 71st birthday, on May 26, 1972.  He is buried in Section 10 of the Rosewood Cemetery in Humble, Harris County, Texas.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - click here to e-mail me.