Donnie Clary, president and CEO of Corinth-based electric cooperative CoServ, had hints of his calling growing up near Southland but didn’t fully realize the predetermined nature of his career until recently.
Before age 12, Clary spent days at his great-grandparents’ home and cotton farm outside of Lubbock, where R.L. and Altha Hagler watched him while his parents worked. The home and farm was one of the first to be connected to electricity through Lyntegar Electric Cooperative in 1939, and the Haglers were founding members of the co-op.
Clary recently saw a clipping from an early 1960s publication that declared the Haglers the first co-op members to have an all-electric home.
“I knew they were some of the first members of the co-op, but I had no idea that they were pioneers with an all-electric home,” Clary says. “Pretty amazing that 50 years later, their great-grandson is in the co-op business.”