Jim Granberry

James Harlan "Jim" Granberry, Sr.
The Granberrys in their earlier years
Mayor of Lubbock, Texas, USA
In office April 23, 1970 – 1972
Preceded by	W. D. "Dub" Rogers, Jr.
Succeeded by	Morris "Moe" Turner
Lubbock City Councilman
In office 1966–1970
Born	June 23, 1932 Lindale, Smith County, Texas
Died	March 5, 2021 (aged 88)
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican Party
Spouse(s)	Edwina Brown Granberry (married 1954-2021, his death)
Children	Leslie Granberry Hamilton) James Granberry, Jr. Zachary Granberry Tim Granberry Susan Jane Granberry Mitchell Parents: Henry and Mary Granberry
Residence	Hideway near Tyler Smith County, Texas
Occupation	Orthodontist and Businessman

James Harlan Granberry, Sr., known as Jim Granberry (June 23, 1932 – March 5, 2021), was an orthodonitst and businessman remembered as the mayor of Lubbock, Texas, who guided the city through a series of tornadoes that shattered the region on May 11, 1970.

Nineteen days after he became mayor, the tornadoes struck the city. Granberry said that he and a united city council mobilized to direct the rebuilding of the city. He said that he was limited in what could be accomplished but termed Mayor Pro Tempore Deaton Rigsby his "right-hand man" in the reconstruction.

Granberry did not seek reelection in 1972 and was succeeded by Morris "Moe" Turner. Earlier from 1966 to 1970, he was a member of the city council. Mayors and council members in Texas are all officially nonpartisan, but Granberry was known to be a Republican.

Granberry was one of ten children of Henry and Mary Granberry. He was reared in Lindale in Smith County, south of Tyler in East Texas.

Gubernatorial race

In 1974, Granberry was the GOP nominee for governor of Texas but carried only 7 of the 254 counties and hence lost the general election by a wide margin to incumbent Democratic Governor Dolph Briscoe of Uvalde. Granberry was opposed for the Republican gubernatorial nomination by Odell McBrayer, the candidate of what later became known as the "Religious Right." Granberry handily defeated McBrayer, an attorney and United States Air Force veteran, Granberry polled 53,617 votes (77.6 percent) to McBrayer's 15,489 ballots (22.4 percent) in a low-turnout primary election.

Granberry was the choice of Republican U.S. Senator John Tower, the nominal head of the Texas GOP at the time. He would carry his party's tattered banner in the year in which the national party was dragged down by the Watergate affair, which had forced the resignation of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.

Dolph Briscoe hence defeated Granberry in the strongly Democratic year. Briscoe polled 1,016,334 votes (61.4 percent), compared to 514,725 (31.1 percent) for Granberry, and 93,295 for the Hispanic Raza Unida Party nominee, Ramsey Muñiz, who had also been the La Raza candidate in 1972 against Briscoe. Another approximately thirty thousand ballots were cast in the 1974 contest for other candidates. Briscoe, who had served the last two-year gubernatorial term in Texas, therefore became the first Texas governor to win a four-year term since the establishment of the Texas Constitution of 1876. Briscoe polled 617,159 fewer votes against Granberry than he had with his initial election in 1972 against the conservative Republican Henry C. Grover of Houston, because of a much lower turnout in 1974.

Granberry in his later years

Later years

In 1989, William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr., the first Texas Republican governor since Reconstruction, appointed Granberry, who was still living in Lubbock at that time, as chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. He resigned in the summer of 1991.

Granberry and his surviving widow, the former Edwina Brown (born 1937), have five children, James H. Granberry, Jr. (born 1965), who practices law in Bryan in Brazos County. Another son, Zach Granberry (born 1967), lives in Houston. The other children are Tim Granberry, Susan Granberry Mitchell (born 1970), and Leslie Granberry Hamilton (formerly Lesie Meeks) (born 1961).

In 1993, Granberry returned to his native Smith County in East Texas and was living in Hideaway in Smith County at the time of his death at the age of eighty-eight.

Current Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope said Mayor Dan Pope said Sunday that Granberry "was the youngest Mayor to lead our city, more importantly, he lead us through the aftermath and rebuilding of our city following the May 11, 1970 tornado. We honor his life and will never forget his service to our city.”