Meet the County Officials: Duroy loves to bowl

MarshallCountyCommissioner Chris Duroy has been commissioner of district #3 since 2009 and in that time, he has covered many miles of county roads, literally. Duroy said he takes pride in his work as county commissioner, working to maintain the county roadways.

Duroy is a native of Del City, Okla. who worked in the oil and gas business and spent about 15 years living in the West Texas area. Eventually, he settled in Marshall County in 1996.

Duroy and his wife, Carrie, have been married for 35 years. The Duroy’s have one son, two grandchildren, and one great grandson.

In addition to serving the past 15 years as county commissioner, Duroy is also active as INCA’s executive board vice chairman for the last eight years. He has also served on the Oklahoma Works executive board for 12 years. Duroy has also been on the NACO economic development committee for four years and has served four terms as Chairman for the Board of County Commissioners.

TheMadillRecordrecently sat down with commissioner Duroy for a short Q&A for the Marshall County residents to get to know him.

Q: How long have you and yourwife,Carrie,knowneach other and how did you meet?

A: “I would say probably about 38 years. We met in Oklahoma City at a bowling alley. I was an avid bowler at the time, and she was learning. I was coaching her.”

Q: Are you still a bowler? A: “No. I pick and choose my sports and there’s not any aggressive bowling allies around this area. They are all either in casinos or something like that. I did a lot of professional type bowling, and I drilled bowling balls for several professionals who were on tour and things. My wife also bowled a regional professional women's tour back when we lived in west Texas. You have to drive too far to get to a decent bowling alley here, so now I bass fish. I bought a bass boat. My wife and I tournament bass fish and fish for fun.”

Q: Prior to living here in Marshall County you lived in Pampa,Texas.Whatbrought you here?

A:“Mywife'sfamilyisfrom Pampa, and when they retired, they moved down here. They stayed here for seven or eight years and then moved to Grandview to be closer to other grandkids. Then we moved down here and did the whole convenience store thing. We did well there and then I got into county government, and I have been here ever since.”

Q: How do you feel about the influx of new people moving to the area and the business growth coming in as well?

A:“Ihavebeenworkingfor the last 10 years on Marshall County’s Economic Development Group and we start trying to bring businesses. Basically, we want our kids to get out of school and have jobs here. We don’t want them to have to move off. Yea they will go someplace to get their college education, but we want them to have good enough jobs here to come back here. Have good paying jobs and work here. Try to bring people in. Finally with the Pointe Vista starting up we will see some growth there. We have seen some businesses come in and most of the businesses are doing really well. You don’t see too many of them go under here. Things seem to thrive, but they work hard at it. Basically, we need to growthecommunity,weneed to try to keep our kids here.”

Q: How big of a need is there for more housing development in the area?

A: “Honestly it is extremely important. I see Marshall County being more of a residential area than a big manufacturing area. We have a lot of people that work at Choctaw or at the Winstar Casino and they all live here. They don’t want to live right next to where they work. It is quieter here and so they buy or build houses here. We come up with a set of standards for a lot of these subdivisions who are trying to get them put in properly. That way our infrastructure grows, we see nicer homes. Whether they have mobile homes or site-built houses.

We just want upscale but affordable. Yes, affordable houses, starter houses and things like that and rental housing there is such a need for that. I would rather see peopledorentalhousingthan these Air BnB’s. Number one you get a better contract, a longer-term contract. If I had a piece of property, I would probably consider renting it before I would Airbnb it. I wish we would get a senior citizen center or some kind of village. A retirement community. Self-sustaining, where people can come and go as they please. People that are on fixed income that are retired don't want to take care of a big house, they want somebody to come and mow their lawn. You see this in a lot of bigger towns. I look for somethinglikethattocomein sooner or later. I really think that would be a good thing for them to do here.”