Wes Saxon is the Hauani CreekVolunteerFireDepartment Fire Chief, and comes from a family who bleeds Marshall County.The Saxon Family roots run deep with the cotton and peanut farmers and cattle ranchers that helped build Marshall County to what it is today, having been here since 1860’s.
Saxon said he is proud of his family’s deep roots in the community and enjoys serving the people. Saxon grew up in the McMillian area and graduated from Madill High School in 1987.
After high school, he attended Murray State College for two years on a Rodeo Scholarship. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1991 at Oklahoma State University.
After working for five years, he went back to OSU to get his teaching degree. Saxon then moved to Davidson to teach Agricultural Education and FFA for a year before returning to Marshall County to teach at Madill.
He continued his teaching career for five years at Madill before making a change to insurance, where he has worked for the last 22 years. He said he loves what the insurance world has afforded him.
“The freedom that you have with this job and financially it helped my family,” Saxon said about making the leap from educator to insurance.
The Hauani Creek VFD had formed in the 1980’s but there was not a firehouse and only a handful of volunteers to help with emergencies in the area. In 2000, Saxon and other community members decided to change the situation.
Saxon said revitalizing the HCVFD was tough, but worth it.
“There were about four or five of us that got together and revived the fire department in 2000, we basically started from scratch.”
Through years of fundraising and grants, the fire department in Hauani Creek has an official fire station, multiple fire and emergency vehicles, and about 16 volunteers.
“I’ve been chief now for about 16 years and we have survived on about $10,000 a year and we did what we had to do to make it work,” Saxon said.
Saxon also attributed the quarter cent sales tax revenue from the county to being able to provide the much needed service to the area the Hauani Creek VFD serves.
Saxon said the area is more spread out, unlike a lot ofthelakecommunitiesinthe area ,and how it is important to have the VFD in the area to protect and fight against fires in the more rural area of the county as it can be difficult to get emergency services to the area.
“We are like a community, you get around the lake and you have a lot of big community areasm' he said. 'We are a pretty rural, farm sparse areas.”
Saxonsaiditisveryimportant for the VFDs and other emergency services departments to work together and isthankfulforthecomradery.
“It is very important that we get along, with not just ourneighboringdepartments butallthedepartmentsinthe county. At some point in time we are working together as one and all ten departments work great with each other.”
When Saxon is not spending time working and volunteering, he is spending time with his family. He and his wife Samantha, a Physical Therapist,havebeenmarried for almost 29 years.
They started dating after high school and married approximately a year later. Together, they have four children. The oldest is their 28-year-old son Mathew Saxon,anEMSwiththeMarshall County EMS. He is also a volunteer at the Hauani Creek VFD as a Captain and an EMT, with his dad.
Jess Saxon is 25 years old and a student at Texas Tech working on his Master’s Degree in Cognitive Experimental Psychology.
Emma is 21 years old and is a teacher with INCA in Madill and is currently working on her teaching degree to follow in her dad’s footsteps.
The youngest daughter is 19-year-old Maggie who is attending Murray State College working on her associates degree.
Saxon said he was a steer wrestler in the rodeo, and said he 'did that up into' his 30s. He also said that he enjoys hunting and fishing now that he isn’t wrestling steers.
When the Saxon family has down time, they like to vacation together, whether they are in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado or the beaches of Ft. Walton, Florida and the Texas beaches at Corpus Christi. Saxon said they enjoy time around Lake Texoma and can’t wait to see what the future will look like with the Hard Rock Resorts coming to this side of Lake Texoma.
“I hope it is good for the county,' Saxon said. 'We need tourism, Marshall County relies on tourism.”
Saxonsaidheenjoysworking in the community and encourages everyone to support the local fire department.
“Support your local fire department. They do a heck of a job in this county for nothing but a thank you.”