Early life Tunnell was born in
Tyler, the
county seat of
Smith County and the largest city in east Texas, and educated in
public schools. He graduated from Tyler High School and
Tyler Junior College, then joined the
United States Navy Air Corps during
World War II as a
tail gunner. On January 13, 1945, he married Bette Lemons (1927–1988). In 1952, Tunnell received his
law degree from
Baylor Law School in
Waco and returned to Tyler to become an assistant district attorney before entering private practice. He was joined by future Comptroller and Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock in 1959, and the two formed a close bond.
Speaker of the Texas House Tunnell was first elected to the Texas House in 1956. In the two years that he served as Speaker, which coincided with the first two years of the administration of
Governor John B. Connally, Jr., the legislature created the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the state's first tourism department, and transferred what would become
Padre Island National Seashore to the national government. On November 22, 1963, Tunnell was present at the
Fort Worth breakfast at the Hotel Texas held for U.S. President
John F. Kennedy shortly before
his assassination later in the day. Others at the gathering included Texas
Attorney General Waggoner Carr.
Railroad Commissioner In 1965, Governor Connally appointed Tunnell to the
Texas Railroad Commission upon the retirement of 32-year veteran
Ernest O. Thompson.
Ben Barnes was then elected Speaker. Tunnell was twice elected to the Railroad Commission—1966 and 1972—before he resigned in 1973 to become a vice president and
lobbyist for
Houston-based
Tenneco, a
petroleum and
natural gas company. One of his lobbyist colleagues was former state Representative
Phil Cates, formerly of
Wheeler County. Tunnell's service as Railroad Commissioner overlapped with the energy crisis of the early 1970s.
Later career In 1995, Governor
George W. Bush appointed Tunnell to the State Conservatorship Board to overhaul and reorganize the troubled
Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Death Tunnell died of cancer in Lake Palestine on March 7, 2000. He and his wife are interred at the
Texas State Cemetery in
Austin. ==References==