Gyna Bivens, a six-term Fort Worth City Councilmember whose blunt honesty and deep roots in Stop Six made her a defining voice for east Fort Worth neighborhoods, died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 71.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m completely heartbroken that we have lost such a light and force in this world,\u201d Mayor Mattie Parker said in a statement Monday evening. \u201cGyna Bivens truly personified love and service, and she was a champion for neighborhoods throughout east Fort Worth and the entire city for many years.\u2028<\/p>\n
“Gyna\u2019s passion and love for all of District 5 and the Stop Six community was unwavering, and she worked tirelessly in her time on City Council and beyond as an advocate for economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and the senior citizen community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bivens, the former mayor pro tem who\u00a0announced in October that she was ill,\u00a0served on the City Council from 2013-25. She declined to run for a seventh term, saying she \u201cfelt comfortable leaving now,\u201d citing achievements over her years on the dais.<\/p>\n
Her tenure was consequential.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bivens was a leader in development advances in Stop Six, including Cavile Place, an affordable housing complex, and Hughes House, a mixed-used development named in honor of former Dunbar basketball coach Robert Hughes. Both of those projects were boosted by a $35 million federal grant, essentially personally delivered by Ben Carson, then head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Trinity Lakes development is a sprawling development constructed by Ken Newell. It will also serve as a transit hub. Progress is being made and construction begun on Lancaster, a major thoroughfare long neglected in District 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n
District 5 includes Fort Worth\u2019s historic Stop Six and Handley neighborhoods and extends north to Mosier Valley, site of the settlement of the first freed slaves in Texas, and east to State Highway 10 and across State Highway 360.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city of Fort Worth, the District 5 family, and the Stop Six community lost an amazing champion today,\u201d said City Councilmember Deborah Peoples, who succeeded Bivens last year. \u201cThe bible tells us: \u2018When I am weak, then I am strong\u2019 (II Corinthians 12:10 NIV).<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough her tireless dedication to our community, Councilwoman Gyna Bivens was a beacon of light. Throughout her illness, she carried herself as she always has, with grace and strength and love. I am most thankful for Councilwoman Bivens for all the work she did in District 5 and also for her support and kindness even during the past few months. May we all not be weak but strong for her family. Rest in power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tributes from her former council colleagues poured in.<\/p>\n
Said Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Flores: \u201cShe served our city with class and distinction for 12 years. While we mourn her, let\u2019s celebrate her life by remembering what she meant to us all. My heartfelt condolences to her family and loved ones. God rest your soul, Gyna.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI miss her common-sense approach [and] her nonpartisan viewpoints,\u201d \u00a0District 4 Councilmember Charles Lauersdorf said on Facebook. \u201cThe world was a better place with Gyna and I\u2019m going to miss my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gyna Machelle Bivens was born on Oct. 16, 1954, to Rev. Roy W. Bivens and Betty Joyce Bivens.<\/p>\n
Bivens came from a line of Baptist preachers. Her father, born near Palestine, founded Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in 1956 in the living room of the family home in Stop Six. Today the church is on Ramey Street. Roy Bivens was also a truck driver for Armour & Co.<\/p>\n
Her grandfather, J.D. Green, was a preacher at\u00a0True Light Missionary Baptist Church in Riverside. He later moved to Dangerfield, Texas, and was part of the city charter committee there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said last year as she prepared to leave public office that she brought her upbringing and her faith to the office, saying she prayed over every meeting agenda \u2014 \u201cat least most of them anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she discerned over whether to seek another term, she turned to her faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, in spite of me cursing like a sailor, I am a woman of faith, and I prayed to the Lord to let me know when it was time to go,\u201d Bivens said from her now former office at new City Hall. \u201cI had talked about leaving in 2021, and my mother \u2014 closer to God than I am, I guess \u2014said, \u2018No, you\u2019re not done yet.\u2019 So, I stayed another term.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bivens graduated from Dunbar High School in 1973. She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from University of North Texas in radio\/TV\/film. That career took to Lubbock, Dallas, and San Antonio.<\/p>\n
It was in the Alamo City she got her first taste of City Hall as a television reporter for KMOL. She moved over to the other side as a public information officer for the city of San Antonio.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bivens moved home to work for Oncor as a communications person. It was while there that then-District 5 Councilman Frank Moss asked her to serve on the Board of Adjustment. \u201cThe Board of Adjustment will change your life,\u201d she said. Moss also appointed her to the board of Trinity Metro, which she eventually chaired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moss, Bivens said, \u201cis the one who made me.\u201d She eventually unmade Moss, challenging him for his council seat in 2013. She received 92 more votes than Moss in a three-way race in the May election and squeaked by him by literally a few votes in the runoff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGyna was a tenacious advocate for southeast Fort Worth and a relentless voice for neighborhoods that too often felt unheard, whether she was working on economic development, public transportation, public safety or quality-of-life issues for the families she represented,\u201d said District 3 Councilmember Michael Crain. \u201cHer years of leadership on the Fort Worth City Council and in regional and national organizations reflected not only her deep knowledge of policy, but also her unwavering belief that government should open doors of opportunity for every resident.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the night she was sworn in for her first term, she introduced three speakers, including her mother and pastor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith that, mayor, I\u2019m ready to go to work,\u201d she said to then-Mayor Betsy Price.<\/p>\n
Bivens quickly gained a reputation for blunt honesty, the kind that left no doubt where she stood, and no confusion about what she expected.<\/p>\n
Said Lauersdorf, a U.S. Marine: \u201cShe always called me \u2018Marine\u2019 and would whisper \u2018hoorah\u2019 next to me on the dais when either of us dropped some heat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parker added, saying Bivens \u201cwas always a refreshing voice of reason when we needed it the most, and she reminded us daily to \u2018be impressive.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the honor of a lifetime to not only serve alongside her but to call her my dear friend and a mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a forum during that first campaign against Moss in 2013, Bivens said she decided to run after repeatedly driving past boarded-up buildings that have sat vacant for years. She highlighted a proposal for a church-run pilot program that would serve as a local contact point for seniors who need help but lack nearby family support.<\/p>\n
Promising to be a strong advocate for neighborhoods, Bivens said the city needed decisive leadership. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to keep wandering around like folks in the wilderness,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have someone who\u2019s not afraid \u2014 who\u2019s not shy.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added for emphasis before closing: \u201cI was born, raised, and will probably die here. But not until we get some things done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gyna Bivens, a six-term Fort Worth City Councilmember whose blunt honesty and deep roots in Stop Six made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3084,116,118,117,2862,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-157776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-city-hall","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","11":"tag-fort-worth-news","12":"tag-john-henry","13":"tag-top-story"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}