Bob Price ( Texas politician ) Robert Dale Price ( September 7 , 1927 – August 24 , 2004 ) , known as Bob Price , was a Republican U . S . representative from Pampa , Texas , who served from 1967 to 1975 . He was subsequently from 1978 to 1981 a member of the Texas State Senate . Considered to have been among the most conservative members of his party , Price was only the second Republican since Reconstruction to hold the 18th District U . S . House seat . The first Republican representative from the since reconfigured district , Ben H . Guill , also of Pampa , held the seat for eight months in 1950 . Background . Price was born to Mr . and Mrs . Benjamin F . Price , Sr . , in rural Reading in Lyon County in eastern Kansas . He was educated in the Reading public schools and in 1951 received his bachelor ' s degree from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater , Oklahoma . After graduation , he married the former Martha A . " Marty " White . From 1951 to 1955 , Price served in the United States Air Force . He flew twenty - seven combat missions during the Korean War and received the Air Medal . The Prices moved to Texas after his discharge from the Air Force . Throughout his adult life , he owned and operated a ranch near Pampa , the seat of Gray County , located northeast of Amarillo . The ranch was located in portions of four counties and had been in the Price family since 1907 . Eight years in Congress . Price became involved in state Republican politics . He was a delegate to the state GOP conventions in 1964 , 1966 , and 1968 . He was a delegate to the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach , Florida . In 1964 , Price made his first race in the 18th District by challenging the 14 - year Democratic incumbent , Walter Edward Rogers , who prevailed with 58 , 701 votes ( 55 percent ) to Price ' s 48 , 050 ( 45 percent ) . Rogers had been initially elected to congress in November 1950 , when he unseated the short - term Representative Guill . Price ' s showing was numerically the best that any Republican congressional candidate made in Texas in 1964 , the year that native Texan U . S . President Lyndon B . Johnson overwhelmed Barry M . Goldwater of Arizona . Price ran again in 1966 , but Rogers decided not to seek reelection to a ninth term , and the Democrats nominated Dee D . Miller to contest the seat . Price defeated Miller , 45 , 209 votes ( 59 . 5 percent ) to 30 , 822 ( 40 . 5 percent ) . Price was joined in the Texas delegation by a second better - known Republican , George Herbert Walker Bush of Houston , the future U . S . president . Price ' s party gained forty - seven U . S . House seats nationally but still remained in the minority as the new session of Congress opened in January 1967 . Price served on the House Agriculture Committee and on the Manned Space Flight and NASA Oversight subcommittees . He was reelected in 1968 with 65 . 2 percent of the ballots cast , and he was unopposed in 1970 . In 1972 , even though Texas had gained a seat in redistricting , the Texas Legislature merged Price ' s district with the Wichita Falls - based District 13 , held by six - term Democrat Graham Purcell . The reconfigured district retained Purcell ' s district number — the 13th — but was geographically and demographically more Price ' s district than Purcell ' s . As a result , Price defeated Purcell , 87 , 084 ( 54 . 8 percent ) to 71 , 730 ( 45 . 2 percent ) . A Watergate casualty . In 1974 , Price was among dozens of Republican congressmen repudiated by voters in the Democratic " Year of Watergate " even though these members had nothing to do with the scandal that had forced U . S . President Richard M . Nixon from office . Price was defeated by Democrat Jack Hightower of Vernon in Wilbarger County west of Wichita Falls . Hightower had a solid majority , 53 , 094 ( 57 . 6 percent ) to Price ' s 39 , 087 ( 42 . 4 percent ) . Hightower ' s winning total was nearly twenty thousand below Purcell ' s losing tally in 1972 . More than half of Price ' s 1972 supporters deserted him . In 1976 , Price lost to Hightower in an attempted comeback . Hightower prevailed with 101 , 798 votes ( 59 . 3 percent ) to Price ' s 69 , 328 ( 40 . 4 percent ) . Later election results . Price entered the Texas State Senate as a result of a special election held in 1977 to fill the District 31 seat vacated by the Democrat Max Sherman , who resigned to become the president of West Texas A & M University in Canyon in Randall County . Price used the slogan " Price is Right for Texas . " He held the seat for a partial term , 1978 to 1980 . In the 1979 legislative session , Price along with two Republicans from Fort Worth , Betty Andujar and Bob Ware , were included among the " Ten Worst Legislators " by " Texas Monthly " magazine . In 1988 , when Republican U . S . Representative Beau Boulter of Amarillo ran unsuccessfully for the U . S . Senate against the Democrat Lloyd Bentsen of Houston , Price entered the primary to succeed Boulter but lost the GOP nomination to Larry S . Milner , a businessman from Amarillo and a 1967 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin . The seat nevertheless went to a Democrat in the fall , State Senator Bill Sarpalius , who defeated Milner , 52 . 5 to 47 . 5 percent . Sarpalius had won the state senate seat that Price vacated in 1980 and served in that capacity until he was elected to the U . S . House in 1988 . Price sought the GOP congressional nomination again in 1990 , but he lost to Richard A . Waterfield , a state representative from Canadian in Hemphill County , known for his advocacy of meal - delivery programs for the elderly and disabled . Price ran again in 1992 but was defeated in the primary by Boulter . After winning their subsequent nominations , both Waterfield and Boulter were subsequently defeated by Sarpalius in the general election . Price ' s legacy . Price was a member of the First Baptist Church of Pampa . He was also a former member of the Downtown Kiwanis International . Price was recognized posthumously by the Texas House of Representatives in January 2005 in a proclamation presented by his Pampa friend , Warren Chisum . The proclamation cited Price ' s " sense of humor , strength of conviction , and dedication to public service . Bob Price sought to make a positive difference in the lives of others , and he leaves behind a legacy of achievement that will surely inspire those who will follow in his footsteps . " Price died in Pampa . In addition to his wife " Marty " , he was survived his son , Carl Benjamin Price ( married to the former Kelly Wiemann ) ; daughter , Janice Price Johnson ( married to Marc Johnson ) , and brother , Benjamin F . Price , Jr . ( married to Ruth Price ) . There are seven Price grandchildren — Nicholas , Miles , and Elise Johnson and Courtney , Grayson , Bridget , and Daniella Price . He is interred at Fairview Cemetery in Pampa . His long time canine companion " Waggs " soon followed Price in death .