DECEMBER 2015 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
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set some goals about what we wanted
to accomplish for the coming year—
what we intended to accomplish.
Acquiring another park wasn’t one
of them. This wasn’t the first time an
effort was made to make Chandor city
property.”
The first time had been following
the death of Douglas Chandor when
Ina, frail and ill, approached the city
council with an offer to donate the
gardens to the city. The city council
had respectfully declined her offer.
The second time was after her death
in 1978. Again, the city council
declined.
“I approached a number of highprofile citizens in the community,”
Bodiford said. “I was amazed at
how few of them had actually seen
Chandor Gardens and others hadn’t
been there since they were children.”
She set out to remedy that, starting
with Mayor Joe Tison.
“At the time, when that purchase
became available, I wasn’t sure that
I could support it because we had
set some other priorities,” Tison said.
“Then Jamie asked me to come out
and take a tour of the gardens with
her.” While he gave her little hope
that he’d change his mind, Tison
did go to Chandor Gardens with
Bodiford.
“At one point I went off on my
own,” Tison said. “I experienced
the peace and tranquility it offered.
I realized that we don’t have many
places left where we find that kind
of peace and serenity. With the way
Weatherford is growing, pretty soon
there won’t be many places where
our children and grandchildren will
be able to go and find tranquility.
Everyone needs to have a place
where they can go to find peace.”
Tison wanted to find a way to
make saving Chandor Gardens
possible and he began to look for a
way to make it work. Larry Patterson,
who was then city manager for
Weatherford, had an idea.
“There were so many hotels
coming to the area,” Tison said.
“Larry suggested that the hotel/motel
tax would be enough to make buying
Chandor Gardens possible.”
“We didn’t have much time,”
Bodiford said. The next hurdle was
30
to change the zoning for the gardens.
A group of local citizens who were
interested in the gardens being
acquired by the city got together
and sent cards to 900 recent visitors
to the garden. The cards explained
the situation and asked those who
were concerned with the garden’s
fate to attend the next Planning and
Zoning Board meeting of the City of
Weatherford. More than 200 people
showed up in support of Chandor
Gardens.
Today, the City of Weatherford’s
Parks and Recreation Department,
headed by Kathy Mosby, oversees
Chandor Gardens. Joe Tison is still the
city’s mayor and Jamie Bodiford, who
didn’t run for a second term on the
city council, volunteers as a docent
when she can take time from her
hectic schedule. No longer a banker,
Bodiford is now a real estate agent.
The gardens are still filled with
romance. Jamie met a handsome
young attorney, Michael Brinkley,
at an event at the gardens, and
they recently announced their
engagement. The wedding venue is
Chandor Gardens, of course.
“I think there are a lot of heroes
in this story,” Bodiford said. Joe
Tison tops her list, and “people like
Larry Patterson, the (former) city
manager of Weatherford, is one of
them. He found a way to fund the
effort. So many of the people who
love Chandor went out of their way
to make that known…They’re all
heroes.”
Mayor Joe Tison simply says,
“Jamie is the real hero in the Chandor
Story.”
ran to the back door, threw it open.
No one was there. Then I saw him
on the railing — the biggest crow I’ve
ever seen in my life… Then a second
(smaller) crow joined him… Since
then, I’ve seen them around regularly.
The two crows act like they owned
the place. We call them ‘Douglas’
and ‘Ina.’ They’re still at the gardens
and sometimes, even though they’v e
been around here for years, they still
creep me out… just a little.” — Karen
Nantz, Coordinator Chandor Gardens
“I came to (Chandor) with my
grandmother when I was a little
girl… She was a friend of Douglas.
Ina was working in one of the flower
beds. I was so impressed with the
gardens. Ina reached down and
picked a flower for me. It was a lovely
experience… It stands out in my
memory because it was so different.
For a girl from West Texas, you can
imagine the impression it made.” —
Carolyn White
“My grandparents bought this
house in 1921. Douglas Chandor
would go out for walks in the
afternoon and my mother would be
out in the front yard. He’d stop and
talk. They struck up a friendship —
my mother (Virginia Kirby-Taylor) and
Douglas Chandor. When my parents
married, Douglas cut a bunch of
gardenias for my mother’s wedding
bouquet. Years later when Chandor
reopened, I played my harp at the
opening in honor of my mother’s
friendship with Douglas Chandor.” —
Kathleen
________________________
Memories of Chandor Gardens
Since the City of Weatherford
purchased Chandor Gardens, Jamie
Bodiford-Brinkley could have rested
on her laurels — but that would
go against the Bodiford way. The
Bodifords are known as people of
action, after all.
“Real estate is still my passion
as well as restoration of historical
buildings,” Bodiford-Brinkley says, as
she makes notes on her iPad, bakes
her famous chocolate pies to give as
Christmas presents and works on a
speech she’s scheduled to deliver —
“It was like make believe. It was a
place where every day people didn’t
go… Growing up in Weatherford,
we didn’t have that kind of cultural
experience. For most of us who grew
up in Weatherford, if we had a garden
at home, it usually had watermelons
growing in it.” — Doyle Lee
“Late one evening (at Chandor
Gardens), I heard a knock on the back
door. I got up and opened the door…
nothing there. It was totally still… sort
of eerie… I closed the door and tried
to go back to what I’d been doing.
Then there was the same knock… I
Update:
The Lady Who Saved Chandor
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