I
t’s been called Weatherford’s greatest treasure.
Most people agree that it’s wonderful that
Weatherford has such a picturesque, unique and intrigu-
ing garden to call its own; but it’s the story behind it,
the tale of Douglas and Ina Chandor, that makes the
garden all the more magical. It’s the story of a whirlwind
romance between the red-haired daughter of a Texas
banker, lawyer, and cattle baron and a tall, lanky British
portraitist.
They met at a dinner party in Manhattan in 1931,
according to local lore. Ina Kuteman Hill was wearing a
stunning cocktail frock featuring an intriguing dip in the
back of the bodice.
“You have a lovely back, Douglas said to Ina. “I’d
love to paint it sometime.” Ina was a Weatherford social-
ite whose young Texas marriage had recently deterio-
rated.
After Douglas settled a few legal issues that included
immigration (he was in on a work visa that had him
jumping through hoops and returning to the U.K. regu-
larly), and tied up loose ends involving his divorce from
his wife Pamela (she was spending money like a drunken
sailor and sending the bills to Douglas as she frolicked
around England with the wild son of British lord), he
managed to get his divorce finalized in 1933.
When Douglas returned to the States he asked Ina
to marry him. She said, “yes,” but only if they’d live in
Weatherford. They married in Weatherford’s All Saints
Episcopal Church in 1934. Ina’s mother gave the newly-
weds land next door to her own home as a wedding
present. They built a home there and worked together to
create an exquisite formal garden from what had been a
pasture. They named their home “White Shadows.”
Though already a world-famous portraitist, so much
of Douglas Chandor’s greatest work he created after he
married Ina, including a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill,
painted in 1946, which hangs in the National Portrait
Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution; a 1947 painting of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also in the National Portrait
Gallery of the Smithsonian; Eleanor Roosevelt, from 1949,
which is part of the White House Collection; and the
Coronation Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
Entrance to Chandor Gardens.
Photo by Craig Swancy
The Chandors spent half the year at White Shadows
and were beloved members of Weatherford society.
“They bought a new Buick from my father every two
years,” Jamie Bodiford said. “My parents would deliver
the car to them and the Chandors would invite my
parents to dinner at White Shadows. Always, they served
a Virginia ham. Of course, children weren’t invited to
such dinner parties. No one in Weatherford lived the
way the Chandors lived. I heard their names around the
house, but my first-grade field trip was the first time I
actually saw the gardens.”
The sad end to the Chandors’ love affair came abrupt-
ly when Douglas died from an aneurism in 1953. Ina
lived alone for almost a quarter of a century. She kept the
gardens open to the public for as long as she could.
Finally, aging, sick, and struggling to maintain the
gardens, Ina Chandor offered to donate the property to
the City of Weatherford. Members of Weatherford’s City
Council declined her offer, saying it seemed like it would
be a mowing “headache.”
After the death of Ina Chandor in 1978, the gardens
and the Chandor home sat abandoned and the gardens
fell into disrepair.
In the mid-1990s, Chuck and Melody Bradford bought
Chandor Gardens and restored both the house and the
gardens. Once again, school children toured the gardens,
couples were married there, and the Bradfords permitted
Continued on page 90
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