McCrory Mitchell
& Mitchell & Associates
GENERAL CONTRACTOR ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR
817.599.6815
817.599.6800
1110 E Bankhead Dr • Weatherford, Texas 76086
Sit in Comfort
2312 Montgomery St., Fort Worth 76107
Located in the Cultural Arts District
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to Chandor with Bodiford.
“At one point I went off on my
own,” Tison said. “I experienced the
peace and tranquility it offered. I real-
ized that we don’t have many places
left where we can 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 tranquil-
ity. Everyone needs to have a place
where they can go to find peace.”
Tison wanted to find a way to
make saving Chandor Gardens possi-
ble and he began to look for a way
to make it work. Larry Patterson, who
was city manager for Weatherford at
the time, 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
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 up by Shannon Goode, oper-
ates Chandor Gardens with Karen
Nance heading up the operations at
Chandor. Craig Swancy is now the
city’s mayor and Jamie Bodiford, who
didn’t run for a second term on the
city council, volunteers as docent
when she can take time from her
hectic schedule. No longer a banker,
Bodiford now works in real estate.
“Jamie is the real hero in the
Chandor Story,” Swancy said.
Bodiford respectfully disagrees
with him. “I think there are a lot of
heroes in this story,” Bodiford said.
“People like Larry Patterson, the
(former) city manager of Weatherford.
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.”
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