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GEORGIE SWINNEY

ACROSS THE FENCE

By Arvord Abernethy

The Glover Wrights had told me that I just must see Georgie Swinney’s home and ranch which is just down the Leon River from them on what was known for years as Mrs. Mann’s place.

From the time I drove under the old railroad underpass on the Old Stephenville road and saw the white pipe fence that edged the well-kept pecan grove and meadow, I knew this was going to be an interesting visit. I soon passed the home where Georgie’s daughter, Janice Norwood, lives with her husband, David, and their three children. The winding gravel road follows along where the hill meets the river bottom under large pecan trees, and with fat cattle grazing on the coastal Bermuda on each side.

When I drove up, I found Georgie in her work clothes out helping Otis Berry work on her car; and a little grease didn’t seem to bother her. It didn’t take a very long glance to see that Georgie has a unique, but very beautiful home of native stone and rough cedar. Dale Sommerfeld was the general contractor on the house with Truett Townsend doing the rockwork.

As soon as one walks into the house, he feels the warm, lived-in atmosphere that puts one to ease, even though there are many antiques and nice furnishing throughout the house. One of the first things that Georgie showed me were some of those old-fashioned white china door knobs that she had taken from her childhood home and put on her pantry doors.

The house more or less centers around a very large living room which faces out to the west through large windows which picture frames the green meadows and pecan groves beyond. On the opposite side of the room is a huge rock fireplace and chimney. Georgie said that the fireplace was made for wood that is larger than she can handle so she plans to alter it some.

The cathedral ceiling of the living room slopes up from the front windows until it is high enough to cover a large balcony or loft that overlooks the living room. A free-standing stairway leads to this balcony which is furnished for refreshments serving.

As one descends the stairway, his eyes catch the view of five E. Howard banjo clocks which hang on the wall near the stairs. Each clock is a different size, so their tops are arranged to slope with the ceiling. The Swinneys have collected clocks for a number of years, so have many interesting ones on hand.

One of the most interesting antiques I saw was a Regina Music Box that is encased in a beautiful glass case. It works on the same principle as those music box powder or jewelry boxes, only this one is for real and on a large scale. The records it plays are large sheet metal discs that are some 12 to 15 inches across and are punched to have projections that strike the chime notes. The music it makes is beautiful.

Off to one side from the living room is the spacious master bedroom with its own fireplace. This room is served by a large, conveniently arranged bathroom with a sunken bath. The lavatory counter tops in all the bathrooms, as well as the kitchen counter tops, are of white cultured marble. This is the first I had seen and it really looks nice. There is a large walk-in closet in this bath, and other nice sized closets throughout the house.

From the entrance foyer, one can enter another wing of the house where there are four bedrooms and two baths. This is a very handy and popular part of the house when the five daughters and all their families gather for celebrations. Georgie now has two great-grandchildren.

Across the back of the house is a sun room, or should we say plant room, for she certainly has a way with plants. She likes to take plants that are not doing well and revive them. She showed me a plant that her sister had that was about to die, but with a little special care it has put out four new leafy limbs and has run up a shaft to put on more.

The rock waterfall, in one corner of the plant room, adds interest, as well as humidity for the plants. This along with the flagstone floor and the rock walls below the windows with its wide rock inside sills makes an ideal place to grow plants, and she has it full.

Georgie grew up on a farm up near Bonham and her parents, the J. T. Sutters, still live there. As the old saying goes, “You can take a girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl,” certainly applies to Georgie. She is a great lover of the outdoors.

After living in Odessa for several years, they decided that they would like to have a ranch to get out on, so after looking at several in Central Texas, they found this one and felt it was exactly what they wanted.

They have done a lot of work on the place since coming here in 1978, besides building the nice home. The white pipe fences were put along the highway and around the yard. Practically all the other fences have been rebuilt with some cross fences put in to aid in grazing rotation. With their bulldozer, they have done some additional clearing under the pecans as well as some they have cleared on the hillside and have sprigged to coastal Bermuda. By keeping the pastures and pecan groves mown of weeds and brush, the place takes on the looks of a nice park.

They have built up a nice herd of mother cows which are in excellent condition; they, along with their calves grazing on the green grass, make a beautiful pastoral scene. The cattle won’t have to worry about their winter meals, as they have a large stack of those big round bales of coastal hay waiting for them. Georgie’s brother-in-law, Jeff Swinney, lives on the place and overlooks the work.

She has five daughters. Besides Janice Norwood who lives here, she has two daughters who live in Odessa where their father, Alvis, lives and has one of his oil field equipment machine shops. One of the daughters in Odessa recently presented Georgie with another grandson.

Shared by Roy Ables

ACROSS THE FENCE 

SWINNEY, ANDREW JEFF