ANNE VALLIANT BURNETT TANDY
Rancher, Art Collector, Philanthropist
(1900 - 1980)
Anne Burnett Tandy, granddaughter of pioneer Texas cattleman Samuel Burk Burnett, grew up hearing yarns about 19th-century cattle drives and lived to see desktop computers. She inherited part of her family's Four Sixes Ranch in 1922 and added ranches in 1930. In 1968, she married Tandy Corp. founder Charles Tandy. A classic Texan, she was known for her knowledge of cattle, horses and fine art, and left a $200 million foundation supporting causes from quarter horse ranching to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Anne was a rancher, art collector, and philanthropist, the daughter and only child of Olive (Lake) and Thomas Lloyd Burnett. She was born on October 15, 1900, in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1906 the Burnetts moved to the family ranch house near Iowa Park. Anne grew up a friend to local Comanches and the Triangle Ranch cowboys; from them she mastered the qualities of a top hand. She also spent several years in the East where she went to school. In 1918 her parents divorced. She then lived for a time with her mother and grandparents in Fort Worth.
Prior to his death in 1922 her grandfather, Samuel Burk Burnett willed
the bulk of his estate to Anne in a trusteeship for her yet unborn
daughter. After his widow, Mary Couts Burnett, successfully contested
and broke the will, recovering $3 million in the process, Anne and her
father developed an agreeable working relationship in
the operation of his Triangle properties, which was organized as the
Tom L. Burnett Cattle Company. As owner of the Four Sixes Ranch in King
County, Miss Anne, as she was known among friends and employees alike,
actively engaged in breeding quarter horses.She was especially noted for
her champion horses, Grey Badger II and Hollywood Gold, from which many
top racers and cutting horses were descended. Her inheritance of
the Triangle operations after her father's death in December 1938 made
her one of the wealthiest ranchers in Texas. In 1940 she helped organize
the American Quarter Horse Association in Fort Worth.
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Anne Burnett was married four times. Her first marriage to Guy Waggoner
ended in divorce. Her second marriage to James Goodwin Hall produced one
daughter. That marriage ended in divorce, and she then married Robert
Windfohr, who died in 1964. In 1969 she married Charles David Tandy
founder of the Tandy Corporation in Fort Worth, and was a corecipient with
him of the 1975 Golden Deeds Award from the Exchange Club of Fort
Worth. Anne spent her whole life as a leader in her Texas community,
serving on many boards and she was a trustee of the Amon Carter
Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Cowboy Hall
of Fame in Oklahoma City. In addition, she was the first woman to become
a member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and the West Texas Chamber
of Commerce. She was a leading benefactor of the American Quarter Horse
Association and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association,
and in 1978 was a founder of the AQHA Hall of Fame.
After her husband's death in 1978 she established the Anne Burnett Tandy and Charles D. Tandy Foundation. She died at her home in Fort Worth on January 1,1980, and was interred at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery. Ownership of the Burnett ranches and estate were passed on to her daughter, Anne Windfohr Marion.
SOURCES FOR ANNE BURNETT TANDY
The Handbook of Texas Online - H. Allen Anderson
<http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/TT/ftase.html>