Texas Eyes Smile On East Hampton Home Purchase

Texas is a very big state, and now, in a way, it includes Toilsome Lane in East Hampton. A house on that street has just sold for $3,145,000, and the buyer is the Anne Burnett Tandy Trust, which has a strong connection to good old Fort Worth.

The house itself is fine enough. On a lot a bit bigger than a half-acre, it is 3,200 square feet and has 5 bedrooms and 6 baths. The new construction has a patio and pool and is surrounded by lush landscaping. But as sometimes happens, the person behind the purchase provides the better story.

Anne Burnett was born with the 20th century—on October 15, 1900, in Fort Worth. Her father owned both a ranch and cattle company, and her paternal grandfather, Samuel Burnett, had established the 6666 Ranch near Guthrie, Texas after the Civil War. His wife eventually donated her money and some land to what would become Texas Christian University. However, Sam willed his ranch to his granddaughter.

Ms. Burnett first became acquainted with the East Coast when she attended boarding schools there. When she was 22, she inherited the 6666 Ranch, and at 38, upon her father’s death, she inherited his Triangle Ranch. She became nationally known as a breeder of American quarter horses, and several of her horses became champions at racetracks around the United States. Quite the business dynamo at a time when few Southern women were, Ms. Burnett was on the board of directors of the First National Bank of Fort Worth, co-founded the American Quarter Horse Association, served on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, and was vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raiders Association.

She had an equally busy personal life. Ms. Burnett’s first husband was a fellow rancher, Guy Waggoner. Her only child, a daughter, also named Anne, was the product of her second marriage, to James Goodwin Hall. Her third husband was Robert Windfohr, who died before she could record her third divorce. Her fourth husband, whom she married in 1969, was Charles Tandy, founder of the Tandy Corporation. He died in 1978, and she followed just barely two years later, on New Year’s Day in 1980. She was buried in Fort Worth, and her daughter inherited her estate.

She was posthumously inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2002. How many other residents of Toilsome Lane can claim that distinction?