Author’s Note:  When Oma Bell Perry donated her 7000- acre ranch near Leakey that would become the Big Springs Ranch for Children, a condition of the gift was that it would be built as an intergenerational community.  Today, each of the two children’s homesteads rests within a short distance of a grandparent’s cottage.  Hopeful about the new concept, we weren’t quite sure how the two generations would function together.  Three years later, we don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner.

By Angela Moreno-Tijerina

Dorothy and Bradley Mann are the kind of grandparents any child would be lucky to have.  Walking into their home, you are welcomed by the smell of fresh coffee and the gentle embers in the fireplace.  Inspirational Bible verses adorn the refrigerator, held by colorful magnets and mingled with photographs of the Mann’s grandchildren, four biological, and the six girls they have “adopted” at the Davenport Homestead at the Big Springs Ranch.  

The Manns have been married for 42 years, after meeting when she was in high school and he in college.  They lived in Brenham, Texas, since 1964, where Mr. Mann built a name for himself in the ranching business, managing several large ranches and buying/selling cattle for customers as far away as Canada.  Dorothy has worked as a secretary at various offices, including Hospice, the Brenham hospital, and the Department of Human Services.  “One of the most interesting things about our lives is the people we have worked for,” Bradley shares. 

How these wonderful people found their way to our family is an inspiring story in itself.  Last summer, while Bradley was away on a fishing trip, Dorothy happened across the Texas Country Reporter, a news program airing on Sunday mornings. 

 The program featured a story about a dedication ceremony at the Big Springs Ranch, and Dorothy wondered what the event was about.  After Bradley returned, the two were planning a trip to the Hill Country when Dorothy remembered the segment she had recently viewed about the ranch near Leakey.  Finding the web site on the Internet, together they scrolled through the information, happening on the open position for grandparents.  

“We weren’t really looking for a job,” Bradley tells me, “but we thought that if we filled out the applications, we might get a good tour of the place.”  With strong curiosity, the Manns made the phone call to HCYR.  They received and mailed back applications for consideration.  

 “Once we did that, something happened,” Dorothy says.  “All at once, we both got the same feeling, that everything was going to be fine, and that God’s will would be done.  If we were meant to move to the Big Springs Ranch and serve as grandparents, we were ready.”

 We sit down for lunch, share a wonderful chicken salad that Dorothy has made for my visit, and continue our conversation.  Although I am listening for their story, I am doing just as much talking, finding it so easy to open up with this gentle, affectionate, silver-haired couple.  

So next they visited the main campus in Ingram to meet Gary Priour, founder and Director of the HCYR/BSRC.  Gary remembers the same confirming sense in his spirit that the Mann’s had experienced after looking at the web site.  It was obvious that a more perfect match could not be found. 

 Says Gary, “I knew immediately that this was right.  The Manns brought with them an eagerness to help, a clear vision of being grandparents for wounded children, and the story of their journeys of faith that left a lasting impression on me. Their natures were such that they couldn’t help but offer the children exactly what we had dreamed about when we thought of bringing grandparents into their lives.” 

 Suddenly, the Manns found themselves selling their home in Brenham and dividing their furniture between their own children, selling what remained in a garage sale.  The Manns arrived in September of 2001 with only their television, clothes and photographs, the only items they felt they needed to bring.  They also arrived with warm smiles and wonderful stories.  They embraced their new family with hugs and sunshine, plenty to go around.

 The Manns live next door to the girls of Davenport Homestead, and are only a phone call or visit away.  They also provide respite care at the Homestead every third weekend, giving the regular houseparents much-needed time off.  They enjoy taking photographs of the girls and helping with homework, as well as offering treats like cocoa and homemade cookies.  “We aren’t quite sure if they come over to see us, or our granola bars,” they quip.  

Dorothy and Bradley also reach out to the boys at the nearby Cailloux Homestead.  On Super Bowl Sunday, the boys came over and watched the game with “Grandpa” while “Grandma” kept the food coming.  “You would not believe how much those boys can eat,” she says.  

 The Manns also love to tell about their biological children and grandchildren.  They have one son, Dennis who lives in Lorena.  He is the father to the Mann’s oldest grandchild, 10-year-old Meagan.  Daughter Sharon lives in Katy and is the mother of six-year-old Jackson, a little boy who is convinced there are sharks in the Frio river because he “saw their dorsal fins”.  Suzanne, their youngest daughter lives in Longview and is mother to four-year-old Hannah and the Manns’ youngest granddaughter, two-year-old Emily. 

The entire family has been supportive of the Manns move to the Big Springs Ranch and come to visit often.  They were all here for a week in December, when they met the girls from Davenport, Dorothy and Bradley’s newest granddaughters. 

“We were touched to see the way they got along.  They all sat together at the kitchen table, decorating Christmas cookies”, Dorothy shares while showing me photos of the visit.   

The Manns have become quite active in the nearby Leakey community, as members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Big Springs Ranch Auxiliary and the Leakey Garden Club.  They are also members of the Leakey Methodist Church, pleased that they have been so warmly welcomed in their new community.  “We have been made to feel right at home,” they tell me. 

 The Manns go back to Brenham to visit periodically, sharing with everyone the story of the Ranch.  They have brought new friends into the Ranch’s family, several individuals and organizations in their former hometown, and even a couple from their church in Brenham who are now houseparents at the Cailloux Homestead at the Big Springs Ranch!  Bradley explains,  “All we have to do is share our story and tell about the amazing things we have witnessed, and others want to help.”  Dorothy adds, “The angels grab them, just as soon as they walk onto the Ranch.  It’s nothing that we do or say, it just happens.”  

I’m sorry, Dorothy, but I’d have to disagree with you on that one. We know what you mean about the draw of unseen angels, but we’ve also been noticing a glow around you both that you haven’t been able to hide. 

 Says Gary, “It feels to me like the Frio River angels (the ones that dance on the river in the afternoon sun) have been personified.  For now, we’ll just refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa.  They won’t mind that at all.”