THE BOOT ST O R I E S F R O M T H E T E X A S H I L L C O U N T RY
H O W A B U S I N E SS W O M A N A N D P H I L A N T H R O P I ST ST R I V E S TO P R ES E R V E H I STO RY
A CO U P L E ’ S H O M E F I L L E D W I T H FA I T H A N D FAV O R I T ES
2022 | ISSUE 3
A FO R M I D A B L E W H I S K E Y T E A M A N D T H E K E YS TO S U CC E SS
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ABOVE: Bruce Williams and Linda Davis in their game room.
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A TREASURED COLLECTION STORY BY ANNE MCCREADY HEINEN
Every picture (and memento) tells a story in the thoughtful Boot Ranch home of Linda Davis and Bruce Williams.
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inda Davis and Bruce Williams turned to an expert architect and builder for their Boot Ranch home, finished in 2014. But for the warm, casually elegant interior, the couple confidently relied on their own taste and intuition, bringing in art and decor they had handpicked and enjoyed in previous homes in Houston, Del Mar, California, and Mountain Home, Texas. The result is a comfortable, sophisticated 8,700-squarefoot house that showcases the couple’s beloved art and sports memorabilia collections, while also providing plenty of room for entertaining and relaxing. “I wanted to bring in elements of the home we built in Houston because I loved what we had,” Davis says. During construction in Fredericksburg, “We were in California, and I’d be up at 6 a.m. with the time difference, on the phone and computer, because it was a labor of love. I like everything about the planning, building, and decorating of a home.”
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Adds Williams, “Linda was hands-on through the whole project with the architect, Gary Williams (no relation), and the builder, Centurion Custom Homes. She was intimately involved with everything.” Situated on 13 acres overlooking the sixth fairway of the Boot Ranch Golf Course, the home is clad in multicolored stone from the same Oklahoma quarry used for the couple’s Houston home. Strategically placed, large windows provide expansive views of the sky, Hill Country vistas that change with the season, and the golf course. Interior plaster walls are accented by hand-scraped, walnut-wood floors and substantial wooden beams and accent arches. A main hallway is inlaid with six equal-arm wooden crosses in subtle yet prominent homage to White Cross Ranch, Davis’s family heritage, and to the couple’s faith. “We believe we’re here because God led us here, and He has a purpose for us being here,” Williams says, adding that their faith steered them to do a house blessing with their Houston pastor and friends that included planting scripture, Bibles, and prayers in the walls of the under-construction home. The couple’s favorite scripture is Luke 10:27: “He answered, ‘Love the Lord 50
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Raised in California, Williams has lived in the Lone Star State since 1979. (“I got to Texas as fast as I could,” he says.) A former oil and gas company executive and an owner of the downtown Houston restaurant Irma’s Southwest, Williams is a devout member and supporter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Davis proudly hails from Midland. The couple met when both worked in the oil and gas industry in Houston in the 1980s—their home base until the move to Fredericksburg, though in the intervening years they also got away from it all by spending time at their ranch in Mountain Home and their ocean-view home in Del Mar. They recently sold both of those properties, opting to simplify their lives with the Boot Ranch home and a Hill Country ranch that’s a 10-minute drive up the road. Their 1,700-square-foot guest house at Boot Ranch serves as home for Davis’s mother. The pair’s collections include a select assortment of mostly-18th-century tortoiseshell cases and mirrors, informally grouped on a great room coffee table,
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Photos by John R. Rogers
THIS PAGE: The DavisWilliams home is situated on 13 acres overlooking the golf course. Oklahoma stone and timber beams are architectural hallmarks, inside and out.
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Photos by John R. Rogers
ABOVE: The Kevin Red Star painting “Pretty Shawl” set the colors in Davis’s favorite room which also includes a John Pavlicek collage above the sofa, columns from Barcelona, and mirrors from France. RIGHT: Antique porcelain Staffordshire Cavalier Spaniels and a portrait by Andre Balyon are displayed in memory of their pet Cavalier, Eliza. OPPOSITE: A Balyon landscape is the family room focal point.
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Photos by John R. Rogers
and antique porcelain Staffordshire Cavalier Spaniels, displayed in memory of their pet Cavalier, Eliza. Davis’s lovingly acquired Native American baskets, turquoise, and pottery include works from tribes including Apache and Pima, and by artists such as Maria Martinez and Lucy Lewis. The pieces are prominently housed in a tall cabinet near the front door. But the couple’s collecting passions are fully reflected in mostly contemporary landscape and modern paintings found throughout the home, as well as in Williams’s extensive collection of autographed sports jerseys, pennants, balls, and helmets, thoughtfully displayed on the home’s lower level. While both the art and sports memorabilia have value, Davis and Williams collect for personal, intrinsic reasons. The beauty and technique behind the paintings speak to them both, and Williams’s excitement for sports, athletes, and sports collectibles—linking back to his childhood baseball card collection— is palpable. The Dutch painter André Balyon, who resides in California, is well represented at the Davis-Williams home. With still lifes and landscapes reminiscent of George Inness, John Singer Sargent, and other artists who inspire him,
Baylon’s painterly, realistic scenes are among Davis’s favorites. Davis relates that Baylon once visited them, and after seeing his paintings throughout the home, he remarked, “You’ve got more of my work than I have.” Other artists whose work is displayed in spaces from powder rooms to hallways include painter G. Harvey, Austin collage artist John Pavlicek, Kevin Red Star of the Crow tribe, minimalist sculptor Pascal Pierme, early California artist S.C. Yuan, a nd contemporary Australian artist Joshua Smith. “You just buy what you love,” Davis says. Some of the art provides visual enjoyment and conceals televisions at the same time, sliding aside at the touch of a remote control to reveal a large screen. The automation fits with the home’s Lutron lighting, a system that Davis fully embraced in Houston as well. As a result, the Boot Ranch home operates on a sophisticated, practical, whole-home lighting and shade control system. “It allows you to loop together certain lights and control them from your phone or a tabletop control,” Davis explains. “You can also control the intensity of the lights. We go to bed at night and I don’t have to worry if Bruce turned off the lights in the game room. I touch one ISSUE 3
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Francisco 49ers football scenes, including the Joe Montana to Dwight Clark catch that beat the Dallas Cowboys for the 1982 NFC championship. “Too Tall Jones (who played for the Cowboys) is in this print,” Williams says. “He was out here once for a golf tournament, and I asked him, ‘What happened on that catch?’ He was still mad about it all these years later.” Williams encountered many players through his affiliation with the Fellowship of Christan Athletes, and as he gathered autographs, he asked each to include a favorite scripture number on their jersey or pennant as well. Community worship at Boot Ranch shows up in Haus Church, a gathering of the faithful who take turns hosting religious services at their homes, including the couple’s. “We’ve had a number of local homeowners who God has raised up, both men and women, who give a message, and we pray, sing, and have church,” Williams says. He adds, “We get to wake up every morning and say, ‘God, what are we doing today?’ We’re very intentional about using this home for God’s purposes and kingdom.”
Photo this page, bottom right by John R. Rogers
button by my bed and it turns off all the lights that we’ve programmed to turn off at nighttime.” Williams’s sports memorabilia collection began, as so many do, with his childhood baseball cards. Today he has baseball, football, and basketball cards, including a prized Michael Jordan rookie card, and fourteen signed baseball jerseys from select players, including Roger Clemens, Hank Aaron, and Nolan Ryan. More than 55 baseballs, many from key games, are signed by Hall of Fame players, including Mickey Mantle and Johnny Bench. From the golf world, Willliams has collected 17 autographed Masters Tournament flags with signatures from greats like Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. Joe Montana and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown are among the signatories on 22 footballs. His collection also includes two basketballs and two football helmets. Many items are displayed along the hallways, shelves, and walls of the lower-level game room and office, which also holds a beautifully crafted desk built by Williams’s father, as well as numbered LeRoy Neiman prints. His California roots led Williams to collect Neiman’s San
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Photo this page, bottom right by John R. Rogers
ABOVE: The lower-level game room contains much of Williams’s sports memorabilia collection, including a signed Hank Aaron game jersey. OPPOSITE: The cellar houses the couple’s wine collection and tasting room.
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