Dentistry Duo Dentistry Duo
HOW THIS MOTHER/DAUGHTER TEAM KEEPS THE LOCAL COMMUNITY SMILING BRIGHT
BACKYARD LAGOONS DIVE INTO THE POOL INSTALLATION BUSINESS WITH JOEY MAGALLANEZ
Short and Long-Term Skilled Nursing Care
I’m sure most of us have heard an old saying about not mixing family and business. It warns of the dangers of unnecessary familial fallout if someone can’t repay a loan or makes a business mistake. It’s a fair warning.
Countless challenges stand in the way of launching a new business, and figuring it all out can stop hopeful business owners in their tracks and ruin relationships in the process. But warnings aside, for some individuals doing business with family is the ideal path to success.
When you have family members who not only support you but also bring unique expertise to the table, they become an invaluable part of your business journey. Their knowledge and skills can significantly contribute to your learning and growth process.
This month, we embrace the idea of working with family through two stories that share a common theme. First, you’ll meet Joey and Macy Magallanez, the father/daughter duo behind Backyard Lagoons, a Seguin pool construction business. Then you’ll pop over to Seguin Smiles’ where dentists Janelle Leon and her mom Janice Weinman unite as peers in the workplace.
So grab your coffee (or tea if you’re like me), get cozy and turn the page to another issue of Seguin Today.
Lizz Daniels Creative Director
Photo by Lizz Daniels
LIVIN’ THE LAGOON LIFE
Joey Magallanez shares how he started a family business
A REASON TO KEEP SMILING
The Mother/Daughter duo changing dentistry in Seguin
EVENTS CALENDAR
Community events & special promotions happening in the area this month.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Randy’s Exxon closes its
GENERAL MANAGER
Darren Dunn
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Lizz Daniels
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Nick Spence
WRITERS
Cindy Aguirre-Herrera
Lizz Daniels
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS
Laurie Ann Heideke
Linda Duncan
Jarred Kindles
OFFICE MANAGER
Priscilda Rodriguez
LAGOON LIVIN’ the LIFE
Building a family legacy one Backyard Lagoon at a time
Story & Photos by Lizz Daniels
Careers can take off in the most unlikely of places, even right in your own backyard. That said, digging pools isn’t exactly where Joey Magallanez, owner of Seguin’s Backyard Lagoons, envisioned himself when he was younger.
As a kid, Joey started in the construction business with his father and uncles and decided pretty early on it wasn’t for him. That led him to a career in the military before an honorable discharge left him looking for a way to provide for his new family. Construction seemed an obvious choice at the time.
“I was making more money in construction than I was at a regular job,” he said. “So it started progressing little by little. My wife had a good job to help me with insurance and stuff. But, I think, the first year, I was doing more concrete work. There was a company in Austin, and I became a supervisor. I was running part of their business in some areas, and one random customer asked me why I didn’t go into business on my own?”
Joey was surprised by the question and initially felt like he lacked the experience to properly manage a company. But that’s where three generations of familial construction and business knowledge came in handy. All those
years of construction work with his dad and uncles became the foundation on which Joey could build his dream.
Starting out, he did all the work himself with the help of a small team. Advertising and creating brand recognition was a massive project to tackle, and creating marketing materials consumed a lot of his time. He even recalls going door to door trying to get clients.
“So the first year, I was doing concrete, I did one pool,” he said. “And that happened for, like, the first two years. Then the third year, I did two pools. Then the fourth year, I did four. I think by the seventh year, I was doing ten pools. I was happy with that. But then, after that eighth, ninth year, it just started flooding in. People telling everybody –– their friends, family and it just started coming.”
Once the business became consistent, Joey developed his management skills and now runs things with the fluidity one would expect of a seasoned business owner doing much of the design work himself. In a matter of a few months, Joey and his team can design a pool, survey the land, excavate, and pour concrete while often doing the steel and plumbing work as well, though subcontractors are sometimes brought in for these jobs.
“I try to make it as fast as I can,” Joey said. “When I first started, I was doing them in thirty days. They were 12’ by 24’s back then. Now I’m building 16’ by 30’s, 18’ by 32’s, by 20’ by 40’s. And so it’s lasting anywhere from forty to sixty days. It’s not a bad turnaround because the bigger companies that have all these customers waiting, they’ll start their pool in the gunite process, and then, they’re waiting for six months for it to be finished.”
Nowadays, Joey’s resume includes everything from small backyard family pools to two-hundredthousand-dollar pools in neighborhoods similar to San Antonio’s Dominion. He’s installed countless custom water features and has even designed a wave pool for one job. He does it all with the same small team that started out with him twenty years ago, with one unlikely addition—his daughter, Macy.
“You know, my daughter is very lovable. She likes to hug you in the morning and everything. But ever since she started working with me, it’s like, ‘Hey, we need to get this done. We need to get this done. Can you take care of this?’ When I wake up now, I’m ready to go.”
Like Joey, a career change brought Macy to the pool business. She now manages her father’s business and is the first point of contact for most clients.
“My dad is a perfectionist and likes things done the old-school way, and we millennials are stubborn and do it a tad differently, but at the end of the day, we get the job done, and we learn from each other,” Macy said. “There is no middle-man; it’s just him and I. He gets his hands dirty outside, and I get to be in the AC showing our clients materials, talking with our distributors, requesting inspections with the city. Doing everything in my power to move things along to get the pool party started! There are times when I will go to the job site to take photos for our business page, and I just love seeing the backyards transform. That’s the best part of it all.”
The two work well together and say their strengths balance each other, making them a stronger team.
“I don’t say this enough, but at the end of the day, it truly is a blessing to be able to work alongside my dad,” Macy said. “He is out on the field all day and when he comes home, he wants to relax. I tend to wait until after he eats dinner to fill him in on my day. I give him updates about the conversations I’ve had with clients. I ask him questions like what does our week looking like? So we stay on the same page and we are able to communicate that back to our clients. He didn’t have any sons, so he just has to settle for me.”
While Joey has no active retirement plan, he does have his eyes set on the future and teaching his daughter the ropes of running the entire business. Where one unlikely career was built, another will continue to develop with this father-daughter duo who is adding some backyard water fun for Guadalupe County families and beyond. •
A Reason to Keep
Doctors Weinman & Leon are Seguin’s Mother-Daughter DENTISTRY DUO DENTISTRY DUO
Story by: Cindy Aguirre-Herrera
Despite coming from a family of healthcare professionals, there was one thing Dr. Janelle Leon knew early on, and that was she didn’t want to be a dentist. However, after testing all other areas of the health industry, Dr. Leon says she couldn’t help but surrender to dentistry. After all, it runs in the blood. And it’s all thanks to her mom, Dr. Janice Weinman of Seguin Smiles.
Since the beginning of this month, the motherdaughter duo has been giving Seguin Smiles plenty of reason to keep smiling. That’s because Dr. Leon has chosen to return home to begin her practice alongside her mom.
Joining the team thus far has been an exciting homecoming for Dr. Leon.
Again, that’s despite all earlier efforts to avoid following in her mother’s footsteps.
“So, I kind of always knew that I wanted to work in healthcare, but I avoided dentistry for a real long time because I didn’t want to be even more similar to my mom, so I looked at a lot of other professions. I went to a medical surgery camp. I decided I did not want to do that. It was not my style. I took a pharmacy class in high school too and decided that that was not my forte too, so I started looking more seriously into dentistry and I really did love that I got to work with my hands. I got to know my patients better so probably when I was about a senior in high school is when I decided that I wanted to do dentistry and follow mom’s footsteps,” Leon said.
Although she eventually picked dentistry, Dr. Leon says moving forward with her decision wasn’t so simple.
“I remember being very sure at some point and stuck to it and she’s like ‘are you sure?’ She tried to discourage me from everything but I’m like this is what I’m doing. I’m sticking to it, and you can’t persuade me otherwise because I had already seen everything in the background so from that point, I was just more focused on doing everything I needed to get into school and get a good education,” said Leon.
And while her rebellious bone didn’t prevent her from choosing another practice, Leon, a 2014 graduate of Seguin High School, says it did take her out-of-state for her studies.
“Ten years ago, I decided to go to college in Minnesota. I didn’t want to stay here. Pretty much Texas Lutheran was a tradition of our family, and I decided that I wanted to go experience something different in the world. I went to college in Minnesota, I had a lot of great experiences there and then I ended up realizing that I really wanted to settle down in Texas. This is where my family was. This was my community and hometown and so I wanted to settle here and that probably became clear towards the end of college, but I ended up going into school for dentistry up north. So, I quickly got back as soon as I could after that to go to residency here and then moved back,” Leon said.
Having already blazed the trail, mom says she knew exactly what her daughter was up against and didn’t want her to feel as though she was settling or conforming to a family legacy.
Photos by: Lizz Daniels
“I didn’t have any aspirations for her to do a specific thing but honestly, I tried to steer her away from it because I knew how much time and energy you have to put into it and how much devotion (it takes). I was always telling her like ‘do you see how hard mom has to work? Are you sure you want to do this type of thing?’ But then, she went off to college and she got more and more devoted to it, and it was like mom, this is what I want to do, and I really do love it and this fits me to a tee and I’m like okay, I am here to support you, however, you want to do it. We will make this happen, so she did it. It was totally her who did it, not me because like I said, I kind of said ‘are you sure you want to do this because it’s a lot of work?” Weinman said.
Despite all the roads that it took to get her here, Dr. Leon’s homecoming is undoubtedly a proud moment for Dr. Weinman as she now gets to work with her daughter every day and share her with her patients.
“Many of them remember her when she was a little 7th grader at Jim Barnes Middle School which was a factor that I used for when I found the location for this. I was like, okay, it’s very close to where Janelle will be going to middle school. They’ve heard about her for many, many years. They’ve known that she’s been off learning about the world and that we were hoping that she would come back but we
didn’t know. It was basically one of those if you love something, you let it go and you hope that it will come back to you and thankfully, she’s coming back to Seguin and bringing back a lot of assets to us,” Weinman said.
However, Weinman says having her daughter join the practice is more than just expanding the medical team. She says it’s about welcoming new advanced skills and medical training to the local office.
Dr. Leon says she knew that if she was to return, she had to bring something to the table – something that would benefit patients, adding to the quality of their lives.
“I did a residency this past year as an optional additional year of training where I specifically worked with more medically compromised patients who were sicker and learned some new procedures like placing implants and doing sedations and so I really did that because I really wanted to bring more to the office. I wanted to offer more when I got here,” Leon said.
Among those excited to see the unfolding of the mother-and-daughter duo is Dr. Megan Stivers. Stivers has been with the practice for the past two years and adds that she, too is ready to work alongside the family merger.
“From the day I started, I knew that this was on the horizon. I knew what was going to
come with this practice and I knew what the goal was, and it’s been exciting for us to have three strong women here to serve the city and so, it’s exciting for sure,” Stivers said.
Also anticipating Dr. Leon’s arrival back to Seguin have been their family members. Dr. Weinman says while it wasn’t too shocking for most of them, it was still “pretty special.”
“She is the first of the grandchildren. There’s a lot of healthcare providers in the family. We have another dentist, a physician, a nurse practioner, an optometrist so there are a lot of other healthcare providers in the family, but she is the first of the grandchildren that decided that she wanted to go into healthcare. I think that was a moment of pride, especially for my father. She has also now been one of the younger grandchildren, her generation, inspired to become a physician,” Weinman said.
With an even younger cousin now beginning medical school, Dr. Leon says she can’t help but attribute much of her personal inspiration to both her family and grandfather.
“It made my grandfather very happy,” Leon said. “I really wanted to continue because he really emphasized to all of them about the importance of giving back to your community.”
In fact, Dr. Weinman says it’s been her father all along who has helped to build this family legacy.
“Literally from little on up, we were told you were put on this earth to take care of other people,” Weinman said.
With the understanding of her innate responsibility to the world with her new professional career, Dr. Leon says she looks forward to growing professionally alongside her mother and Dr.Stivers.
“So, my hope professionally is to be able to put all of these skills that I have learned to use, to help people and to provide good care to my community. Personally, I’m really just looking forward to settling back down in Seguin and building my family here – reconnecting with everyone from growing up and just finally being able to enjoy life after being in school for so long,” Leon said. “I’m also looking forward to getting more involved in the local dental organizations and taking a leadership role there.”
Now, with her daughter under the umbrella of dentistry, Weinman says she looks forward to this new future.
“My goal is to continue to develop these two
wonderful, strong women to be even stronger because eventually, I’ve been practicing for 36 years so there becomes a limiting factor on your body with this profession. I am not ready to retire, but I want to help these women take over the practice at some point and continue to serve our community that I’ve been fortunate to be able to be a part of for many, many years. I have 16 years here, but I actually lived here for 16 years before that – actually more because I went to Texas Lutheran University about 20 years before that (and) before I actually brought the practice here to the community,” Weinman said.
In the end, there are no regrets about coming home. Dr. Leon says it has always been the best choice despite it not being so obvious when she was younger.
“What I think I saw most of the time was she was just super busy, very devoted to what she did and so, I didn’t realize all that growing up, but I just saw how passionate she is about
what she does and how much she cares about her business and her patients. That’s the main thing I see now. I understand why she was so devoted and so busy when I was growing up. She just cared about what she did. It was inspirational for me,” Leon said.
And while she wasn’t knowingly planting the seed in her daughter,
Weinman says she could have never imagined a better future for her family.
“We are excited about this next phase in our careers, having our girl back and seeing her bringing all of her knowledge and skills that she’s acquired over time to help us be able to service our patients even more and in better ways,” Weinman said.
In this business, happy hearts always means happy smiles, and for Dr. Weinman and Dr. Leon, the future of securing even more smiles in Seguin has only just begun.Seguin Smiles 1460 Eastwood Drive, Seguin, Texas; www.SeguinSmiles.com. •
AUGUST
Featured Events
Featured Events
NAMI Educational Course
The NAMI Guadalupe County will host a free educational course for adult family members, significant others and friends of people with mental health conditions in Schertz. Classes begin Aug. 20 and will meet each Tuesday evening for eight weeks. Find details and register at www.namiguadalupecounty.org.
August 25
Seguin Storytellers
The Seguin Storytellers in partnership with the Seguin Public Library, will present Tecuancoatl, decended from the Tlaxcalteca (Nahua) Indians, who settled in South Texas in the 1700’s, now retired in Seguin, speaking on “Finding Meaning In My Life Through The Great Spirit.” Seguin Storytellers will meet at 2
September 4
Membership Luncheon
The Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce will have its State of the City Membership Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the Seguin Coliseum, located at 950 S. Austin St. in Seguin. The guest speakers will be Mayor, Donna Dodgen and City Manager, Steve Parker. The cost is $20 for chamber members with RSVP and $25 for future members. To RSVP, call 830-379-6382.
To promote your event on this page contact advertising at 830-379-2234 or email communitycalendar@kwed1580.com
August 31
All Media Show
The Seguin Art League will receive entries for its Goodbye Summer All Media Show from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 104 S. Austin St. in Seguin. The juried show runs until Oct. 12. Categories are photography, 2D, and 3D. The member fee is $15 per artwork and the non-member fee is $20 per artwork. For more information, call 830-305-0472.
September 6
Application Deadline
The Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce is accepting applications for its Leadership Seguin program that builds community leaders. The target is to attract emerging leaders who have established themselves as having leadership potential and have shown a concern for Seguin’s future. The deadline to apply is Friday, Sept. 6. For more information, call 830-379-6382.
September 3
Music Show & Dance
The Gathering Music Show and Dance will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3 at the Geronimo VFW. The doors open at 5:30 with at $10 admission. The entertainment will be provided by Tony Booth. For more information, call or text 830-305-8829.
September 7
FFA Pantherfest and Tractor Pull
The Navarro FFA Booster Club will have its Pantherfest and Tractor Pull on Saturday, Sept. 7 at The Big Red Barn, located at 390 Cordova Rd. The Tractor Pull begins at 10 a.m. with a $30 a hook fee. Food trucks will be on site from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pantherfest will run from 5 to 11:30 p.m. with a catered meal by Schulze’s Pit Room.
In
Case You Missed It
This story originally ran in the
on July 31, 2024
Seguin Daily News
The End of a SeguinEra
Randy’s Exxon Closes its Doors after 55 Years
Rare state gem wraps up final day of business
Story by: Cindy Aguirre-Herrera
The days of having someone else pump your gas, clean your windshield, and check your oil are officially over, at least here in Seguin. Today, Randy’s Exxon, Seguin’s only full-service gas station and inspection center on East Court Street, is saying goodbye to the nostalgic practice.
Owner Randy Moore is closing up shop after 40 years of servicing the vehicle needs of local residents and opening up the bay doors for state vehicle inspections.
The end of Moore’s chapter is another casualty in the dying business model. In fact, he believes there are only 11 full-service gas stations still in existence in Texas.
“It’s been full service (since) around the 40s. I bought this place about 26 years ago. There are probably say about 11 of us left in the state of Texas. Me -- I’ve been staying with it for a pretty while so I don’t know if there are anymore out there staying a little longer than me but not too many. This is kind of a family thing (gas station business). It’s been in my family for 55 years. I came from Luling in 1998,” said Moore.
Moore’s decision to close the business follows the state’s move to no longer require safety inspections for vehicles starting Jan. 1, 2025. While it wasn’t the primary decision to say goodbye, he says it did weigh heavily in his decision to retire.
“It was used (inspections) to be able to pay my help and we did a lot of inspections so I saw the writing on the wall. I should have saw the writing on the wall last year but I thought I was going to go ahead and go another seven years and put new pumps in but about two weeks ago, I changed my mind,” said Moore.
Above all, Moore attributes the shutting down of a town staple as God’s timing.
“I think it’s the man upstairs that told me I was going the wrong way so I decided, hey, I’m going to close up and that’s what we are going to do and maybe try to sell this place. If it wasn’t for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I couldn’t get up everyday and all I’m telling you right now is this city is a blessed city. We’ve got a lot of god fearing people. In fact, it’s a great city to raise a family,” said Moore.
Moore adds that since he took over twenty-plus years ago, almost half of his clientele have died. He says it’s just the birth of new generations and the evolution of gas stations.
While things might have changed in the world, there are certainly things that have remained the same at Randy’s over the years. One constant was the duo you got with Randy and longtime employee Jimmy Rosas.
Moore says since the very beginning, Rosas, an inspector, has been working alongside him. He says that, following a 35-year career as a Seguin Fire Fighter, Rosas joined him on day one and has been working with him at the location for the last 22 years.
Rosas says that although today is bittersweet, he is very appreciative of having been a part of the history of the gas station.
“We appreciate everyone that has come through here. It was a long ride for us and we enjoyed every minute of it. We were like mailmen, through rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, we were out there from day one till the final day,” said Rosas.
Although the pumps have officially been shut off, Moore and Rosas say they plan to finish off a full day on the job. They say it will also allow them to say “thank you.”
“I just want to thank the people of Seguin and thank my customers. I’m going to miss this place and also, I’m going to miss seeing some of these familiar faces that I have been seeing for years,” said Moore.
Randy’s Exxon is located at 502 E. Court St.
DIY: Recipe to Try Mimosa Brunch
Brunch marries the best of breakfast and lunch fare with a time slot that is easier on individuals who prefer to sleep in. Although brunch can occur any day of the week, it is most popular on the weekends when schedules are more forg iving.
While brunch may be famous for bagels and Eggs Benedict, all
of that delicious food needs the right beverage to wash it down. One certainly can turn to a Bloody Mary, which is a brunch favorite. However, the mimosa is delicate, flavorful and effervescent, and in many brunch fans’ estimation, it’s a more natural choice for brunch.
With only two ingredients, mimosas are easily created.
Mimosa Serves 1
2 ounces orange juice, freshly squeezed High-quality sparkling wine, chilled, to top
1. Pour the orange juice into a Champagne flute.
2. Top with the sparkling wine.
3. Garnish with fruit, if desired.
