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A View Of Columbus Through Rose-Colored Glasses
This column is dedicated to acknowledge examples of “positives” that express the community spirit of Columbus – our town.
I hope that you read my article two weeks ago about the purchase of our home, the Townsend-West house at 634 Spring St here in Columbus. After renovation, Bob and I decided to establish a bed & breakfast. The name chosen was Magnolia Oaks. This was much to the pleasure of Buddy Rau, a back door neighbor who had the Raumonda Bed & Breakfast.
Our first booking was a lovely Columbus native, Paula Hardy and her fiancee’ Jim Brady. They booked our B&B as part of their wedding weekend. The wedding was scheduled for Raumonda.
The weekend of the wedding was July 1, 1990; it became more memorable with some unusual circumstances. Bob’s dad died that day. I received a call from Bob asking for a change of clothes – big problem. The guests had requested the Texas Room with the giant cedar bed which was actually our room and Bob’s clothes were in a locked closet in that room. With regrets and excuses, I went into the guests’ bedroom and secured the clothes. Our first booking had become a bit tedious. It was not until bedtime that night that I realized that our kitty was missing. It was after a couple of hours rummaging for the cat that I decided to look in the Texas Room closet where I had gotten the clothes. Who knows how that cat slipped in without detection. Yes, Berkley was quite comfortable sleeping in the guests’ closet... quite inappropriate and embarrassing. However, the Bradys complimented us the next year and staged the first-year anniversary party in the living room of our B&B.
This opening occurrence of Magnolia Oaks was one of numerous unusual happenings. We enjoyed sharing the historical home and introducing guests to our lovely town. We established some unique practices and became well known for our delicious country breakfast and Bob’s Toast to the Morning with his song and guitar. We both continued to commute to Katy and Houston for many years and learned to balance our newly acquired lifestyle. My stroke in 2016 changed our lifestyle again and we diverted our attention to www.lodgeonlakesiesta.com. Our motto could be Never Stop Dreaming and Doing.
