Tanya Dee can trace her family roots in Granbury back to 1838. Her grandfather was born here in 1909, and was an electrician with her father, Johnny, born in 1936.
They typically moved around, following the electrical work wherever it took them. Eventually, they landed in Midland. That’s where Johnny met Mary, Tanya Dee’s mother.
They were married in 1953. They met at the Church of Christ in Midland, and Mary was the weekend babysitter for George W. Bush and his sister Robin.
Johnny and Mary settled back in Granbury in 1969. They purchased a lot from their aunt on the Brazos river (soon to be Lake Granbury), and built their family home. They had two daughters, Tanya Dee and her older sister, Penny.
Johnny continued his work as an electrical contractor, which took him to many places around the world. Most of his career was spent on the Alaskan oil pipeline pump station in Prudhoe Bay.
He retired in 1998 but received his IBEW 75th union pin last year. Out of the entire metroplex area, only two people have received the extremely rare 75-year membership pin and they both started at age 18 together.
Mary ran the telephone office in Granbury and served on the disaster relief team of Southwestern Bell Telephone. She retired in 1987 when the company told her she would have to switch her job from paper orders to computers.
In her spare time, Mary designs and makes quilts. She and Johnny also collect and donate school supplies for an Indian Reservation School in New Mexico.
Johnny and Mary sold their house on the river in 1997, and now live on the outskirts of Granbury. They recently celebrated their 71st anniversary and love doting on their three grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and three great-great- grandchildren.