< Previous90 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 ©2021 Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC. Better Homes and Gardens ® is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation licensed to Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC. Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Franchise is Independently Owned and Operated. If your property is currently listed with a real estate broker, please disregard. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other real estate brokers. David Bowers REALTOR ® 409.763.2800 David@DavidBowers.com Please Call/Text/Email me to sell your property. 4309 Ursuline - $485,000 Classic Circa 1935 Fourplex with two large two bedroom units, a large studio apartment on the third floor and a garage studio apartment not yet finished-out. The two bedroom units in the main brick structure have beautiful original oak floors & art deco door hardware. The chandelier ceiling fixtures and wall sconces are from another classy time period. There is the front staircase for the two main units and the third floor studio and there is a rear staircase servicing the two main units COAST MONTHLY delivered to your inbox! galvnews.com/ newsletters Sign up for our monthly newsletter COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 91 Fencing & Decking Covered Patio Crown Moulding & Trim Flooring YOUR HOME REPAIR SOLUTION C onstruCtion & i nstallation /r epair & r emodeling Painting & Sheetrock Siding & Doors Flood Remediation Custom Woodworking League City Office 281-640-6610 www.3rdcoastcustomrenovations.com Let Us Help You Prepare For Hurricane Season Bonded & Insured Boat Detailing & Renevations For more information contact info@artistboat.org or call us at (409) 632-0388 13330 Settegast Road, Galveston, Texas 77554 Eco-Art Kayak Adventures Awarded Best Guided Water Tour Paddle your cares away as you transform your mindset from everyday humdrum to Coastal Adventure with a tour led by artist and scientists. Ages 7 and older. Tours are held Saturdays & Sunday from March until December. artistboat.org/public-kayak-registration/ Eco-Art Camps Explore, Observe, Create Campers will experience true science and art enrichment with the creation of Eco-Art at the Coastal Heritage Preserve. Ages 5-15 years old. Summer Camp registration is now open! artistboat.org/teach-youth Edward & Helen Oppenheimer Bird Observatory Open 7 days a week year-round. Visit a truly peaceful awe-inspiring place, and experience the last of the great wilds on Galveston Island Wildlife viewing platform and 1/2 mile trail artistboat.org/bird-observatory/ Bucket Brigade Interpretive Beach Tours Explore the creatures and features that make Galveston beaches unique! There is more to be found on the beach than just sand. Tours are FREE for all ages! Saturdays & Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. artistboat.org/bucket-brigade/92 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 PHOTOS: CO u RTESY COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 93 FEATURE WAFFLES FOR GRUMPY AND BUTTERBALL Trip to former Galveston Orphans Home ends in bittersweet discovery story by OLIVIA SAVOIE T he weekend of my 28th birthday in November last year, I drove onto the Bolivar Ferry with my 1-year-old daughter, husband and little sister. I looked through the fog as we approached the island I had heard so much about. I grew up only four hours from Galveston, where my step-grandfather, who all the grandkids call Grumpy, grew up in an orphans home. Although my friends had frequented the island, my family never made the trip. We wouldn’t dare step on that hallowed ground without Grumpy. When Grumpy finally asked us to meet him and Granny in Galveston, my sister and I jumped at the chance. I was espe- cially delighted to take Grumpy’s first great-grandchild. On the ferry, I recalled the first time I had grasped the sorrow of his upbringing. Twenty years before, while out to break- fast with my grandparents, Grumpy and I ordered waffles with extra whipped cream. When the waitress brought our steam- ing plates, Grumpy, referring to himself in third person as if a character in his own story, said: “You know, baby, when Grumpy was a little boy, Grumpy wanted to try a waffle.” “At the Galveston Orphans Home, we ate Miss Nettie’s pancakes for breakfast every morning. My best friend Butterball and I would play in the yard and talk about how one day we’d get out of that orphans home and eat all the waffles we wanted.” “Butterball” is Sara Shannon, the protagonist in most of his childhood memories. I tried to make sense of the thoughts bouncing in my 8-year-old mind. I considered how wretched it must be to only dream of waffles. “At least now you get to eat waffles whenever you want,” I said. “Better yet, Grumpy gets to eat them with you, baby,” he said. Soon, we arrived at The Bryan Museum, which had operated as an orphans home for about 100 years and now housed Texan artifacts. “This is it, baby,” Grumpy said, taking my hand. “This is where I learned so much.” He led us up to the main level of a grand, sophisticated building with two full floors and an expansive basement. We stopped to take pictures on the steps where his father had left him. My heart broke as I smiled in those photos. I remembered how he had once told me he hadn’t understood what was happening or why he was left behind. I imagined my 8-year-old grandfather aban- doned, confused and devastated on those steps. Grumpy gave us the grand tour. He showed us around the kitchen where, asked to bless the food, he’d legendarily used a line he’d heard in an episode of “The Three Stooges” — “God bless the bread and meat. Let’s eat.” A relative still recites that prayer nearly every Christmas. (Opposite) George “Grumpy” Marks at The Bryan Museum, where the Galveston Orphans Home operated for about 100 years. (Above) Marks at the Galveston Orphans Home as a boy.94 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 FEATURE In the boys’ dormitory, Grumpy watched wistfully as his great- granddaughter, Amadia Savoie, stumbled around the same room in which he and countless other orphans must’ve wept. He showed us a corner where he’d proudly presented his first quarter to his friends. He’d dropped it. It rolled into the baseboard, never to be seen again. About 79 years later, he leaned down to check whether that prized quarter couldn’t be recovered. In the yard, he showed us where he’d shot marbles, carved his initials on a brick wall and first held his be- loved Butterball’s hand. As we stood in the sunshine, Grumpy told a story we had all heard before, but we listened to anyway. At 14, he left the Galveston Or- phans Home and, with nowhere to go, got on a bus to his hometown. We knew how the story ended. Miraculously, he made his own way, finding a job and a friend to stay with. He finished high school and at- tended college. He opened his own business. He met Granny after their first marriages had ended. And when he fell for her, he fell for her three children — my mother included — and loved them like his own. I believe he loved Granny’s grandchildren even more, for he has showered my sisters and me with a love so lavish that I wholeheartedly consider him my grandfather. After wandering the museum and grounds, we left the Galveston Or- phans Home and went to eat Tex-Mex near The Strand. Over cilantro-ranch salsa, we lis- tened to Grumpy report some of his classic childhood escapades, credit the kind women who had run the orphans home with raising him well and wonder about what had become of Butterball. I grilled him about how old she was. Did he know anything about her history? He told me she was a year or so younger than him, was from a nearby town and had one older sister. That evening at our hotel, I went on Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com and Google. I searched and scoured. Finally, a census record popped up. This Sara Shannon was from Texas City, just 14 miles from Galveston. Her father was the only adult listed in the household, which might explain how she’d ended up in the orphans home. When I found another census record that reported she had an older sister, I realized I had struck gold. I had found Butterball. When the sun sat, I put my daugh- ter to bed and kept digging. I found a few addresses in city directories, informing me Butterball had moved around a lot. At long last, I found a yearbook page that read, Sara Shannon, Ball High School, 1956. I looked at the accompanying pic- ture of a beautiful young woman. Was this the Butterball I’d heard all about? I continued searching, desperately hoping to find a home address, phone number or Facebook page — some- thing to connect Grumpy with his dearest childhood friend. I instead found her death record. Despite the dismal discovery, I was COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 95 enlivened upon finding a drawing of an adult Butterball and a little boy, presumably her son. At least Grumpy could see who she’d grown up to be. In the morning, I asked Grumpy to sit by me. I held his hand, pulled up the yearbook page on my phone, and zoomed in on the photograph. Tears pricked his eyes. “How did you find her, baby?” “Is that her?” “Yes. I’d recognize those eyes any- where. That’s Butterball.” I went on to show him the drawing and tell him about my findings. He listened, riveted. Then he asked to see her pictures again. The next day, we loaded the car and went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. My sister and I ate waffles — one for Butterball and one for Grumpy. George “Grumpy” Marks and his great- granddaughter, Amadia Savoie, at The Bryan Museum, formerly the Galveston Orphans Home, where Marks was left on the steps at a young age by his father. (Opposite) Marks points to his initials he carved as a young boy at the orphans home. CHRISTINEHA MASTERCHEFWINNER 2XJAMESBEARDFINALIST FEATURINGCHEF SCANFOR TICKETS AND MORE! This is an advertisement. ©2023. All rights reserved. Member Home Loan. MHL an all related logos, are trademarks of Member Home Loan, LLC. Office located at 9601 Jones Rd. Sit 108, Houston, TX 77065, phone number is 832-912-2151. Member Home Loan - NMLS#105693. Member Home Loan is a subsidiary of CU Alliance, LLC. Coastal Community Federal Credit Union - NMLS#595906. WE HAVE THE KEY to your new home! Whether you are a first-time buyer or just ready to find a new home, we can help. Allow our experienced Loan Officers to help you through the entire mortgage process. They can find a payment that fits your budget.96 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 Fashion was in the air April 27 for the Galveston Spring Fashion Show at Events @ The Tasting Room. Seven local boutiques and more than 50 models participated in the event benefiting the Resource & Crisis Center of Galveston County. Photos by Carla Peoples GALVESTON SPRING FASHION SHOW PARTY PICS PICTURED: 1. Shawn Bassett, Judy Kay, Cassandra Lockhart, Sheila Meritt and Marie Walker. 2. Julie Fanning with Valerie and Joseph Carmody. 3. Kelli Schuessler, Rebecca O’Neal, Snow Peterson and Sherry Diamond-Sanborn. 4. Seated: Joe Timm, Sara Hawkes and Toni Vacker; standing, Angela Wilhelm and Susanna Mayberry. 5. Deborah Thompson, Cindy Bulgier and Sherry Wilson-Lidgett. 6. Phillip Graham, Stephanie Turbeville, Marissa Gasaway and Richard Gasaway. 7. Seated: Vicky Bacon and Gail Gay; standing, Avery Puccetti and Dianna Puccetti. 8. Blanche Rodriguez, Heidi Kunz, Karen Kunz and Stacey Gottlob. 12 5 43 6 7 8 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 97 K irK H ale Serving Galveston and surrounding areas. Lone Star Pianos “Keeping Texas in Tune!” 512.922.6920 www.lonestarpianos.com Follow on Myra Sanders Realtor® Galveston98 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 Holy Family Catholic School presented its Viva Italia! Spring Gala on April 28 at Moody Mansion in Galveston. Guests en- joyed heavy hors d’oeurves by Chef Mary Bass, drinks, live entertainment and a silent auction. Photos by Carla Peoples HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC SCHOOL SPRING GALA PARTY PICS PICTURED: 1. Edward and Maria Dill, Chris Gray and Lauren Marmaduke. 2. Luke and Mary Bohlman, Lacey Hayward and Xan Crocker. 3. Gloria Milton, Antoinette Ozark-Penn, Maria Tripovich and Alice Richardson-Hou. 4. Front: Monica Desmond and Patrick O’Brian; back: Kelly and Jim Stevenson. 5. Ethel Mack, Diane Mitchell, Larnell Mitchell and Lenora Guy. 6. Julie Ruiz, Judge Pedro Ruiz and Pete Ruiz Jr. 7. James and Kristin Howard with Tiffany and Justin Weber. 8. Anthony Socias Jr., Debbie Socias, Anthony Socias III and Leaha Socias. 12 345 6 87 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuLY 2023 99 AMY LARNER 281-795-6674 amy@amylarner.com https://www.har.com/amylarne r 26934 Estuary Galveston 4-5 BR 3.5 BA 26911 Bay Water Galveston 25618 Spotted Sandpiper Galveston New Construction Pointe West! YOUR CUSTOM DREAM HOME AWAITS YOU! Let us make your special moments magical! www.DarkerSideDJS.com 281-542-3555 DS Entertainment When Only the Best Will Do. We Love Working with Designers & Contractors! 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