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Jim Hall and his young daughter, Anne
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Her great-grandfather was rancher/oilman Samuel Burk Burnett, who founded what became the Four Sixes Ranch in King County. Her great-great grandfather was Captain Martin B. Loyd, who established the First National Bank of Fort Worth.
Following the death in 1922 of Burk Burnett, ownership of the ranch was left to Anne Marion, his great-granddaughter yet to be born, with a life estate to Burk’s daughter-in-law, Ollie Lake, and his granddaughter, Anne Valliant Burnett. The property was held in trust until the death of Miss Anne and then passed directly to her daughter, Anne Marion.
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In 1988, Anne married John Louis Marion, honorary chair of Sotheby’s Inc. She has one daughter, Anne “Windi” Phillips Grimes, who also has one child.
Mrs. Marion owns the 245,000-acre
Four Sixes Ranch headquartered in Guthrie in
West Texas and 100,000 acres at Dixon Creek
in Carson and Hutchinson counties in the Texas
Panhandle. The Burnett Ranches in Texas comprise
the largest individually owned ranch property
in the state.
Mrs. Marion assumed management of the Four Sixes in 1980. Not since Burk Burnett founded and built the Four Sixes more than a century ago has any family member taken as much interest in the ranches as she, according to her long-time ranch manager, the late J.J. Gibson.
“She always respected my judgment, but she had her own ideas, too,” Gibson had said. “She is a real hands-on type. The love of the land is in her blood.” Gibson’s son, Mike, now manages the ranches. |
Ann Marion with J.J. (left) and Mike Gibson
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Veterinarian and Four Sixes Horse Division manager Dr. Glenn Blodgett agreed, saying, “Anne is a very capable leader who looks to the future and has changed with the times. She surrounds herself with loyal, dedicated employees who share her vision for perfection. Anne has overseen and directed the ranching and horse operation to a new level in recent years. I look for more of the same management style in the future.”
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The Four Sixes’ horse operation included the famous racing stallion Dash For Cash, one of the greatest sires of racing Quarter Horses. His offspring have earned some $40 million. It also includes widely sought-after ranch horses. The band of working cow horses tends thousands of the ranch’s own cattle. The Four Sixes has been engaged in horse breeding for more than 60 years.
Mrs. Marion is known for her interest in the ranches and their good management. At a young age, she spent summers on the Four Sixes, earning the respect of the cowboys as she learned to ride horses and do the things they did. She is likewise highly regarded as an arts patron and shrewd businesswoman. Her husband is proud of her strong will and determination and her ability to move easily from social settings to business.
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“It’s fascinating to see her at the board table talking about oil and cattle,” John Marion said. “But she has another side, too. She’s a very astute art collector. Very cultured. Very refined.”
Mrs. Marion is a director emeritus at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, where her great-grandfather, Samuel Burk Burnett; her grandfather, Tom Burnett; and her mother, Anne Burnett Tandy, are Hall of Fame inductees. Her own honors include the Golden Deed Honoree as selected by the Fort Worth Exchange Club, 1993; the Charles Goodnight Award, 1993; induction into the Texas Business Hall of Fame, 1996; The Governor’s Award for Excellence in The Arts award, 1996; the American Quarter Horse Association Merle Wood Humanitarian Award, 1999; the National Golden Spur Award, 2001; the Boss of the Plains Award from the National Ranching Heritage Center, 2003; the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame, 2007 (Read More).
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John Marion, Ann W. Marion and Bill Brewer with Mrs. Marion's 2001 Golden Spur Award
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Mrs. Marion was educated at Briarcliff Junior College in New York; The University of Texas at Austin; and The University of Geneva in Switzerland, where she studied art history. Her best education for running a ranch as a business was growing up with the people who worked it, she said. She is known for hiring outstanding people and taking care of them.
“The most important thing that ever happened to me was growing up on that ranch,” Mrs. Marion said. “It kept my feet on the ground more than anything else.” While her civic and cultural activities extend throughout Texas and the United States, her deepest commitment is to her birthright and the continuing success of the historic Four Sixes Ranches. (This article contains excerpts from a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article by Mary Rogers, 1993.) |
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