Anne M. Marion

Anne Burnett Windfohr Marion

Anne Windfohr Marion is an American rancher, horsebreeder, business executive, philanthropist and art collector from Fort Worth, Texas. She serves as the President of Burnett Ranches and the Chairman of the Burnett Oil Company. She is the founder of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

For generations, ranching has played an important role in the family of Anne W. Marion (known during childhood as “Little Anne”), current president of Burnett Ranches, LLC which includes the Four Sixes Ranch. Among her other leadership positions are president of the Burnett Foundation and Burnett Companies and chair of the Burnett Oil Co. Inc.

Her family tree, as noted above, is a who’s who of Texas ranching and commerce. She is the daughter of Anne Burnett Tandy and James Goodwin Hall. Her grandparents included Tom Burnett, who built the Triangle Ranches near Iowa Park and Paducah, and Ollie Lake.

Her great-grandfather was rancher/oilman Captain Samuel “Burk” Burnett, who founded what would become the Four Sixes Ranch and other Burnett holdings. Her great-great grandfather was Captain Martin B. Loyd, who established the First National Bank of Fort Worth.

Following the death in 1922 of Captain Burnett, ownership of the ranch was left to Anne Marion, his great-granddaughter, (in fact, yet to be born), with a life estate to Burnett's daughter-in-law, Ollie Lake, and his granddaughter, Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy (“Miss Anne”). The property was held in trust until the death of Miss Anne in 1980 and then passed directly to her daughter, Anne Marion.

At a young age, Little Anne spent summers on the Four Sixes, earning the respect of the cowboys as she learned to ride horses and do the things they did. Ollie Lake, who maintained a lovely home in Fort Worth, provided her granddaughter with the emotional support she needed and further established in the young girl a love for ranching and its traditions. “She’s the one that told me the old stories,” Anne Marion said. “She had the background of the Depression, and she kept telling me that I was lucky to have all that I do and not to waste it.”

“Little Anne” 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.

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 daughter, Anne “Hallie” Grimes.

Mrs. Marion assumed management of the Four Sixes in 1980. Not since Captain 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 former, 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.”

Veterinarian and Four Sixes Horse Division manager Dr. Glenn Blodgett agrees, 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.”

Anne Marion also is 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.

“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 and was inducted into its Hall of Great Westerners in 2009. Her great-grandfather, Samuel “Burk” Burnett; her grandfather, Tom Burnett; and her mother, Anne Burnett Tandy; also are Hall Of Fame inductees there. Her own honors also 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; and induction into the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame, 2007.

“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 Ranch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Windfohr_Marion