Nutshell co-owner dies

Barbara Stevenson, for decades a co-owner of the Nutshell Eatery & Bakery on the Granbury square, died Wednesday night.

She was 79.

Stevenson, who had a home in Colleyville but made regular trips to Granbury, died here, according to her friend and business partner, Kay Collerain.

Scott Young, former president of the Historic Gran-bury Merchants Association (HGMA), said that Stevenson and Collerain were the last among business owners who purchased buildings on the square during its resurgence in the 1970s.

Collerain said that she and Stevenson bought the building at the corner of East Pearl and North Crockett streets from Mary Lou Watkins, former owner of the Nutt House Hotel and a well-known figure in Granbury’s history.

“At times we didn’t know whether we were unemployed or self-employed,” Collerain said. “But we survived.”

The pair’s friendship began when Stevenson went to work at a 300-bed hospital in Dallas where Collerain was director. The two thought they would be great as business partners, Collerain said.

In addition to operating the Nutshell, the women did consulting work, helping to make small businesses profitable, according to Collerain.

Collerain said she will host a celebration of life for Stevenson at her Granbury home from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, June 22. She said that Stevenson’s family consists of a stepsister, a brotherin- law, two nephews and a cousin.

The restaurant will go on under Collerain’s leadership, the co-owner said.

“We were both getting to a point where we didn’t have to babysit the business,” she said. “We didn’t have to go and stay eight hours a day. We could start to have a life of our own.”

In fact, Collerain started a new chapter in her life last December. She got married to a longtime friend whose wife had died.

Collerain said that people always knew where they stood with Stevenson.

“She never held it back,” she said of her opinionated friend.

Stevenson was “loyal to a fault,” Collerain said, and was a frequent rescuer of animals.

“Her friends and her animals were her life,” Collerain said. “She’s really going to be missed.”