Thursday, May 2, 2024
This week, Hood County is shining a little less brightly as the news continues to spread regarding the passing of a beloved community member.
Shirley Hooks, a prominent Granbury resident and former Century 21 real estate agent, passed away on Sunday, Jan. 14 at the age of 80.
Originally from Houston, Hooks moved to Granbury around 1974, after she took a weekend trip to the city and fell in love with the small town.
A year later, the single mother of two girls became a licensed real estate agent and embarked on what would become a decades-long successful career.
A REAL ESTATE EMPIRE
While other women in the ‘70s continued to hit the glass ceiling and were unable to climb up the ladder to a management position, Hooks was selling rooftop after rooftop in Hood County — eventually heading up one of the most successful real estate franchises in the area and becoming one of the first women to do so.
“She built an empire for herself,” said close friend Lula Pope Tidwell. “She got everything going for our Granbury. She’s like Mrs. Real Estate.”
Tidwell reminisced about the time she was trying to sell her home in DeCordova to a potential buyer, but Hooks convinced her not to, as it was a bad deal.
“She told me, ‘I wouldn’t do this deal,’ because they were wanting me to give them everything. Shirley said, ‘I’m gonna be honest with you. I would not sell them this house,’” Tidwell said. “So, I didn’t. I backed off and eventually I sold it to somebody who lived two houses down. She’s honest. What can I say?”
Tidwell also commented about how several real estate agents trained under Hooks and went on to be extremely successful in their careers — including local realtor Jerry Allen.
"We never became really closely intimate until the last couple of years,” Allen told the HCN. “We would talk to each other in passing, but when I became a (real estate agent), she said, ‘Well, okay, come on over here, young man.’ She kind of gave me a few pointers — most of them I already knew, because I've done a lot of sales and stuff — but there were some jewels in there that I couldn't have gotten from anybody else. It was very matter of fact; I mean I could see why she was such a good (real estate agent).”
There was a time though, when Hooks was forced to juggle her job as a real estate agent with a new role she never asked for or wanted: the role of a detective.
A FEARLESS MOTHER
On Easter weekend in 1979, Hooks drove her daughter, Emily, to DFW Airport and waved goodbye as the 7-year-old boarded a plane to Boston for a short visit with her father, Steven Walton — Hooks’ ex-husband.
Unbeknownst to her at the time, more than three traumatic years would pass before mother and daughter would be reunited.
In a 2020 HCN article, Hooks details the harrowing drama that unfolded as soon as she realized her now-deceased ex had kidnapped her daughter and gone into hiding.
Setting out on a mission, the fearless mother hired three private detectives and chased leads in places such as Austin, Washington D.C., Connecticut, Austin and Toronto.
“It was a very, very terrible time,” Hooks recalled in a previous interview with the HCN. “It was like living in suspended animation at all times.”
Then-Hood County District Attorney Randy Chandler presented Hooks’ case to the grand jury, resulting in what was considered a landmark decision. The grand jury indicted Walton on felony kidnapping charges.
On June 9, 1982, Emily’s 11th birthday, Hooks received a telegram from the American Embassy in London confirming that an investigator’s hunch was correct; Walton had fled with Emily to his birthplace in England.
But despite Walton having clearly taken the child when he had no legal right to do so, Hooks was told by the American Embassy, Interpol, state department officials and lawyers that reclaiming Emily would be next to impossible.
Feeling she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands, Hooks boarded a plane to England with her sister, Charla Wolf, and a private detective.
After arriving there, she phoned Walton but led him to believe she was calling from Texas. He gave her a phone number for one of Emily’s friends with whom she was staying for the July 4th weekend.
Hooks, Wolf and the private detective divided up a 600-page phone book at their hotel and searched for that phone number so they could locate the girl’s address. Her family’s residence turned out to be just a half-mile away.
Once the three knew Emily’s exact location, they hatched a plan.
“They came up with this caper,” said daughter Emily Hooks, who, at the time of the 2020 article lived in Austin. “All of this was planned and executed in true magnificent style.”
Hooks sketched out an escape route, which Emily still has today. Then Hooks phoned the home of Emily’s friend, Elaine, and Elaine’s mother called Emily to the phone.
“Before I answered the phone, I knew it was (my mom),” Emily said.
Hooks gave her daughter detailed instructions, telling her she was going to hand the phone to Wolf, Emily’s aunt, but that she was not to let on about the switch. She told her that when she heard a knock on the front door, it would be Hooks coming to pick her up.
With Wolf on the phone, Hooks and the private detective headed to Elaine’s house.
“I was so overwhelmed with excitement and joy,” Emily said, in the previous interview. “I literally ran and jumped in her arms. She was so beautiful. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.”
Although Emily couldn’t go home with Hooks after the rescue, she was finally allowed to fly home with her mother after a court appearance on a later date.
An HCN article featuring photos of their joyful arrival at DFW Airport called Hooks’ reclaiming of her daughter “a saga to rival any adventure movie.”
Emily previously told the HCN: “I was literally back within the United States within four days of the plan coming to life, and that really speaks to my mom’s character. When she puts her mind to something, you can count on that happening.”
“She's had some things happen in her life,” Tidwell said. “Her daughter was kidnapped, and I mean, to have gone through something like that and have the spirit of life that she has, you know, is just amazing.”
AN ETERNAL LOVE AFFAIR
Although Hooks experienced two failed marriages, she eventually found a man who loved her deeply and completely: Bill Hooks, who died in May 2020 at the age of 77.
In 1985, Hooks married Bill. His father owned the Hooks Ford dealership and Bill helped him run it until he eventually took over the business in 2000.
Hooks first met Bill when she sold him and his then-wife a house.
She revealed in a previous interview with the HCN that one day she was driving the couple to look at houses. Bill was in the backset and his then-wife was in the front passenger seat.
The real estate agent was talking to her clients about what they were looking for in a home when she looked into her rear-view mirror and her eyes locked with Bill’s.
“It was just an actual physical jolt,” Hooks said of what she felt at that moment. She said Bill later told her that he felt the same sensation.
Time passed and a day came when Hooks encountered Bill again. He and his wife had since divorced.
“We kept running into each other and seeing each other at chamber and community functions,” Hooks said.
At one particular event, Bill asked her to dance even though he didn’t particularly enjoy dancing. Hooks called him at the dealership the next morning to ask him, “What the hell’s going on?” He said, “I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
The couple went for a drive and thus began a love affair that continued until Bill’s death in 2020.
During their years together, Hooks sponsored her husband as he worked toward becoming a licensed real estate agent. He joined her at Century 21.
Both their names are still imprinted on the glass panes of the office they shared at the building at Crockett and Bridge Streets on the square.
A GENEROUS HEART
Many people donate to charitable causes, but Hooks has consistently given generously to virtually every local initiative, according to the 2020 HCN article. Her business success gave her the means, but her character gave her the heart.
Hooks was a leader in the formation of Mission Granbury, turning the 1997 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sarah Patterson into a community-wide call to action.
The creation of Mission Granbury eventually led to the opening of the Ada Carey Center, a shelter for abused women and children, and the Paluxy River Children’s Advocacy Center.
"She was involved in everything,” Tidwell said. “And she's a service person. She was like, the founder of Mission Granbury, you know, she's just amazing.”
‘A BEAUTIFUL SOUL’
Tidwell expressed that to her, Hooks is more than just a friend — she’s family.
“She’s a beautiful soul. I have never heard her say a bad thing about anybody,” she said. “She's just the most remarkable woman.”
Allen commented that the quality he loved the most about Hooks is the way she could make anybody feel special, including his wife, Mickey.
“My wife, she kind of needs a little extra special warming up to, and folks don't always warm up to her — not because of her personality, but just because I think she needs it a lot — but Shirley is one that always did and she always made Mickey feel like she was queen of the world,” he said. “No matter what, she always made you feel like you were one of her old friends, even if you just met her, and she would always remember everything about you. She would say, ‘Well, how was your son?’ or ‘Didn't I hear your mother had something going on?’ It's like, ‘Dang, how does she know everything about everybody all the time?’ and that's why she was such a good (real estate agent), but she just was a good person.”
FOREVER MEMORIALIZED
In 2022, Hooks was also forever memorialized when a room in N on the Square, a building that was then purchased and restored to an inn by Paula and Mark McDonald, was named for her. In fact, N on the Square was once Shirley Hooks’s real estate business and is located at 122 N. Crockett.
"When Mark started working on the building, they told me they wanted to name the first suite after me and wanted to know what my middle name was; that’s how it came to be the Shirley Ann,” Hooks said, in a previous interview with HCN.
The Shirley Ann Suite features a pop of lavender, as it was Hooks’ signature — and favorite — color. The room also features “one of the best views” as it looks directly over the historic downtown Granbury square.
“Shirley, she just came up here, and we were showing her (the room) and she just started crying,” Mark said, in the previous HCN interview. “It was really neat to show it to her. This has been her life for so long with Bill (her late husband), I thought it would be a nice tribute to her. She's done so much in the community that we wanted to honor her as well.”
"It was just so touching. I'm just so honored that she and Mark did that — especially to be up there with Leta (Andrews),” Hooks added. “They don’t do anything that’s not first class. They’re such amazing great people.”
A LEGEND
Hooks was so well-loved around the community that upon hearing of her passing, many Hood County residents took to social media on Sunday evening, expressing their love for a great friend and “legend.”
“With a sad heart I say goodbye to a dear friend... Shirley Hooks,” wrote Hood County resident Julia Pannell. “She and Bill are dancing before God tonight! We will miss you, my friend!”
“Ms. Shirley Hooks, you have been such a great friend and mentor,” City Attorney Jeremy SoRelle posted on Facebook. “I cannot believe the news received. You will be missed!”
"We just learned about the passing of a legend, Shirley Hooks,” said Granbury resident Paula McDonald. “What an amazing woman who holds a special place with the entire community of Granbury! We were so honored to carry on her legacy with the building she and Bill lovingly brought to life.”
The Granbury Chamber of Commerce also released a statement reading: “Our hearts are heavy today as we say goodbye to a true legendary business icon and to someone who touched our lives in so many ways. We will miss her warmth, her kindness and her unwavering spirit. But we take solace in the fact that she will always be remembered as a shining example of what it means to live a life filled with love, inspiration and compassion.”
“GAME FOR ANYTHING”
Tidwell described a fun memory she has of Hooks is when she showed up to a Christmas party wearing a silly hat without a care in the world.
“She’s game for anything,” she said. “She’s just a fun person and she enjoyed life, obviously.”
Hooks also spent her time reading, playing card games like Skip-Bo, listening to music, and avoiding the news as much as possible.
“We were just starting to play poker where we live, and she was so excited,” Tidwell said. “She was also taking piano lessons, and she played the flute in the band.”
Allen also revealed that Hooks was a competitive Bunco player and described her as being “cutthroat.”
"Boy, I tell you what, you better be ready to compete when she's playing Bunco; she's ready to go,” he said. “It's kind of like being back in high school and somebody wants to play a game with you, and they want to win. She was competitive, and if you were her partner, great. If you weren't her partner, ‘I'm gonna get ya.’”
“SHE’S GRANBURY”
Tidwell described Hooks as being simply, “Granbury,” adding she had always teased Hooks about her popularity when they were at dinner and a line started to form of people who wanted to visit with her.
“She would say, ‘It’s really not that true,’ but we’d say, ‘Oh yes, it is,’” she said. “She’s Mrs. Popular. Her home was always open; that's the kind of person she was. She never really locked her door. She was just a bubble of life. She was always there for you. Always.”
"Her main thing is she genuinely did love people — and that never changed,” Allen said. “She was a gracious hostess. I mean, she always threw a wonderful party, and her host of friends, it was like every walk of life. She made you feel ultra-special just by being in her circle.”
Allen added the pair would constantly make real estate jokes with each other, but he always learned a lot from Hooks.
“She was just a neat person and to share herself with me, I feel very blessed,” he said. “I just think I'm gonna miss her smile the most.”
“THELMA AND LOUISE”
Although Hooks will be missed by many, her loss hits home with her best friend, Carol “Sister” McRae — a bond that delves deeper than just simply friendship as the pair has been described as “inseparable” throughout the last few years.
Hooks also had a special friendship with McRae’s late brother, Tom McRae. Sister told the HCN that when Bill and Hooks were showing Tom her newly-purchased real estate building, Tom took a hammer to the sheetrock as he wondered what was behind it. Hooks was speechless as he hammered a big gap in the wall, and they discovered the original stone wall. She said, “Well, Tom, that is great, but I am having a big banquet in here next week!” Needless to say, the Century 21 banquet was Tom’s first customer (free of charge) in Celebration Hall.
After Bill passed, Sister and Hooks spent a lot of time together playing Skip-Bo or Rummikub.
When Sister was facing an upcoming surgery last year, Hooks took her to every doctor’s appointment and visited her every day during her three different hospital stays in Weatherford. “That’s what friends are for,” Hooks would say. Soon, she was referring to her many friends as her “posse.”
On her last night on the town, Sister and Hooks attended a Neil Diamond Tribute at Granbury Live, had dinner at Christina’s American Table (Hooks’ favorite restaurant) and watched some TV.
“Let’s do this often!” were Hook’s last words to Sister.
“Many folks in Granbury referred to us as ‘Thelma and Louise’ because we spent so much time together and in fact, I picked up the phone twice today to call her. Shirley was so great to always include me in her family gatherings when they visited. I have lost such a great friend — my ‘Louise,’” Sister said sadly.
