Colorful attitude, life puts spunk in Texas lady

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Lady Weldon Hartshorn, better known as Bungy, spent her early years in Oklahoma, then California. When Bungy returned to Texas, she put her experiences to use in Bandera, and now La Grange. -Staff photo by Taylor

June 19, 2003 -- Lady Weldon "Bungy" Hartshorn isn't your "run-of-the-mill" Texas lady!

Even at her birth, she was full of surprises, since her parents were "really sure" she would be a boy and would be named after her dad, Weldon. It was a family nurse that gave her the nickname, "Bungy," after a little rabbit, and it's stuck throughout the years.

Perhaps, that name is part of the reason that Hartshorn has "jumped" around and did so many things in her lifetime.

Although her dad was originally from Texas ... her grandparents were married in Buffalo Gap, and the town of Hedley is named for her grandfather ... Hartshorn was reared in Oklahoma, until the Depression.

At that time, her father moved his family to the California coast where she and her siblings grew up around the ocean, learning to sail, snorkle, swim and beach-comb. Since her dad operated a little shop in Hollywood, selling driftwood and other "treasures" the family found on the beaches, Hartshorn met a number of movie stars, including Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper. Her prom date was even Raymond Burr!

Instead of attending college, Hartshorn became one of three women, at that time, who hired on as crew on sailboats and sailed 60,000 miles ... all throughout the South Pacific.

After marrying at the age of 22 and moving back to her dad's home state of Texas, Hartshorn said she realized what Texas was all about, and she liked it.

"When I got back to Texas, I saw exactly what my dad was. I saw a million of my dad! There was that old Texas way they used to be, and you still find a few, but they're fading out," she explained.

For the next 30 years, Hartshorn lived in Bandera, and what a splash the California gal made! Not only was she a Texas resident, she became a shopkeeper and civic leader.

"There I was in the 'Cowboy Capital of the World,' and I started a shop on main street called the Bandera General Store," Hartshorn said.

Since it wasn't her first venture in sales, she used the knowledge she'd gained as a girl on the California beaches: she decided to give the Texas tourists what they wanted to see.

"My best selling item was gold-sprayed cow patties!" laughed Hartshorn.

These dried disks of cow manure sold anywhere from $2 to $8, depending upon the size.

"Whenever I needed a supply, I would go into a pasture, and this old cowboy in Bandera could not believe that I was actually making money out of cow patties!" she giggled.

To attract the tourists, Hartshorn said she would spread the cow patties on the sidewalk in front of her shop to spray them gold. While many would stop to view the process and ask questions, she said there were several who wanted to purchase one, but not have to actually "touch" the cow patty.

Hartshorn said she also worked as the general manager of two, 500-acre resort ranches around Bandera, and she helped organize parades in town, as well as writing a column "What's Rustlin'" in a local paper.

"It's the happiest place in the world! I never have lived in a place like Bandera," she said.

At the resort ranches, Hartshorn was responsible for publicity and promotion, as well as hiring the staff. The ranches featured hay rides, horseback riding, and plenty of food for the guests. Hartshorn remembered one time, though, when the cook suddenly quit and she, with the help of one 16-year-old boy, had to cook for 65 guests.

In the past few years, Hartshorn has relocated to a ranch in Fayette County, near one of her daughters. It could have been the end of the story of "Bungy's Adventures," but it turned out to be just a new beginning. She said her religion encourages a person to use their talents, not hide them under a "bushel basket," and it would take several of those baskets to hide all of Hartshorn's talents!

She volunteers at the La Grange Chamber of Commerce, and she and her daughter created a historic display inside the old jail that houses the Chamber office.

Many days she can be found on the ranch, running around on her "Red Baron" four-wheeler, or mountain bike, and she still loves to dance. According to Hartshorn, she's looking for a "chum" who is "way over senior sense" in age to share in her fun, but she said she will always remember only the "sunny hours" of her life.

With Bungy, that's most of her life.