This site is for Mitty Memories. As of this build in June 2025, she’s 85 years along and not doing so great.
Alive as of June 2025, but also ready “to get to heaven” in that ornery way that somehow you are doing something wrong and she can teach you.
Mitty is known in San Antonio for Mitty’s Farm, the petting zoo, parties at the land, and Judson Road Riding School. She’s more Christian than anyone. Deal with it.
This site is a simple old school WordPress blog so anyone can interact in the comments. You should be able to upload pics, tell stories, send some love – with the hope of capturing some Mitty Mems, and sharing them with her while we can.
For example – Jenn and I recently found our current favorite hand written note on top of a mustard container:
I hope the cake doesn’t taste like mustard
Mitty History
She was born to these awesome parents known as Ditty and Bo.
Her daddy was a big deal military officer and Supreme Court lawyer. Her mama – ‘Ditty’ (Mary Smith) was fancy. Her maternal ancestry was the rhymey name thing – Mitty, Ditty (her mom), Aunt Honditty (Ditty’s sis), and Duddy (also a Mittie, Ditty’s mom).
They came from Rheiners and Davenports out of Uvalde, TX and Sabinal. Ferdinand Rheiner was her Grandfather. There was a mayor in there somewhere, and Mariette Rheiner Garner (Ettie) married John Nance Garner – . Mitty loved going to Garner State Park. I don’t know about the Smith ancestry.
Tommy was also a big time military guy like his dad, but the field guy instead of the lawyer type – fighter pilot, Olympic/Guinness Book World Record shooter; and he has an epic story in Time/Life of a plane crash on a snowy mountain in Peru or something and he saved everyone. It was like Alive, but they didn’t eat each other. Apparently.
Tommy died a year or so ago and it really created a lot of loss & heartache for Mitty. Ditty, her mom died in the mid 2000s, and Bo, her dad in the 70s.
She grew up in San Antonio on around 80 acres of land her parents purchased in the 40s. Her childhood was horses and Alamo Heights High School and Sunset Ridge Church of Christ. She was likely supposed to be fancy like her mom.
We used to drive by a house at the first block off Ft Maddin, my childhood home and she would point to a tree in their backyard – “that’s where the pig pen was”.
She had a Palomino named something close to ‘Beauty’ or Pretty (I don’t think it’s that, but close – please comment below if you know).
She was also a twirler(?) at some point.
She graduated Abilene Christian College (now ACU) with what I’ve always thought of as a PE Teacher – pretty sure the degree said soemthing different.
My brother James was born in 1964, me in ’67. We lost a child named Christian at birth a couple or few years after me.
I’ve never doubted that we became her world from the 60s to 80s. With horses. She may have just needed boys to help her with horses. We’ll never know. Her world no less.
So we grew up and took off and she gave herself to horses, the students, and the farm, and God, and friends, and family.
She married Perry in the 80s. James and Greg (me) had kids and called her Granny and went to Granny’s farm.
Mitty sold the farm and the apartments that were built there honored the legacy in their lobby.
James family grew to a bunch of kids – this is him with Patti and all of them some years ago.
Greg’s family did an 80s photo shoot last Christmas.
We celebrated her 85th Birthday in April of 2025. (click here for a bunch of pictures)
Mom has been falling. Her latest fall broke her arm/wrist. She’s not leaving Perry’s house and is struggling to eat/not eating. In home hospice has started. She’s got Dementia of the Alzheimer’s variety.
She watches TV and loves short visits. She sleeps a lot and today, Sunday June 29, 2025 – she’s watching Macarthur Park Church online and ‘sang along beautifully’ according to Perry.
She’s laughing and smiling and has some pain and discomfort. She pranced with Jenny the other day and danced with James a week ago. She gets up and moves slow.
She’s beautiful.
I hope you share some thoughts or memories here.