Original Drawings & Model Commentaries:

AIA Drawing # 10
(17 inches X 23 inches)





Gracie Tacket:  1904-                                                             Dublin,  Texas


Copyright  © 1992-2006  Jim Branscum Art Studio
All Rights Reserved

The smile and sparkling eyes invite Gracie Tacket's visitors to relax.  They are with a friend even if they have never met her.  Her laugh is contagious.  She puts you at ease with her often humorous look at herself and at life in general.  Her attitudes,  however,  are far from frivolous.  They were shaped by many events that others might consider tragedies;  she saw them as learning experiences.  "My laughter comes from the joy in my heart and the joy in my heart comes from the blessings of God,"   she tells me before launching into the story of her life.

"I had four sisters and five brothers.  Everyone knew my daddy,  he was the choir master at the Methodist church here in Dublin, Texas.  Each of the children played an instrument and we would go into the parlor after dinner and read the Bible and play music 'till 10 PM every night.  I have had faith in God since the age of accountability.  When I was 17 (1921),  I met John Tacket.  He was the top mechanic in town.  I was on my way to apply for a job as a barber.  I was the first lady barber in Dublin.   We got married two years later.  I have three sons,  eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren."  Her eyes twinkled with excitement as she went through the list of children and their accomplishments,  then grew more serious as she told of her husband.  "The last fifteen years of his life,  he had Alzheimer's.  I learned tolerance and patience.  It was God's way of teaching me to treat everyone with respect.  I had so many things done for me that I know it was the hand of God on my life.  God takes my concerns and worries and gives me peace.  The secret is to let Him have His way in life and everything will be all right."  Her brand of faith is not as often demonstrated by the generations to follow.

At 89 years of age,   Gracie still plays the ukulele and organ.  She also shares my love of art.   "I've always been an artist,"  she says with laugh.  "When I was a little girl,  I used to draw faces on the eggs and put them back in the nest.   It frightened the chickens."  She still draws and the hallways are filled with drawings Gracie has created.  She draws portraits and makes decorative name plates for other residents.  Her works are produced for the joy of creation.   She is the "resident artist" of the Golden Age Manor. 

The Golden Age Manor,   in Dublin,  Texas,  is a skilled nursing facility owned by Bobbie and Keith Nichols.  As a young student,  Keith was working on the construction crew expanding the facility from forty-five to ninety beds.  He learned that the facility was seeking help in the office.  He introduced his young wife,   Bobbie,  to the Marwitz brothers,  who then owned the facility.   Bobbie began working as a secretary at eighteen.  She loved the residents and felt she had found her calling in life.  She immediately began studies to become a health care administrator.  She achieved her goal at the age of 19 becoming the youngest administrator in Texas.  The minimum age for a Texas administrator's license was raised to 21 years the following year.  Today,  Bobbie and Keith own and actively participate in the operation of three facilities and  publish a state-wide long term care newspaper.  Bobbie is on the Board of Directors of the Texas Health Care Association and Keith is the Mayor of Dublin.  They have devoted their lives to the care and concerns of Gracie Tacket and their many of residents from Dublin and surrounding communities.

Jim Branscum Art Studio ~ P.O. Box 2048 ~ Sapulpa, OK 74067
Phone: 918/227-7856
email: jim@jimbartstudio.com

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