If a building has been restored in Brownwood, Texas, it’s a safe bet Debbie Morelock can tell you the details. It’s also a safe bet there are no glass ceilings in any building where she’s ever worked. Morelock’s life is a testimony to the power of getting the job done because it was there and it needed to get done. Along the way she has broken new ground — literally and figuratively.
Her experience with breaking through barriers began on the family farm in Odem, Texas, where she picked cotton by hand and raised chickens and show animals. In fact, she was the first girl to join the FFA at Odem High School, which had to change the rules to let her in. As a twirler and drum major for the school band, she was invited to an event in nearby Sinton where she met some band students from Howard Payne University and set the course of her life.
After graduating from HPU, Morelock took a job at Stephen F. Austin University doing white-tailed deer telemetry, which involves studying the movements and habits of deer. During this time she met her future husband, Don, fresh out of the Navy. Eventually they both wound up in Brenham, where Don was starting a blacksmith shop and Debbie was working two jobs: one at the state school and the other at a veterinary clinic. After marriage, the couple moved to Brownwood in 1980 and built their own house with a blacksmith shop constructed, as Debbie puts it, “one room at a time, as the money allowed.”
Their son was born in 1986, and the couple opened their bed and breakfast, Star of Texas, in 1998. It was then Morelock noticed some old buildings in Brownwood slated for demolition and, after asking around, was invited to join the local restoration society, the Brownwood Civic Improvement Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that not only finds investment partners but also actively works with them to get the work done, right and on time.
From there Morelock’s work in Brownwood has never slowed down, and each of the buildings restored in the city has its own unique story, including the renovated apartment building at the corner of Lee and Fisk once used as a dry cleaner in the ’20s specializing in cleaning and storing fur coats. A large vault in the building has been incorporated into the kitchen area of the apartment, while outside is a large advertising mural for the Walker-Smith Coffee Company.
REPURPOSED One of Morelock’s projects, the depot, now houses the Brownwood Area Chamber
of Commerce and the Visitor Center with its Texas-themed store.
While serving on the board of the BCIF and the Chamber of Commerce, Morelock became friends with Martin and Frances Lehnis, the benefactors of what became the Lehnis Railroad Museum that houses the couple’s collection of railroad equipment, memorabilia and china used in railroad dining cars. Morelock worked with them to transcribe the stories for the collection and found a common connection with Martin, who’d worked as a welder for the railroad. Morelock herself learned the art of welding in order to assist Don in the blacksmith shop and helped transfer the Lehnis collection into its new facility across the street from the restored Santa Fe railroad depot.
The depot, another of Morelock’s proj- ects, houses the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce and the Visitor Center with Texas-themed merchandise. The depot once had a Harvey House and now features a restored Harvey Girl dorm room plus the three-room Gordon Wood Museum. Harvey Houses were built along railroad depots in the western United States beginning in 1875 and offered rooms and meals to early rail travelers in the days before west of the Mississippi and the newest mem- ber of the Texas Paddling Trail sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife. The bayou trail offers two loops for paddlers — one a three-mile trip upriver, the other a four-mile trip downstream — and is known for the variety of bird species along the route as well as the pecan trees, some more than 100 years old.
Furthermore, notes Modawell, without Morelock, there would not be a lot of other things available for Brownwood tourism, includ- ing the Cork and Cap Festival in October, the Christmas Under the Stars in December, and the restoration of four landmark buildings in Brownwood. When asked if there was anything Debbie Morelock did not do for Brownwood tourism, Modawell didn’t hesitate, “No, in fact, she is Ms. Brownwood.”
The latest item on the restoration agenda for Morelock is the old Browntowner Hotel, last used as a dormitory for Howard Payne in the 1980s and, before that, lodging for contrac- tors building Camp Bowie during World War II. Until that job finds an investor, visitors can always book a room at the Star of Texas and pos- sibly stay in the Wild Rose cabin, which, though once condemned and scheduled for demolition, was, naturally, restored and moved out to the Morelocks’ property.
“It’s just who we are,” Morelock says, “a couple who care about saving our heritage and sharing it with everyone who’s interested.” That heritage often includes encouraging their guests to try out the Pecan Bayou Paddling Trail they’ve been enjoying for the past 15 years. “And,” Debbie adds, “we’re also a true bed and breakfast, which means we deliver a full breakfast to your door at 9 a.m.”
