Boyd Barnes Bradfield

Boyd Barnes Bradfield was born in Shreveport, Louisiana December 16, 1934, to Louise and Jack Bradfield. Jack worked on the United Gas Rivercrossing pipeline and Louise with Boyd and his brother Bobby moved every 6 months. Boyd and Bobby fished, camped out, played sports and were best friends no matter where they lived. Home base for the family was Wichita Falls, Texas where their grandparents lived. It was here in Wichita Falls that he met his childhood dear friend, Bud Syler and Bud’s sister Von.(She married Bernard Lifshultz in San Antonio and later Boyd and Bernard became business partners).

Finally the family settled in San Antonio where his Bradfield aunts and uncles lived. Boyd played golf and won many local tournaments under the name Boyd Barnes. As he was skipping class to play so the newspapers wouldn’t print his real name. His father, Jack opened a vending machine business and took Boyd, 14 and Bobby 16 out of school to work driving the trucks and collecting coins from the machines. Boyd went to night school but could not graduate without electives so he went to Brackenridge High School taking choir, golf and bookkeeping. He met Joyce Brown, high school cheerleader and they married April 16, 1954 .

Boyd was a West Bend Cookware salesman and also sold encyclopedias door to door. He bought a waterfront lot in the cove next to his Uncle Clifton and built a lake house at Granite Shoals (LBJ Lake). Using recycled materials donated from his Uncle Vince and his father-in-law, Curtis. Weekends were spent with the Rodgers, VanKleefs, Guess, Peelers and all the Brown/Bradfield cousins who camped out with Boyd pulling nails out of used lumber and working on the house followed by fishing and waterskiing.

He started as a store manager with Stop N Go Markets working 16 hour shifts. Boyd quickly moved up to division manager, scouting out new locations based on traffic count and neighborhood growth, This was the beginning of his love for real estate. He met developer Paul Markey (another future business partner) during this time. As Vice-President of the corporation this final promotion moved him to Houston, where he bought a downtown condo in early 1970’s. He drove to Houston every Monday and returned on Friday - in time for the Churchill Football Games. If you asked him where he voted-he said Schulenberg, Texas as it was half way between.

Fishing trips to the Texas coast lead to buying a lot in Rockport near his best friends Claudette & Jimmy Peeler and Woody and Cloetta Hill. The crack of dawn cooking a full breakfast and all day fishing trips were the weekend routine. He “retired” from National Convenience Stores at the age of 45 after nine years of commuting. It was then that Susan Halmark & Joyce started their real estate business and Boyd became a full time developer. He played golf at Canyon Creek

Country Club where they were members and served as President of the Club. Boyd was on the board of San Pedro Bank for Tom Benson and thru this relationship became one of the owners of the New Orleans Saints.

Boyd met Dan Parman who had a dream of purchasing the 4,300 acre Voigt/Steubing Ranch and several other ranches north of Loop 1604 in the early 1980’s. Boyd reached out to his long-time friends Paul Markey and Bernard Lifshutz. These four visionaries formed a partnership. The rest, as they say, is history. Stone Oak was truly his proudest project.

He served as the Managing Partner and President of Stone Oak, Inc. This was one of the largest privately financed communities in the country. Currently, Stone Oak has over 20,000 single-family homes, apartments, schools, churches, Parman library, restaurants and retail. The partners, along with Tom Turner, created the 36 hole Sonterra Country Club incorporating the existing Canyon Creek Golf Course.

Boyd served as CEO and Co-owner with Joyce of Bradfield Properties until his retirement and helped craft the company into a Central Texas industry leader. Each and every Realtor, staff and affiliates of the company was beloved by him. His famous quote “all our assets wear shoes” is etched in all our minds. He was funny, creative, brilliant, generous and considerate.

Boyd is survived by his wife, Joyce, children, Kristy Bradfield Petlin (Alan Petlin) Jay Bradfield (Suzi Dull), He adored his granddaughters, Kelly, Michelle, Kayla (Brandon Girgus), Ali and missed his grandson, Jordan daily, Great-grandchildren Peyton, Wesley and Lennon brought him joy when they visited. Boyd’s brother Robert Bradfield, wife Bernie and their children Ben, (Sherry Slattery), Gabby, Gretchen (Dalton Maddox) and their children, Morgan, MaCall, Mason andWilliam.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Grace Place Alzheimer's Activity Center referred to as “the Club” by all of us. Grace Place is run by Meals on Wheels, 4306 NW Loop 410 San Antonio, Texas. On-line donations to mowsatx.org.