Doyle and I were newlyweds in 1987 when we began to look for a home. Doyle is a Riverside native who had lived in different places around the country and the world during his U.S. Air Force service. He had deep Fort Worth roots as his father was a longtime state legislator and Fort Worth City Councilman.
I was a newcomer in Fort Worth, having moved here to head the Texas/New Mexico Field Office of the Washington, D.C.-based National Trust for Historic Preservation. An Abilene native, I grew up in a small postwar neighborhood close to all my schools.
Fort Worth offered fine neighborhoods in all parts of the city, many of them historic. We wanted an older house with hardwood floors, a fireplace and a side porch. We found those features in the historic Oakhurst neighborhood — and it cost less than similar homes elsewhere…