Our Great City

Ahhh, the Bubble Life. The Thane family is the epitome of it. Outside of visiting family in Texas’s coastal bend area, everything they want or need is here in Our Great City. They moved here in the summer of 2001 for the schools and surrounding area and quickly grew to love both.

All four members of the Southlake Thane Clan are proud native Texans. John grew up in the small town of El Campo and graduated from Southwest Texas University (now Texas State) in the spring of 1987. His first job out of college was as an inside sales agent for a freight company in Houston. It was here that John and Libby met on a blind date through mutual friends. They have been married for nearly 23 years and have two wonderful boys, Daniel and Jacob.

Living and working in the same within three miles of one another allows John to be engaged in the community. He is serving his second term as a Carroll School Board Trustee, is active in the Southlake Kiwanis Club, the Southlake Executive Forum and is the Chairman of the CISD Audit Committee and the Joint Use Committee. His favorite volunteer activity is “Mystery Reader” at the elementary schools and has been known to show up in full costume including a gorilla and the Cat-in-the-Hat. John is a graduate of the Southlake Citizens Academy and has been awarded twice, the President’s Volunteer Service Award. John is a Senior Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch and his office, naturally, is in Town Square. He has also been named a Five Star Wealth Manager as seen in Texas Monthly magazine.

Libby is a “Big City Girl” from Houston attending her senior year at Texas Woman’s University and will graduate in Fall 2012 with her teaching degree focused on elementary education. She has a passion for kids and has volunteered within CISD for since the family moved here in 2001. Libby has been both a member and leader for Moms In Touch, a Christian-based prayer ministry for children. Libby enjoys long walks with her family and the family dog, Molly. Even while she is a full-time student, mom and wife, she still runs the household social calendar and keeps the kids on schedule.

Mentioned earlier, the couple has two children. Daniel (16) and Jacob (13 this month) are both active in their schools. Daniel is a sophomore at Carroll High and is on the swim team. He is also enjoys theater arts and Spanish and is now licensed to drive! Jacob is a seventh grader at Carroll Middle School and plays football, the French Horn (not at the same time!) and is on the robotics team. As the entire family enjoys swimming, skiing, tubing and wake boarding, you can find them on area lakes throughout the summer.

The Thanes are members at White’s Chapel United Methodist Church. Depending who you ask, their favorite restaurants are Mi Cocina, Rockfish, Five Guys, Brio, McAllister’s and Kincaid’s and they love family night at the movies.

So when you see the Thane's out in Southlake, be sure to say Hi to our "Family of the Month" and tell them you read about them on OurGreatCity.com!

Clayton and Heather Reed brought their family just up the highway from Arlington in 2009 to begin Southlake Baptist Church. Even though Clay attended seminary in Chicago where he met Heather, he still traveled a business-related road prior to landing in Our Great City! Working for FedEx Ground for nine years in Chicago, he began his own business, Sherwood Services, Inc. and grew that to close to 1,000 employees in many states. Clay was first encouraged by former Mayor Andy Wambsganss, his business attorney, to start a church here in Southlake, then a few months later by one of his employees. After talking to Heather and spending time in our city, it was decided that Southlake would be a great place to raise their kids and begin Southlake Baptist Church.

The Meek family moved around the country five times in eight years, and now they refuse to leave Southlake. They won’t even drive into the city for dinner when Fuzzy’s Tacos is merely two blocks away. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but the point is that they really like it here!

Tommy and Stephanie Pennington are both native Texans who met 15 years ago while attending Baylor University in Waco. They married and lived in Waco after graduation. Stephanie worked in pharmaceutical sales and Tommy became a pilot for American Eagle. Tommy’s company base moved to various places over the years and, after the birth of their second child, he decided to change careers to spend more time at home with his family. Tommy and Stephanie believed that Southlake was a great place to raise a family, so Tommy moved his family back home to Southlake where his Mom and Dad has lived since 1992. He went back to family’s roots in the housing business and started a new career in residential real estate.

Anyone who has met Steve and Cheryl Anderson will tell you that they are about as opposite as they come. Cheryl, who was featured in 2003 on the Oprah Winfrey show as one of the funniest moms in America and who’s personal URL is www.ComedyMom.com, and Steve, a hard charging entrepreneur that just concluded the year as President of the Ft. Worth Chapter of the Young President’s Organization. Friends say that they are like the modern day “Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo.”

Bob and Nancy Morgan have called North Texas home since 1997. Both originally born and raised in Northern New Jersey (15 minutes from the great NYC). We know the first thing that comes to your mind is TV shows like “Jersey Shore” and “The Housewives of New Jersey.” If you know the Morgans you can truly see that they do have deep family roots in New Jersey but are nothing like the way Jersey is portrayed.