Right before Thanksgiving, Kathy Farmer Robertson had a surprise visitor at her office on Camp Bowie Boulevard. Her childhood friend Laura Lynch stopped by with a gift: a small stuffed owl.
As Robertson learned later, Lynch spontaneously purchased an entire box of stuffed animals and drove around Fort Worth, handing them out to friends.
Two months later, the owl is a reminder of what Robertson, and so many others, have lost. Lynch after her F-150 truck was struck head-on by another vehicle on a highway near El Paso. She was 65 years old.
鈥淎nd now I have this little owl looking at me, sitting here in my office,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad she鈥檚 not laying in a hospital somewhere, but damn it, I miss her. I miss her every minute of the day.鈥�
Lynch鈥檚 death quickly became , with fans of the Dixie Chicks honoring her contributions to the country group鈥檚 success as a co-founder, bassist and lead singer.
While Lynch left the Chicks , her voice and lyrical contributions are closely associated with the group鈥檚 early bluegrass sound. When her mom departed the band, daughter Asia Zaragoza was still in high school.
鈥淚 had kind of forgotten how public of a figure she was and how loved she was,鈥� Zaragoza said. 鈥淚t was heartwarming to me that she wasn鈥檛 forgotten, that her public persona wasn鈥檛 so far in the distance or so small that she just passed away unnoticed.鈥�
Thirty years after being in the public eye, Lynch often minimized that chapter of her life, her younger brother, Peter Lynch, said. When people would bring it up or send autograph requests, she would quip: 鈥淓very decade, I鈥檝e lived a different version of my life. That was three lives ago.鈥�
Much of her 鈥渢hree lives鈥� was split between her homes in Fort Worth and Dell City, Lynch鈥檚 beloved West Texas hometown. While her legacy is most visible in the adobe structures she turned into thriving rental properties in Dell City, Lynch also had a lasting impact on Fort Worth through a wide-ranging network of friends and passion projects.
A private service was held in El Paso last month. Now, friends and family will gather at 5 p.m. Feb. 5 at Fort Worth鈥檚 to celebrate Lynch鈥檚 life and contributions to the city.
鈥淪he was one of the most extraordinary people, and no matter what you say, the superlatives are just not enough,鈥� said Therese Moncrief, a Fort Worth film producer who became close with Lynch in the final years of her life. 鈥淲hat hurts the most is what could have been, what she was capable of, what she was going to bring to the world and to individuals in the world.鈥�
Lynch brought visitors back to West Texas hometown
Lynch was born and raised in Dell City, a tiny farming and ranching community about 100 miles east of El Paso. Her parents and uncles were among the first wave of farmers to tap into the area鈥檚 water resources when they moved to the town in the early 1950s, according to .
Robertson grew up with the Lynch family, watching as Laura鈥檚 parents, Jim and Mary, ensured their seven kids were exposed to ballet and the arts. Lynch鈥檚 musical talent was clear from the time she was young, Robertson said.
鈥淪he never shut up when we were little,鈥� Robertson remembers. 鈥淪he was singing constantly 鈥� show tunes, Liza Minnelli, blaring it, and then she was singing as loud as Liza.鈥�
Her musical career took off in Dallas with the formation of the Chicks in 1989. Three albums and four years later, Lynch left the band and later married Mac Tull in 1997. She moved to Weatherford, reconnected with old friends like Robertson and spent years working in the rare earth minerals industry. Following her divorce from Tull, Lynch landed at her west Fort Worth home, Robertson said.
Throughout that period, Lynch鈥檚 passion for Dell City never waned. In the late 2000s, before Airbnb became a household name, Lynch began purchasing aging adobe structures and renovating them into rental homes. Her eye for design was evident, with Western elements incorporated into each property, her brother Peter said. She persuaded him and his wife to move to Dell City from Dallas during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 鈥渆vaporating little village鈥� hit its heyday in the 1960s, Peter Lynch said, and had mostly emptied out by the time Laura reimagined it as a tourist destination for hikers and nature lovers drawn to the Guadalupe Mountains. Her ambitions were emblematic of her boundless optimism, he added.
鈥淪he not only believed in it, she kept doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on more properties, more renovation, more investment, more belief that it has a great future in front of it,鈥� he said.
Film featuring Lynch to premiere later this year
In the early 2000s, several Dell City families, including the Lynches, filed legal challenges after they were 鈥� and, therefore, their ability to sell those rights 鈥� by a local water management district.
More than a decade after made its way to the Texas Supreme Court, began digging into the saga for the documentary 鈥淲ater Wars.鈥� Lynch, whose family made millions by eventually selling their groundwater rights to El Paso Water, became heavily involved in the project in the last years of her life.
Mattei and his crew spent close to two months with Lynch, staying at her Airbnbs and filming interviews as she drove camera crews around Dell City.
鈥淲e did two test screenings when we were in the middle of editing the film, and we got a lot of feedback,鈥� Mattei said. 鈥淪omething that was consistent was that Laura was the emotional component of the story. She carried the emotion. She carried the heart.鈥�
He expects the film, executive produced by Fort Worthian Phillip Guitar, to premiere this year. Mattei鈥檚 team is submitting the documentary to the Dallas International Film Festival in April and Fort Worth鈥檚 Lone Star Film Festival in November.
鈥淲e were just about three weeks away from giving her a copy to watch. She never even saw it, unfortunately,鈥� Mattei said. 鈥淪he was just instrumental to making it because she really captured how people in Dell City felt. She knew people personally.鈥�
In Fort Worth and in life, Lynch never 鈥榣et grass grow under her feet鈥�
While building and maintaining the rental properties in Dell City kept her plenty busy, Lynch was also actively involved in civic and cultural life in Fort Worth. She built a close-knit network of friends who regularly attended events together and contributed to charitable causes.
Friends say Lynch鈥檚 talents were somehow both natural and carefully cultivated over time. When she had an interest, she found a home for it, whether that meant painting with the late Fort Worth artist or supporting organizations like the National Cowgirl Museum and the Fort Worth Zoo.
鈥淚f she was a man, they would call her a renaissance man,鈥� Robertson said.
Lynch was a fierce Scrabble opponent and fluent Spanish speaker who felt as comfortable on horseback as she did hosting guests at her Dell City wine room. As people flocked to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo in January, friends couldn鈥檛 help but think about how Lynch would show off her classic Western style.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure there was anything she couldn鈥檛 do if she put her mind to it,鈥� said Claire Barry, retired Kimbell Art Museum conservator and a friend of Lynch鈥檚. 鈥淎nd I still can鈥檛 believe it. She鈥檚 very much alive in my mind. It鈥檚 hard for me to understand that she鈥檚 really gone.鈥�
Over the past few years, Lynch gave much of her time to her grandsons and the people she loved, Zaragoza said. Evidence of her generosity, entrepreneurship and sense of humor are everywhere she touched.
鈥淚f one of her loved ones 鈥� and she had many loved ones 鈥� was doing anything, she was very interested and asking a lot of questions,鈥� Zaragoza said. 鈥淪he was very eager to be in proximity to somebody that she loved, doing something cool 鈥� and everything was cool to her.鈥�
Lynch never let the 鈥済rass grow under her feet,鈥� Barry said. Her mind was always on the future 鈥� a future that ended all too soon.
鈥淪he played to win in whatever she was doing. She was invested in it, and she was going to give it her all and make it work,鈥� Barry said. 鈥淚 think that says a lot about her life after the Dixie Chicks. She continued to play to win.鈥�
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
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