Mark Connally - The Cowboy Banker

The youngest child of Texas Governor John and Nellie Connally speaks of taking a path away from politics in his own life.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Hi everyone, I'm Katie rhis SheriffRyar, and this is my heart of
Texas. I first met John B. Connelly as he campaigned for Texas governor
in nineteen sixty two. I wasa girl child in awe of his commanding

(00:33):
presence that would overwhelmingly defeat a threeterm incumbent from his own party. He
instantly became my governor, and thenjust a year later, was struck by
the assassin bullets that killed a president, broke camelot, and shattered the innocence
of an entire generation, the childbaby boomers. I know how it affected

(00:54):
me, but imagine what it meantto the baby boomer children of Governor John
and Nellie Connolly. On that TexasNovember day, the Connolly's John then seventeen,
Sharon fourteen, Mark eleven remember forus on the podcast labeled November twenty
second, nineteen sixty three. Ihope you'll listen to that. But in

(01:15):
addition, we're now posting the restof their stories. How the three now
aging children of Governor John and NellieConnolly matured into different individuals in their own
right, but with a shared coreof family that has always and always will
stand for Texas. You always hearthe term somebody's got it. Well,

(01:48):
whatever it is, he clearly had. And to your point, a second
ago, when he walked into aroom, I don't care how many people
were in the room, you suddenlyknew he was there. It was the
reaction of the crowd. It wasthe way the noise level in the room
changed. I can remember walking throughan airport with him. I was getting
from one plane terminal to another inSan Antonio, and he's moving pretty quickly

(02:14):
because we're late for the connection.I've got his bags. I'm running behind
him and a lady just jumped upand said, wait, wait, who
are you? And he said,man, my name's John. Hurry said,
I knew you were somebody. Theyoungest child of Governor John and Nelly
Connolly is very much like his siblingsin the great respect and appreciation he holds

(02:36):
for the couple who seemed to therest of us to be Texas itself.
And like his siblings, Mark Connollymarches to his own drummer, a blend
of both his parents. The cowboylawyer, I think she had the harder
job to tell you the truth.You know, he's there, He's in
the limelight. He is getting thepress clippings. She is either at his

(02:58):
side or a step behind, andshe was watching the folks that both make
over him, and she could tellwho the genuine folks were and who the
kind of Oh, I don't knowthe users or the hangers on are.
It's easier to take criticism if it'syour own than to hear it of somebody
else. So when somebody was notpositive about that, I think it was

(03:19):
harder on her than it was forhim. There are benefits to growing up
like that, I mean the opportunitiesthat you had, but there's an awful
lot of stuff. How do youlive up to that image? What do
you do when the man that you'vecalled uncle Lindon is suddenly the president of
the United States? Does that sinkin to an eleven year old? Well,

(03:39):
it's funny you use that term.When the first time President Johnson came
down after the assassination, I canremember we were on the back porch entry
of the Governor's mansion to meeting,and he and Dad were already out there,
and I came running out. Dadwas still in his black slag war

(04:00):
and I went running up to himthrough arms rate waste call guy. And
I wasn't a big at that time, and I went Uncle London, Uncle
London, and Dad said, Son, you need to refer to him now
as mister president. And he lookedat Dad and said, oh, John,
I'm still uncle lindit of this littleone. So can you remember it,

(04:23):
though? By god? Do youremember it? To your point?
One other? Gay, I guessyou always tried to behave tried to do
things a little less teenagers than someothers, because you didn't want to do
anything that would damage him or hisreputation by my actions. And so I

(04:43):
think we were pretty well behaved teenagersand high schoolers. And that time frame,
you know, you cult your shareof ribbing from people, but you
also had a lot of opportunities todo a lot of different things, meet
a lot of exciting people, andreally had an experience that you just you
really can't replicate if you try.And we were fortunate. As you said

(05:04):
earlier, it was a good timefor politicians with integrity and good reputations.
It was exciting. There was alot going on. Years later, I'll
never forget this. When I turnedforty six, I somehow made the connection
that Dad and President Kennedy were bothforty six when they were shot. I

(05:25):
thought, okay, one of them'spresident, one of them's governments. I'd
done by forty six. It didn'tquite add up, but I didn't view
it's a competition. It was justa motivator to continue working hard and try
and make something for myself. You'rekind of leading me into where I was
going. You chose not to gointo politics yourself, and certainly you could
have. The support system was allthere. You were very familiar with all

(05:48):
the players. Your father had beenable to successfully navigate both the Democrat Party
and the Republican Party, different presidentsfrom each party. He was a cabinet
member under two different presidents and thengovernor of Texas. You certainly had Texas

(06:09):
at your fingertips, but you feltno, no need, no desire to
become a politician yourself. I thinkeverybody who's in that position has the at
some point or another, the lureand potentially the desire. But the decisions
I made as I came up theladder. I chose not to go to

(06:31):
law school, and that was becausedad was a lawyer and my brother was
a lawyer, and I thought thatwas enough lawyers. I was going to
try and do something different. Iended up in the banking and investment finance
business for the majority of my careerto that point. Yes you had name
recognition, Yes you had a veryinfluential, very successful, very highly respected

(06:55):
role model and dad. But atthe same time, if you won the
race, there was a large groupof people that would say, well,
he just riding on his dad's coattails. And if you lost the race,
it would be a terrible reflection.And if you were in office and had
different opinions, which invariably you would, at some point I thought all of

(07:19):
that would be detrimental to Dad's career, and that was active in politics till
they died, and so there wasnever really an opportunity to pursue that avenue
in my opinion, on a basisthat I wanted to, well, all
hell broke loose when he got cozywith Richard Nixon in many ways, how

(07:40):
did that, How did that reflecton you on your lives? Well,
if you go back to that time, Texas was really a democratic state and
most of the elections were determined inthe Democratic primary, and there was a
conservative wing of the Democratic Party whichclearly that led and there was a much

(08:05):
more liberal wing that had various othersignificant players. When McGovern was nominated as
the candidate for the Democratic Party,Dad really said, if the views that
he has, or the policies thathe has, or what the Democratic Party
represents, I'm in the wrong party. And he made the switch. I

(08:26):
actually thought it was clearly a boldmove for him, but it reinforced for
me the integrity that he had forthe process, for his beliefs, for
what he thought was important, andhe was not going to just play politics.
He was going to pursue what hethought was right. And most people

(08:48):
are unaware of this. When thatsectuated the Navy in sixty one, clearly
he saw the budget for the NavyDepartment and he saw a lot of money
going to companies in the Northeast andin southern California. He inquired so much
of a concentration there, and theanswer he got was those are centers of

(09:11):
great research schools. That's where theinnovations are coming from, and that's how
we stay ahead of our competition inthe military space. And so he came
back after one year of Secretary ofthe Navy to run for governor the first
time in the I guess sixty twoelection for inauguration in sixty three with one

(09:37):
purpose in mind, and it wasto appropriate funding for UT and Texas A
and M so that they could competeon a basis with those institutions I previously
mentioned and really make them great researchschools. And he got an appropriation in
sixty three, in sixty five,and in sixty seven. This many years

(09:58):
later people look back and say,that's really the launching pad for UT and
A and M becoming the great researchschools that they are. But Red Maccombs
said to him, said, Johnwill support you, but can't you run
on something else, because a lotof people down here at the Texas,
A and M are pretty good schools. But that was his purpose. It

(10:22):
wasn't to be governor. It wasn'tto be on the cover of the magazine
or the paper. It was tohelp EUT and text A and M.
That era of politicians are certainly inthe case of your father and your mother
when you compare them to today's standards, where they have these high positions and
yet somehow they all on a governmentsalary end up being multimillionaires. That didn't

(10:45):
happen with your family. Now,I know it didn't. You know,
there are a lot of things thatare more important to just accumulate money.
I think Dad was a tremendous rolemodel. He had nothing against having resources.
At the same time, it wasn'ta game of keeping up with anybody

(11:05):
for that. The amount that heaccumulated wasn't his way of keeping score.
What he did accumulate over the yearswas property that he bought, unfortunately,
most of which he lost in hisbankruptcy in nineteen eighty seven. That was
the result of being a very poorkid from a tough hearts gravel environment growing

(11:28):
up and the family having really nothing. And he worked his way through ut
worked his way through law school,and so he really did have a desire
to have some tangible things because theynever did. So he was a little
driven that way. But it wasn'tIt wasn't for the reasons that a lot

(11:48):
of people did. The ranch inFloresville. Did you have a fondness for
it that Nellie obviously had. Sheseemed to love it. If you drive
the Texas Highway, we'll see theblue Texas Trail signs. That color is
Nelly blue, which was the colorof her dress that was on the picture

(12:09):
that Dad had on his desk asgovernor when they were creating the Texas Trail
system. They said, what colordo you want the signs that He pointed
to it and said back so.But she loved the ranch. She really
really relaxed there. He did too. They were completely different folks from when

(12:31):
they were having to be in thepublic eye. I think we all got
different feelings for the ranch. Iworked there most summers growing up. I
made a mistake one summer of askingDad if I could go to camp,
and he said, son, Igot a ten thousand acre camp and you're
on your way. And that wasworking at the room. So I didn't

(12:52):
make Camp long horner of the otherplaces. But I did learn a lot
there which I just found invaluable.A lot of people don't get the experience
of the animal life and the conservation, the improvement of the grasses, those
kinds of things. And so whenI was graduating from college, my uncle

(13:16):
had passed away, who was runningthe ranch on a day to day basis
for Dad. I had some optionsclearly through Dad, not through me,
but would have had lots of opportunitiesto pursue a number of different things,
working for somebody on the hill,working for somebody in the brokerage business,
whatever, and what he really neededand said, I really need you to

(13:39):
come run the ranch. So forten years analyzed neelyweds lived in Floresville and
day to day I ran the ranchfor part of that. Pome Sirt and
Robert were there as well. Wehad a great time with them and really
enjoyed being in the same little timeworking together. It was a great experience.

(14:01):
That was where I ended up runningthe bank in town at the same
time, and so got my feetwet with the banking industry. But the
ranch, you know, where elsedo you learn about how to grow peach
trees, how to grow grapes,how to farm, how to take care
of the livestock, how to treatthem when they're ill. Just a completely

(14:24):
different lifestyle and wouldn't trade it forthe world. The whole point of this
podcast that I do my Heart ofTexas is trying to explain to people why
Texas is Texas, what is itto be a Texan? And the more
I talk to the Connelly is,the more I think, well, there
it is. There's a roadmap Iguess maybe maybe this is my heart of

(14:50):
Texas and trying to get other peopleto understand. Can you define what it
is to be Texan in your mind? I guess to sum it up,
it would be to have a feelingof pride for the history of your state.
Texas done a lot of great things, probably had some missteps along the

(15:13):
way, but there has been asense from one hundred years ago that being
a Texan meant something. But it'sthe character of the people. It was
to me the mix of both therural kind of upbringings and the urban as
well. It seemed like it wasmore balanced than Texas and some other places

(15:35):
because of just the massive footprint ofthe state. You know, It's growing
up in a family at a timewhen it was honorable to be a politician,
to know how to deal with peoplewhen you had differing opinions. I
remember very clearly Dad had I thinkone special session the whole time he was

(15:56):
governor, and it lasted an hourwhen he called it. Between then and
the actual vote on whatever the issuewas at the time, he went to
every Congressman and senator's home that hadbeen against the proposal. He was trying
to do, went and met withthem in their environment, talked to them
about it, and came back andsure enough they passed the bill. But

(16:18):
it was learning how watching him andlearning how to understand where the other guys
coming from, so that you canreach a mutual understanding and while maybe not
a full agreement, you could finda way forward. And that's what's paralyzed
in the country today is our electofficials seem to find a way forward.

(16:44):
They can't seem to find a wayto work together for America, just as
we would do it in the stateProtexas. And it's a shame, but
I think it's just it's just apride in the history. We've got a
state that's got everything. We've gota fign border, we've got we've got

(17:04):
a massive coastline with the largest portby volume in the country in Houston.
We've got mountains out in West Texasthat don't get a lot of notice,
but they're beautiful in the countryside,and uh a prolific number of rivers.
It's just a very very interesting placebecause it's so diverse. The cultures across

(17:29):
the state or are very diverse.But everybody is proud to be a Texas.
You've lived on a ranch in Florenceville, you've lived in Houston, you've
lived in fort Worth, and nowyou're living in San Antonio. Why did
you make the choice for San Antonio. Uh, well, we were when
I was working in Dallas the lasttime around here, and and I asked
our sons a question. I said, look, I'm getting pretty pretty long

(17:52):
in the teeth here for a fora bank or a big, big national
banking operation. And I said,they're certainly before too long going to find
younger, smarter, less expensive peopleto replace me. And I had seen
that happen to a number of myfriends, and it's the way it works
in the world. So I askedher, I said, where do you

(18:14):
want to go when I retire?And she said, well, I want
to be where at least one ofthe one of our children is. And
Katie and Adam, our oldest daughter, and her husband and their kids were
living in fort Worth, and Markand Emily and theirs were in San Antonio.
She said, you know you've livedin fort Worth, you've lived in

(18:37):
we lived in Forestville together, AndI said, and it's a pretty easy
decision. I think most of ourfriends that we travel with that, we've
had fun with that, we dothings with. Are in San Antonio or
in Austin. Donald of course,we had great friends in Dallas when we
were there, but it's not wherewe grew up. So we picked San
Antonio just because we had a littlemore traction for some word that you would

(19:00):
move in your late sixties, whichis not an easy thing to do,
by the way, to move toa different town at that age. And
so by the time we actually physicallymoved and did that, Katie and Adam
had moved back to get closer tohis mother in Austin, but didn't want
to be in Austin again, andso they were in San Antonio. So

(19:21):
we have both daughter and son,their spouses, and the four grandchildren all
here in San Antonio. Okay,Katie named for your grandmother, obviously,
Mark for you, what did theyname their children? Katie named hers.
Her oldest daughter, who's now asenior in high school, is Connelly Kate.
I love it. Her little sister, who is thirteen, I believe,

(19:47):
is Vivian Louise. And Vivian wasAnne's mother's name, all right,
she was Jeane Vivian Petty and Marknamed his son, just to keep it
confusing. Mar Madison Conley the thirdthey call him Tripp Tripp for triple uh
huh. And then their daughter isNellie and her name is nel Francis.

(20:12):
So you've got to Nelly's. Imean, John's got a Nelly Uh huh.
This is going to get complicated asyou go into future generations. You
know this, well, maybe wecan confuse them. He had a great
to me perspective on life after that, after that horrible event, and I

(20:36):
think he felt every day was ablessing. I think he certainly pursued his
passions and lived it to the fullest, and he had some great times and
he had some horrible times in thoseyears. You know, the bankruptcy was
really tough. He and mother totry and get as much as they could
for the creditors, signed over threethousand letters authenticating personal life that were sold

(21:00):
at a public auction. That can'tbe the hot point anybody's career. But
at the time when everybody else inthose challenging eras were hiding assets doing things,
they were doing exactly the opposite.They were devulog disposing of everything could
be the best they could. Ithink it was just another time his character

(21:22):
really showed through. Was really proudof them the way they handled it,
And we certainly enjoyed the benefit ofhim getting the extra thirty years from the
assassination. He passed in ninety three, so it's thirty years after the fact.
You know, I promised that Iwouldn't keep you long, but I

(21:42):
really should have gone into this.The bankrupt the bankruptcy, certainly it was
a terrible time. There was nothinghe'd done wrong. It was the fact
that the price of oil went towhat it was, three dollars a bar.
It went from thirteen to three,and all of a sudden, the
real estate called and and the restof the world wanted to come in and
take over Texas banks and call loans. And here he was with the real

(22:04):
estate development, and all of asudden, you got to pay it off.
You know, we want our moneynow. It's an interesting thing.
If you spend your life in thebanking industry, which I did at around
it, I'll never forget. WhenI first went to work at the bank,
I realized had little money was actuallyin the bank, large deposits,
a large loan portfolio, but theactual cash on hand was small, so

(22:30):
you can have a quote run onthe bank, on any bank at any
time, and they can't meet thecall. Because the only way you make
money is to loan money. Andwhen you loan money, you can't get
it back if you put it outon the house for thirty years, or
if you've put a five year commercialloan, you can't get it back overnight.
And so when the oil dropped,then the real estate crash came and

(22:55):
everything else. You know, ifyou had twenty thirty percent equity in a
project that wasn't to us, andthe banks landed up having choices halftime for
everybody in the state. Quite frankly, he stood up and your mother stood
up like the people they were though. They watched all of their possessions,
Nellie's birds, his guns be auctionedoff and held their heads up and with

(23:21):
great pride. And then within justa matter of a couple of years,
here they are. They're rebuilding,and your dad's off with Oscar Wyatt going
off to rescue hostages in Iraq andfacing down Saddam Hussein. You were well
an adult by this point. Didyou wonder, Dad, what in the
world are you doing? No,I've never had that thought. I was

(23:48):
always amazed at the at the challengeshe would face, the opportunities he create,
the absolute lack of fear on hispart of failing at something he would
rather have tried greatly and failed thannever to have tried. And so I
was never surprised when he did somethingthat seemed a little remote out of the

(24:11):
box. I was actually incredibly proud. I know, you were in and
around Houston at the time, andwhen those people walked off that airplane and
we're getting roses and we're on thered carpet coming back into the US,
that was quite quite a moment.But you know how many people in the
world get to have that experience.You talk about a true I always say

(24:36):
a Ratio Algier story, but youtalk about a true story of a wonderful
life. A really poor young manfrom agricultural community, works his way up,
becomes president university, marries the sweetheartof the university, becomes a very

(24:57):
successful, well regarded governor, Secretaryof the Navy, Secretary of the Treasury,
known all over the globe, andworked for so many different presidents on
so many different commissions beyond the Tabotappointments. It was a fascinating life that
I think a very few people getto experience the way his mother did.

(25:21):
They were the epitome of courage inmy viewpoint. They were. They had
their own personal tragedies, you know, the loss of my sister was horribly
impactful for them. They just dideverything with such dignity that I guess you
could sum it up this way.He and Barbara Jordan were obviously on different

(25:44):
political sides of the spectrum, butwhen she testified for him at his trial,
she was attesting to his truth,veracity, and reputation, and she
did a beautiful job someone that theyhad opposed each other on political issues,
but on a personal basis, shehad tremendous regard for him. And when

(26:07):
you can have your someone of adifferent philosophy stand up for you, I
think that pretty much sums it up. And the Milk Fund so called scandal,
that was a political hit job,and Barbara Jordan stood up and told
the truth. YEP. I wentto the ranch, and it was shortly
after he had returned from Iraq withthe hostages, and ABC was going to

(26:30):
be out there interviewing them, andI decided not to focus so much on
that because we'd covered the hostage thing, but I was there the comeback of
the Commies because I had watched themgo through all of these things as a
reporter and a TV person. Andwe're sitting there at the ranch and it
was this kind of a balmy cloudy, you know how those Texas clouds are

(26:52):
and threatening maybe a little bit ofrain up there somewhere, but there was
some sunlight coming through, and I'llnever forget it was on your mother's face.
And I asked her. I said, Missus Connolly, we always called
her Nelly, but you know youshouldn't. There's respect for Missus Connolly.
I said, I know. Everybodyjust felt so comfortable with her. You

(27:15):
wanted to call her Nelly, andshe always made you feel that way.
But I said, Missus Connolly,you have been through every form of tragedy
and triumph that I can even imaginein a single life. And I said,
what is it? What do youthink now as you're making your comeback?
And she just looked at your dadand beamed, and then she looked

(27:38):
at me and just as the sunkind of came across her face, and
she said, well, Cherah,you know there is always going to be
a silver lining in every cloud,and I believe John and I have found
that. And then she just squeezedhis hand and he grinned. That was

(28:00):
them. Are you like that?Oh? Sure? You have to always
look for the for the positive anduh and if you if you're looking for
the positive, you'll find it.Uh. If you're focusing on things that
are extremely negative, you just makeyour situation worse. So it's like harboring
uh ill will against an individual.The only one you're hurting is you.

(28:22):
You stay mad, they don't.I think you have to grow up with
the ability to to learn from yourexperiences, to grow from them and to
move on to the next challenger experience. If you do, life's pretty interesting.
And we'll be right back. Sosumming up for the Mark Connolly family,

(28:59):
your kids is your grandkids and Iadore your wife. What's the outlook
for the Mark Connolly branch. Ithink it is is just everything that I
could have hoped and drink for andand I have had a just a wonderful,
wonderful life. Well, if we'reboth here next year at July twenty

(29:21):
twenty four, that'll be fifty yearsfor us as a married couple. Which
we're extremely, extremely proud of.Mark is a very successful ranch broker,
doing very well, very well regardedin business. Adam is a very successful
commercial real estate developer and have tohis buddies, but primarily with his input,

(29:45):
they have launched a tequila beverage company. Now that's news. Oh my,
it's called Epic Western, Epic Western. They ready to drink tequila,
drinks Epic Western Tail company. Butto your original point, could not be
prouder of of our kids, theirspouses, the grandkids. We're thrilled that

(30:08):
we get to spend the rest ofour lives here in account where they all
are, instead of trying to flyin on a weekend or sneaky in or
whatever. And so we're just thrilledto all be together, to be in
San Antonio and to be able towatch them be successful both in their careers,
within their marriages and with the developmentof their children and your Texan from

(30:33):
the very root. And you're goingto continue it, sure, hope.
So that's the plan. The Connellyshave always answered the calls of country family,

(30:55):
friends and even reporters like myself.I'm so grateful that they answered again,
and I hope you'll listen to allfour of the podcast we recorded easily
found as My Heart of Texas,a KTRH dot com or the iHeartRadio app.
Gratitude to newsman Jeff Biggs and creativeproducer Jacob dan Tone, who gave

(31:15):
up much of their Thanksgiving week toget this all together. I'm Sheriff Ryer
from My Heart of Texas. Thankall of you.