Jacque Wynne, Beloved Co-Founder of Cattle Baron’s Ball, Dies at 78

One of Dallas’ most beloved social icons, an Allie Beth Allman Realtor and the queen of Cattle Baron’s Ball, died on Saturday in her beloved city after a brief illness. Jacquelyn Ryan Wynne lived through her 78th birthday on Friday, October 17, then passed at about 2 p.m. at the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital ICU, where friends had rushed her.

Jacque was known for her swinging long black hair, gregarious personality, her ability to make everyone feel right at home be they king or pauper, and for co-founding the annual Dallas Cattle Baron’s Ball, which takes place this year on Oct. 25.

Cattle Baron’s has raised more than $105 million for cancer research since 1974. It was Jacque’s brainchild (along with Patti Hunt). It reflected her love of ranches, horses, barrel racing, and good old Texas fun.

It is now the American Cancer Society’s largest one-night fundraiser.

“It really was my big mouth that got this started,” Jacque usually said, in her signature deep, raspy voice that always matched the twinkle in her brown eyes. She was from Corpus Christi, loved horses, came to Dallas to attend SMU, and then taught elementary school at University Park Elementary. That’s where she met her husband.

Then, Jacque, newly married to widower and oil magnate Toddie Lee Wynne, Jr., became a member of an exclusive Park Cities charity. Here’s a reflection she wrote for D Magazine:

“A girl named Patti Hunt (the other co-founder of the first Cattle Baron’s Ball) and I were new members of the Park Cities American Cancer Society branch. The previous year, they had a dance marathon, and it raised only $1,000. I said, ‘Dallas is a big city. I can’t believe you raised only $1,000.’ They said, ‘Well, why don’t you think of something?’”

Jacque and Patti both knew that Dallas men couldn’t take one more black-tie event, so they dreamed up the idea of a Western-themed party for the society’s 1974 fundraiser.

As she tells the launch story, you realize Jacque was a marketing genius:

“The men were thrilled that they didn’t have to dress up. We also geared some things to men, including auction items, as everything back then was mostly geared toward the women. The Stetson company provided a Stetson hat for every man who donated at the higher ticket price ($150 instead of $75). When they bought a ticket, we would ask for their hat sizes without telling them why. Then the night of the ball, when they arrived, we had a Stetson hat for each of them. We called them the barons of the ball. Inside the hats, it said, ‘made especially for so-and-so’ with their names.”

She held the ball at the 4,820-acre Star Brand Ranch in Kaufman, 30 miles east of Dallas, which belonged to her new husband’s family. Star Brand’s history reaches far back to the days of the Republic of Texas.

In 1850, a Wynne antecedent swapped the land-grant he was awarded for fighting in the war for independence from Mexico for land a bit more northwest. It turned out to be a perfect spot for a party.

And couture be damned, this was a party for jeans, hats, and boots, and having a “good time when to throw off constricting couture and get down and dirty in blue jeans.“

The first Cattle Baron’s Ball was on the lawn right behind the Big House that had been built by Jacque’s in-laws, Fat Dad and Big Mimi. Here’s a bit more from her in D Magazine:

We personally invited 500 people to come, and that was it. We thought that from those 500, if the word got out how much fun it was, then everyone would want to come the next year. And that’s what happened. My husband was a prominent man in the city at the time, so we really just invited a lot of his friends. They were people who were admired, a who’s who in Dallas at the time: Tom and Alicia Landry, Betty and Al Meadows of the Meadows Foundation, the Murchisons. Charley Pride was a guest. He paid his money like everyone else and came. He wasn’t expected to perform, but when he was there he just got up and sang as a gift to the ball.

From that very first night, Jacque and Patti’s creation grew to become one of the leading fundraisers for cancer research in the world. Toddie Lee’s grandsons built Main Lodge and two wings of guest rooms, opening the Star Brand Ranch to executive retreats, private parties, and weddings, sharing the relaxed, Texas-style atmosphere the family had enjoyed for more than a century.

After her husband died in 1982 from a heart attack, Jacque became an agent at Allie Beth Allman & Associates. Her zest for people, fun, and giving back to her community never quit.

• Co-Founder of the Cattle Barons Ball, the largest single-night fundraiser for the American Cancer Society in the Nation.
• Co-Founder of the Sweetheart Ball, which raises money for heart research at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
• Texas Mental Health Association – Ball Chairman for the State of Texas
• Crystal Charity Ball (Dallas) – Underwriting and Fashion Show Chairman
• SMU Meadows School of Fine Arts – Founding Board Member
• SMU Dedman College – Founding Board Member
• Jonas Salk Institute of Biological Studies (La Jolla, CA) – International Board Member
• Member of the SMU Mustang Club
• Member of Highland Park Presbyterian Church

On a personal note, I loved Jacque and always looked forward to seeing her. We often talked real estate. Her late husband was chairman and president of American Liberty Oil Co., formerly owned by his father, Toddie Lee Wynne Sr. and Clint Murchison Sr. He was also a real estate developer, chairman of and partner in Wynne-Jackson Inc., developers of the $100 million, five-star Plaza of the Americas hotel in downtown Dallas, and a director at First Republic Bank Inc. Legend has it that Toddie Lee Jr. built the famous ice skating rink at Plaza of the Americas for Jacque so he could watch her skate while at work.

I have visited Jacque at her home, where elegance and rustic grit melded in her stylistic way. She loved animal prints as well as raw-silk draperies, lace, fur, and big-game trophies from her many safaris with Toddie Lee Jr. She had photos everywhere, including one that always captivated me of her as a young girl with her beautiful mane of jet black hair, taken in Corpus Christi with her family.

Rest in peace, dear friend: your generous heart and laughter will be missed, but your legend lives on every fall at Cattle Baron’s.