Vonnie Riddell Fox was bridge between Burnet County’s past and present
LaVonna ‘Vonnie’ Riddell Fox died on March 7, 2025, at 98 years old. She was a Burnet County legend, having grown up in the Burnet County Jail as the daughter of the county’s longest-serving sheriff and helping shape the modern Burnet community. Photo by Mark Stracke
Lifetime Burnet County resident LaVonna “Vonnie” Riddell Fox died March 7, 2025, at the age of 98. Born in 1926, she was the last living of the four children of Rachel Hollingsworth and the county’s longest-serving sheriff, Wallace Riddell. In her time, Fox helped shape the modern Burnet community while representing its past.
She was buried at Post Mountain Cemetery in Burnet on March 12 following a funeral at Vandeveer Street Church of Christ.
Fox’s life was intertwined with Burnet County history, having grown up in the now-defunct rural ranching community of Shovel Mountain at the south end of the county and then moving into the Burnet County Jail after her father won his bid for sheriff in 1939, a role he kept until his death in 1978. From ages 13 to 24, she lived alongside the prisoners and even ate the same meals as them.
“I was scared,” Fox told The Picayune Magazine in a 2019 interview, referring to the move from the country to the county jail. “After about two weeks, I settled in and everything was just fine. I was happy there. We ate what (the prisoners) ate. It was good home cooking, just everyday food, whatever Mama cooked.”
Fox’s childhood home at 109 Pierce St. on the courthouse square is no longer a jail. It was converted into a museum and visitors center in 2022. She celebrated her final birthday with family members and the public at the historic site on Aug. 29, 2024.
Vonnie and high school sweetheart Billy Joe Fox were married for 64 years before he died in 2018. Together, they opened Thunderbird Lake Resort on Lake Buchanan, ran Fox Real Estate, and helped develop the Delaware Springs Golf Course and Delaware Springs subdivision in Burnet.
Fox continued to run her real estate business and work as a consultant and Realtor until she was 95 years old.
“I’ve never lived out of the county,” she said in her 2019 Picayune interview. “I’ve always lived with Burnet County people, and I’ve always been friends with Burnet County people. It’s like family, really. Everybody always helps each other. I’ve had a good life. We were happy.”
According to her obituary, Fox is survived by sister-in-law Ann Riddell; nephew John Grigsby; nieces Rachel Curington, MaryAnne Curington, Renee Riddell, Randi Riddell-Reifel and Rachel Riddell-Holcomb; seven great-nieces and -nephews; and four great-great-nieces and -nephews.