Every Wednesday morning for the past 35 years, Maria Davila entered the History Room at the Barn Door Restaurant & Meat Market and served breakfast to a gathering of 30 or more guests.
She poured their coffee, brought their tea and greeted each one by name: the billionaire, the banker, the developers and CEOs, power brokers of the business community known as The Civic Leaders Club.
Davila knew the detailed preferences of each member: Red McCombs, the late billionaire, wanted five creamers and two Sweet’N Lows with his coffee. Pat Frost, the banker, liked hot tea. Marty Wender, the developer, drank Diet Coke. Most club members preferred their bacon extra crispy.
On May 6, Davila served her last breakfast for the group. When it ended, Wender thanked Davila for her service, collected $100 bills from each person and presented them to her as a final gratuity.
“I wanted to cry,” Davila said. “They gave me $2,800. It’s the biggest tip I ever got.”
The gratuity was partial. What Davila does not realize is that more money is coming. Members unable to attend are going to mail her checks.
“When it’s all said and done, she’s going to get between $4,000 and $5,000,” Wender said. “She’s a very special lady. Everybody loves her.”
Attention to detail is one hallmark of Davila’s work at the Barn Door, which closes on Sunday after 72 years. Warmth and kindness are others, which she uses to bring next level service to each table. Then there’s her story.
She was born in Peru and came to the U.S. at 15 to visit an uncle in Georgia. She remained in the country after her mother, Violeta Martinez Rodriguez, arrived and then moved with her to San Antonio in 1980. Davila’s father, Juan Rodriguez, came the following year.
Davila never finished high school. She took a job cleaning tables at the old TraveLodge Hotel downtown. She met her future husband, Ricardo Davila, at 17, married him at 18, and had the first of their three children at 19.
Two years after moving to the U.S., Martinez Rodriguez took a job cleaning an Alamo Heights steakhouse. Eventually, one family member after another followed her to the Barn Door. Her husband started in 1982, her son-in-law, Ricardo Davila, in 1985 and finally her daughter, Maria, in 1987.
Maria worked one year, had another baby, Thalia Davila, and became a full-time parent. She returned to the Barn Door in 1991 and brought her 3-year-old with her. With approval from management, the Barn Door became a day care for Thalia.
“My daughter grew up here,” Maria said. “My mom cleaned and watched my daughter. Everyone pitched in to take care of her.”
Thalia never worked at the restaurant nor did her brother, Anthony Davila.
Ricardo Jr. Davila, however, washed dishes under his father, a Barn Door kitchen manager. Junior worked his way up to cook and then to kitchen manager after his father left the Barn Door.
Maria served the Civic Leaders Club through two pregnancies. She served them after she and her husband divorced, after Ricardo Jr. moved on to H-E-B, after her children grew up and gave her four grandchildren. She served with such excellence she was asked, jokingly, not to go on vacation.
“They said, ‘The other lady does not do as good a job as you do,’” Maria said.
The Civic Leaders Club was formed in 1972 to discuss ways to improve the city. They first met at the St. Anthony Hotel before moving to the Barn Door in the 1980s. Maria remembers feeling anxious the first time she served them.
“They were very powerful people,” she said.
Maria bonded with the club quickly. She got to meet wives and relatives. On Christmas, she sometimes received gifts. McCombs once gave her a bag of popcorn and an envelope with a $100 bill tucked inside.
“They were like family to me,” she said.
What will Maria do next? She isn’t certain. The group is moving to the Petroleum Club about a mile down the road on North New Braunfels Avenue. Civic Leaders Club members would like to bring Maria to the Petroleum Club. But if they can’t, Wender is not concerned.
One way or another, Wender said, “We are going to take care of her.”
Indeed. More checks are in the mail.
Disclosure: Pat Frost serves on the San Antonio Report’s board of directors. For a full list of board members, click here.
