Firethorne, strategically located on FM 1463 near the crossroads
of the 1-10 Firethorne Hosts Welcome Dinner for "First Families"

The "First Families of Firethorne" recently enjoyed their first meal together as neighbors at an official Firethorne welcome dinner.

"We wanted to do something really special for our first residents – our true pioneers," said Firethorne General Manager Wayne Meyer, who hosted the festivities in the Visitor's Center.

Being the "First Family" in a new residential development is not a first for Fay and Jerry Ford, pioneers of their former Sugar Land community as well. The Fords purchased the first lot in Firethorne, when it was "just dirt," according to "Firethorne First Lady" Fay, a second grade teacher in Lamar Consolidated I.S.D. Jerry Ford -- even his name is presidential -- is a retired Air Force Medical Service Corps officer. He worked in health affairs in the Pentagon and currently is a hospital administrator with Memorial Endoscopy Center. The Fords have been married 40 years and have two adult sons.

Shelly and Joe Curtis are the owners of the first home that closed in Firethorne. Natives of Athens, Texas, they have lived in the Houston area for 17 years, including four in Katy. Shelly, a diagnostician at Rhoads Elementary School, and Joe, a petrochemical engineer with Mustang Engineering, have three children, Jud, 13, Hayley, 12, and Sarah, 7. The Curtis family knew just the floor plan they wanted – a one-story, four-bedroom by Perry Homes with a big yard -- and happily found it at Firethorne.

College sweethearts Shawn McLaughlin and Trey Moebes had not planned to buy a home so soon. However, the two Trinity University graduates (she has an undergraduate degree in business; he holds a masters degree in accounting), who plan to marry June 3, could not resist Firethorne's pre-construction housing opportunities. Shawn, an All-American volleyball player in college, is now the girls' volleyball coach and a biology teacher at Katy High School. Trey, a star football player at Katy High (class of 1999), is an international tax specialist with Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Ranell and Ramon Pierre left their home in Harvey, Louisiana, to start anew after the heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina. They chose to rebuild their lives in Katy/Fulshear, where Ranell works a licensed vocational nurse and Ramon plans to go back to college to study for a teaching degree to become a high school coach. Married for three and one-half years, they moved to a three-bedroom home in Firethorne with their cocker spaniel, Remy.

Rounding out the first families are the Paciotti's – Stacie and Stephen and their son, Karsten, age 2-1/2. Stacie does financial work for ConocoPhillips and Stephen is with the state's Commission for Environmental Quality. They already had been living in Katy but moved to Firethorne for a bigger house.

Firethorne families will enjoy such amenities as a neighborhood Community Center with a fully equipped fitness facility, with plans for a resort-style multi-level family swim center, sports fields, tennis courts and a competitive swim center. Another benefit is having free milk delivered to their doorstep every week for the first six months in Firethorne.

Currently there are 123 homes under construction at Firethorne by some of the Houston area's most respected builders -- Coventry Homes, David Powers, David Weekley, Perry Homes and Plantation Homes.

Firethorne, a 1,400-acre residential development located on FM 1463, 1.5 miles south of 1-10 West, also has convenient access to the Westpark Tollway and the Grand Parkway. Named for a resilient evergreen indigenous to the Texas prairie, Firethorne is being designed to carefully combine the vibrancy of West Houston with the small-town charm of Katy/Fulshear. It offers 150 acres devoted to parks and recreational amenities highlighted by a scenic 12-acre lake with surrounding greenbelt, hike and bike trails, parks and playgrounds, discovery-rich wildlife observation area and a natural bird habitat.

For further information, visit Firethorne by taking I-10 West and exiting Pin Oak to FM 1463; call 281-395-1440.

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