TIFTON — Violet Van Gundy and her family have been the owners and operators of the Town Terrace Motel on U.S. Highway 41 for approximately 55 years.

Town Terrace lived its glory days from 1955 to the present times. In the beginning Highway 41, the I-75 of its time, was lined with many unique, small motels that, for the most part, have vanished. It was a major stopover for all manner of guests travelling on 41, the major route to Florida at the time. (Highway 41 is still considered the "the Business Loop" of Tifton).

In fact, it was so popular at one point that the front restaurant called Van Gundy's Coffee Shop, which now serves as two apartments, featured a live broadcast with dinner every night where they played music and interviewed a guest.

"We opened with 'Highways are Happy Ways' and went around and asked the guests where they were from, where they were headed and if they were staying in Tifton," Violet Van Gundy said.

Owner Violet Van Gundy started her early life as a child actress. When she was very young, her parents moved from Des Moines, Iowa, to Hollywood, Calif., and through business and home entertaining her parents met a talent scout who took her to meet Hal Roach, the producer of the show "Our Gang," which later became "The Little Rascals."

"Mr. Roach took me at age 2-1/2 and I stayed with the "Little Rascals" for over four years as Baby Violet on the show," Violet Van Gundy said.

Later, when both Violet and her brother, Jack, were teenagers, they joined Billy Graham's Youth for Christ Rallies and through them were approached by P.D. Fulwood Sr. He asked if they were interested in coming to a small community that had a college, so they came to Tifton.

Their first engagement was at the Methodist church, but because it was so packed with people — they were sitting in the window sills and covered the front lawn — they were asked to come back and a have a week-long revival under a larger tent. They were eventually persuaded to stay three weeks.

"When my mother, brother and I first came to Tifton, we never dreamed of staying, but we felt so blessed to find Tifton and the wonderful people here. They have a way of loving you and helping you that just makes you want to stay," Violet Van Gundy said.

When the Van Gundys first opened the motel it was named Van Gundy's Motor Court. It wasn't until years later that it became the Town Terrace. In the time that it has been open it has had all manner of exciting guests including one special visit from the Lone Ranger himself.

"I almost turned him away before I knew who he was because I thought the horse would disturb the other guests, but he said, 'Don't worry, I have two people with him and he won't be a problem,'" Violet Van Gundy said.

To this day, the Town Terrace Motel still operates and looks just as it did 55 years ago when it opened. Most of their guests now are still stop-over guests on their way to Florida or people staying for weeks or months while they are in transition moving to Tifton.

"I'm known all over the world for the pink motel in Tifton because of the experiment station. They send people from everywhere here to live for two or three months at a time," Violet Van Gundy said.

While she says her heart will always be with the motel, since the loss of her brother, who helped her run it, she has recently passed the keys and signed the papers over to new ownership.

"I've sold it to some really wonderful people. God has truly sent them to me," Violet Van Gundy said.

One of the new owners is Dr. Steve Rigdon, who is on the board for the Historical Society. He is one of the four who bought it; the other buyers are Fred W. "Buck" Rigdon, Skip Hill and Red Hill.

They plan to keep Town Terrace as it is, hoping to bring it back to what it was in its glory days.

" All architectural historians who come through Tifton say that this motel is unique and representative of an area that doesn't exist anymore and that it needs to be preserved," Dr. Rigdon said. "Ms. Van Gundy has done a great job of that through the years and we hope to carry on the tradition."

Their early plans for renovation include basic repairs. They hope to maintain Town Terrace as a motel in operation as it is now, making as few changes as possible while gradually bringing it back to what it was at its peak.

"It’s clean up, fix up, paint and preserve," Rigdon said. "I think any community that doesn't look after and preserve the unique aspects of its past can't really hope to have that healthy of a future. Things like the pink motel are the things that make us like no other place in America."

As for Violet Van Gundy, she says she could never leave Tifton, which has been her home for so long, and while she's sad to let the motel go she is ready to start a new chapter of her life in a new home.

Violet Van Gundy said she never could have been able to accomplish the sale or the move without the help of Dwana Coleman and Mark McGill of ERA Coleman Overstreet Realty.

“It has been such a joy, and I never dreamed I would need a Realtor. Well, if Dwana is a Realtor, she is an angel sent from Heaven. She is still coming by after the sale, and she helped me get my new home,” Violet Van Gundy said.

Coleman said she is “proud to be a part of Tifton's Historical preservation, as Tifton would not be the same without the Pink Motel.”