We regret to relay this historic news, that the Lioness of the Alamo, Virginia Webb Shahan, died quietly at her home June 24th 2009. She had been in a San Antonio hospital after a fall in her home and decided against rehab, preferring instead to be in her own bed. Upon returning she is quoted as saying "It's about damn time." She died that night, peacefully, in her own time, in her own house. We further regret that news has come that the famous movie set is now closed to the public. This was a business decision pending reorganizatoion, said the spokesperson for the facitiy. Built in 1957 after happy Shahan went to Hollywood and pursuaded John Wayne to film in Texas, not Spain as he was planning. In hind sight it would have nbeen a terrible mistake to shoot in another country but at the time it was the plan. Happy constructed the set according to plans by Wayne's designer and it was successfully used for years afterward as locations for Two Rode Together, directed by John Ford who had been on set during the Alamos filming, and a long and prestigeous string of films, TV shows and music videos, perhaps culminating in Atomic's own At The Alamo DVD. Virginia appears in that latter production and state the importance of keeping the movie set open to visitors. Playset Magazine had previously reported that a benefactor had been found who, with Virginia running things, was to return the Alamo set to its state at the time of the filming of John Wayne's epic in 1959. Our friend Nick VerSteeg at Toy Soldiers of San Diego said it all when he wrote, "“People like Happy and Virginia Shahan built Texas ... and kept the heritage alive and well." Check back for any changes.