About Above and Beyond Day Spa (and Massage Outcall Service)

The Mission

The mission of Above and Beyond Day Spa (and Massage Outcall Service) is to provide therapeutic massage and spa services in Fredericksburg, Texas and Gillespie, County, while providing jobs for local therapists and support industry people such as sales staff, bookkeeper, housekeeper, landscapers and others.

The Ideal

Above and Beyond began in April 2003 as a massage outcall service for the local bed and breakfast inns. Fredericksburg, Texas, was changing…becoming more interested in tourism as the town’s major industry than the traditional ranching and farming.

Though an influx of old world healing therapies based on herbs and the Baden-Baden (baths or natural hot springs) of Germany had come with the original settlers of Fredericksburg in 1846, a renaissance of natural therapies didn’t begin until the late 1970’s.

As the townspeople also began to develop historical homes into bed and breakfast facilities after the National Bicentennial in 1976 fostered restoration projects, they were following the tradition in Germany of the gasthaus or bed and breakfast. There are now about 600 bed and breakfasts in Gillespie County around Fredericksburg.

As Fredericksburg grew, the descendents of German settlers were joined by other people who brought their interests to add to the creative surge. Dawn Kyle Donalson, the descendant of pioneers in Kyle, Texas (near San Marcos) moved to town in 1979 after graduating from SWT to work on a local newspaper as a journalist. From there, she became fundraiser and public relations person for the area non-profit hospital and brought into that venture her interest in holistic health.

A health crisis in her own family caused her to change careers from journalism to massage therapy in the mid 1980’s. As a journalist at heart, she pursued knowledge in massage and holistic therapies with passion, even teaching and writing and editing about the subjects. After many years in private practice (including a long stint as Lady Bird Johnson’s massage therapist), Dawn started Above and Beyond in 2003 with the help of friends and family who worked with her.

Over the years, many local massage therapists have worked for Above and Beyond, bringing quality therapy to the public and camaraderie to each other as therapists. Though a sole proprietorship, Above and Beyond in many ways is a cooperative, built by the hard work and dedication of the devoted workers. The spa gals consider themselves family--a support system and healing group.

In February of 2007, the historic 1880's “Vogel Sunday Haus” was offered for rent to Dawn and her crew as a home for Above and Beyond Day Spa by landlord Mr. Karl, a man with an interest in history and German spa treatments. Mr. Ritter had restored the house and was looking for someone to take good care of the building.

The enthusiastic support and input of such kind friends as the landlord, as well as local business owners, bankers, bed and breakfast innkeepers and reservation agencies, have allowed the ladies of Above and Beyond Day Spa to flourish.

And thus, Above and Beyond Day Spa brings the premium talent of Fredericksburg and the surrounding area to you with the Southern humor and grace that is the signature of the staff. The happy workers epitomize the best the Texas Hill Country has to offer, with a bit of flair in the informal uniform of black tops and jeans and adornments of gemstone and beaded jewelry. Texans just gotta be individuals, y’all.