Ima and I joined GWRRA in 1992 in membership only. It wasn’t until October, 1996 when a fellow worker, Dwayne Hill asked us to join him and Marylu for dinner one evening. He said for us to ride our motorcycle and they would meet us at the Cracker Barrel in Baytown at 6:00pm. Boy, were we surprised when we pulled up and saw all those Wings parked. People were everywhere laughing, hugging and having a great time. Ima looked at me and said what have we gotten ourselves into. As Dwayne and Marylu introduced us to the group we started getting those hugs and were made to feel so welcome. We thought we were having dinner at the Cracker Barrel--WRONG. These folks told us to mount up and get in a group because we were riding to Sea Brook to the Shrimp Shack across the ship channel. This was totally new to us because we had only ridden with two other couples. We were a little nervous never having ridden with this many motorcycles before. They held a drivers meeting explaining the lane changes and staggered riding positions to us. This made us very comfortable and it didn’t take us long to fit right in with the group. We were really impressed with their riding style and the Safety measures they took to protect all the riders and co-riders. Keeping each one informed of "GATERS" in the lane. Ima thought they had lost their minds, because she hadn’t seen one. That night was a learning experience we both will never forget.

As luck would have it they had a Chapter meeting coming up and invited us to come for a visit and meet the rest of the Chapter. It just so happened we were free that night so we attended our FIRST"C" meeting. We were met with open arms and made to feel so welcome. That’s the kind of family you meet when you participate with a Chapter. That night was when we got the TRUE meaning of being a MEMBER of GWRRA and what we had been missing out on by not participating with a CHAPTER and all that GWRRA offers. We are two members that will never forget that two other members took the time to invite us out to dinner.

I’ll try to recap a little interesting history about Chapter "C" that I got from the scrapbooks about some of the early members. Gayle and Gene Thomas were Charter members and the FIRST Area Representatives of Chapter "C", Texas 1. Gayle designed and sewed our first Chapter"C" banner, which we still have and PROUDLY display. They were "C" members until June, 1987 according to pictures of a going away party given them at that time. They are still very active members of Chapter "O" in Austin, TX. Some other A/R’s was James "Jay" Bradin 1984-1987. Roy Sargent served as his A/AR. Ed and Dawn Church A/R 1988-1990. They served as the FIRST Chapter "C" Couple. Next was John L. Henderson III, A/R 1991 with Les C. Holst Sr. A/AR. Rod and Debbie Bingham served as A/R 1992-1994. Debbie was the First Chapter Blood bank coordinator and introduced it into the District. Rod and Debbie served on the Texas District staff. Their A/AR’s were Willy Hyde and Donnie Pitts. Willy Hyde and Dennis Carter served as A/R’s for a short time. The best I can tell that was the last year to be called Area Reps. and changed to Chapter Directors. This maybe the same time TEXAS 1 and TEXAS 2 became just ONE "BIG" TEXAS. Our next Chapter Directors and their Assistants were David and Sharon Grizzel, CD 1995 with A/CD’s Larry Hancock and Michael Thompson. Next was Larry and Denise Hancock, CD 1996-1997 with A/CD’s Michael and Sharon Thompson. Next was Michael and Sharon Thompson, CD 1997-1998 with ACD’S Mark and Cat Faucheaux, Dwayne and Marylu Hill, Nova and Connie Brandon. 1999-2001, L.G.(Mac) and Ima McDaniel, CD with ACD’S Jim and Marietta McCormack, Mike and Cindi Marchuk. We still have one active Charter member and lifetime GWRRA member in our group. This is none other than our own ED GILBERT owner of " Baytown Accessories."

Here are some things of interest about some of our former members. We have an article dated July,1986. Member Tiger Dupree age 62 years was a famous actor. He starred with Gene Autry, Ward Bond and Roy Rogers in Lash LaRue and Wagon Train. March 18th, 1989 members Sam and Saydi of the Meineke fame were the Grand Marshalls in the St. Patrick Day Parade.

As I looked back over the last twenty three years I see we haven’t changed too much as a chapter. We changed from Area Reps to Chapter Directors and we’ve changed our meeting places a few times. What we HAVEN’T changed are the things we do to have FUN. We’re still going on the same dinner rides, campouts, rallies, doing charity work, Christmas Parades and parties, supporting other chapter events just as the CHARTER members did back then. I’m proud to say we had a strong foundation to build from and will strive to carry on their traditions.