A Little History

Organizing regent, Peggy Grover Gentry, remembers:  "When I retired in 1991, I was a new member of the DAR and had been to only one or two meetings of the Benjamin Lyons Chapter in Denton. I did not know much about DAR or what it was supposed to do, so I went to the Fall Forum in Austin taking with me my youngest daughter, Linda. At lunch, I asked one of our table mates why there was no chapter in Lewisville. I don't remember her name but the lady said that no one had ever asked to start a chapter in Lewisville. My daughter volunteered me to try and start one. So, I put a small advertisement in the local paper asking for those interested in starting a chapter to call me. I had lots and lots of calls from very nice ladies expressing their interest. I set an evening meeting at my house to see what we needed to do to start this new chapter. I also called one of the state officers to visit with us and get us started. It took several months and a lot of luck, but we finally had the eighteen members needed to be chartered as a chapter. We all learned about DAR as we went along, made many mistakes, made lots of friends, and sought to find a purpose for our chapter.

"We decided that we needed to promote education, and we sought ways to make money to provide scholarships to a graduating senior in the Lewisville I.S.D. We held a garage sale and raised funds, which we gave to a senior at Lewisville High School. The next year, we were offered the opportunity to sponsor a "Beautiful Baby Contest" at the Lewisville Western Week celebration held on Labor Day weekend. Knowing nothing about how to conduct such a contest, we muddled through and made additional funds. We continued to sponsor the contest for several years and we made a little more each year at the event. It was hard work at a very hot time of year, but our members chipped in, especially Cheryl Hopkin, who worked very hard at this contest. It gave us exposure to the community and much interest was expressed. We lost this opportunity when Lewisville stopped this event to widen and reconfigure Main Street in downtown Lewisville. By this time, our fundraising changed to pecan sales and other events, and our focus shifted from just the scholarship to other endeavors.

"It is my personal belief that our chapter needs to be one that is very active in community affairs, providing a patriotic presence at as many events as possible. I enjoy meetings with a purpose; I do not believe in having a meeting just to have a meeting. I acknowledge that our activities are limited by our abilities due to age, family demands, and more, but where possible our members do provide our communities with that patriotic presence."