CHAPTER INFO

2023-2025 Executive Board

Regent Donna Goehring Seago
First Vice Regent Frances Shelby
Second Vice Regent Andrea Lofye
Chaplain Missy Warren Roberts
Recording Secretary Josie Zeiger
Corresponding Secretary Amy Hayes
Treasurer Heather Hall
Registrar Kate Johanns
Historian Ann Lattimore
Librarian Lynne Bryant
Parliamentarian Kathy Crusco (appointed by Chapter Regent)

History

Austin Colony Chapter was organized April 22, 1952, the seventh chapter to be organized in District VII. The organizing regent was Paralee Parish, the great-aunt of Honorary President General Lynn Forney Young (an Austin Colony associate member). The organizing meeting took place at the home of Ina May Ogletree McAdams, the mother of our surviving charter member Martha McAdams Vertrees. Parrish was installed as the first chapter regent. Gov. Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas, was a charter member.

At her death, Mrs. Parrish left her large genealogical library to the Texas State Library, where it is known as the Paralee Parrish Collection.

The chapter is named for the first Anglo-American settlement in Mexican-owned Texas, which was established in 1821 by Stephen F. Austin. Austin Colony Chapter proudly supported the State Regent’s Project during the Hagg Administration, which restored the Registro, the listing of the original “Old 300” families who received land grants in Austin’s first colony. The Registro is on display at the Texas General Land Office.

In 1976, Austin Colony planned and executed the City of Austin’s Bicentennial Celebration under Regent Anne Boswell. The celebration included a tribute to George Washington in the Texas Senate Chamber. As part of the Bicentennial, Austin Colony began presenting framed portraits of George Washington to area schools. That year, the chapter also began to award the ROTC Gold Medal to the Army and Navy ROTC programs at The University of Texas.

In recent years, Austin Colony has coordinated local DAR efforts to bring Wreaths Across America to the Texas State Cemetery. At the 131st Continental Congress, the chapter was recognized for having the third most Chapter Achievement Award points in the entire society during the 2021 calendar year under the leadership of Regents Kate Johanns and Kathy Mayes Crusco. We were named the TXDAR Junior’s Choice Chapter in 2016. The chapter has presented two Austin-area women -- Lady Bird Johnson and Margaret Gillooly -- with the DAR Medal of Honor, DAR’s most prestigious honor. And in 2019, the chapter honored the extraordinary life and service of Austin-native and centenarian Richard Overton, who at the time of his passing was the nation's oldest World War II veteran, by posthumously presenting him the DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal.

Our members include Honorary Regent Martha Hartzog, a past TXDAR state officer, National Chair of American History (Calvin Administration) and National Chair of Historic Preservation (Young Administration); Honorary Regent Jamie Durham Burchfield, 2007 Texas State Outstanding Junior, National Junior Membership Chair (Dillon Administration), National Insignia Chair (VanBuren Administration), and National Service to America Chair (P. Wright Administration); and Honorary Regent Kate Johanns, National Public Relations & Media Chair (P. Wright Administration).

Contact Us

If you are interested in DAR membership in the Austin Colony Chapter, please email us. We’d love to hear from you!

Women join DAR for many reasons. It offers an opportunity to express patriotism through connecting with a Revolutionary War ancestor. It helps us understand the importance of America's proud history. It promotes service to the community and the nation through many types of volunteer activities. It brings fellowship and new friendships. DAR is truly a community.

Chapter Chairs of National Committees

Learn more about the committees at members.dar.org