February 2016

Message From the President General: Our Journey Continues

Message From the President General: Our Journey Continues

It is an honor to serve as your president general and to travel across this state renewing friendships and making new ones as I visit our chapters and the Daughters who comprise them.

As I’ve made these journeys and as I have worked on the challenges our organization faces, the days and hours often grow long, but I am heartened when I think of that day 125 years ago when Betty Ballinger and Hally Bryan conceived of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas at the Cradle in Galveston. They could hardly have envisioned the cumulative contributions the Daughters would make in the name of the Republic 12 decades later. Nor could they fully appreciate the bonds to the state of Texas and between Daughters that their vision would produce. When I recall their bold commitment, I am sustained by the thought that we carry on their cause and that they would be proud.

As we begin a new year, we march forward with the same courageous dedication of Betty and Hally.

We enter 2016 during perhaps the most transformational era in our organization’s history.

We’re no longer custodians of the Alamo, but our hearts and souls will remain there forever. We will soon finalize moving the DRT Library to a new location. We’re stepping up our efforts to secure funding for and build the Republic of Texas History Center. We’re working with state leaders to seek support for our role in maintaining the French Legation. And we’re working to enhance how our organization is perceived and to create new opportunities and support for our efforts to preserve and perpetuate the history of Texas.

Our efforts in the coming year will have a lasting effect on defining the continuing legacy of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. We will never forget nor depart from the vision of our founders, but we are called upon to evaluate, adjust and strengthen how we may best maintain our pursuit of their hopes in an evolving state and world — and indeed, this is what they would expect from us.

In the coming months, I will ask our leaders and members to lend their hearts, spirits, ideas and support to help build upon the tradition of our organization. The world is changing, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas aren’t just along for the ride. As we march forward to tell about history, let us seize the moment to make it as well. There is much work to do, many decisions to be made and exciting plans to be carried out.

I look forward to working with all of my sisters as we spread knowledge, pride and honor on behalf of Texas, One and Indivisible.

Thank you for being a part of the journey.