TWA Convention

A Family Reunion from the Get-Go

Article by LORIE A. WOODWARD Photos courtesy of TWA

Current Author’s Note: Sometimes it pays to be an information pack rat. As I was getting ready to visit with TWA co-founder Larry Weishuhn and CEO (retired) David K. Langford about TWA’s early conventions as part our ongoing look at TWA history, I ran across the following story.

It was written in 2003. Twenty years later, some of the characters, including co-founders Gary Machen and Murphy Ray Jr., as well as Fannie Grace Hindes and Carol Ray, have taken their places on the eternal stage. But memories of them and the early conventions are alive and well. The article is republished as it first appeared in April 2003. The additional information from Langford is new.

Original Author’s Note: This story was born one morning last November [2002]. I called early trying to catch Gary Machen at home, but, instead, I got his wife, Barbara, who was in the middle of cleaning up breakfast dishes and getting ready for hunters to come in later that day. Fortunately, she wasn’t too busy to visit with me, and after a few conversational twists and turns, we got on the subject of the first TWA convention. As she began telling me about pickle jars, welcome wagons, and baking brownies for 300 people, I knew the story was too good to keep to myself.

Many big things start small. An oak from an acorn. Seven-foot, five-inch Houston Rocket Yao Ming from a diaper-clad baby. WildLife 2003 [and now WildLife 2023] from its humble beginnings in 1986.

Back then, the founding members of TWA were traveling around the state trying to drum up support. TWA was the new kid on the political block and members were double-timing it with legislators and agency heads trying to establish a good reputation in Austin.

The meetings were held at ranches around South Texas. Most advertising was word-of-mouth. The newsletter was four, type-written pages, “printed” on a copying machine. Money was tight…very, very tight. One “staff” member, who was actually Sid Lindsey’s full-time secretary, tried to keep up with it all.

In the midst of these growing pains, someone, most likely the directors, decided that TWA needed an annual meeting to assist in spreading the word about its mission, to attract new members, and to help fill the coffers. Plans were made and the first event was scheduled for April at the YO Ranch Hilton in Kerrville in 1986.

At the time, TWA was a very hands-on organization because the early members believed strongly in what they were creating—and it didn’t have the luxury of being anything else. Some of the busiest hands belonged to Barbara Machen of Pearsall, Carol Ray of Somerset, and Fannie Grace Hindes of Charlotte.

While these ladies are quick to give credit to their husbands, Gary Machen, Murphy Ray, Jr. and the late Roy Hindes, for the long-term success of TWA, it is obvious that these women are equally dedicated to the cause, and their hard work laid the foundation for what has become the best convention in Texas. Bottom line: these women know what makes a good party.

“We had a lot of fun then—and we have a lot of fun now,” Fannie Grace said. “I don’t think wild horses could keep me from coming because a lot of TWA members have become just like family to me.”

And the family feel that sets the TWA convention apart from the faceless, nameless hordes that define most convention experiences, got its start at the very beginning. Many of the first attendees were relatives of the early members, and those who weren’t kin were family friends.

“To get people to come, we got on the telephone and in our address books,” Fannie Grace said. “Everybody just issued a personal invitation to all the people they knew.”

Despite the personal attention and the relatively small circle of people, not everyone who attended the convention knew everyone else. The Ranch Gals, as Barbara, Fannie Grace, Carol, and their TWA girlfriends have dubbed themselves, wouldn’t allow anyone to feel like a stranger.

Barbara, who claims to have the ability to talk to a door, said, “We just appointed ourselves the unofficial welcome wagon with the goal of introducing everybody to everybody else. If we’d see someone standing apart, we’d go introduce ourselves and then introduce that person to one more.”

Fannie Grace said, “We never had trouble getting anyone to talk because everybody had so much in common. You know, ranchers and other people who love the land, are just a big family anyway.”

While the personal touch was important in getting people involved with one another, the name tags didn’t hurt. In those days, Carol, who spent a lot of time at various registration tables, recalled that the name tags were not the computergenerated, beribboned behemoths that adorn TWA’ers lapels today. They were the “Hello, my name is…” labels, completed by hand when attendees registered.

“Instead of computers, we had markers. Instead of a mile-long registration table, we had a card table. Instead of preregistration forms, we had relatively short lines of people signing in when they arrived,” Carol said.

The newsletter account of the first annual meeting notes that 300 people attended. The Ranch Gals recall a slightly smaller crowd, more in the neighborhood of 100 people.

Barbara said, “It didn’t seem like there were 300 people there, but there might have been. Of course, in those days, the reported number might have reflected a little wishful thinking.”

Fannie Grace said, “To get 300 people, somebody must have counted us coming and going.”

Of course, the smaller crowd meant that there wasn’t a scramble for hotel rooms, although the YO Ranch Hilton is a much smaller facility than the Hyatt Hill Country Regency Resort.

“I used to call two weeks in advance to reserve our hotel rooms—and I was one of the early ones,” Carol said. “It is amazing to me how things have changed. Recently, a friend of mine told me that she had made their reservations [at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort in San Antonio] for the convention back in December. I would have never imagined that people would be making reservations seven months in advance just to ensure that they’d have a place to stay during the TWA convention.”

While securing rooms was easy, feeding the crowd was an interesting proposition. Because the organizers were trying to attract people and keep the overhead down, they cut costs wherever they could. On Friday night, attendees had cocktails and botanas [finger foods] outside by the hotel pool instead of the full-blown Mexican buffet that is the tradition now.

The Saturday lunch was “catered” by the members themselves in concert with TPWD and private wildlife biologists. Barbecue pits and fish fryers were hauled in from ranches all over South Texas and the Hill Country and set up poolside, so members could cook the feral hog, cabrito, fish, and the other offerings that had been donated. A huge pot of pinto beans simmered over a fire. And platters of brownies, candy, and cookies, prepared by Barbara and Fannie Grace spilled over, testing the willpower of everyone.

“Making all those sweets was our idea,” Fannie Grace said. “The men said, ‘We don’t need any dessert,’ but we knew better. Every single crumb was eaten up.” It’s a good thing that everyone had a sweet tooth because delivering the “dessert cart” had been a logistical challenge.

“We made all that stuff at home and hauled it to the hotel. We had so many sweets that we all ran out of Tupperware and ended up using Cool Whip containers to hold them,” Fannie Grace recalled. “We had to store all those containers in our hotel rooms and divvy out the desserts onto trays that we got from the hotel staff. Barbara and I still laugh about sharing our rooms with all those cookies.”

After lunch on Saturday, the members turned the kitchen duties back over to the hotel staff, so they could get ready for their big night.

People, then, like people now, dressed up to enjoy the festivities.

Carol said, “At the first convention, it was hard to be overdressed or underdressed. People just wore what made them feel comfortable for a social event. Over the years, the definition of ‘party clothes’ has gotten broader and more elaborate, just as the crowd has gotten bigger and more diverse.”

For the big party on Saturday night, convention attendees enjoyed a catered banquet, an auction and a raffle, which over the years has become the silent auction, and a dance. While the auction offerings were less exclusive and extensive than those available now, the biggest change can be found in the Silent Auction room. Instead of clipboards and bidding, the then-Silent Raffle used to involve gallon pickle jars and tickets.

Organizers situated the raffle offerings accompanied by empty gallon pickle jars on tables throughout the lobby and attendees were encouraged to purchase raffle tickets, which they then placed in the pickle jars by the items the supporters hoped to win. During the evening’s festivities, tickets were drawn to see who would claim the prize.

The Ranch Gals recalled that the pickle jars were alarmingly empty at the start of Saturday night’s party. Gary [Machen] suggested that Barbara help remedy that by buying tickets, hopefully enticing more people to participate. She went on a buying and stuffing spree that eventually turned into an unprecedented winning streak.

“Almost every time the announcer drew a ticket, he would say, ‘Barbara Machen,’” Fannie Grace said. “I’ve never seen anybody win so much stuff in one night. We still tease her about it.”

Barbara added, “I donated everything back, so that other people would win and have a good time. But it really was funny how many times I marched up there.”

Raffle-winning Barbara is just one memory among thousands related to TWA that brings smiles to the faces of the

Ranch Gals. Since 1985, when TWA was born, the organization has been part of their families and part of their lives.

The convention, which started as a labor of love, is a reunion, allowing them to reconnect annually with their adopted family—the people who care about wild things and wild places as deeply as they do. While the event itself has changed, the inclusive spirit is still going strong.

“The convention continues in a different form and on a bigger scale, but all the important basics—like friends, family and fun—have remained the same,” said. Fannie Grace. “It’s just something you have to experience to understand.”

THE EVOLUTION OF THE GRAND AUCTION as told by CEO (retired)

David K. Langford

In the beginning, the Grand and Silent Auctions funded a lion’s share—almost 100 percent—of TWA’s operating budget. Today, proceeds from the convention weekend provide about 20 percent of the annual budget. In 2022, the gross proceeds were upwards of $900,000. That wasn’t always the case…

“When I came to my first convention in the mid-80s, I’d been working as a livestock photographer for a lot of the big ranches across Texas and the country. As part of my duties, along with shooting cattle and horses for ads, I’d cover their big auctions, so I had a point of comparison for what I saw at TWA.

Frankly, it needed some help, especially since there were so many big ranches represented in the room. The only professional was Anthony Mihalski, the auctioneer. The ringmen were all volunteers. People had donated generously, but there was nothing particularly special about anything that was being offered.

I’m not even sure what the first auction I attended raised. Maybe $25,000-$30,000. I thought to myself, ‘Holy crap, it should be a lot better, especially with all these heavy hitters in the room.’

At the next executive committee meeting, I made the mistake of saying that out loud. Big Roy Hindes said, ‘Congratulations, you’re our next auction chairman.’

The next year it was back at the YO and the crowd was only slightly larger. Anthony Mihalski was back, and he brought some ringmen. Larry Weishuhn provided color commentary. But the big difference was in the auction items themselves.

I’d realized that many of our members had great hunting places that were only accessible to their family and invited friends. The phrase that I came up with for the auction catalog, which TWA still uses today, said it all, ‘Not available to the public.’

I, along with Larry [Weishuhn] and others, convinced 30-40 people to donate exclusive hunts or experiences. When the last gavel fell, we’d raised about $130,000.

Everybody almost fainted because we raised so much money. After that, the format was set and we just continued to improve on the basic model. TWA is still using it to great effect today. Every president and officer team draw on their networks to expand TWA’s circle of friends. The power of ‘not available to the public’ keeps the excitement alive every time someone new comes into the TWA family.”

THE POWER OF PLACE as told by

David K. Langford

Depending on who is asked, attendance at the earliest conventions was somewhere between 100 to 300 people. In 2022, more than 1,500 people converged on the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. While the convention moved through several hotels in San Antonio and even one in Austin before finding its home for 20 years at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, the convention grew into its potential at the Hill Country Hyatt…

“After a few years of holding the convention at the YO Hilton, we outgrew it primarily because of our ‘not available to the public’ auction items. We bounced to a hotel in San Antonio, out by the airport, near Jones Maltsberger and Loop 410.

On the Thursday before our first convention at that San Antonio hotel, my phone rang sometime around 9 p.m. It was Fannie Grace Hindes asking, ‘David, how much potato salad do I need to make for Saturday?’ Somehow in all the discussions, nobody had informed the Ranch Gals that we were using caterers and they—and their Tupperware—were off the hook.

About that time, Charly [McTee] and I had come to run the office. We had one more convention at that San Antonio hotel and then we moved to Austin to provide easy access for legislators. It was at some Spanish-style hotel near the intersection of I-35 and US-290.

It was our first foray into big-time hotels and convention planning. We were green and didn’t know that you had to book every meeting room, ballroom, and hallway that you planned on using.

(Author’s Note: Next time you see Langford ask about the chaos that ensued when this oversight was brought to light late Saturday afternoon. As part of the “festivities” Langford had to convince a high school principal to move the school’s graduation party slated for the same Saturday night to the hotel bar so TWA would have all the space it needed.)

Then, if the challenge of moving everything around wasn’t enough, it came Noah’s flood. By Saturday, the Highland Lakes were overflowing, and dams were threatening to give way. Streets and highways were under water. Travel was almost impossible.

Incoming President Steve Lewis and I were beside ourselves because we just knew that nobody was going to be at the auction—and that TWA was going to be broke. Before the auction started, we peeked out from behind the curtains that surrounded the stage. There were no more than 75 people there and we had planned on 250-300. It was a literal washout.

Then it happened. There was a man and his wife who sat down at one of the front tables, most of which were conspicuously empty. Nobody knew them.

That night, there was not an auction item that came up that he didn’t raise his hand on—and he bought most of them. His generosity saved the night, the day—and TWA for that year.

The then-stranger was Jack Carmody, a contractor from Leander who specialized in heavy construction. He became a fast friend and one of TWA’s most solid supporters until his death in speed boat racing accident in Corpus Christi seven or eight years later.

We did another year in Austin, but it still didn’t feel like home. Incoming President Happy Rogers and his wife Elizabeth, both of whom were exceptionally involved in San Antonio’s high-visibility charitable organizations, changed that. Because of their experience with groups including the San Antonio Zoo and the Witte Museum, they understood the ambiance and amenities necessary for successful fundraising.

At the time, there was a new hotel being constructed out near Sea World. It preceded most of the development on that section of Loop 1604. Happy and Elizabeth insisted we move out there; nobody else was particularly enthused about the idea. Turns out that they knew better than the rest of us.

When we arrived on the Thursday before the convention, there were still painters on tall ladders working. The smell of fresh paint was all over the hotel and almost overwhelming. TWA was the first convention ever held there.

On Friday morning just a couple of hours before registration opened, Jim Chesnut, our IT guy at the time, and Sharron Jay, who eventually became our CFO, had finished setting up our computer network.

Remember, this was the mid-90s and technology wasn’t what it is today. We had hauled all the equipment from our offices over to the hotel and cobbled together a remote network.

We were patting ourselves on the back and heaving a sigh of relief, when a bartender from Charley’s Long Bar, which was directly behind our registration area, thought it would be funny to unplug our computers. I thought I might go to jail for murder before we ever got started.

We had a few missteps here and there, but TWA staff and hotel staff learned together—and it turned out to be a perfect fit for 20 years. In fact, the staff baked TWA a huge 20th anniversary cake for the last banquet we held there.

Because of the facilities, we were able to create a destination event with something for the whole family. Every year after the convention was over, we’d gather the staff and volunteers to figure out what we could do better and differently.

The trade show grew as did the thank you and specialty parties. The Little Lonestars Kids’ Program was inspired by the space as was the TBGA Statewide Awards Celebration with the display of mounts and even TWA’s own awards banquet. I’m not sure we could have hosted master falconer John Karger and his Last Chance Forever birds of prey demonstrations anywhere else. And on and on and on…

By the time we outgrew the Hyatt, we had grown our annual WildLife gathering into a must-attend event. And we’d made a lot of memories, like the time the Longhorn steer donated by Lee and Ramona Bass for the auction, escaped onto the golf course…”

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