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Dale & Carolyn Frieden
Arkansas District Directors
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www.argwrra.org WWW

Ken and I are still in shock. Some of you may not have heard, but yes it is official. Ken and I are now the 2006-2007 District Couple of the Year. We had an awesome time at the Spring Fling this last weekend.

Carolyn and Dale Frieden and Garry and Phyllis Floyd out did themselves on the program and the decorations. The facilities were very nice also and it was just a special time for everyone.

Ken and I have the privilege of traveling across the state and region visiting other chapters and rallies now. Ken and I had a wonderful time with the other three couples. We shared a special time with them, and we will cherish it. We found all the couples to be very supportive of all the other couples in the selection, and we were cheering as couple by couple had to take their turn on the stage. When we all came off the stage and back to the holding room, we were all smiles that it was finally over.

For all of the couples, it has been about six months of preparation and well worth the work.. I still can’t get over the fact that we are the new Arkansas District Couple! I am just glad that I didn’t do what I had been saying all along. I often was asked what would I do if we happened to be selected? My answer was that I would be puking in the bathroom. Fortunately I was too shocked to think about finding the bathroom when the winner was announced.

I have been sharing with my coworkers this week about the selection and looking through the scrapbook. The scrapbook is now in my care, and I will have to add pictures to it this coming year. Ken and I are now looking forward to the Region Rally in a few weeks and the District Rally in May. They both will have a different meaning to us. We will wear our vests and medallions with pride for Chapter J and for the state Arkansas.

Ken & Rhonda Holmes
Arkansas District Couple 2006-2007

Garry and Phyllis Floyd
District Arkansas Couple 2004-2005

Your Arkansas District Staff is proud to say that our first Spring Fling and Couple of the Year Selection was a big success! The only thing that could have been better would be seeing more of our Chapter members smiling faces in the audience!! We are very proud of the representation that our four Chapter Couples gave to our judges, visitors and Arkansas members. We were honored and so proud to start our first Spring Fling Rally with three past International Couples as our judges. They were John and Paula Crow, ICOY 2004-2005, Winfield KS, (Region “H”), Tom and Kathy Peck ICOY 2003-2004, Lafollette, TN (Region “N”), Glynn and Lesia Tucker, ICOY 2000-2001, Richmond, KY, (“Region “N”). It was awesome to hear all the compliments coming from all of them, on our program and our four participating Chapter Couples. We are so proud of you, Wayne and Rae Tondro (AR-E), Bill and Jennie McBride (AR-H), Ken and Rhonda Holmes (AR-J) and Joe and Shirley Machado (AR-X).

We started off our event with a reception on Friday night, February 24, for all of our past and present Region, District, and Chapter Couples. We had a packed room with lots of catching up and visiting going on from 8-10 PM. It was great seeing all of our past couples that attended. Everyone was very impressed with our beautiful facilities, the Auditorium Complex of UACC Morrilton. I know Alan was proud, as he is the one responsible for our access to the college! We thank you again, Alan.

Saturday was a beautiful day. You could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air. We were off and running with our Rally registration and the Couples interview with the judges at 9 AM. At 10 AM it was set up time for our Arkansas Chapter Mascots, Newsletters, Scrapbooks and Banners for the judging. Then at 10:30 each couple was introduced to our audience. Thanks to Dan and Sylvia Gruben, AR-E Directors, Marty Melton, AR-H Director, C.B. and Jean Lunsford, Past AR-J Directors and Bob and Joan Humphrey, AR-X Directors for escorting our couples. We proceeded with the presentations from each couple. They all did a great job and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Even if their knees were quivering and their stomachs turning upside down, you couldn’t tell it. They were all very sharp looking in their dress-up duds.

The suspense grew as the day went on. We broke for lunch and returned for some more fun. We had the door prize tickets ready for all the winners. There was quite a buzz from around the tables! Then it was on to the “Not So Newlywed Game”. It was a hoot! Bill and Jennie McBride were the winners! Garry and Phyllis have done a great job with this event. We plan to continue next year with “new questions”. Our Picture Guessing Game was really funny. Who would have guessed Dale Wingrove, with all that black hair, looking like Burt Reynolds? Thanks for so many of you sending in your pictures!

Thanks to Larry Penepent for giving the Recruiting Seminar, and to John and Paula Crow for their Couples Seminar!

Then we had the Chinese Auction. It was a great big success. The bidding was fast and furious at times, (George knows $10, $20, $30, $40, $50 etc. when he hears it). Thanks for everyone’s participation.

When we returned for the closing ceremonies, the first order of events was to thank all our out of state visitors, which included our judges from Kansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. John and Paula brought along several couples from Kansas including the Kansas District Couple, Garry and Phyllis VanBuskirk. From Louisiana, we had District Directors, Jere & Maureen Pyburn and Brent & Roxie Comeaux, Region H COY and Assistant District Directors. From our Region Staff, Dave and Joni Barham, our District Trainers. (Our Region Directors, Cliff & Donna Miller were very disappointed to miss our rally, due to Cliff’s surgery.) Thanks to all for coming!

Tom Peck, our judge from Tennessee and Region N MAD Coordinator, returned to the stage sporting his VIAGRA jacket. He wore this jacket at Wing Ding where Region N won the Region Cup in the popular Pine Car Races. He wanted to remind us to get ready for the next races at Wing Ding in Nashville. We’ll be ready!

The results from our In-State Chapter competition were in and they were:

Congratulations to the winners and for all who participated. Please bring all your Chapter things back to our Arkansas Rally where the competition will be open to all rally participants, in state and out-of-state.

Congratulations to Chapter L from Conway. CD’s Frank & Debbie Likert brought out the troops. They had by far the biggest attendance of any Chapter at the Rally. There were green shirts everywhere!! Thank you to them, for their big support.

Then it was time for the big announcement, introducing the new Arkansas District Couple of the Year. We called everyone back onstage for a final look. (I wish we could have had four District Couples! I don’t think that’s ever happened.)

So came the news that everyone was waiting for…. Ken and Rhonda Holmes of Chapter J are the new Arkansas District Couple of the Year. Garry and Phyllis presented them with their medallion. We congratulate them and look forward to seeing them out on the road with us!! We know they will represent Arkansas well!!

All of our couples did a wonderful job. Their love and commitment for GWRRA was obvious. What more could you ask? All of them are winners!

Our thanks again to our wonderful International Judging Crew! And to our adopted Arkansas Couple, Brent and Roxie Comeaux, from Louisiana, who are really our own Region H Couple of the Year, thanks for your help. Thanks to our judges for the Chapter Competitions, Jere & Maureen Pyburn and Garry & Phyllis VanBuskirk.

Our deep appreciation goes to Garry and Phyllis Floyd, our outgoing District Couple of the Year. They have put their heart and soul into the Couples Program, along with a lot of hard work. They have done a wonderful job as District COY. And we will be rooting for them at our Region Rally in Marshall as they enter the Region Couple of the Year Selection. They are a very special couple and we love them!

We hope all who attended enjoyed the rally. Thanks to Dale and Susan Wingrove, our District Directors, for giving us the opportunity to kick start the riding season with our new Annual Spring Fling. We’ll see you on the road again!

Dale & Carolyn Frieden
Assistant District Directors
District Couples Coordinators

Hello, from the 2005 Arkansas District Couple of the Year.

Phyllis and I would like to thank each and every one of you for your love and support as we traveled across the state of Arkansas visiting your Chapter meetings and Rallies. Without you we would not have had the opportunity to have as much fun being your Arkansas District Couple.

As you know, we teamed up with Dale and Carolyn Frieden, the Arkansas District Couple Coordinator and new Assistant District Directors, to create a Rally just for Couples. We called it the Arkansas District Couples Spring Fling. If you were not there, you missed out on a really fun Rally. Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. It was really nice to just kick back and have fun visiting with old and new friends. We had current and past Chapter, District, Region and even International Couples there. There was a couple’s reception on Friday night with chips and dip, veggies, cake and good things to drink (water, coffee and soft drinks). The Rally, with the selection of the new Arkansas District Couple of the Year, was on Saturday. We had the ever so popular Not So Newlywed Game, 50/50, Guess Who picture contest, Couples Seminar, Recruiting Seminar, with a really catchy name -“New Friends More Fun”, a Chinese Auction and last but not least, we selected our new 2006-2007 Arkansas District Couple of the Year.

We would like to congratulate Ken and Rhonda Holmes, of Arkansas Chapter J, as our new Arkansas District Couple of the Year 2006-2007. I know they will do an excellent job.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who had a hand in making the Arkansas District Couples Spring Fling 2006 a success. Without you it would not have been possible.

We would also like to thank the Chapter Couples for all their hard work. It always showed when we were visiting with you and your Chapter. It is our opinion that the Arkansas couples are always available, ready and willing to help. I can tell you that I would not have wanted to be a judge in this selection. Each and ever couple is a winner.

Phyllis and I have worked very hard toward having 100% of all our Arkansas Chapters with a Chapter Couple, and are still working toward positive changes to the Arkansas District Couple of the Year Program. It is our hope that you see how dedicated we are to the Couple of the Year program.

We love each and every one of you and can’t wait to see you again.

“Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge”