Golden Memories Page 131

Golden Memories SWD Chapters

ROGERS AR (NW ARK)
The Natural States Men
by Bob Balch & John Sugg

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Ozark Mountainaires

In August 1973 a couple of men, Paul Taiclet & Bob Gray, who had sung in barbershop choruses in other areas, invited interested men to attend a meeting to try to form a chapter in Northwest Arkansas.
The meeting attracted about 12 men, most having sung barbershop before. None had directorial experience, so Bob Baich, a local merchant who had directed church choirs, was invited to the next meeting. Having no barbershop experience, Bob decided to become a part of this effort. A weekly meeting place was established at First Baptist Church in Rogers, and then a concerted effort was made to enlist singers.
Although Mr. Taiclet & Mr. Gray had quartet experience, both were new to N.W. Arkansas, so didn't know many others. But within a month attendance had risen to about 18 men, and a few basic barbershop songs were learned. The first singout, in September, was somewhat successful, earned a little money for the chorus, and attracted a couple more singers. By then, there was discussion about chartering.
How to charter? No one knew so we called on the International office, who informed us thatArkansas was in the Diode District. Wow! What a long way from North

Carolina! So why couldn't we join the Southwestern District? Mter several weeks of correspondence with International It was decided by the higher powers to allow NW Arkansas to enter the society in the SWD. At the time, Little Rock and Hot Springs were the only Arkansas chapters, but permission was granted and it was decided that the Tulsa #1 chapter would be our sponsors. They were very pleased to do so, and Eddie Wright, their Director, and Kent Cornwell, president and area counselor came to Rogers to offer their assistance. Regrettably, they had never been involved in forming a new chapter, but with assistance from SWD president Ernie Hills, with numerous phone calls, it was decided that Rogers could become a chapter in the SWD if all requirements were met.
To attract enough members it was also decided to allow Rogers to forego the licensing process and proceed to charter status, if it could be done before the end of the year. A very concentrated effort was made during October to sign up new members. New chapter president, Ken Fousee, along with a very hard working secretary Mel Tudor, assigned this task to a committee, who fortunately acquired the

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Table of
Contents

Sections:
How It All Began Chapters Chapter Histories International Quartet Champions Choruses Administration
Contests and Conventions Registered Quartets Publications Recognitions In Conclusion