Dear Members,

I hope you are enjoying a productive and rewarding start to 2024. I will be issuing quarterly updates this year to keep members informed on developments and plans for our organization.

As just announced, our first engagement this year will be a zoom meeting on the topic of The Chevron Advocacy Network (CAN) scheduled for 11:00 AM on March 13^th. Our Board Member Gretchen Stierholz will be moderating the event which will include members of other South Texas Area Chapters of the CRA. The meeting will be led by Alex Schisel Chevron of Corporate Affairs who will be making a presentation and conducting a Q&A session. It promises to be an informative session and is approaching quickly so if you have not already done so, please register via the following link: (link expired).

Our next event will be a nature hike on March 21^st. Our Board Member Ed Van Reet will be leading the hike at the Honey Creek Nature Trail, adjacent to the Guadalupe River State Park. Thank you for all the members who have signed up using the invitations we sent out last month…it appears we will have a strong turn-out. This State Natural Area is not normally open to the public because of the fragile nature of the creek and surrounding area so this is a unique opportunity. 

This year’s Spring Luncheon is scheduled for April 10 at the River City Grille in Marble Falls. We just emailed you an invitation and ‘hope to see y’all there. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Michael a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Finance at the McCombs School of Business as well as the Department of Economics at UT-Austin. It should be an informative discussion on the economy and energy so be sure to attend.  

Our Board is experiencing a few changes this year.  We extend our sincere congratulations to Board Member Gretchen Stierholz for her selection as the Vice President, South Texas Area for the CRA. Fortunately for us, she will remain our Chapter Secretary. Gretchen will be attending the mid-year Chevron Retiree Conference which should be valuable in our efforts to increase our Chapter’s engagement with the national organization. Doug Hinzie has been selected as our new Director for the Austin-San Marcos area. Doug joined our Chapter soon after retiring from Cheron with 35 years service in 2019, when he and his wife Susan settled in Barton Creek. In addition to normal Board responsibilities, Doug will be assisting Gretchen with some of our Chapter’s administrative responsibilities. Other changes in Board responsibilities include Jim Chambers now coordinating our annual Christmas Luncheon at the San Antonio Petroleum Club, and John Vaughn providing back-up support for Ed Van Reet’s Treasurer role.

Hopefully, you’ve had an opportunity to visit our new website. We will continue to improve this web-site based on member’s use and feedback. Your ideas and suggestions are welcome. As posted on our web-site, we’ve also scheduled our Fall for September 24^th at Casa do Brasil in Austin. Thanks to Bob Bowie for securing Chevron Executive Ryder Booth as our guest speaker for this event. Finally, our Christmas Holiday Luncheon will be on December 4^th. Please look for more details on both of these events as we get closer.

As we hope you have noticed we are increasing our communication and engagement within our Chapter this year, and are working on other possible activities including star-watching at UT Austin and a guided tour of Austin’s Science and Natural History Museum. We would appreciate your input on other ideas you may have for Chapter events and activities. We would also appreciate stories, news, and biographies from our Chapter membership. Please provide your input to one of our Board Members or via email to hccretirees@gmail.com.

Finally, if you know anyone in our area who is a retiree from a Chevron company and has not joined our chapter, please ask them to join or provide a Board Member with their contact information. We want to keep the membership of our Chapter vibrant and growing.

Thanks for your membership and we look forward to a great year together!

Sincerely,

Hal Caldcleugh

President, Hill Country Chapter – CRA