Membership Spotlight

 Information highlighting our members.

Betty Luntz

Jackie Egan

   TRW member Jackie Egan was President Ronald Reagan's Southern Arizona
Campaign chairman in 1980. She stated that the main reason for Reagan's
popularity in Arizona and across the country was that, "You just always knew
where he stood,". She said it was easy to get volunteers to work for Reagan
because of the warmth of her personality.  

   Jackie Egan has been an outstanding campaign chairman for other candidates. We are proud to have her as a member of TRW.

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Norma Zimdahl

   Our own Norma Zimdahl was recently featured in a publication titled, "Libertas", Young America's Foundation, Winter/Spring 2004 issue, where she, as a committee member of the Reagan Ranch Board of Governors Executive Committee, officially announced a $1 million matching gift toward the Reagan Ranch Center.

   According to the article, Norma, one of the greatest champions of the Conservative Movement, saw a need to help spur along efforts toward completing the renovations on the Reagan Ranch Center.  To that end, Norma has agreed to match all gifts toward the Reagan Ranch Center, up to $1 million. Ron Robinson, Young America's Foundation President, has this to say:

   " Norma has been such an important part of our efforts to save the Reagan Ranch and to acquire the Reagan Ranch Center. Even before this new challenge, Norma sponsored a theater and two classrooms (she had an incredible stage career also!) So to say that Norma is a giant of our cause would be an understatement. Having Norma front and center to talk about her challenge was a fantastic way to begin the weekend."

   We are proud of your work, and grateful you are a part of TRW, Norma!

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Olga Aguilar

Alumnae: Salpointe Catholic High School Class of 1955
Husband: Jesus Aguilar
Children: Julie Aguilar Machen Husband: Bob Son: Justin
              Lenny Aguilar Wife: Nadine Children: Patricia, Christin, Haley
              Cece Aguilar-Ortiz Husband: Daniel
Owned Beauty Shop on East side of Craycroft (5687 E. 22nd St) from  1957-1968.
Retired from Tucson Unified School District: worked 27 years as a Parent Involvement and Teachers Aide.
                                                 The Tucson That I Remember
     I think Tucson is a very special town in which to be born. I am a second generation Tucsonan. I was born January 25, 1935 at the Storks Nest located on North Court Avenue. It was the only maternity hospital in Tucson. My Mom was in the Yellow Room and it rented for $25.00 for a 10 day stay, including meals.  I found this information in my baby book. The other rooms started at $35.00 for the Pink Room and $30.00 for the Blue Room those rooms were for the rich!

     Like most Mexican-American families in the thirties, we were not an immigrant population. We were contributing long before the railroad came to Tucson. My mother and fathers families both owned businesses a bakery and a grocery and meat market.
     Our family homes on 123 E. 23rd Street was my grandfathers house, and a small house behind where my aunt and uncle lived. My mother and fathers house was on 5th Avenue, a half block away. Santa Cruz Church and Le Caves Bakery are landmarks in our neighborhood.
      My mothers sister, The Carrillos, lived on a ranch at Grant Road and Alvernon. The Carrillos owned a 2000 acre ranch that was homesteaded in the 1800s. It was named La Cebadilla Ranch and is located on Redington Road east of the 49ers golf course.  I have many good memories of round-up times at the ranch. We all road horses and helped round up the cattle. The branding and castrating of the calves was great fun.  For us kids, it was the biggest fiesta of the year. We would stay at the ranch for three days and didn't have to bathe. The 1942 rodeo parade was also one of the best times in my life. I rode in a buggy that my Uncle Arnold Carrillo was driving, while my cousins rode on their horses. After the parade, we all went to the Santa Rita Hotel. It was a real cattleman's hotel. We had barbeque and soda until we were so full we needed a nap. The rodeo parade is still one of the best times of the year for me and my family.  Most years, I helped decorate the League of Mexican American Women's float and one year we won 2nd place.

      Growing up in Tucson in the 30s, 40s and 50s, I remember a time that Tucson Blvd. was the end of town. When Davis-Monthan Air Force Base opened, we could not believe that after the war Tucson would grow like it has. All our shopping and entertainment was in the downtown area. The place to be was at the Fox Theater. My favorite was the Saturday morning extravaganza Mickey Mouse Club. It featured live acts, talent shows and giveaways. Besides the features, cartoons and serials, was the snack bar where I could spend my ten cents on anything I wanted. The Fox stands out as one of the best parts of Tucson and growing up. 

     My mother worked at Steinfeld's Department Store until I was about ten years old. We would do most of our shopping for clothes, shoes and groceries there because my mother would receive an employee discount.

     I only have good memories of school, becoming a teenager, owning my own business and getting married in 1963 at Santa Cruz Church. I married my next door neighbor Jesus Aguilar, who is also a native Tucsonan. We treasure raising our family in Tucson. I have never lived in another city. My youngest daughter used my wedding dress and was married at Santa Cruz Church on October 11, 1997.

     I could go on all day, but I will end my talk with the hope that downtown Tucson will live again with the development of the Rio Nuevo Project. Rio Nuevo has been billed as a boon for downtown. I invite all of you to help me and get involved in volunteering at Carrillo School in the Barbara Bush Literacy Program.

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Agnes Hannley

   When I was five years old, my family moved from Austin, Texas to San Antonio and that is where I resided until I was ready to leave the nest. I hear a lot of people say today that they didn’t know that they were poor, well; I did. I guess it was because my mom had come from a very wealthy family and when the depression hit and wiped us out, that was about all I heard.
   I graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic Parochial School, a four story brick building right on the San Antonio River. I still have a snapshot of myself standing in the river with my uniform skirt hiked up so as not to get it wet. After graduation I entered The Swayze School of Business. As you know, at that time there was no minimum wage and my first job was as a receptionist/secretary for the Brewer Oil Company. Nine-to-five at $7.50 a week. After a short time, I moved to a wholesale wallpaper and paint company where I learned the Moon Hopkins Posting Machine. (That means bookkeeping). Now I was making $10.00 a week. I heard about the Civil Service and a test being given at the Post Office. Of course, I was right in the front row, because it meant more money. I was hired at $120.00 a month. About that time, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, 1st Lt. Hugh Lamar Moore proposed to me and off we went to Pendelton, Oregon in his new maroon and white Ford convertible. Within a few months, he went off to war as a B-17 pilot, was shot down over the North Sea, and never came home to me and his eight-month-old daughter, Maureen.
   Several years later while working as a Civil Service secretary at Lackland AFB, I met a bachelor who had already served his tour of duty in Europe, had never been married, and loved my little girl. He was a Squadron Commander, Major Vincent Paul Hannley. This time I had a real wedding!
   In the subsequent years, we (Vince and our eight children - 4 boys and 4 girls) were transferred all over: California, Colorado, Kansas, finally Shreveport, Louisiana and then back to Arizona. In addition to our eight children, we had 12 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.
   As for the Air Force, I loved it, moving often, and our children really benefited from it,
because they learned how to handle change and blend into situations.
   Finally, Vince retired after 28 years, and we moved back to Tucson, where we had been stationed twice before. He went into the insurance business and I into real estate. I worked for Roy Long for about twenty-two years and loved every minute of it. Then our lives changed drastically. Vince had a massive stroke rendering him unable to walk, talk, read or write. He was in a wheel chair, pretending that was where he wanted to be. I quit the real estate business and spent all my time at home with my sweetheart. That lasted fourteen years. It has been nine years now that I have been (not alone) but on my own. I am the proverbial “joiner”, love to be with people and TRW has been my first love. The members are all wonderful and the cause is even better!

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Nicki Nickerson

    Nicki Nickerson has been a member of TRW for over 10 years. In October, she will finish her first year as Regional Director of area II for AFRW. As a Regional Director, she attends meetings and keeps the Presidents of the different clubs (TRW, PCRW, Oro Valley and Saddle Brook) informed of the news that comes down from the National level and keeps them informed of upcoming AFRW events.
   Nicki was born in Independence, Kansas.  Growing up she was an Army brat living in ten different states and attending seven different high schools. At times, her father would send her and her mother back to Chanute to live with her grandparents making it possible for her to graduate from the Chanute High School. Nicki’s brother also continued the family’s tradition in the military but chose the Navy.
   Being used to change and travel she then became an Air Force wife when she met and married Al Nickerson. Nicki and Al have a son named Mark who lives in Tucson with his lovely wife Connie, her son is presently employed by NOAO (National Organization of Astrological Observatory. At home, Nicki has two Chihuahuas named Charlie and Misty, the most pampered of pets.
   Among other things, Nicki truly enjoys volunteering. She was President of the Toast Mistress Club while they was stationed in California. Note that the Toast Mistress Club is specifically for women. Here in Tucson she is very involved with “The West”, a retail store, that functions with the help of volunteers. She also held the President’s position twice at the Suburban Woman’s Club, a social club that works with Tucson charities. At her Episcopal Church, she works with the women in the Altar Guild.
   When asked what she enjoys most about the TRW she responded “the people”. She also added, “Every member should attend at least one AFRW convention because it will give you a good perspective”. Her most admired person is Dr. Condoleezza Rice. After spending a couple of hours with Nicki over lunch we were extremely impressed and hope each of you will have the same opportunity as we did.

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Sue Jamison

   Sue Jamison was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1928, and grew up in Shaker Heights and Canton, graduating from high school in 1946. Faced with five-year waiting lists at the colleges where she was accepted to major in journalism, Sue worked as a junior interior designer until moving to New York with friends. After several years, she joined the corporate offices of ASARCO where she became Assistant Director of Public Relations. Her tasks included writing press releases, managing photography of all the installations and being the 'staff' of the ASARCP News, sent to over 30,000 employees around the world.
   Travel became even broader when she married a naval aviator and moved to Florida, where their two sons were born, both in 1963. Older son, Jeff has two boys, Andrew, 18, and Ian, 14, and Paul has a daughter Lauren, also 14.
   Political discussion was always lively growing up with a Republican mother and an Alabama-born father who voted in desperation for Strom Thurmond for president.
   Sue's first political activities were in the 1956, Citizens for Eisenhower campaign in New York, where she was lucky enough to meet a number of folks like civil rights conservative Roy Innes.
   Most of the sixties were spent raising kids, dogs and cats and with Officer's Wives Club activities, but in Virginia Beach in 1968 it was back to politics in the Nixon campaign. She worked as PR Chair for Tidewater, celebrated the Nixon victory in Virginia and the next year was Tidewater chair for the campaign in which Linwood Holton became the first GOP governor of Virginia in a hundred years.
   After a final tour in Spain of six years, retirement was in Tucson, where teenagers occupied her time. Then as an empty nester, Sue spent the next fourteen years running public records in the County Recorders office.
   Entering politics again in 1999, Sue served as the number two person in the Bush 2000 campaign in Pima County. She revived the GOP headquarters in 2001 with an all-volunteer staff of 50. She is now in her second term on the County Executive Committee, in addition to activities in Flecha Caida HOA and other community volunteering, and, of course, the grandkids.