A BRIEF HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CHAPTER A OF THE GOLD WING ROAD RIDERS ASSOCIATION
GWRRA OF MICHIGAN...THE BEGINNING, BY CHARLES A. MAHONEY (EXCERPTED FORM AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE MICHIGAN WING NEWS, NOVEMBER, 1989)
The first organized chapter in Michigan of GWRRA was Chapter A. Chapter A was initially known as the South Michigan Chapter (S.E.M.C.) of the GWRRA. The territory covered by this chapter included seven Southeast counties.
Tim Upleger was the second official area representative for the above mentioned area. The first area rep was inactive and did nothing to promote or expand the association. He was so inactive no one remembers his name.
When Tim became a member in August, 1979, he had a conversation with the area rep and Mr. Phil Hildebrand, who at the time was the director of the association, living in Phoenix, Arizona. Michigan had no state director at this time. It was mutually agreed on by all concerned that Tim would take charge of the Michigan chapter and it would be named S.E.M.C. It was deliberate that the name Detroit not be included in the chapter title. The reason was the fear of losing potential suburban and rural recruits into the chapter.
So on Saturday December 8, 1979, at 7:00 pm, the very first chapter of the GWRRA in the Great Lakes region held it's first meeting. A total of nine people were present at the home of Tim and Diane Upleger in Mt. Clemens, MI. The author and his wife were in attendance at this meeting.
During the meeting, Tim pointed out that according to his computer printout from the home office Michigan had a total of seventeen members in the association. Little did anyone realize it was the start of something big.
Association membership numbers at this time, at our first meeting, were in the 800's and 1400's. An interesting side note to this first meeting: Tim would go on to become the second state director, and one of those seventeen names on the printout was that of Duane Luedecking, who became the fourth state director
Back to Chapter A. As we moved into the warm weather of 1980, the chapter meetings were moved to a restaurant that is next door to the current Chapter A meeting location. After a few east side meetings, one was held on the far west side of Detroit, This was a lure for the west siders and a recruiting tactic. It worked. The chapter continued to grow and soon were getting 60...persons at our meetings.
As the 1980 riding season came to a close, we found that members were traveling form Monroe, Novi, Pontiac, and Marine City areas for meetings and rides. Of these travelers, most were from the far west side suburbs. It was decided then that a second chapter be formed and named Michigan Chapter B.
During December, 1980, or January, 1981, Chapter B came into being. Mr. Roger Ringuette was the new area rep of the new chapter. Mr. Ringuette held that post until his untimely death in June, 1989.
With Michigan B now official, Tim changed the name from S.E.M.C. to Michigan Chapter A and our nickname became "The Pioneer Chapter of the Great Lakes" Needless to say, with a spin-off of another chapter to accommodate the west siders, attendance fell off at the meetings. However, it didn't take long to generate attendance back up to the 180 mark and this led to another spin-off and Chapters E was formed to accommodate the Oakland County members. Eventually another spin-off and Chapter F, Marine City got underway.
As you can see, we went From, A, B to E, F. As the state membership grew, Monroe, MI started Chapter C and Portage, MI started Chapter D, with Duane Luedecking as the area rep.
Our rapid growth did not come without some setbacks. During the 1983 season another Gold Wing organization know as Gold Wing Owners Association, G.W.O.A., was recruiting quite heavily and soon we were being out recruited and , in fact, several members of Chapter A were lured into active participation in the new group and their attendance fell off at Chapter A activities.
This writer vividly remembers one of the fellow members stating to me, "Go with the G.W.O.A.; you'll be sorry if you stay with the Road Riders." I informed him of my loyalty to the GWRRA and that I would sink or swim with my decision.
Well, history shows us that this national office of the G.W.O.A. went out of business and the organization broke up into independent organizations.
The following is a listing of Chapter A area reps (now know as Chapter Directors):
Tim Upleger - December 1979 to November 1980
Jim Tessner - January 1981 to July 1981
Norm Jepson - September 1981 - August 1982
Chris Fauer - September 1982 to August 1983
Robert Zabik - September 1983 to September 1984
Larry Terryn - October 1984 to October 1986
Yolanda Miller - November 1986 to November 1988
Gerry and Sally Mitchell - November 1988 to August 1989
Yolanda Miller - August 1989 to February 1990
George and Jackie Crammer - November 1990 to December 1992
Ken and Audrey Rinnert - December 1992 to December 1994
John and Pauline McClintock - January 1995 to July 1999
Mike and Cheryl Bryant - July 1999 to December 2001
Ted and Wanda Shimek - December 2001 to December 2004
Henry and Margie Nivelt - December 2004 to March 2007
Joe and Denise Stradley - March 2007 to January 2010
Chris and Sally Bobeck - April 2010 to May 2011
Rich and Donna Whittier - June 2011 to present
