Henderson County Retired School Personnel Association

11/14/2025

Members of Henderson County Retired School Personnel Association (HCRSPA) were fortunate to have Candice Roberts, a Licensed Child-Care Administrator with In His Hands Children’s Home located in Trinidad, Texas, as the speaker at their November 12th meeting.

Their “General Residential Operation is a licensed, non-profit, non-denominational charitable children's home for up to 20 girls, specializing in quality residential care of neglected, abused,
and homeless children ages 0-17.“

Candice noted that they always try to keep siblings together; so, their long-term goal is to eventually add a second building to house boys so they can keep brothers and sisters together. Currently, brothers have to go to a different home – a lot of times in Houston.

For more information about this very worthwhile organization and how you can help, please visit their page at In His Hands Children’s Home or their website at www.inhishandschildrenshome.com. They have both short-term and long-term goals listed that you can help them achieve.

10/14/2025

Two Henderson County Veterans were honored in a Quilts of Valor ceremony at the October 8th meeting of Henderson County Retired School Personnel Association (HCRSPA).

Audrey Martens, Coordinator of the Safari Quilter’s Group of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, awarded quilts to Bill Davidson, husband of HCRSPA member Beth Davidson, and Boyd Foster, husband of HCRSPA member Delores Foster. Audrey was assisted in the presentations by Audra Laneri and Roylynn Ormand.

Bill Davidson served in the U. S. Army as an Aircraft Specialist for Helicopter Parts in Nha Trang, Vietnam, from 1965-1966.

Boyd Foster served in the U. S. Army from 1960-1963 and spent his last year and a half in Frankfort, Germany, serving as an Army Specialist with the Corporal Missile Unit.

The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor. For more information about Quilts of Valor please visit www.qovf.org.

HCRSPA meets on the second Wednesday of each month, September – May, at Athens First Methodist Church, currently in the Modern Worship Center. Anyone who is a retired public school employee is invited to join. Any person interested in public education and willing to work to achieve the objectives of TRTA is also welcome to join.

HCRSPA was founded on September 25, 1974, and has been active in Athens and Henderson County as a service organization through its Scholarships, Books for Children and Community Service programs for the past 50 years. For more information about HCRSPA, please email us at hendersoncrspa@gmail.com

Shown in the picture from left are Roylynn Ormond, Audra Laneri, Veteran Bill Davidson, husband of HCRSPA member Beth Davidson, Veteran Boyd Foster, husband of HCRSPA member Delores Foster, and Audrey Martens.

10/08/2025

HCRSPA Treasurer Betty Gore, President Malcolm Quattlebaum and 1st VP Stella Sikes attended the TRTA District 7 Fall Conference on Tuesday, October 7, in Henderson, Texas.

10/08/2025

HCRSPA will be meeting this Wednesday in the Modern Worship Center at Athens First Methodist Church. Refreshments begin at 1:30 and the meeting will begin at 2 pm.

Our program will be honoring all veterans and two Quilts of Valor will be presented to Boyd Foster and Bill Davidson.

All are welcome to attend.

09/06/2025

Our first meeting of the 2025-2026 year will be held Wednesday, September 10, at Athens First Methodist Church in the Modern Worship Center. We will begin with a potluck lunch at 12 noon followed by our meeting at 1 pm. Texas State Representative Keith Bell will be our featured speaker. All are welcome to join us at
our meeting.

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05/21/2025

Henderson County Retired School Personnel Association (HCRSPA) awarded scholarships to six graduating seniors from Henderson County high schools at their May 14th meeting. The students all aspire to become teachers and/or coaches, and they each excel academically.

From Athens High School, Eden Carnes received a $2,000 scholarship, funded by HCRSPA’s grant from the Cain Foundation; Cloey Peters received a $2,000 scholarship, donated in memory of Dan Bennett and Mack Gore; and Kylee Dodd received a $1,000 scholarship, donated in memory of Inez and Bill Green.

Adriana Estrada, from LaPoynor High School, received a $1,000 scholarship from HCRSPA.
Bradie Cooper, from Brownsboro High School, received a $1,000 scholarship from HCRSPA.
Skyler Skinner, from Eustace High School, received a $2,000 scholarship, funded by HCRSPA’s grant from Operation Round Up/TVEC Charitable Foundation.

Pictured from left are Eden Carnes, AHS; Cloey Peters, AHS; Kylee Dodd, AHS; Adriana Estrada, LaPoynor HS and Bradie Cooper, Brownsboro HS. (Not shown – Skyler Skinner, Eustace HS)

05/13/2025

Our May meeting will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, May 14, in the Modern Worship Center at Athens First Methodist Church. This meeting will begin at 12 noon with a luncheon honoring our six scholarship winners from Henderson County high schools, followed by our regular business meeting. All of the winners plan to study education in college and become teachers.

This is our last meeting until September. For more information, contact us at hendersoncrspa@gmail.com.

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04/30/2025

Athens Mayor Aaron 'Bubba' Smith spoke at our April 9th meeting, providing us with updates on projects going on in the city, including capital improvements and new hotels as well as housing and apartment developments.

We also heard a presentation from Athens ISD Superintendent Dr. Janie Sims outlining the projects the School District hopes to accomplish with the passage of the Athens ISD Bond. Early voting ended April 29, but May 3 is Election Day.

City Councilman Cody Craig also spoke in support of the School Bond, highlighting the personal impact the School District has had on his own family.

04/08/2025

Athens Mayor Aaron Smith, Athens ISD Superintendent Dr. Janie Sims and Athens ISD Toni Clay will be speaking at the HCRSPA meeting this Wednesday, April 9, at 2 pm, in the Modern Worship Center of Athens First Methodist Church. Mayor Smith will be bringing us up to date on what's going on in Athens. Dr. Sims and Toni Clay will be speaking to us about the upcoming school bond election.

Refreshments will be served beginning at 1:30. Please feel free to join us.

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10/15/2024

Congressman Lance Gooden, U.S. Representative for Texas’s 5th Congressional District, was the guest speaker at the October 9 meeting of Henderson County Retired School Personnel Association (HCRSPA). Congressman Gooden updated the group on the progress of HR82
which seeks to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Those two provisions partially, if not completely, eliminate Social Security benefits for persons who retired from employment not covered by Social Security, such as Texas teachers, even if part of their careers were spent at employment covered by Social Security. It also prevents most of those retirees from receiving spousal benefits or widow(er) benefits for a spouse who spent their career at employment covered by Social Security. Congressman Gooden also updated the group on some of the other matters going on in our nation’s capital.

HCRSPA meets on the second Wednesday of each month, September – May, at Athens First Methodist Church. Anyone who is a retired public school employee – teacher, para-professional, administrator, maintenance worker and others – is invited to join us.

Pictured are HCRSPA President Jan Bennett, Rep. Lance Gooden, and HCRSPA Legislative Committee Co-Chair Lynn Hoover.

09/30/2024

Our October meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 9, in the Modern Worship Center at Athens First Methodist Church beginning with refreshments at 1:30 pm followed by the meeting at 2 pm. We are excited to have our U.S. Representative Lance Gooden as our guest speaker.

Anyone who is a retired public school employee - teacher, para-professional, administrator, maintenance worker and others - as well as anyone who is interested in supporting retired public school employees, is welcome to join us.

HCRSPA was founded on September 25, 1974, and has been active in Athens and Henderson County as a service organization through its Scholarships, Books for Children and Community Service programs for the past 50 years. For more information about HCRSPA, please email us at hendersoncrspa@gmail.com.

Send a message to learn more

09/16/2024

A big THANK YOU goes out to Brookshire's for donating this wonderful cake for our 50th Anniversary celebration!