What keeps them coming back each year — and what they are looking forward to at the 2023 in-person meeting?

We recently talked with four Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative members who have been regular attendees of the Annual Meeting for years. We wanted to know what keeps them coming back each year — and what they are looking forward to at the 2023 in-person meeting.

NANCY LITTLEFIELD

Resident of: Paige

Bluebonnet member for: 16 years, although Littlefield’s family members have been Bluebonnet members since 1939, the year the cooperative was founded. 

Number of Annual Meetings attended: 22, including meetings attended with her family. 

Favorite part of the Annual Meeting: In addition to the door prizes, Littlefield enjoys the music before the Annual Meeting begins. Her favorite was a fiddler at the 2017 Annual Meeting who had learned his skills on YouTube. Littlefield has won a few prizes at Annual Meetings, including the hammock she is sitting on, above.

HELEN WEISER

Resident of: Giddings

Bluebonnet member for: 16 years; Weiser’s family has owned land in Giddings since the 1940s, she said, making her a multigenerational member of the cooperative.

Number of Annual Meetings attended: 15

Favorite part of the Annual Meeting: “I just enjoy the information that is shared,” Weiser said. “I like to know where Bluebonnet is spending money to help communities and the service it provides.”

JIMMY AND YOLANDA DAVILA

Residents of: Luling

Bluebonnet members for: 13 years

Number of Annual Meetings attended: 10; Jimmy and Yolanda (here with dog Chloe) usually go to the meeting with their neighbor, Mitchell Short.

Favorite part of the Annual Meeting: The Davilas like learning about the cooperative and the activity in Bluebonnet’s service area. “After hearing about growth at the 2019 Annual Meeting, I felt informed and prepared for the changes when I began to see the construction around the Luling and Lockhart area,” Jimmy said. Yolanda said she likes the prizes, too.

DOUGLAS AND DIANE LEUTZ

Residents of: Lexington

Bluebonnet members for: 9 years

Number of Annual Meetings attended: 5; Douglas and Diane Leutz have attended every Annual Meeting since 2017; Douglas is a second-generation Bluebonnet member whose family were members for more than 40 years; he became a member in 2014.

Favorite part of the Annual Meeting: Douglas has been attending events at The Silos on 77 (formerly the Sons of Hermann Hall) his entire life, he said. He enjoys the parties there, especially on a Tuesday afternoon in May. “It is nice to be able to go and enjoy the memories I have there and see everyone at Bluebonnet,” he said.  Diane said her favorite thing is a chance to win a truck.

Sarah Beal photos

The decades-long history of electric  cooperatives’ annual meetings

Excerpted from a story for Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative’s pages in Texas Co-op Power magazine, May 2014, by Ed Crowell:

In Texas during the 1940s, access to electricity was a given in most cities, but was new to rural residents. So, too, were the democratically controlled cooperatives that provided that electricity. Residents were member-owners, not customers, and they exercised control over their co-ops’ rates and development.

Annual meetings of cooperative members across Central Texas provided a special time to gather and share experiences, hear speeches from current and would-be Board members and then vote in their elections. Major actions that impacted co-ops’ growth and financial health were on the agendas. 

The Annual Meeting was typically a festive event: Members dressed up for the occasion, socialized and ate together, usually barbecue. They welcomed visiting speakers ranging from state legislators to federal lawmakers and governors.

They roamed through tents and booths looking at the latest in electric machinery, appliances and home comfort systems.

Entertainment came in the form of singers, dancers or storytellers. At some meetings, inspirational speakers gave members messages of hope and motivation. Children were treated to magicians, movies and balloons.

The drawing of door prizes was the highlight of the day for many members (as it often is today). With luck, a member could take home a prize from among an impressive array of items donated by local merchants and service companies.

There was plenty of fun, but the serious, primary purpose of annual meetings was summed up on the 50th anniversary of the Rural Electrification Administration [established in 1935], which backed loans that the co-ops used to build their systems. This is how the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association described that history in its 1985 anniversary book, “The Next Greatest Thing.”

“Annual meeting day became a high point of the year for many rural families … Once a year, under the co-op’s bylaws, the members assumed control. Assembled in annual meetings, they heard and acted upon the reports of their officers and employees. They elected new directors or re-On Aug. 2, 1939, the Lower Colorado River Electric Cooperative received its state charter to provide electricity to residents in 11 area counties. In 1964, 1,400 members gathered and unanimously voted to rename the cooperative Bluebonnet.