The Director Generals of the Twentieth Century
Some thousands of persons have been integrated in Panamericanism but only ladies who have the following qualities: leadership, a sense of responsibility, knowledge, perseverance, charisma, etc., and the will to accept this one most important charge, have been elected General Directors of our continental organization, the maximum to which all who are Panamericans can aspire, dedicated to the ideals of our prestigious institution.
Through these lines let us gain a recognition of the most important parts of the lives they brought to the Panamerican Movement. To the General Directors may God give glory, long lives and our eternal gratitude.
The First General Director of the Alliance of Panamerican Round Tables was Mrs. J. Stone Robinson, of the Dallas Table, born in Nashville, Tennessee, and a great friend of Florence Terry Griswold, our Founder. Elected in Mexico in October of 1944, she held her position until May 1947.
The Second General Director was a Mexican lady, Mrs. Maurice V. Hugo, of the Mexico City Table, elected in Cuba in May 1947.
Honduras is the country where the Third General Director, Miss Olimpia Varela y Varela of the Tegucigalpa Table, was born. She was elected in Dallas, Texas in 1951.
The Fourth General Director, Mrs. Luther G. Waltrip of the Dallas Texas Table, was elected in Monterrey, Mexico, November 1953.
Mrs. William E. (Olga C.) Hendrix, of the Mexico City Table, was elected as the Fifth General Director in Porto Alegre, Brazil in November 1955.
In February 1958, Mrs. Ottilla Oliveira de Chavez, a Brazilian, was elected Sixth General Director in El Paso, Texas., and re-elected at the Guatemala Convention in 1960.
Mrs. Emma E. De Guitierrez Suárez, born in Chihuahua, Mexico and belonging to the Mexico City Table, was elected as the Eighth General Director in Mexico City March 1962 and re-elected in Lima in the IX Convention in May 1964.
Mrs. James (Madeline) C Nelson, a Texan, was elected Ninth General Director in San Antonio, Texas in 1966.
In 1968, in Nicaragua, Mrs. Carmen de Recalde, of the Managua Table, was elected the Tenth General Director and re-elected in August of l970 at the Mexico City Convention.
In October 1972 in Panama City, the Eleventh General Director, Mrs. Carmen Luz de Barrionuevo, was elected. She was born in Cusco, Peru and belongs to the Lima Table. She was re-elected in October 1974 in Albuquerque, NM. USA.
Mrs. Maxine Guerra, of the Rio Grande City Roma, Texas Table, was elected in Lima as the Twelfth General Director in October 1976.
The Thirteenth General Director was Mrs. Ruth Garcia Barna de Del Puerto, belonging to the Xalapa, Ver., Mexico Table, was elected in 1978 in Ft. Worth, Texas. and re-elected in Acapulco, Mexico in 1980.
Mrs. Esperanza Bermudez de Morales from the Managua, Nicaragua Table was the Fourteenth General Director elected in El Paso, Texas., in 1982.
In 1984, Mrs. Sara de Garcia Jaramillo from the Miraflores Lima, Peru Table was elected the Fifteenth General Director in McAllen, Texas.
In the Cancún Mexico Convention Mrs. Helena TM Richards was elected as the Sixteenth General Director in 1986. She belongs to the Los Gatos, Saratoga, California Table.
Mrs. Rebeca Osuna Westrup, from the Garza Garcia Mexico Table, was elected as the Seventeenth General Director in 1988 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In 1990, Mrs. Mila de Coquis, from the Lima, Peru Table, was elected the Eighteenth General Director in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1992, Mrs. Gladys N. Simpson, assumed the General Directorship. Mrs. Simpson, from the Odessa, Texas Table, was the Nineteenth General Director.
In 1994, in the Miami, FL, Convention, Mrs. Delia Pérez de Plata, of the Reynosa, Mexico Table, was elected the Twentieth General Director
In Puebla, Mexico, in 1996, Mrs. Ursula Wille, of the Santa Cruz South Zone Table, Bolivia, was elected the Twenty-first General Director.
Closing the millennium in 1998, Mrs. Carmen Robinson Guerra, of the McAllen, Texas Table, was elected the Twenty-second General Director at the Lima Convention.
At the convention held in San Juan de Puerto Rico, 2000, Dr. Luchy de Elias, from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic was elected General Director of the Alliance.
Fabiola García de Steffanoni from Puebla, Mexico was elected Director General at the Alliance convention held in Monterrey, N.L. México, in September 2002.
A new Director General, Norma R. de Flores, of Lima, Peru, was elected at the Alliance convention held in Cordoba, Argentina, in Octber 2004 .
Peggy Clark, member of the Corpus Christi, Texas Table, was elected the Director General of the Alliance at the 2006 convention in Corpus Christi, Texas.