BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ALLIANCE
Mrs. James Nelson, Assistant Director General of the Alliance as requested by the Alliance Board, meeting in Honduras, wrote,this informal history of the Organization:
After the formation of the PART of Monterrey, Mexico in 1944, Mrs. Florence Terry Griswold founder of the Pan American Round Tables in 1916, thought it would be a good idea to form an Alliance of Pan American Round Tables between the countries of the Hemisphere. She authorized the organization of a Table in Mexico City as early as 1928, and it was still active.
In 1944, Miss Ruth Coit of San Antonio, to whom goes the credit for the actual word "Alliance" and the title "Alliance of Pan American Round Tables", went to Mexico City to meet with the ladies of Mexico and actually draw up a working constitution, etc. Accompanying her were other ladies from Texas, amongst whom these names were given to me: Mrs. Walter Nolte, Mrs. Henry Guerra, Mrs. Dixie Waltrip, Miss Ruth Sargent and Mrs. D’Arcy Cashin.
The first elected Director General of the Alliance of Pan American Round Tables was Mrs. Maurice Hugo, of Mexico City. Prior to this, Mrs. Griswold had been Director and then Mrs. Stone Robinson, Dallas, "inherited" Mrs. Griswold’s position as State and International Director as Mrs. Griswold had depended on her heavily during a last serious illness in her life and she knew more about the work than any one else.
The following ladies have served as Alliance Directors since: Mrs. Hugo; Sra. Olimpia Varela y Varela, Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Mrs. Dixie Waltrip, Dallas, Texas; Mrs. E. E. Hendrix, Mexico; Sra. Ottilia de 0. Chaves, Porto Alegre, Brazil; and Sra. Emma Guttierrez, Suarez, Mexico.
Alliance Conventions have been held in Mexico City, 1944; Havana, Cuba, 1947; Dallas, Texas, 1951; Monterrey, Mexico, 1953; Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1955; El Paso, Texas, 1958; Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1960; Mexico City, 1962. About 1956, it was decided by the Board and later by the entire organization, to have State and National Conventions in the odd-numbered years and the International Conventions in the even ones.