Greater Dallas-North Texas Chapter

Greater Dallas and North Texas Chapter History

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The Greater Dallas Retired Officers Association was chartered as an affiliate of The Retired Officers Association (TROA) in October 1967.  In March 1975, the IRS issued a determination letter recognizing the Chapter as a 501(c)(19) non-profit veterans’ organization.  The Chapter was the third TROA chapter chartered in the state of Texas.  After TROA changed its name to the Military Officers Association of America in January 2003, the Chapter officially changed its name to MOAA Greater Dallas Chapter.  The Chapter formed a satellite chapter, the North Texas Chapter, in 2013 to better serve its growing membership in the suburbs north of Dallas.  The North Texas Chapter became an independent chapter in 2015.  The chapters work independently and cooperatively for five years serving their members as well as all veterans in North Texas.  In September 2019 the leadership teams of both chapters agreed to merge the chapters in order to better serve their members.  With the approval of the membership, the chapters merged on 1 January 2020 to form the Greater Dallas and North Texas (GDNTX) Chapter of MOAA.  The merged chapter retained the best practices of each chapter.  The GDNTX Chapter retained the IRS 501(c)(4) non-profit designation to allow the chapter greater flexibility in attracting members.  It also retained the Scholarship Fund which has awarded over fifty $1,000 scholarships to JROTC cadets over the past 20 years.  Finally, it retained both chapter’s spirit of community service by supporting the Veterans Center of North Texas, a non-profit that serves over 1,000 North Texas veterans each year.

 

The GDNTX Chapter has had 36 persons serve as president since it was chartered in 1967.  The Chapter’s first president was MG Louis Rumaggi, USA (Retired).   General Rumaggi was born in 1900 and graduated from West Point in 1922.  He was a combat veteran of WWII.   His assignments include Deputy Chief Engineer, Army Forces Western Pacific, from 1945 to 1946, and as Chief of Staff, 6th Army from 1953 to 1959.  COL Sam Wilder USA (Retired) served as the first president of the North Texas Chapter.  COL Wilder was instrumental in the chartering North Texas as an independent chapter.  COL Wilder, who served in the Virginia Council of Chapters, brought energy and many fresh ideas to the legislative efforts of the Texas Council of Chapters.

 

The GDNTX Chapter has a rich history of legislative advocacy, community service, and service to its members.  The Chapter has awarded over $56,000 in scholarships to JROTC students since 2000.  The Chapter currently supports JROTC programs at 54 North Texas high schools.  Chapter members were instrumental in forming the Veterans Center of North Texas.  Since 2015 this non-profit organization has served almost 4,000 North Texas veterans and currently serves about 1,000 veterans per year.  The Chapter supports many state and local initiatives in addition to MOAA National’s legislative agenda.  The Chapter fought to preserve veterans’ Hazlewood Act education benefits in the 85th Texas Legislative Session and proposed property tax relief for severely disabled veterans in the 86th Session.  The Chapter provides information on renewing ID cards, military burials, VA disability and DIC applications.  In recognition of its efforts, the Chapter has been honored to have received nine MOAA 5-Star Levels of Excellence (LOE) award, one 4-star LOE award, and two Marvin J. Harris Communications awards.

 

The revitalized GDNTX Chapter begins 2020 with a new focus, new projects, new leadership and new initiatives to serve its members and the North Texas veteran community.