Association Board
The Board of the Association is made up of 15 individuals and geographic diversity throughout the trail is ensured through our regions policy. This is the first interim board of the Association. The accomplishments of the current board to date are the non-profit organization status, the bylaws, the membership and the website.
Sally Buchanan was born and raised in San Antonio and continues to reside there. She has worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC. and as the executive director of the San Antonio chapter of the American Institute of Architects. She has served as a board member of the San Antonio River Authority since 1999 along with service as several other committees in the San Antonio Area.
Linda Curtis-Sparks currently serves as Director of the Sabine Parish Tourist Commission that promotes Toledo Bend Lake Country and includes Ft. Jesup State Park. From 1989-2002, she served as Director of the Sabine River Authority which manages Toledo Bend Reservoir and became involved in the promotion of the El Camino Real. She has served as an appointee by several Governors on numerous Commissions for the State of Louisiana and has won awards for conservation and tourism development. Linda is the sixth generation of her family to live along the El Camino Real and currently lives by one of the original crossings on the Sabine River.
Chief Rufus Davis has served as Chief and Tribal Charman of the Adais Caddo Indian Nation for 21 years. The tribal history that he compiled achieved tribal recognition by the State of Louisiana. He also facilitated placement of St. Anne, the tribe’s historic church, on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. He has served on the founding board of the Old Courthouse Museum in Natchitoches, LA, as the chairman of the advisory board of Los Adais State Park, and as commissioner on the Cane River National Area Commission.
Jesús Francisco “Frank” de la Teja is a professor and chair of the Department of History at Texas State University – San Marcos. In February 2007, Gov. Rick Perry appointed de la Teja to serve the first-ever two-year term as the state historian of Texas. He earned his doctorate in colonial Latin American history from the University of Texas at Austin writing his dissertation on Spanish San Antonio. One of his many published works include the college textbook Texas Crossroads of North America.
Gary Dunnam serves as the executive director of Victoria Preservation Inc., participating in the annual historic homes tours and cemetery tours are a part of VPI’s outreach into the community. In January of 2000, he was appointed Victoria County’s first Heritage Director, and serves in that capacity today. The Victoria County Heritage Department maintains a historic archives of Victoria County materials and is heavily involved in heritage tourism. He and his wife reside in the historic house that is Registered Texas Historic Landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lucile Estell has a master’s degree in history and taught the subject for ten years at East Texas Baptist University. Dr. Estell is a member of the Milam County Historical Commission and its symposium. She has been an active member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Rockdale Historical Society. Dr. Estelle is a retired educational administrator with many years of experience at the local school district and regional service center levels.
Joy Graham is a fourth generation Milam County Texan She is the past chair of Milam County Historical Commission and many other committees in Milam County dedicated to historical preservation. In 2003 she received the Texas Historical Commission John Ben Sheppard Leadership Award. She assisted in the planning of the Texas Brazos Trail Region and co-chaired El Camino Real de los Tejas Symposium. Her historical research was published in “Bits of History.” She is Vice President of Historic Sites and Property Preservation within the Texas State DAR organization.
Duke Lyons is City Manager of the City of San Augustine. He has promoted tourism and historic preservation of El Camino Real in East Texas and worked on getting the route recognized as a National Historic Trail. Mr. Lyons has established the first visitor’s center on El Camino Real de los Tejas.
Carl Mica served as an ex-officio member during the first year of the Association‘s existence, as an employee of the Office of US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. He now works as the Director of Business Relations for The University of Texas System. He is also on the Board of Directors for St. Michaels Catholic Academy in Austin, where he resides with his wife.
John Oglesbee
Melissa Sanford is Executive Director of the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau. El Camino was one of the streets that the “oldest city in Texas” was planned around. Melissa has been promoting tourism and travel in the City of Nacogdoches for nearly a decade.
Andrew Sansom has served on the board of organizations including the Texas Historical Foundation, Bat Conservation International, and the National Audubon Society. He worked as the Executive Director for both Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Nature Conservancy before acquiring his current position as Executive Director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University. He is dedicated to conservation, historic preservation, and heritage tourism and has a great deal of experience in those areas.
Richard G. Santos is the former chairman of the Bexar County Historical Commission, former vice-chairman of San Antonio Alamo Plaza Committee, and the former chairman of Zavala County Historical Commission. He is an advocate of historic heritage tourism and the development of El Camino Real de los Tejas, as reflected in his published articles on the subject in the San Antonio Express-News and the Zavala County Sentinel. He is currently the Grants Manager for the City of Pearsall.
Raymond Starr serves on many organizations in Goliad area, including: Goliad County Library; Amigos of Goliad State Park; the Board of The Goliad Paddling Trail; the Board of Presidio La Bahia; the San Antonio River Authority; and as chairman of the Goliad Historical Commission, among others. He worked as professor of history at San Diego State University for many years. He has numerous articles and books published on various topics of history in the United States.
Mark Stine was the Director for The Texas Heritage Cycling Experience, a club of cyclists that tour on famous historic Texas routes, including El Camino Real de los Tejas. He initiated the 2005 legislative update to the Texas Transportation Code that created collaboration between involved parties to identify potential bicycle tourism routes and trails. He now works as a Coordinator of the BikeTexas Trail Doctors Program within the Texas Bicycle Coalition.
John Stockley has served as chairman on the Maverick County Historical Commission, as a member of the Texas Archeological Society, and as a member of the Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce, specializing in history and archaeology for that group. He is a charter member of the Comite Promotor Para la Restauracion de San Bernardo, a Mexican government program that seeks to restore Missions at Guerrero, Coahuila. He has worked to preserve historical assets in Maverick County, and currently works as the director of the Fort Duncan Museum.
Ricardo “Rick” Villarreal has been director of The Republic of the Rio Grande Museum in Laredo since 2000. As tour guide for the Webb County Heritage Foundation, he leads groups through a two hour presentation of South Texas history and culture. He has completed course work at Laredo Community College, Texas A&M International University (Laredo), San Antonio College, and UT Austin, focusing on theater studies, visual arts, psychology and history. Rick was recently selected to serve on the board of the Texas Tropical Trails, where he has participated in monthly meetings for several years.
Kay Wesson is the County Commissioner for Bastrop County. She works with the County Historical Society giving tours on local history, and she helped rededicate three Daughters of the American Revolution markers on El Camino Real. Bastrop is a frontier colony on El Camino Real and Kay is knowledgeable of the history of the route and ways to market this history.
Ex officio members of the Board are:
Janie Headrick, Texas Historical Commission
Pending, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathy McMurphy, Texas Department of Transportation
Cynthia Brandimarte, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Tomas Larralde, Office of U.S. Representative Ciro Rodriguez