Cooke County club reports Deon Starnes honored at Tribute to Women luncheon

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Deon Starnes, representing Cooke County Republican Women, was recognized at the Texas Federation of Republican Women's Tribute to Women luncheon in Georgetown on Sept. 17, 2022, the local club reported in its October newsletter. Club records say she had recently finished almost nine years as Senate District 30 committeewoman on the State Republican Executive Committee.

The federation holds the tribute every two years so member clubs can single out women for work done for the club, for Republican candidates and for the party, according to its description of the 2022 program.

Starnes twice chaired the committee responsible for arranging the state Republican convention, according to a biography in the club's September 2022 newsletter. At that time she was district director for state Sen. Drew Springer. The same biography counts 12 years as a precinct chair in neighboring Denton County and two election cycles administering the Republican primary there.

The club that put her name forward was organized in 1991 and by 2022 was affiliated with both the state and national federations of Republican women. Its members logged more than 7,000 hours of political volunteer work in the first nine months of that year, the club's November newsletter reported, and wrote hundreds of postcards for Denton County candidate Kronda Thimesch.

| Cooke County Republican Women, reported 2022 activity | Total |

| --- | ---: |

| Political volunteer hours, January–September | 7,309 |

| Political volunteer hours, third quarter | 1,105 |

| Postcards written for Kronda Thimesch | More than 350 |

Earlier Cooke County Republican Women honorees included Patricia Peale and Sharron Acker. The club names Peale as its 1994 honoree and records her service as county Republican chair from 1994 to 1999 and as club president in 2002 and 2003, according to its Voice newsletter. Acker was honored in 2008, and the club's June 2015 newsletter reports that she joined the Callisburg ISD school board in May 2013 and was named board president right away.

A second woman with a Cooke County tie was recognized at the 2022 luncheon. Sue-Lynn Voigt, an associate member of the local club and the federation's Senate District 30 director, was honored by Iron Tracks Republican Women of Van Alstyne, the October newsletter said.

The national federation keeps its own count of member activity. Clubs had reported roughly 5.6 million volunteer hours and about 1.6 million political calls across its first two reporting periods, the National Federation of Republican Women said in an Aug. 24, 2022 announcement. The national group later reported more than 14.5 million hours for its 2022-2023 awards cycle. Both are organization-reported totals.

The state federation set its next Tribute to Women luncheon for Oct. 26, 2024, again in Georgetown. Its published rules let a club with 100 or fewer members name one honoree, a club of 101 to 200 members name two and a club of at least 201 members name three.