Magic has touched us from our very founding when Joleen Reynolds, then a deputy president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, gathered a group of eight women to form a new Republican women’s club in the summer of 1978. It was designed to serve that part of Houston called the Magic Circle and now known as the Galleria area. More than 120 women attended a membership coffee at the home of Penny Butler, who is still an active member of Magic Circle. Honored were founding members who were wives of elected officials or candidates for office: Nellie Connally (Governor John Connally, presidential candidate), Ann Mather (Russ Mather, chairman of Harris County Republican Party), Susan Baker (James A. Baker III, candidate for Attorney General) and Eleanor Archer (the mother of Congressman Bill Archer).

In 1979, Magic Circle federated with 186 members, setting a new state record. We were immediately the fourth largest club in Texas and the largest in Harris County, with the distinction of having as members the wives of two1980 presidential candidates. Barbara Bush was honored as a founding member upon her return from China, where her husband had been serving as State Department liaison officer. She hosted our second meeting in her Houston home. In 1983, she graciously hosted us at her residence at the Vice President’s home and, in 1991, First Lady Barbara Bush invited us to tea upstairs at the White House. Briefings in the State Department and Congress provided the perfect finale for our second Magic Circle trip to Washington, D.C.

Our club president’s brother, Pete Roussel, then press secretary to President Ronald Reagan, hosted a truly extraordinary event, which included Marlin Fitzwater, Sam Donaldson and Helen Thomas, who met with us and fielded questions. Events, programs and achievements over the years have been the result of the efforts of a remarkable group of women, incomparable opportunities, and the convergence of time and place – MAGIC INDEED!