Andrea Lowe: 

 

Andrea is from a city called Peoria and has lived in Arizona all of her life! Growing up she had two brothers and one sister, then about five years ago their family added two more kids from Russia, a boy and a girl. She loves big families!

She has worked for GWRRA for almost 11 years. Andrea worked as the receptionist for about two years, then worked her way back to Member Services. For the last six years, she was the Manager of Paul Hildebrand's side hobby, Pipe Makers Emporium, and is now the Supervisor of Member Services.

 

She processes new and renewal memberships, answers customers' phone calls, data entry and much, much more. Andrea loves working at GWRRA with our Members and her fellow associates. She is excited to see what the next twenty years look like!

 
On a personal note, Andrea has a wonderful husband, three kids and one on the way! In her spare time she loves to scrapbook, hang out with her kids and husband, travel, any water sports, spend time with her friends, and just relax (when she has the time)! 

  

Gold Wing Road Riders Association takes pride in providing a great service to the GWRRA membership in the form of a discounted medical benefit program, Aflac. Most folks hear about Aflac through their employers, but now you are eligible for either a personal accident or cancer policy through our Association Program with Aflac. 

 

In these tough economic times and rising medical costs, we are very grateful to Aflac for offering our Members a discounted program.  For more than 50 years, Aflac has provided guaranteed-renewable insurance policies for millions of people worldwide. Aflac's voluntary insurance can help association members be prepared for unexpected life events. Aflac's voluntary policies offer GWRRA Members the option to apply for insurance plans that can address their families' needs and individual situations.

 

For instance, Aflac's accident policy pays cash benefits that policyholders can use where they're needed most in the event of an untimely medical emergency. The cash benefits can be used toward expenses like house payments, groceries, and car payments while you are away from work recovering from an injury.

 

For more information, call 800-220-9610 or go to www.chooseaflac.com/gwrralead

 

This new feature is going to appear each month that we get feedback from you, our Members. But first, I am going to explain its goal or intent!

 

The intent of this space..."How GWRRA has Impacted My Life!" is to share how your life, either personally or professionally, has been changed, enhanced or impacted in some positive way because of your involvement with GWRRA and its Members and Officers. Please address your e-mails to me at here.  

 

And to show you what we mean, I am going to write the first story. As I may have explained earlier, I met Paul and Shirley during Wing Ding I in 1979. After volunteering for that event, I moved to Colorado in 1980 with my wife and bought my first Gold Wing -- A used, black, 1975 GL 1000 with Samsonite bags and a Vetter fairing. Paul found out and called me to start the first Chapter in Colorado. You don't say NO to Paul, so of course, I did! :)

 

From that point on, I started a few more Chapters and took some Rider Ed courses, because that was our focus! SAVE LIVES! I was on my way back from a new Chapter Gathering in Colorado Springs with 4 other couples (I was the tail-gunner), when I had a rear tire blow out at 75 mph. My wife freaked!

 

I remember it as if it were yeaterday. This was in 1981. I recall telling her to just sit still and don't move. (I just finished my Rider Ed course two weeks prior.) The rear end was wobbling terribly and we were on I-25, right lane, staggered formation, just like the book.....but the books weren't written yet!

 

I remember the instructor saying "NO BRAKES!", if this situation even happened. Luckily, I did not panic and just eased off the accelerator and started pulling to the right into the curb lane. I also remember big rigs zooming by us so fast I thought we would be pulled under their tires...it was so scarey! Luckily, when we got to the side and got slow enough, we let the bike just fall over.

 

We were both so grateful I just had that class! I will always be grateful to GWRRRA for promoting Safe Riding and having the continued INTENTION of SAVING LIVES!!!

 

As far as my professional life is concerned, I was a machinist for 17 years and was always taking classes to get out of the shop some day. Not that the profession did not serve me well, I just always wanted something different. When I finally got out of the service and decided to go back to college and finish my degree, GWRRA assisted in my leadership training through its Officers Training Program. And when I was your Executive Director (in the early nineties), I learned more about leadership, and volunteer management, than any University could ever teach me.

 

So, from my perspective, GWRRA has much to offer and has done much in my personal and professonal life to assist me in becoming a more fulfilled person, as well as a better rider and professional individual! Plus, I am here to talk about it!! What a better testimonial, eh?

 

Now, send me your stories and we'll see about getting them published here, in Wing World or on the GWRRA website. I look forward to hearing from you.