Years Active: 2015-Present Bill Sleep recounts his first TEXSAR meeting in 2015 when attendees were asked, “Do you like to get muddy? Have you ever slept in a ditch? Do you like being outdoors?”  He replied, “Yes, yes and yes.” The match was made whereas previous attempts to volunteer for various organizations did not prove to be aligned with his interests, skills and background. Bill joined TEXSAR at 67 years old. Blending a love for adventure...

Years Active: 2013-Present Charlie Grove loves the outdoors and in early 2013, he searched the web for possible organizations with which to place his desire to serve in ways that took him outside.   As luck would have it, he discovered TEXSAR and its upcoming meeting was just a few minutes from his home.  “I enjoyed meeting the people and seeing their commitment,” Charlie said. “All the meetings after that were on the other side of Austin,”...

Years Active: 2015-Present Jamine Doty’s first major experience with emergency response came when she and her sister helped save the life of a Texas Department of Public Safety officer who was hit by a car as he got out of his vehicle. They were high school students at the time. “An hour after we got home, it all hit me. I had been a lifeguard for years, so I knew first aid and the importance of controlling...

Years Active: 2013-Present “We prefer to stay under the radar,” TEXSAR (Texas Search and Rescue) volunteer Joe Huston said. “We don’t see ourselves as heroes, though there are, truthfully, a lot of heroics in the work that all the team members do. Without a doubt.”  Huston has been involved in the search-and-rescue arena for more than 25 years. He joined TEXSAR in 2013.  “I first got involved in this work when I lived in The Woodlands...

Years Active: 2004-2022 Alan Huddleston has a special perspective of TEXSAR’s beginnings. He has been there from the outset; he has seen a lot of changes in the organization, and a constant thread that has run throughout its history. Together, change and constancy has created a unique formula for success. He can cite the many steps from the earliest beginnings when the quest to develop a search-and-rescue team led to the formation of an Austin-area chapter...

Years Active: 2015-Present “In preparation for a backcountry Wyoming elk hunt, I found that I needed to know how to not get lost. I ultimately found my way to TEXSAR,” said TEXSAR volunteer Greg Fair. “The idea of being of service to others while being outside appealed to me. It was the Wimberley Memorial Day flood event of 2015 that had me fall in love with this work.” Greg joined TEXSAR in April 2015 after completing...