Award for Long and Distinguished Service
Each year the Texas Mayflower Society anxiously anticipates presentation of the
Annual Award for Long and Distinguished Service.
This award recognizes a member whose dedication, leadership, and faithful service have made a lasting and meaningful impact upon the Texas Society.
2026 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Judie Rew Allen
Judie Allen has given years of faithful and devoted service to the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants, serving with distinction at both the Colony and State levels. Among her many roles, she served as Governor of the Texas Society from 2019 to 2021, leading with grace and steadiness through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. During that time she produced memorable 2020 Commemoration projects — including Gone to Texas: How Mayflower Descendants Got to Texas — and created educational YouTube presentations about the Plimoth Pilgrims, helping preserve and share our history in creative and lasting ways.
Her contributions extend far beyond her term as Governor. She has served as Recording Secretary, Board of Assistants Representative, Bylaws Chair, Nominating Committee Chair, Deputy Governor General, and Assistant Deputy Governor General. At the Colony level, she has served the Corpus Christi Colony as Governor, Elder, and enthusiastic educator — sharing her knowledge with Colony members and school groups alike. Those who nominated Judie described her as tireless, knowledgeable, generous, and unfailingly dedicated — someone whose warmth, beautiful smile, and willing spirit make her a true example of what a Texas Mayflower member aspires to be.
We honor Judie Allen as the 2026 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
2025 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Mike Byrne
Since joining the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants in 2009,
Mike Byrne has been a cornerstone of our organization, giving
generously of his time, knowledge, and talents at both the
Colony and State levels. A proud member of the San Antonio Colony,
Mike has served in numerous leadership roles including Colony
Governor from 2013 to 2015, Captain, Corresponding Secretary,
Board of Assistants Representative, and Chair of both the
Nominations and Finance Committees. Beyond his formal roles, he has shared his deep passion for history as a dedicated speaker and guide at the Alamo, bringing our Pilgrim heritage to life for members and visitors alike.
Among Mike's most remarkable contributions is his gift for bringing people together through exceptional event planning. His meticulous organization of the 2022 Texas State Meeting in San Antonio — encompassing venues, meals, accommodations, a River Walk barge ride, and tours of the San Antonio Missions — made it a truly memorable occasion. He then took on the extraordinary challenge of planning both the 2025 Texas State Meeting and the 2025 General Board of Assistants meeting, events expected to draw hundreds of attendees from across the country. Through it all, Mike has served with quiet dedication, selflessness, and an unwavering commitment to the mission of our Society that is truly unmatched.
We honor Mike Byrne as the 2025 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
2024 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Sheryl Schilling
Sheryl Schilling has been a quiet and dedicated force within the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants, serving faithfully at both the Colony and State levels with exceptional organizational skill and a deep commitment to preserving our history. As Historian for the Houston Colony, she has maintained an extensive scrapbook of photographs and documents, carefully capturing the essence of each event for future generations. She has also designed tri-folds for Colony and State meetings, assisted with educational projects, and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure every gathering runs smoothly.
At the State level, Sheryl has served as Assistant Historian, Co-Historian, and Board of Assistants Representative, and currently serves as Digital Archivist — a role she embraces with great care and dedication. She regularly travels to the UTSA storage site to survey and digitize historical records belonging to the Texas Society, some of which can now be viewed on the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants website. In a particularly meaningful act of preservation, she retrieved the Texas Mayflower Charter from a broken frame, had it professionally remounted, and reframed it with archival glass so that it may be treasured for generations to come.
We honor Sheryl Schilling as the 2024 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
2023 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Sandy Sauers
Sandy Sauers has devoted her time and talents to honoring our Pilgrim ancestors through education, serving the Houston Colony and the Texas Society in many meaningful ways. A former Publications Chair, she currently serves as Texas Education Chair — a role that suits her perfectly. Sandy has created and distributed Museum Boxes to schools across the area, spending her summers carefully updating each one with lesson plans, books, maps, charts, and colony toys to bring Pilgrim history to life for young students. Her mini Museum Box displays at Board of Assistants and State meetings caught the attention of the wider Mayflower community — a photograph published in the Mayflower Quarterly magazine drew inquiries from other member societies, and Sandy generously shared her lesson plans and details with all who asked.
In another wonderful contribution, Sandy used materials from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants to compile a booklet containing brief biographies of all Mayflower Pilgrims with descendants. Concise and portable, it has become a cherished and practical reference guide for members and anyone with an interest in Mayflower ancestry.
We honor Sandy Sauers as the 2023 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
2022 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Lisa Pennington
Lisa Pennington is an avid genealogist and historian whose service to the Mayflower community spans local, state, and national levels. Within the Texas Society she has served as Counsellor and Elder, and as a member of the Houston Colony she has held the roles of Governor, Treasurer, and Captain. Her leadership extends to the Isaac Allerton Society, where she served as Governor, Deputy Governor, and Assistant, and to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, where she served as Member-at-Large-West — traveling to speak to member societies across the western United States.
Among her most enduring contributions, Lisa initiated the popular series of monthly virtual lectures for The Mayflower Society in 2019, hosting sessions herself while continuing to research and present engaging PowerPoint presentations on Mayflower history. She also serves on the board of the historic Mayflower Society Meetinghouse in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and currently serves The Mayflower Society as Counsellor General — a testament to the trust and respect she has earned throughout the broader Mayflower community.
We honor Lisa Pennington as the 2022 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
2021 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Eizabeth Heise
Elizabeth Heise, a Brownsville resident and proud member of the Corpus Christi Colony, has made a remarkable impact on the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants through her expertise in genealogy, technology, and member services. Serving as Co-Historian at the State level since 2017, she has gone far beyond record-keeping — implementing programs that have streamlined the membership application and supplemental process at both the Texas and national levels, and personally assisting more than 200 individuals in joining our Society. She has also shared her knowledge of DNA research through educational programs offered to our Society and other genealogy organizations.
In addition to these contributions, Elizabeth devoted countless hours to building a membership database that members can access directly through our website — a lasting gift that will serve the Society for years to come. She further extends her service at the national level, currently serving on the Bylaws Committee of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
We honor Elizabeth Heise as the 2021 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
2020 Texas Mayflower Society Annual Award Recipient
Peggy Marsh
Peggy Marsh, a Sugar Land resident and devoted member of the Houston Colony, has served the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants with energy and creativity across many roles. At the State level she has held positions including Publications Chairman, Recording Secretary, and member of the Public Relations Committee — for which she crafted engaging news releases and public service announcements. As Co-Chairman of the 2020 Planning Committee, she helped organize the Society's float and participants in the Tyler Rose Parade and coordinated a memorable event at Washington on the Brazos.
Perhaps her most lasting contribution has been her passionate work on behalf of junior members. As Junior Committee Chairman, Peggy developed age-appropriate curriculum, distributed newsletters, and worked to simplify the junior membership process — even helping draft a bylaws amendment on their behalf and encouraging every Texas Colony to establish its own junior chairman. She also launched the Houston Colony's junior program, organizing their meetings and activities from the ground up. At the national level, she served on the General Society's Junior Committee and created educational flash drives now used as a resource to strengthen junior programs across all member states.
We honor Peggy Marsh as the 2020 Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants Award for Long & Distinguished Service.
Texas Society of Mayflower Descendents
Annual Awards
2005 • Barbara Williams
2006 • Lola Haden McDaniel
2007 • Deborah Werner
2008 • Ross Shipman
2009 • Pat Howard
2010 • No Recipient
2011 • Bart Henson
2012 • William Newcomb
2012 • Donald Prey
2013 • Susan Ashbaugh
2013 • Carol Burnaman
2014 • Betty Corcoran
2014 • Mike Nichols
2015 • Charles Prince
2015 • Michael Byrne
2016 • Prarie Counce
2017 • Leah Davis
2018 • Linda Hill
2019 • Pat Nichols
2020 • Peggy Marsh
2021 • Elizabeth Heise
2022 • Lisa Pennington
2023 • Sandy Sauers
2024 • Sheryl Schilling
2025 • Mike Byrne
2026 • Judie Allen