Bob Merzoian – Vice President, Central Region

I've always been a pack-rat of sorts...still trying to overcome it, but that's another story. I began my interest in insulators during high school with one of my closest pals, Duane Davenport. One swelteringly hot Porterville (California) summer day, driving in the country, we spotted a phone company wrecking crew leaving behind glass and poles...we grabbed 50 or so pieces and went to Duane's house to examine the spoils and the darned things out....hmmm. Unfortunately I still have those pesky Hemi 154's out at the ranch...along with a couple of thousand other common-as-dirt insulators we gathered in our early naive years as fledgling collectors.

A couple of years later I went off to Fresno State University and promptly replaced glass with my rock band, studies, and girls (not necessarily in that order). From there to the work world and still no glass reunion. Duane had also been in-and-out of the hobby, but plunged back into it in the mid 80's. He convinced me to go to the Fresno National show in 1989 and wham, I got hooked again! I became quite active in the early 90's upon attending the Albuquerque show and subsequently talking glass during my many stays over the years at Duane's place in New Mexico. I began attending shows and tailgaters in our fair state and now feel I have become a permanent fixture in our wacky hobby. I have met so many wonderful people along the way who have made the glass seem almost secondarily important. As I recorded so many times making my insulator DVD..."It's the people." Just imagine having no one to share your "jewels" with...pretty empty thought , eh?

Finally, I specialize in Hemi 162's and 145's, Cals, and anything with character...bubbles, swirls, U.F.O.'s, etc. I love good color! I love the history. I love the "hunts" and the stories that go with them...and the gatherings of friends and acquaintances. What's not to like about our hobby?!

Dwayne Anthony – Vice President, Southern Region

I began my insulator collecting career in 1985. My first major insulator show was the 1987 Fresno National, hosted by Mike Guthrie. I walked away from that show completely dumbfounded -- one insulator had a shocking price tag of $1,500! It's amazing how time and the popularity of this hobby have since shattered that record many times over.

I currently hold about 300 insulators in my collection, which are all on display. I primarily collect early telegraph threaded color and dramatic, junky UFOs (unbelievable foreign objects) found in glass insulators. This includes, but is not limited to: coins, nails, fish hooks, bottle caps, rocks, wire, unusual heavy swirls and huge bubbles or masses of bubbles—just about anything highly unusual. Other specialties include colorful lightning rod and radio strain insulators.

I served as the National Insulator Association President for the two-year term of 1992-94. I hosted the 1995 NIA Western Regional Show in Visalia, CA, and co-hosted the 1996 NIA National Show in Long Beach, CA. In the spring of 1995 I released my first edition of The Collectors' Color Catalog of Desirable Insulators, a consignment-based insulator auction service. My wife, Ofelia, has since collaborated with me on this endeavor, and our auction is now offered under the title of Open-Wire Insulator Services. We currently present our auctions in both Internet and hardcopy catalog form. This is a part-time sideline business for us and we enjoy it mostly for the friendships it establishes with other collectors. I am also involved in an ongoing educational and awareness project that provides documentation materials and color altered insulator samples for public educational purposes, for which I proudly received the National Insulator Association's 1998 Outstanding Service Award, which in turn partially led to the NIA Lifetime Membership Award in 2004. I enjoy traveling to insulator shows and have thus far attended 20 NIA National Shows across the country.

Ofelia and I live in Highland, CA, right at the base of Hwy 330, which leads up to the famed Big Bear Lake and ski resort. In addition to being GSIC members, we also belong to the Grand Canyon State Insulator Club and the Jefferson State Insulator Club. We always enjoy visits from fellow collectors and club members, so please arrange for a visit sometime!

Howard Banks – Board Member, Northern Region

Howard started collecting bottles around 1962, and switched to insulators in 1967 after finding 115 CD 321's in the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah. Howard collects insulators that he can verify were actually used on specific historic lines... such as on the 1st Transcontinental Telegraph Line, Transcontinental Rail Road, the Collins Line, etc. Howard lives in Lostine, Oregon, is a member of the National Insulator Association and Jefferson State Insulator Club, and publishes Crown Jewels of the Wire magazine.

Bill Harrison – Board Member, Northern Region

I started collecting insulators in 1974 along with my wife Lulu.While passing through Chico we stopped to visit a friend, who was about to toss out two wooden prune boxes of dirty insulators. Not knowing what we were getting ourselves into,we loaded them up and brought them home. After going through the boxes we realized we had to find a sorce of information on insulators. We found a copy of 800 Insulators with a copywright of 1971 by Schroeders and started collecting. Later in the year we were at the San Jose Ca. flea market and ran into Bill Heitkotter and a 12 or 14 year old Bill Rohde. We saw them there a couple more times and bought a nice Mickey from them. We lost interest in about 1977 and took a hiatas for about 20 years. In 1996 with the advent of the internet and the purchase of a home computer we were back at it with enthusiasm. We moved in August 2000 to Manteca, CA to a larger home wiith more room for insulators.

We speciallize in Mickeys, 196's and Cal Electrics. We also have a pretty complete collection of tramps, Californias, power pieces, E.C.& M's and Chambers. It is really hard to concentrate on one or two CD's for us. We enjoy the variety shapes and colors.

Ron Jenkins - Board Member, Southern Region

I have been a Journeyman Lineman for 32 years, starting in 1969 for a small company in Big Piney Wyoming. I have been working for Southern California Edison for the past 20 years the last ten years as an electrical crew foreman. I started liking insulators around 1973 when I was a young apprentice and a lineman friend of mine had these neat giant two piece insulators he took down in Montana. That started me keeping everything I took down thinking power glass was the only thing and it had to be aqua or I didn't like it. No clear... When I moved to California in 1982 I found an old Crown Jewels magazine in my inlaws' garage. I believe it was a 1973 issue and wrote to Dora Harned to ask if they still collected insulators and still published the magazine. Well I found out that collecting insulators was alive and well and immediatly subscribed. I saw that there was a show coming up in Bakersfield put on by a guy named Dee Willett. Well I went to the show 1983 and the first two people I met were Frank Feher and Grant Salzman and a big table full of the most colorful glass you could imagine. I could not believe my eyes, I never knew anything like that existed and was immediatly hooked on insulators forever. I joined the NIA and tried to make every show that came along. the rest is history. My main interest now consists of colorful cables, Hemingray signals and Denver Tolls.

Christian Willis – Webmaster

Christian got started in the hobby at age 10 in 1991 after a chance buy at an antique shop. He and his dad, Bud, found a "green glass thing" priced for $3 that turned out to be a CD 154 Hemingray-42. This got them both excited about the hobby, but specifically Hemingray insulators for Christian. He became a member of the N.I.A. in 1993 and still specializes in Hemingray insulators today. He and his wife Maggi currently reside in Mission Viejo, CA, and try to attend all of the local club shows when they can. Along with managing the Golden State Insulator Club web site, Christian also has his own personal Hemingray insulators web site (Hemingray.info), and draws Laugh Lines, a comic for the insulator hobby.