Georgeann Johnson moved to Batesville from Grenada where she was an active member of the Junior Auxiliary there. She was instrumental in getting together 25-30 ladies to meet with the NAJA Admissions Committee in October 1969 at First United Methodist Church.
Patsy Magee was elected the first president. Until you are accepted as a petitioning chapter, you cannot be called a junior auxiliary, so they were called the Batesville Auxiliary.
First year's money making projects were Bridge Benefit, Carport Sale and Doll Sale.
Georgeann moved in 1970 after helping them organize, but failed to tell them they needed to continue correspondence with the NAJA Admissions Committee. For a year they worked "in ignorance" establishing finance projects and service projects.
In April of 1971, they wrote a letter to the NAJA Admissions Committee to become a petitioning chapter. They received a phone call saying that NAJA vaguely remembered them as they had failed to correspond. Nonetheless, NAJA sent a contact, June Spotts, to meet with them in April. June didn't leave their sides. When you're a new petitioning or provisional chapter, you have to keep the same officers until you become an active chapter. Patsy Magee was pregnant, so Francis Amis became president. At convention, they were told by Admissions Committee that in order to become a petitioning chapter, they had to write June every month and send minutes. June would visit twice a year and Martha Wise once a year.
In 1972, Batesville became a provisional chapter.
In 1973, the chapter became an Active Chapter at the NAJA convention in New Orleans.
In October 1973, a charter was presented at a program at the GTL.
