Our Couple of the Year for 2012
Larry & Pam Clemmer

In 2002, Larry lived in a country farm pool house in Griffin, GA, and I lived in the city in my nice Chamblee townhouse enjoying being single. But, we both subscribed to Match.com for six months and that is how Larry and I met. He was the last person on my profile—I had given up on finding a nice man, but he was online so we chatted from November till January 11, 2003. We had our first date on January 11, 2003, and I asked God to please give me a nice, TALL man and voila! Larry got out of that little bitty VW Jetta. We dated from that day on for two years. Larry’s 3 girls moved in with him, so he moved out and we got married on January 5, 2005, gave them his apartment, and moved to the middle – Jonesboro, GA.

We have a 3 acre private piece of land somewhat away from the town and enjoy our peace and quiet. Except, we have 5 grown children between us and that makes life somewhat hectic at times. I have two boys and Larry has the 3 girls. No grandchildren. Larry has worked for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for 14 years after retiring from 20 years in the Air Force. I spent 12 years as a medical secretary and 8 years in the construction business. I went back to school and graduated from Kennesaw State University and went to work for 1 year at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a management information specialist, and the last 20 years at the U.S Department of Education as a financial aid program compliance officer. Our lives are full with our careers, our church and choir at McDonough Road Baptist, our family, and our motorcycle activities.

In June 2005, Larry asked me if I would consider a Goldwing. I said “a what?” My only experience with motorcycles was my high school boyfriend’s Triumph, which I rode on the back with no helmet, shorts, tank top, and Keds (remember what Keds are?). We rode highways and back roads around Ellijay. Larry had more experience. He had previously owned a CL450 in the early 70s and a V45 Sabre RE until 1991. He was in the Air Force at that time. It had been 14 years since he had owned a motorcycle, and he decided he wanted the Goldwing. I said we would look. Our neighbor’s son managed the Jonesboro Honda Dealer, so look we did. And, we picked out the 2005 Black Cherry GL 1800 and were told that when the dealer got one in in the next few months, they would call us. He called us the next day. Oops, now I guess it was time to buy a motorcycle. Our first trip was the Trail of Tears from Chattanooga, TN to Florence, AL and then we took off on an eleven day trip through Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky.

Larry is a native of Staunton, Virginia and I am from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Atlanta has been my home since 1983 and Larry’s home since 1992. We love the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee and have ridden a lot of the roads there. We joined GWRRA Chapter A in August 2005 after a breakfast meeting at Debra Laws house at which time we watched the video of the skit “Gaylord”. You know we loved everyone if we joined after that! Bob and Karla Greer were the Chapter Directors at that time.

We have always been warmly welcomed by Chapter A members and love to participate and have fun. We have completed motorcycle training courses, seminars, and of course gone to Wing Ding in Greenville, SC, Des Moines, IA and Knoxville, TN. We will be at the next one in Ft. Wayne, IN. We also actively participate in activities at Wing Fling and enjoy the annual spring rides. Larry is a level IV rider, and I am a level 3 rider. Oh yes, I won my bike in 2008 at Mountain Man’s Motorcycle Rally in Circleville, West Virginia. Now it is a trike and I love it! Larry and I have also taken the Road Captain’s course, OCP, and the Horizons course. We enjoyed all of them, learned a lot, and love being involved!

In 2011 Larry became the ride-coordinator and I became the secretary. We just accepted the position of Assistant Chapter Directors in December. Our plans for the future as Couple of the Year 2012 is to visit other chapters as much as possible and do whatever we can to help Chapter A stay the best chapter ever!

email Larry & Pam Clemmer

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