In a club our size it's hard not to consider fellow members as family. When someone passes away, it's felt by everyone. We would like to memorialize those loved ones and recognize them as dear friends and club members.
Bobby Bowling joined the club in October 2010, so he wasn't an active member for very long when he passed away. However he was very involved during his time with us.
Bobby, his wife Jennifer, and their two kids owned an orange 1974 Super Beetle. Bobby was from Chattanooga, graduating East Ridge High School in 1994 and attended Grace Works Church.
Affectionately known as "The Godfather" to other club members, David Johnston was a certified VW mechanic with over 40 years experience. Before retiring he worked at several VW shops in Chattanooga, including Southland VW.
As a club member, David was extremely active both at club meetings and cruise-ins, as well as on our forums online. He freely gave his time and knowledge to help others and nearly every member of the club can tell you a story of how he helped solve a perplexing issue or teach them the proper ways of VW maintenance and repair.
Besides VWs, David also held a passion for woodworking and model building. He was a history buff and a great friend to all animals. David was also an amazing bluegrass musician who played in numerous bands.
George Rymer has been a friend of the Scenic City Volks Folks since the beginning. He was a true lover of cars. George built, modified, and collected cars for most of his life.
He was known to be loud and opinionated but always helpful and kind, willing to share what he knew and always ready to offer a joke or critique. We all knew George very well and he could be seen at every show buying, selling, or trading parts.
Everyone in the Cleveland club as well as the Chattanooga club will forever remember George for his generosity and expertise and how much he loved cars and the car community.
Perk was only a member of the club for a short time, but he offered many contributions early on as the club grew. As a talented graphic and web designer, Perk expanded our modest web page into a full-blown site and produced high quality newsletters and Bug-a-Palüza promotional material. He also registered our volksfolks.org domain name back in 2000.
Perk was a resident of Cleveland, TN and he owned a silver New Beetle dubbed "iBug". He also served on the board of directors at SPCA of Bradley County.