Board Members

Bonnie Cook

President

Bonnie is happiest when she’s in her quilt room sewing. She always has a needle and thread in her purse and loves to quilt. She enjoys old quilts and spends hours reading about antique quilts and their history. She is married to Wes Allen, and they have a daughter named Maggie. Her quilting assistant is her dog, Phoebe.

When Bonnie’s not quilting, she’s yelling at the local sports teams.

She is the former executive director of a local nonprofit. She retired in November 2023.

Sharon Wheeler

Co-1st VP, Community Service

Sharon Wheeler made her first quilt, 2 1/2’ by 3 1/2’ wall quilt, in 2014 with the help of her late, ex-mother-in-law, Barbara. While she “got the bug” for quilting at that time, she didn’t make her second quilt until the fall of 2021 after joining a friend’s quilting group, the Crittendon Quilters, in East Aurora, NY. It was a toddler-sized, log cabin quilt she made for her first granddaughter shortly after her birth.

She continued quilting, making a California King sized Green Bay Packers quilt for her son for his high school graduation in 2024. Her most prized quilt, however, is a vintage, two-person quilt. In 1984, Sharon’s late grandmother, who was born in 1895, showed her a mostly finished Rose of Sharon quilt top on which her grandmother had appliquéd the flowers.

When her grandmother passed away 5 years later, Sharon took the bag in which her grandmother kept the still-unfinished quilt top with a determination to finish the quilt someday. Sharon carried that bag through at least 17 household moves before she finally finished it while being a part of the Crittendon Quilters.

She joined the Quilter’s Guild of Dallas in the summer of 2025, shortly after which she began binding quilts and making quilt tops for our Covers for Kids program. Sharon is excited to be taking over the program and looks forward to working with all of those involved to continue keeping this wonderful program alive.

Kylie DeGilio

Co-1st VP, Community Service

Kylie has been part of the Quilters Guild of Dallas since 2024. After studying Biosystems Engineering at Auburn University, she began her career as a civil engineer in the DFW area.

Her sewing journey started in Alabama, where a friend taught her the basics of using a sewing machine. Her first weekend in Dallas happened to coincide with the 2024 Dallas Quilt Show, where she was immediately captivated by the incredible talent on display. What began as a simple skill quickly grew into a meaningful creative outlet, especially thanks to the mentorship and support she found within the Guild.

At this stage of life, she primarily creates baby and wedding quilts for friends and family as they enter new seasons. When she’s not quilting, she enjoys spending time with family in Austin, volunteering, and being outdoors with her sweet pup, Socrates, who faithfully supervises all her sewing projects.

Linda Newman

2nd VP, Membership

Linda Newman fell in love with quilts because of the ones her grandmother made, and she cuddled under as a child. She learned to sew garments as a teenager but didn’t get around to making quilts until nearing retirement in her legal career (and getting the kids off to college!). She got her start with a Joann’s block of the month set of kits and hasn’t stopped since. She joined the Dallas Guild in 2008 and has been a regular show volunteer, quilt entrant, and participant in meetings and workshops. She regularly enters quilts in the show and has won a few ribbons through the years.

Linda was born in Dallas, grew up in Arlington, and attended TCU and SMU law school. She was a partner in a Dallas firm, with a specialty in financial services, was in-house counsel with Bank of America, FDIC, and ended her career as General Counsel for Sammons Enterprises. Her husband is also a retired attorney, so dinner table conversation can get kind of geeky! Her adult kids live in South Bend and Atlanta, along with three brilliant grandkids.

Linda has served in the past as Secretary of the Board and currently serves as Education Chair. She has been in a weekly, now monthly, small group as well as Nimble Thimbles Friendship Group. She regularly does binding for Covers for Kids.

Linda hopes to grow the Guild’s membership and help members find new quilting friends and ways to participate in Guild activities.

Pat Henry

3rd VP, Programs and Workshops

Pat is a native Texan and lives in Irving, Texas. She has a hotel background in Catering. She retired a couple years ago after 24 years with North Lake College. She has been married to her husband Steve for 39 years this past August and they have three grown daughters, nine grandchildren (another on the way in August) and one great-granddaughter.

She learned to sew from her mother who made all her clothes when she was young. Her mother was the oldest of eight and learned to sew from her mother. Growing up, Pat was amazed by the sewing and quilting talents of both grandmothers and aunts. Although she considers herself still a novice quilter, she really enjoys the quilting process.

Pat has been a member of Quilter’s Guild of Dallas for many years. She became active in the Guild through the Show Committee working the Vendor’s Lounge, the Guild Store, and the Membership Table. She loves the community of the Guild and learns so many things by listening to people at the meetings, retreats, and any time quilters meet up.

Denise Bartosh

4th VP, Communications

Denise is a retired teacher who also spent many years in the corporate world. she earned her M.A. from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, and is an AQS Certified Quilt Appraiser. Over the years, she has also served in a variety of leadership positions on multiple nonprofit boards.

Needlework has been part of her life for as long as she can remember. Growing up, she enjoyed embroidery, cross-stitch, crewel work, and sewing simple clothing. Attending quilt shows with her mom gave her a deep appreciation for the creativity, craftsmanship, and dedication behind every quilt. At the time, she didn’t realize how much those outings would inspire her. Today, quilting has become one of her greatest passions, and she enjoys exploring all styles and techniques, always excited to learn something new.

As a member of The Quilter’s Guild of Dallas for more than 20 years, she has benefited from the friendship, inspiration, and knowledge shared by fellow members. She now wants to give back to her guild by sharing her own skills, experience, and love of quilting.

Denise and her husband, James, enjoy traveling and spending time with their grandchildren.

Melinda Valentine

5th VP, Finance

Melinda Valentine has a BBA in Finance and an MBA, and she retired in 2024 after a 30-year career in the commercial loan finance industry. In addition to the Quilter’s Guild of Dallas and the Quilters Unique friendship group, she is an active member of Texas Art Collectors Organization Dallas (TACO) and Preservation Dallas. She previously served on the Dallas Heritage Village/Old City Park Board of Trustees from 2013-2019, including the role of finance chair for the executive committee. Her dear grandmother taught her to sew clothing as a young child (her mother couldn’t sew on a button, as the joke goes!) and Melinda took her first quilting class in 2012 after her daughter departed for college. She enjoys the friendships she has made through QGD and through assisting with completion of the Covers for Kids quilts, and she is looking forward to additional involvement through the Board.

Emily Murray

6th VP, Show

Emily grew up along the Columbia River (OR/WA), went to college in St. Paul, MN, and then spent nearly 15 years abroad. She lived in Taiwan for almost a decade (gaining her first Master’s) and New Zealand for five years (gaining her second). Yes, she speaks Mandarin, though it is rather rusty at this point.

In 2015, Emily returned to Oregon, met a lovely man with a sexy motorcycle, and married him. They moved to Richland Hills, TX in 2017, where they currently cater to their five cats: Zinga, Beans, Tui, Ghibli, and Tucker.

Professionally, she works full-time in trucking logistics while growing her travel advisory side business, which she plans to transition to full-time in a couple of years.

She joined Toastmasters in 2004 and has been heavily involved worldwide ever since. She served as District Director (2023–2024), overseeing 100+ clubs and 2,500+ members. From organizing massive conferences and training events to endless hours of mentorship, this is still where the vast majority of her time goes. For those in the know, she has 3 DTMs and is currently chasing her 4th!

Emily always loved quilts, but before 2010, her only textile experience was cross-stitch. When she walked into her first social quilt group in New Zealand, the conversation went like this:

“What kind of quilting do you do?” None, I want to learn!
“What kind of sewing do you do?” None, and I only want to learn quilting.
“What kind of machine do you use?” Never used one, don’t know how to, and don’t own one. [Panic ensues]

They suggested starting with a table runner. Being a “jump-into-the-deep-end-with-both-feet” person, she opted for a twin-size quilt instead and has been hooked ever since. She joined QGD after attending the 2024 Dallas Quilt Show. She ran into Alice McElroy behind the desk—sporting an amazing hat and a hilarious, friendly attitude. The vibe was instant, the other ladies were just as welcoming, and she thought, “I like this!” So, she put her money down, and here we are!

Karen Neal

7th VP, Education

Karen was 10 when she learned to piece a quilt top. Her first quilt teacher was a friend of her mother, who paid for her house with money she made from selling her quilts. Her influence has given me a life-long love of quilting.

When Karen was teaching, she had a small group of students who wanted to learn to quilt so they formed a lunch break club. Teaching 7th grade girls to quilt was Karen’s chance to give to others what had been given to her as a child.

Pat Galvin

Secretary

Pat grew up on the East Coast but has called Texas home for more than 40 years. She has been a member of the Quilter’s Guild of Dallas for most of those years. She served on the Board of Directors as Program VP and volunteered at the annual quilt show. Quilting has always been her passion. The Dallas Quilt Guild has been her resource for all things quilting, friendships based on shared interests and the joy of organized commitment to serving our community. Along with quilting, she is an avid gardener and enjoys life with a large dog.

Laura McClure

Treasurer

Laura was born in New York and moved to Texas in 1978. She graduated from UT Austin with a degree in Mathematics. She currently works as an accountant in the marketing industry. Her first career was as a software developer for IBM, followed by several years as a full time Mom and volunteer. Laura is a long-arm quilter and enjoys many types of quilting making. She enjoys early morning walks, any types of puzzles, and playing video games. Her two adult sons claim that she is in the small Venn diagram intersection of quilters and avid video gamers.