GOTCHA GIRLS OF TEXAS CITY TEXAS PROUD

By: Sherry Mayfield
Editors Note: Our first offering in the Gotcha Girls series is by GG Sherry Mayfield
about her friend, Alice Sems. The Gotcha Girls are a group of friends who graduated
from TCHS from 1962 to 1964. We asked them to write about whatever they would like
to share to give us an insight into a group of friends who have valued and respected
their common experiences growing up in a small town during a turbulent time in our
history. In celebration of a remarkable group of BFF’s, we begin the journey with
Sherry and her friend Alice.
Alice Bucklew Sems was born in Texas City, Texas shortly before the well-known
refinery explosion that shaped the lives of so many in her town. Her parents, Luke and
Dorothy Bucklew, instilled in her the love for community, family and the Lord and she is
proud to call herself to this day a Fighting Stingaree! While in school, Alice enjoyed her
time in Teen Club, may fete, The Pep Squad and Rainbow girls. Like so many of her
friends in school, she enjoyed the drives up and down Palmer Highway or The Dike,
hanging out at the Terrace Drive-In, going to movies and sneaking over to Galveston
to test the waters over there.
Alice married Eugene Bunton (A Fellow TC Stingaree), and that resulted in two
sons, Joe and John. Despite the marriage ending, they remain close friends to this
day. Her long career in the banking industry began at Guaranty Federal in Texas City
in the accounting department. She moved to Rosenberg, Texas, to work at Fort Bend
Federal Savings and Loan where she spent nearly 30 years rising to the ranks of Vice President of Operations.
Alice married Ray Sems in 1980, and that brought three new sons into her life. Ray sadly passed away in
2007. To date, She has five sons, four beautiful daughters-in-law, 11 amazing grandchildren and four adorable
great-grandchildren. Alice loves to see the world from a cruise ship and has enjoyed countless many since
her retirement from the bank. She is a charter member of the Gotcha Girls and greatly enjoys the time spent
with her fellow Texas City Stingaree Ladies.