C.O.C.A. Times

written by Erick Johnson
They say everything is bigger in Texas and COCA
members attending the 2011 convention in Hous-
ton this past September found that to be true as they
toured huge collections, enjoyed lots of "10 gallon"
Houston hospitality and consumed some of the big-
gest and best Texas barbeque meals one could ever
ask for. Our hats are off to COCA 2011 Convention
Chairman Craig Bierman and his wonderful wife
Doreen for organizing another memorable event for
over 80 of our members.
Westchase, we embarked on our coin op adventure
with a visit to the beautiful home of Bill and Peggy
Bain. The Bain collection was one of the largest and
best organized combination of coin op, country
store, drug store, advertising and automobile col-
lectibles that most of us had ever seen. One had to
look closely and carefully to take in the huge array of
items and the Bains made the experience even better
by providing wonderful refreshments, including ice
cold Dr. Pepper bottled by the oldest Dr. Pepper bot-
tling company in the world - and the last one to still
use pure cane sugar in their recipe.
The Houston convention experience started on
Thursday afternoon with an old fashioned Texas
barbeque at the country home of Ken and Katherine
Rubin. There wasn't any coin op to enjoy down on
the farm, but Katherine's eclectic collection of ani-
mals (including turkeys, chickens, goats, sheep and
a beautiful young deer named Bambi) kept everyone
amazed and amused until darkness fell.
Following our return to the Hilton Friday after-
noon, COCA officials began organizing the auction
for the Friday evening dinner, which kicked off at 6:30
p.m. After a plentiful buffet and dessert spread, ev-
eryone took out their wallets and got down to busi-
ness. The auction proved to be fun for all, with a
large number of items available and spirited bidding
energized by auctioneer Jeff Scott and his very help-
ful wife, Sheila.
Friday morning arrived quickly and, after a won-
derful free breakfast provided by the Hilton Houston
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