The Missouri NEA Board of Directors passed a motion at the May 18, 1985 meeting to seat a non-voting retired member on the Board.  Ruth Keeling was asked to fill the seat, and in January 1986 she submitted a recommendation to President Shirley Cromer to form a steering committee to investigate the feasibility of organizing a retired affiliate.  Ruth was named as chairperson of the steering committee which met that April at the Lake of the Ozarks with Dr. Joe Westbrook, President of NEA-Retired.  

The committee held several work sessions in the remaining months of 1986, and in February 1987 sent an invitation to every retired MNEA member asking them to attend an April meeting for the purpose of adopting bylaws and electing officers.  MNEA -R presented their documents to MNEA and was officially recognized as an affiliate by MNEA and by NEA-R in June 1987.  In December of this same year, the retired seat on the MNEA Board of Directors became a voting position.  

Springfield retired teachers were already organized by 1986 and working to address the issue of health insurance for retired educators.  SNEA-R was therefore the first "regional" unit of MNEA-R.  SNEA-R worked with MNEA's lobbyist, E.C. Walker, to address this issue.  Though the original bill drafted did not pass, Representative Harpool attached the enabling legislation to Senate Bill 264, which addressed other retirement issues.  That bill passed during the First Regular Session of the 84th General Assembly.  It guaranteed that all retired Missouri educators would have the opportunity to benefit from a group health plan through their district after retirement.   SNEA-R is credited for paving the way for the established regional locals.

MNEA-R was one of the five states affiliated with NEA-R in 1987.  Eighteen other state affiliates had already joined NEA-R by this time.  MNEA-R quickly became active at all levels in NEA.  Ruthanne Phillips was elected to serve on the NEA Board of Directors as a Retired Director in 1996, a position held for two years.  Martha Karlovetz ran for NEA Board of Directors as a Retired Director in 2003 and held that seat until 2006. Martha also served on the NEA-R Cadre to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).  The Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed GPO/WEP, was signed into law on January 5, 2025!