Durwin Royal is President of United Steelworkers Local 4134, representing more than 1,200 union members in East Texas. Born in Hughes Springs, Texas, the oldest of three with two younger sisters, Durwin lived in that small northeast Texas town until graduating high school. Next up was Kilgore Junior College for a couple of years, before beginning a six-year stint in the military with posts in Korea and at Fort Lewis Washington. Durwin left the military in 1991, but stayed in Washington State and ran his own janitorial business for two years before deciding that he wanted to raise a family back in northeast Texas. He moved back in 1993, and came to work out at the U.S. Steel Tubular Operations plant in November 1994. He’s been a Steelworker now for 20 years.