CLC membership number

[druby]

Been a member for years & years, guess that’s why I got such a low number....lol !

[Art Director]

Yes, RIP Herb Karow. He gave me lots of good advice over the years, and, partly because of his efforts, I was appointed art director of The Self-Starter in 2003. My 1963 Caddy is named after him.

Mike and Nancy are the best â€" they've turned down offers from other car clubs to stay with us.

[Jack McClow CLC #15840]

Welcome to the CLC, Rick!!!  I am happy we were able to get your proper membership number to you within a short time of your inquiry; thanks for letting us know you are all set in that department.  Your first issue of "The Self-Starter" should land in your mailbox shortly; watch for it to arrive covered in a white overleaf of heavy stock paper; I remember when I joined back in 1998 I did not at first realize my new magazine had arrived because of the protective cover used, front and back.  Regarding the discussion of how our membership numbers are issued, from what I understand there may have been a time, a long, long time ago, when some membership numbers were recycled, but for the most part the number issued to a person over the life of the club does correlate to when they joined, and there is no thought of ever changing that process going forward.  I joined in the fall of 1998 and my number is 15840.  As one part of the club's history regarding memberships, if you go to page 38 of the CLC International Membership Directory you will see a brief story of the lady who ran our club's membership department for 25 years, from when the club was just eleven years old until the club's 36th anniversary.  Her name is Mary Lou Evans and the club has an award named in her honor/memory that is presented most years to a club member who does the most in any given year to increase the club's membership number.  I never knew Ms. Evans, but it turns out she lived in a small, normally peaceful, picturesque town in northern Michigan where I lived for a time back in the mid-1980s before I knew of the CLC.  Unfortunately for Ms. Evans and her husband, Petoskey, Michigan was anything but peaceful one Sunday morning when they were on their way to church in their Cadillac Seville and they were struck head-on by a driver fleeing the police.  Ms. Evans died instantly; her husband did survive, but was hospitalized for many months.  Mr. Evans is still a member today, very elderly now, and his membership number, which I am sure was theirs together, is in the mid-600's.  Even though I never knew Ms. Evans personally, I do think about her often as an example of how quickly life can take a terrible turn.  Getting away from that serious subject, you might be interested to know that one of the founding members of the CLC is still very much involved in the club, and his membership number is #1.  The CLC has a long history of being a wonderful club for all of us who love all kinds of transportation, but with a particular interest in collectible Cadillacs and LaSalles, a history that you will now be a part of, hopefully for many, many years to come.  Welcome, and please never hesitate to let any of us on the CLC board know if there is anything we can do to make your Cadillac Club experience better in any way.

[Brad Ipsen CLC #737]

There must have been fill in numbers at some point or a renumbering at some point.  My number is 737 (easy to remember being near the home town of Boeing) and the club certainly had more members than that when I joined in the early 80's.  With some effort I could pin the date down more accurately.

[Cadman-iac]

 Jack, I appreciate your taking the time to explain a few things I needed to know but didn't think to ask. But I will definitely ask if I need anything else. Thank you again for your help.

Rick

[Glen]

There must have been fill in numbers at some point or a renumbering at some point.  My number is 737 (easy to remember being near the home town of Boeing) and the club certainly had more members than that when I joined in the early 80's.  With some effort I could pin the date down more accurately.

Interesting, my number is 727, also a Boeing plane number.  My understanding is that there were no member numbers in the beginning of the club.  When they started using numbers, they issued the first numbers to the certain people, then the following numbers were issued to members in the order they renewed.  If you renewed early that year you got a low number. 

Looking at my old Self Starters the first time a member number shows on the address label is January 1982.  Looks like the labels before that were made with an Addressograph machine.

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

For some reason, I didn't renew early "that year" so my # is relatively high @ 2189 for a long time member. (Probably had to do with tuition for two kids in private colleges.) Anyhow, as has been mentioned, a lower # means you renewed early that year, whenever it was. I am pleased to see the thread has run two pages worth. It's good to keep our history alive, and to be able to tell where we came from.

Since Norm Uhlir doesn't do computers, I'll pass along a story about how the S/S was assembled in the early days. Agnes Uhlir, Norm's  first wife was the editor. They had an elderly mimeograph type machine that they printed the pages on. Then, several of the early members would assemble them on the Uhlir living room floor, staple and fold them. Then licked the stamps and placed them on the issue. (I'm not certain when self-stick stamps arrived, but I don't think they had them at that time.) Then, they had to run them through the addressograph machine, then take them to the post office.

One time, they used a heavier stock for the cover and the issue was overweight. They had to trim each copy by hand as paying for an extra ounce would have wrecked the budget. So that is why one issue with a red cover might have a misaligned cover page.

Talk about a labor of love. Laurie mentioned the "CLC gods." We don't have any of those, but we do have a lot of angels.