Obituary Column In The Magazine

[Barry Brown]

Right off, let's just say I am not trying to be morbid here but why in Heaven's sake ( woops, sorry!) does the magazine not have a respectful looking section for members who have gone to that big rally in the sky? I have been in the club long enough to wonder what has become of several of the older members. No one wants to commit a faux pas in front of friends or relatives, maybe they are ill or gone , who knows . Many of us travel long distances to the meets and some of these old timers became good friends who I would only see at the meets, then they are gone, are they ill? dead? just hate the club? It's been years since I saw Earl Chalfant, Andy Anderson, Andy Batsleer , Soo Boyachuk , etc. etc. NARY A MENTION in the magazine. These guys were STALWARTS of the club, if not just to inform the members then out of respect for their contributions. Check out the way the VMCC of England does it. Lets get rolling on this , I want to be remembered too someday! ( not too soon please!)

[Eric @ B.O.S]

Well at least Barry's alive & kickin. Yeah an obituary section would be nice so I know when to go pick up that Koslow.
Eric

[Barry Brown]

ah, ha , the vultures are already circling , might I be a bit too negative to suggest that may be one reason for the lack of information at the present?

[B. Rodencal]

Andy Anderson

The Report of my demise has been unduly premature as i am upright and breathing!....at least the last I saw him.

[Barry Brown]

" the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated" quote attributed to Mark Twain

[KNUCK]

I think that this is a good idea so we can keep up with those that have passed. I know that there is a letter sent in by some members on occasion but others just vanish. I just don't want to be in that column yet as I have rust to deal with still.

[INLINE4NUT]

Barry,
If the Andy Anderson you are referring to was in Yankee Chapter and from Conn,I sorry to inform you he has pasted on.

[Paps]

I would think it would be very difficult to keep an updated obituary in the magazine. Mainly because the editors would have to rely solely on friends and relatives to notify the magazine of the time of the deceast member. Some proof would also be necessary such as a copy of a local newspaper obituary column in order to prevent scamming and the like which could hurt family, friends, and the members themselves who may not yet be deceased as of yet. Paps

[Barry Brown]

Well then how does the VMCC in England do it?

[Paps]

Good question.....I don't know how they do it but there is a very large land mass difference between the UK and the USA. More land mass calculates into many many more villages, burgs, villes, boros, towns, and cities. These calculate into hundreds of newspapers. All of which have an obituary in them. How many obituaries list the deceased as an AMCA member in there columns? If by chance membership in the club is printed in it, how many of those possible acknowledgements provide the deceased members ID number? How many coroners departments maintain data on a deceased individuals death certificate which would include his membership and ID number? For that matter...How would the AMCA obtain such data, if it did or does exist, from such an official source such as the coroners office? Would the AMCA be able to search all of the newspaper obituaries in the country in time for print deadlines? Here is another example of a possible screw up when a members ID number was not available and only a name was in an obituary or coroners office. John D. Doe passes away. This John just so happens to be the name of a member. But?? The area in which this John lived there were several folks with the same name [New York City close to 14,000,000 folks]. Was it our John who died? Or was it one of the other same name Johns who died? Without a membership number or social security number the magazine would not know for sure. Even if they had access to a nation wide obituary data bank, would they have the time to research it ? These are all common assumptions on my part but they are educated guesses to say the least also. I just don't think it is possible or feasable to do within the continental USA. Paps

[Barry Brown]

Whew! You've been thinking overtime on this, all I was thinking of was that family members who wanted their loved one to be remembered for their contribution to the club could submit the information. The VMCC had to modify their policy on these submissions a few years ago because they were getting too long. I believe the VMCC has about 40,000 members and believe me there are MANY tiny villages in the UK , not to mention it is a club which has many more members in other countries than the AMCA. We would rely solely on family or close friends to make the submissions.
Obviously we would not be trying to cover every members demise , but those who have made a lifetime commitment to the club should be remembered in the journal , after all we are a club that is all about history and it's the people that matter more no matter how obsessed we are about the machinery!
I have been in the club for 25 years and there are many older members I have not seen in years and I have not heard a wisper about. I think it's a shamefull situation.

[Paps]

I agree Barry. I must have read your comments incorrectly at first. I assumed you were stating that the organization would have to do the research for the obituary column. Members should be remembered and their demise should be posted in an obituary column in the magazine in my hummble opinion also. I was only pointing out in a round about way that these anouncements of the demise of a member would be the soul responsibility of family members to submit to the magazine editors the news. I wasn't trying to belittle Great Britain an any way shape or form either. I was only making a land mass/population comparison for the purpose of newspaper numbers and how difficult it would be for the club to obtain records for an obituary column in the magazine here in the states. Paps

[INLINE4NUT]

I think if you had a small space deicated to Obits with a little caption that said please e-mail or write us due to death, people would let the club know, then it could be posted, even if it was a few months off it would still be a nice thing to do,sort of a little in memory of space.Or like in the past, a member could write a few lines about the deceased,these are just a few ideas,but which ever way it would be done it sure would be nice!

[inrustwetrust]

No, It's just that Canadian is the language that is the liason between English and American.