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When I joined this club in September of 1991 I was honored as a “Charter Member” and I received patches and decals confirming this status. Today it seems that unless one is a “Life Member” we who helped launch this club are now considered second-class club members. It is a shame, as in so many other areas of our lives, money trumps loyalty in the North American Fishing Club.

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Henry 9

Charter Member #50386105

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Hi Henry.  welcome to the forum. I cannot speak for the club and am not sure what treatment has caused you to feel this way but I for one would like to thank you charter members for helping to get the club off the ground. The club and its members have been the single biggest thing in improving and enjoying my fishing skills. I hope you can get everything straightened out and I look forward to hearing from you on the forum in the future.

Brian

Charter Member Henry, I just wanted to thank you and all our charter members for being there in the beginning to make sure all of us had a club to be a part of.  I am handicapped and enjoy the forums and this club very much--would like for you to put aside any hard feelings and share with us the things that made this club so good from the beginning.  I need for you to help all of us along the way!  Thanks so much!  Uncle Tom  Good luck and good fishing!

Henry:
I joined the staff when the Club was a little more than a year old. That was in 1989. It's true that any angler who joined the Club between '88 and '92 (during the first 5 years) was designated a Charter Member. After that new members were titled "Official." Life Members, of course, were in an entirely different category. Charter Members certainly got the NAFC off the ground, for which we and the entire membership are eternally grateful. During the following 17 years, however, the number of Charter Members decreased. Most, I'd say, converted to Life Membership, while others faded away.

So as one of the NAFC pioneers, please accept my personal thanks, and sincere salute! 

yep, that pretty much says it all. i started as a charter member in the late 80's.....then after i got married and college got in the way-- no extra money for a yr or so-- i remember signing up again yr. for a couple of yrs. and then i became a lifer.

and henry.....i too would like to say thank you for helping getting this club lifted up off the ground. just remember in our hearts we are all still comrades of the great sport of fishing. we all love the outdoors and being out in it.

there are other things that could be added, but all that negitive talk has been said and this is now. so just remember to lift your head up and say i have been here for a long time and look at the friends you have made and the many more that can be made.

Kurt,

While I appreciate your "personal thanks, and sincere salute" I would still like to know when and why the North American Fishing Club changed "Charter Members" to "Official Members"?  Just because the number of Charter Members decreased or became Life Members does not seem to me to be a reason to change Charter Members to Official Members.

It would be like you being referred to as a "newbie" staff member after having worked at the Club since 1989.

Do you have a list of Charter Members who without a break have been members since 88 -92?

You have now sent me seven 6 by 5 inch beautifully embroidered Life Member patches which I do not use because I am not a Life Member. How about sending me one of these patches with Charter Member embroidered on it?

Henry

Greetings to all our charter members!  I'm just a  relatively new member of NAFC, but I would like to hear more from our charter members.  Love to hear why you joined and what was happening in the club back in the beginning.  What attracted you to the club and where have you been?  Looking forward to getting to hear each story!  Uncle Tom

Hey Henry:
After reading your first post, I asked our Member Development people if they could find out just what you asked--how many Charter Members (joined from '88 through '92 and have been members without a break in membership, and have not converted to Life Members) are on the rolls. I'll let you know what I find out.

There are roughly 25,000 Charter Members in the NAFC ranks. These are members who joined during the club's first five years, have held membership continually since then, and have not opted to become Life Members.

I was reading this post again this morning and the thought came to me that maybe some of these charter members are not knowledgeable when it comes to computers or don't have access to computers.  It's a shame if that is true because many of them have so much knowledge about fishing.  For instance, my Dad dropped out of school in eighth grade to help family make a living.  Then in WWII when he took the physical for the army he said the same thing when they covered his good eye and it was only later that they found out he was blind so he went to work building airplanes for the cause.  Computers just took over our world and there are lots of people who couldn't possibly write a post for this Forum but they have forgotten more about fishing than most of us will ever know.  I assume they joined for the magazine and to show their support for the sport we all love.  I don't read many gripes about the magazine--maybe NAFC ought to put more focus on the one thing they do exceptionally good!  More issues, more articles, more club pictures, etc.  Uncle Tom

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Kurt,

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When I first started this thread concerning the NAFC dropping the “Charter Member” designation for folks who have been members without a break from 1988 -1992, I was pretty sure like Don Quixote I would be tilting at windmills.

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I was wrong. Editor Kurt Beckstrom not only answered my questions, but he has now informed me that in the future, when it is possible to confirm a Charter Member’s status, it will be noted when our photo’s, outstanding catch, etc. appear in the magazine.

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So fishing comrades when you do communicate with the club, whether you are also a Life Member or Trophy Life Member, remember to include your member number and the fact that you are also a Charter Member. There are 25,000 of us and I for one am pleased that through Kurt’s efforts we may once again regain our status. I could have lived without it, but it’s nice to know that the club is still resilient enough to be this responsive.

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 If the staff starts handing out new titles I for one think Kurt’s should be “Editor Extraordinaire”!

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Thanks,

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Henry

Charter Member #50386105

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Now thats a lot of Charter members and I agree it would be nice to see them here and be able to talk to them so here's hoping that Henry or som one can let them know they are valued members of this club also and other Members would like to see them around on this site!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry about all the garbage that proceeded my first and last post.  I am new at this and have now learned that I cannot just cut and paste from Word to here. I thought I was home clear when all the garbage did not show up in the preview, but alas such was not the case. Here is my letter again, I hope without the garbage.

Kurt,

When I first started this thread concerning the NAFC dropping the "Charter Member" designation for folks who have been members without a break from 1988 - 1992,  I was pretty sure like Don Quixote I would be tilting at windmills.

I was wrong.  Editor Kurt Beckstrom not only answered my questions, but he has now informed me that in the future, when it is possible to confirm a Charter Member's status, it will be noted when our photo's, outstanding catch, etc. appear in the magazine.

So fishing comrades when you do communicate with the club, whether you are also a Life Member or a Trophy Life Member, remember to include you member number and the fact that you are also a Charter Member. There are 25,000 of us and I for one am pleased that through Kurt's efforts we may once again regain our status. I could have lived without it, but it's nice to know that the club is still resilient enough to be this responsive.

If the staff starts handing out new titles, I for one think Kurt's should be "Editor Extraordinaire"!

Thanks,

Henry
Charter Member #50386105

henry, nice letter and it would be nice to hear from those charter members.

tom you could be right about the puter bit. i know i didn't have use of a puter for sometime.

Henry, I joined and became a "Charter Member" in NOV 1989, then in 1992 I received an invitation to become a Life Member and enjoy all the exclusive benefits reserved for Life Members, and receive nice gifts for doing so. I paid my Life Member fee, not for the gifts since back then it wasn't much, but rightly or wrongly I felt if someone became a Life Member they would be more supportive of our club. I do not post much but I spend a lot of time now reading old posts (as far as they go back now) and still learn, but I also learn from older posters (not age wise) that opted not to become Lifers. I do believe Charter Members that are still around should be recognized as appropriate, but there are probably a lot more than 25,000 Charter Members that became Life Members, although I could be mistaken. However, I feel a membership designation, in a club like this, does not infer a person is a better/worse fisherman or more/less knowledgable than another. I am not sure what my Charter Member number was but at one point I was LM2291 and then they changed it to LM90002291. Bottom line is we are all in the same club, hopefully for the same reasons, and support it out of our love for the sport and friendship.
Jim