PASADENA, Calif. — The $3.6 billion Wescom Credit Union is taking its history and culture to heart in a big way by publishing an extraordinary 102-page anthology filled with photographs and memorabilia from the CU's 75-year history.
"It's a project that's taken us a year-and-a-half to complete but we feel it's meaningful in telling our story to the public," explained Joe Schaeffer, senior vice president of planning and development, who coordinated production of the booklet made available to members, civic leaders and legislators.
Wescom has produced 3,000 of the paper booklets at a cost of $75,000, a figure that included paying local archivists and historians to compile material dating back to the CU's founding in 1934 as a CU for Southern California telephone company employees.
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The memoir, titled "Thirteen Men, Sixty Five Dollars, 75 Years Later" contains milestone events in the CU's history starting with its charter by 13 phone employees, each contributing a minimum $5 fee.
The booklet, which includes grainy black and white photos of employees and street scenes from the 1930s plus a collection of ads and signage, traces the CU's history through the decades.
It cites the sharp employee reductions after Pearl Harbor in 1941 plus the explosive go-go population growth of California marked by the surge of 45,000 new employees serving Pacific Telephone Co.
The booklet also reviews the introduction and expansion of Wescom's branch network and computer technology citing the initial conversion to real-time, online transactions. Schaeffer, the book's coordinator, said Wescom hired two local authors, Mary Blake and Craig Horning, who had done earlier and smaller history compilations for other CUs to handle production of "Thirteen Men." Both Blake, a member of Wescom, and Horning had previously done writing and marketing projects for Kinecta Credit Union of Manhattan Beach. Horning, a screenwriter, had worked on newsletters, policy manuals and planning documents for Kinecta. In producing the booklet, the two conducted numerous employee interviews and perused hundreds of documents, annual reports and board minutes not only from Wescom, but also from Pacific Telephone.
The booklet was done because "our employees and our members spoke fondly of their memories of the credit union's past and asked that a document such as this be written," said Schaeffer.
The booklet also had the strong support of Darren Williams, president/CEO, who maintains the CU's history is paramount in linking employees to CU purposes in serving members.
"The Wescom history book is the culmination of a project intended to celebrate the rich history of not only our credit union but of the entire movement as well," said Williams. "We wanted to capture and document highlights of the nearly 75 year evolution of Wescom as a financial institution serving the Southern California community and we are pleased to be able to share this insightful record with our staff and volunteers." –[email protected]
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