Chip Filson
| The story below is by a local El Paso reporter. It portrays a special credit union that served its community for four decades. Its work mattered.
The coop system is more than current assets and member numbers. We are also the experiences and memories that we pass down. This example raises the challenge today, who will remember our story? The Forgotten Credit Union that Served Thousands of Unbanked El Pasoans By Christian Bentancourt. Published April 9, 2023 by El Paso Matters and Next City
|
|
Disruption is both an adjective and a noun. A word to describe changes upsetting the status quo in a market. And a way to compete against larger and stronger foes.
The business theory with this name was formalized by Clayton Christensen. In this interview with MIT magazine the essential ideas are laid out. He describes the circumstances as follows:
Disruptive innovation describes a process by which a product or service powered by a technology enabler initially takes root in simple applications at the low end of a market — typically by being less expensive and more accessible — and then relentlessly moves upmarket, eventually displacing established competitors.
Disruptive innovations are not breakthrough innovations or “ambitious upstarts” that dramatically alter how business is done but, rather, consist of products and services that are simple, accessible, and affordable.
In this process identifying the “job to be done” for the consumer is an important insight. See below for the example of a disruptive example coming at credit unions from below.
A second approach to understanding disruption is to identify some consequences that become visible in markets when the process is at work. Is the credit union system being disrupted? What would be indicators? Who is doing it?
Author and speaker Greg Satell wrote in an April 1, 2023 article “4 Signs Your Industry is Being Disrupted.” Among the four are events that may be familiar. Note he is not writing about credit unions or even financial services. Some of his terminology may seem more appropriate to manufacturing, but I believe his observations are still helpful in understanding where competitors are emerging.
One sign is maturing technology. The truth is that every major technology has a similar life cycle called an S-curve. It emerges weak, buggy and flawed. Adoption is slow. In time, it hits its stride and enters a period of rapid growth until maturity and an inevitable slowdown. That’s what’s happening now with digital technology and we can expect many areas to slow down in the years to come.
A second is consolidation, or mergers. Yet when an industry is in decline, the forces external to the industry get the upper hand. With new market entrants and substitutes becoming more attractive, customers and suppliers are in a position to negotiate better deals, margins get squeezed and profits come under pressure.
That’s why a lot of consolidation in an industry is usually a bad sign. It means that firms within the industry don’t see enough opportunities to improve their business by serving their customers more effectively, through innovating their products or their business models. To maintain margins, they need to combine with each other to control supply (or I might call it vendor relationships).
The third response he calls “rent seeking and regulatory capture.”
The goal of every business is to defy markets. Any firm at the mercy of supply and demand will find itself unable to make an economic profit — that is profit over and above its cost of capital. . .
That leaves entrepreneurs and managers with two viable strategies. The first is innovation. Firms can create new and better products that produce new value. The second, rent seeking, is associated with activities like lobbying and regulatory capture, which seeks to earn a profit without creating added value. In fact, rent seeking often makes industries less competitive. . .
It seems like they (rent seeking industries) are getting their money’s worth. . .Occupational licensing, (read new charters) . . . restrictions have coincided with a decrease in the establishment of new firms. If your industry is more focused on protecting existing markets than creating new ones, that is one sign that it is vulnerable to disruption.
His fourth indicator he calls the Inevitable Scandals. He cites Thernos and WeWork as examples.
He might have included the ongoing compliance problems at Wells Fargo or the recent failures of well capitalized institutions such as Silicon Valley and Signature banks as “scandals”—although it is still unclear who all the contributors to these failures are.
Disruption is a constant factor in competitive markets. Firms try to respond to these pressures in both self-protective ways as well as the more formal response in Christensen’s theory.
Where is credit union competition coming that would fit both descriptions? In many credit union consolidations scale is cited as the dominant motive, suggesting that bigger players are the greatest threat to credit unions’ future. Apple Pay, Walmart Financials services, even some recent fintech firms such as Rocket Mortgage, SoFI or other product centric online platforms will take away critical member-product segments.
But my two favorite examples of disruptive competitors using Christensen’s analysis are Venmo’s peer to peer payment transfer and Chime, a neo bank.
Venmo was described by a 21 year old financial writer in an article last year. The person-to-person payment application requires a depository account, but then begins to function as a broader transaction option overtime. While it must synch with an existing account from which to draw funds, this would seem just the first step in becoming a dominant player in processing multiple kinds of consumer financial transactions.
My favorite example is Chime which describes itself as the #1 Most Loved Banking App. The firm’s goal is to be the entry point to a person’s financial institution by making digital banking easy. It lists some benefits as follows:
Online banking made easy
No minimum balance requirement or monthly service fees
Manage money 24/7 with the #1 most loved banking app
Get paid up to two days early with direct deposit
Deposit checks from anywhere
One of the most enlightening interviews about Chime is from January 2022 in which founder Chris Britt is interviewed by the CEO of Goldman Sachs.
The whole strategy is easily followed in this 17 minute interview. Listen carefully to how Britt describes his addressable market description (paycheck to paycheck); “we are not a bank”; how incumbent providers pay attention to only the top 20% of users; how direct deposit is the pathway to his customers; and designing the firm’s services to match unmet consumer needs. Listen also to the role of core values.
Chime is a classic example of Christensen’s theory. There is nothing in this model that credit unions could not do or have not done in the past. I believe however that many credit unions have moved “up market.” Now firms like Chime are after the market credit unions were originally designed to serve.
Review again this disrupter’s description of financial strategy–a transaction business with a subscription service. Note his relationship with regulators: Respect the Rules.
This model is what credit unions were designed to be. Is Chime signaling that we left our core members and purpose behind?
Managing money has always been political. And always will be.
A measure for credit unions: “The extent to which we apply social values more than mere monetary profit.”
Come to your Temple here with liberation
And overturn these tables of exchange
Restore in me my lost imagination
Begin in me for good, the pure change.
Come as you came, an infant with your mother,
That innocence may cleanse and claim this ground
Come as you came, a boy who sought his father
With questions asked and certain answers found,
Come as you came this day, a man in anger
Unleash the lash that drives a pathway through
Face down for me the fear the shame the danger
Teach me again to whom my love is due.
Break down in me the barricades of death
And tear the veil in two with your last breath.
A credit union’s relationship with its local minor league baseball team became more than a promotional opportunity. It evolved into a strategic expression and expansion of its mission.
The Dayton Dragons (Dayton, Ohio) have the longest continuous sellout streak in North American sports history –1,441 games. The team is the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and plays in the Midwest League.
The team’s 2023 promotional video clearly highlights the credit union’s naming rights: the Day Air Credit Union Ballpark. However the relationship with the Dragons goes much deeper than naming one of the most iconic venues in Southwest Ohio.
Both organizations have created a partnership that grows Day Air, the Dayton Dragons, and the economic vitality of the region.
Joe Eckley, Director of Marketing for the credit union, describes some of their joint activities:
The Dragons are a Dayton entity–they draw from the outskirts of the region to provide family friendly entertainment to all comers.
Day Air serves the greater Dayton area– people doing good for friends and neighbors. All the big banks in town are headquartered elsewhere (New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh).
CEO Bill Burke says that from a strategy perspective, the naming rights partnership made sense because of the close alignment of both organizations for the community.
As a result the credit union changed its three stakeholder model to add a forth criteria when it obtained the naming rights. All decisions are now run past the lens of the Credit Union, members, associates (employees), and the community.
The opening day on April 11 will continue the record sell out streak. For the credit union, the Dragons and the Dayton community, it is a local celebration of two great American pastimes—alive and well in America’s heartland.
In response to last week’s post on the impact of mergers on the future of the cooperative system, this former NCUA senior executive sent the following comment.
Mike Riley, December 1984
“Creative destruction” is uncomfortable to see in print. But it existed before Adam Smith, Malthus, Marx. Keynes, Schumpeter, and others began to try to explain the economic drivers and motivations that shape our world.
Cultural changes seem to be the main driver today. The personal seems to have switched to the impersonal, i.e. give me what I want on my terms with not much regard to others. Fast and low cost are the motivators. (disclaimer: I love Amazon.)
We have to deal with what we have. I am concerned about sound credit unions merging. When I was a new examiner, I had 30 -40 credit unions who were below $100,000 and none of the rest I had were over a million. And no, I did not start in 1934.
This was in the seventies. They were basically in small towns or in rural areas where there was a factory of some sort. As I visited them (most were happy to see me, albeit a regulator, to hear about the outside world), it was obvious that the Board and Committees were involved in the credit union. Their members and the Treasurer were most involved of all. They were making loans on washers, dryers, refrigerators. Most of their members had no real access to credit except at an exorbitant rate. No savings accounts available to the members.
The credit unions really cared about their members. I remember one credit union was trying to decide on whether to make used car loans. They wanted some advice from me. About 8 months later I came back and before I could start the exam they wanted me to go out and look at this used car and meet the borrower.
They were so proud of this accomplishment. (As a good regulator, I did check to see if the loan was to a Board member or family member.) It seemed to be a good loan. Not to get maudlin, but this shaped my views of what credit unions are. And fortunately, the larger credit unions were much the same.
After I moved on, I tried to keep track of these credit unions. Around 1990 I put together a list of where these credit union were. I couldn’t find a few; but a little other 20 had liquidated because the factory closed down or the key people left or retired. Another 30 or so had merged either voluntarily or involuntarily. About 6 were still alive and functioning. To be fair, at the same time the American economy was undergoing a major transformation and jobs and manufacturing were moving overseas.
This ongoing march continues. The merger of two sound credit unions without some legitimate reason doesn’t seem to be member oriented. I still think of the members of those small credit unions who received services such as buying a washer that no one else would do.
Bigger is not better if the member does not benefit. How many of these mergers produce lower loan rates , higher dividends, or distinctly better products at a lower price? Carried to the extreme we will be left with 20 credit unions that are no different than large banks.
Schumpeter opined “If someone wants to commit suicide, it is a good thing if a doctor is present.”
(by Marit Hoyem, a junior at Williams College)
Last summer I interned for Callahan and Associates where I wrote blog posts about my generation’s financial outlook and spending habits. As a Gen Z and local Credit Union member, I provided a perspective how credit unions can better serve their next generation of members.
Currently I am studying abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland where I faced new financial challenges and learned valuable lessons about spending, budgeting, and saving money.
During this time, I found myself reflecting on a prior post, “Hello Venmo (Goodbye, Checking Account)”. This discusses how Gen Z sees P2P payment services as de facto checking accounts, sharing money back and forth without ever using their credit union account. Please see that piece for information on Venmo and how phones facilitate Gen Z spending.
I first got Venmo in high school. What started as a way to split the cost of movie tickets or dinner through my phone has gradually evolved into a form of social media with friends. On the app we can see who our friends are paying and leave little messages with our payments that appear on a Twitter-like feed.
As I have gotten older, I have continued to do more transactions with the app, for much more money. Next semester I will split groceries and utilities as well as pay my rent using Venmo.
While I have done my fair share of splitting costs using Venmo while abroad, what has resonated during my experience in Scotland is how digital money affects how I budget and spend.
In Europe cashless payments are becoming the norm. In restaurants, grocery stores, and pharmacies, to make a payment all I do is double-click my power button and let Apple Pay do the rest.
After my first month in Scotland, I checked if I was sticking to my expense budget I was shocked to see I had gone way over the amount of planned spending. One of the issues was that I was paying in a new currency, pounds, and wasn’t always doing the mental math to see the amount in American dollars.
Although there are ways to check my payments daily on my credit union app, it was difficult for me to follow just how much was leaving my account while paying for food, bedding, and other necessities. I see the issue now–growing up in the era of digital money, I never had to take cash out of my wallet, physically count out dollars, or go to the ATM when I ran out.
This isn’t to say that my generation is irresponsible with their money or careless spenders and borrowers. Rather, our perception and experience of money is fundamentally different from older generations.
We grew up using phones, cards, and apps to pay for things, not cash. Credit Unions should note this difference in spending habits and offer money management solutions for digital transactors.
Something that helped me understand my budgeting issue was to go on my credit union app, look back at my recent transactions, and add up how much I was spending each week on necessities (such as groceries) versus indulgences (like eating out with friends).
I think a great service for Gen Z members would be to make this categorization easier. For example, splitting up purchases on a mobile app by month, by location, or by dollar amount to help members track their spending habits.
In a world of cashless transitions, seeing the money available and visualizing the cost of something is harder for everyone, especially those who only make purchases with their phone.
Credit Unions have an opportunity not only to be a checking account, but also to serve as an educational and budgeting resource for their members.
Empower and encourage members to track spending. Give them an opportunity to learn from moments of spending exuberance (as I did).
One of Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter’s descriptions of capitalism was called “creative destruction.”
This refers to a competitive economy’s relentless efforts to innovate for advantage and market dominance. He described the process as: “the old way of doing things is constantly getting destroyed or supplanted as it is replaced by a newer, better.”
Some would suggest that business failures in a competitive economy are an inevitable and necessary event, even when they cause local hardship or dislocations.
The cooperative system is supposed to be immune from some of these economic forces. Credit unions are owned by their users, they have no traded stock, cannot be bought and sold as private firms, and reflect the values necessary for a communal, versus for-profit, enterprise. Their founding, focused on a ”local” constituency with a common bond, is intended to improve the welfare of a community, not just individuals.
One example of this “creative” process is in neighborhood across the street where I live. There is no home sold for less than $1.5 million and when offered, most list for at least twice that amount.
Even with this going-in price tag, Edgemoor is not a place for old homes. No matter the asking price, every purchase becomes a tear down. Here is an example from across the street this past week.
The builder, entrepreneur, risk taker and innovator.
The destruction phase.
The front view.
This home built during the depression was sold as is for $2.0 million. About five or more large white oaks were cut down before the demolition started. The land and location are so valuable that the builder will put up a mac-mansion of enough square feet to justify a new sales price at least double his cost.
Obviously, whoever buys this new home will believe this is progress, just what they were looking for. This is the free market at work.
We can debate the social and political implications of tear downs to build back bigger and more expensive homes, office buildings or condos. But the example is not limited to real estate. It happens in credit unions. It is called mergers.
The key question is whether mergers are helping or hurting the credit union system–to be more precise, the mergers of sound, well capitalized long standing credit unions which have served their markets for generations.
Everyone undertaking a merger believes their new creation will be bigger and better. Any downsides will be temporary. Mergers are just a way of getting to the future faster especially when asset size is believed to be THE essential for competitive competence.
Now to be fair, the house across the street had not been well maintained. The owners had lived there for four or five decades. The yard and landscaping were totally neglected. The 80 foot tall oak trees made the property look like an unkempt urban jungle.
So whatever goes up after this tear down, will certainly be a visual and living enhancement-except for the missing trees.
Similarly, some sound credit unions have not been well maintained. Leadership is just holding on until retirement; the board has given up leadership responsibility. Selling out looks like an easy way to take care of members when the motivation has gone.
It becomes time for a new generation of leaders to take over the credit union’s legacy and continue serving members in the future.
These easy-exit examples are becoming more numerous. Personal advantage, not member value, appears to be the motive.
The systemic risk is creating an “existential vortex” where all credit unions, not just the small, the poorly led or even the ambitious, are caught up in a system that is increasingly circling the drain.
There are no new charters. Industry assets are more concentrated. The leadership purpose is more and more institutional growth and success. The members, are not owners in any sense of the term, but merely customers used as the means to greater financial glory.
Credit unions competitive advantage has been collaboration and interdependence. This is how the cooperative system was created, their regulatory institutions were differentiated, and why purpose justified a tax exemption.
Creative destruction destroys legacies, whether buildings, companies or credit unions. New brands emerge. Old locations closed. New markets and business models tried.
Credit unions are not rebuilding on their old foundations. Instead large mergers are just the age-old, typical financial market strategy of buying up competitors to become more dominate and survive.
I don’t think the merging of well run credit unions is sustainable. It will take over two years before the new home is ready on the now demolished site and the new owners move in. This is also about the operational transition timeline of a large merger when members start to look for other options.
Unfortunately the creative destruction in credit unions is not putting new homes in place of the old; it is just moving all the occupants into the existing one.
Schumpeter believed that capitalism would gradually weaken itself and eventually collapse. Specifically, the success of capitalism would lead to corporatism and to values hostile to capitalism, especially among intellectuals.
In an historical irony, cooperatives intended as an antidote to the excesses of capitalism, are instead succumbing to the allure of free market takeovers.
Everyone wants to own a bigger house.
In talking with a retired CEO who still follows credit union events, I asked how his perspective had changed.
“I don’t feel the intensity or nuances from the grind of the day to day. . . or the tactical lust for short term passions.”
Without an organization’s boundaries, the retiree tends to be more observant of general trends.
An example of this capability is John Tippets, who retired as CEO of American Airlines FCU in the first decade of this century. In retirement he continued to consult in strategic planning sessions and speak at credit union events. During the 2008/9 financial crisis he was the interim CEO for three years at the troubled North Island Credit Union, which he saved from a regulatory closure.
Before his credit union roles John spent about 25 years in the for-profit world of American Airlines. Most of that time he was an Officer with Sky Chefs, an American airport restaurant and concessions, and airline catering, subsidiary.
He has had multiple retirements and career involvements. He and his wife Bonnie have written a book, Hearts of Courage published in 2008, the story of his father’s survival from a plane crash in Alaska in 1943. The story behind the book is in this 2009 article.
There have been two CEO’s since John at the credit union. The airline sponsor has gone through much turmoil including bankruptcy, mergers and leadership changes. The relationship of the credit union and its sponsor has continued strong even through numerous board changes.
The one strategic change John made as CEO was to take advantage of the TIP field of membership option. This permitted the personnel of other employers, co-workers at the airports, to become members of AAFCU. Airports in many ways became the credit union’s communities.
A favorite topic for John is his Principles of Leadership which he developed into a 50 slide presentation to the Aerospace conference in 2018.
The speech summarized his multiple professional and personal interests in a diagram similar to the UCLA basketball coach John Wooden’s nine principles of leadership. Here is John’s organizational template using a similar framework for credit unions.
The slides develop each of the nine points using examples from his numerous life experiences. The speech summarizes his approach to leadership. It also characterizes how he sees meaning in his multiple organizational and personal responsibilities.
John is now working on a book about his 25 years in credit unions. His activities are just one of multiple examples of credit union leaders who have stepped down but continue to follow credit union events. For many, these professional years are the most satisfying responsibility they have had.
Look around. There are examples of professional experiences and resources in every community, often like John, willing to provide perspective and an occasional assist. They see the world differently, often with more clarity than incumbents might assume.
And sometimes they are even delightful guests for the board, employees and members to hear from when those occasions arise.
In his book, John talks about his father’s recounting his story to youth leaders. Joseph would encourage them to keep teaching the lessons, because even though they might not seem to care, “kids are hearing and someday they may really, really appreciate what they learned.”
Life stories are not just for kids. For the past is never past, but always present.
This past week’s financial runs show how fragile consumer confidence can be.
A critical distinction in credit union design is democratic ownership-one member one vote.
One of the challenges however is that it is easy to treat owners only as customers. The fact is that many “owners” today are ordinary consumers attracted by a competitive rate or other marketing message. In some cases, the customer is just an indirect loan borrower who had minimal voice in the selection of where the loan was made.
There is a difference between customers and owners in a financial institution.
Customers do not vote for directors at the annual meeting;
Customers do not vote on merger proposals for their institution;
Customers do not have a residual interest in the reserves of their firm.
Ownership is traditionally honored in other communications such as members’ founding stories or recognizing those who have played special roles in the credit union or cooperative system.
Transparency is one critical leadership characteristic that acknowledges the owner’s role.
Without full, continuous and open communications, the default is to treat owners as customers. That unfortunately is the attitude of many in positions of leadership today.
Most importantly lack of transparency on specific credit union commitments means the owners have little or no basis for their responsibility of electing directors.
An example is from last week’s subordinated debt rule approved by NCUA. Every party to the transaction is provided full information: Senior management/boards, the brokers, the consultant, NCUA, and most importantly the individuals and entities (including other credit unions) that buy the debt.
Debt issuance of $100 and $200 million have been completed in the past 12 months. The only persons not provided the details of these events are the owners. It is their loyalty that is the basis for issuing these borrowings that can now extend as far as 30 years.
Without transparency, there is no possibility of accountability. The owners are removed from any role in governance. NCUA presumes its in loco parentis role if something doesn’t go according to plan-a distinct prospect with terms of 10, 20 and now 30 years.
Only state-chartered credit unions are required to file IRS form 990 which discloses senior management and board compensation, political donations and other activities such as grants for all non profits.
These disclosures are essential for owners to know the incentives and circumstances board and management have agreed to in leading the credit union.
Compensation consultants today are plentiful with four part plans and multiple ways to structure payments now or later. There are increasing references to a “change of control” clause which would trigger executive payouts no matter other merger bonus and benefits negotiated by the CEO.
Without compensation transparency there can be no accountability. State charters have disclosed this for decades. The same logic applies to federal charters. This information is an important step in owner oversight, even consumer protection.
In the months ahead, most credit unions will hold their annual meetings-in person and virtual. In preparation the annual audit will be available, a Chairman’s report prepared and other required business conducted including election of directors.
Some meetings will include updates on projects such as a new building or branch expansion, a report by a foundation or community activity. Others will include an educational presentation, an outside speaker and even a meal.
The annual meeting is a primary opportunity for leadership to engage with owners in open and full conversations.
It is especially important in light of recent examples about the resilience of regional and smaller banks. Confidence in an institution is based on trust. Trust is not created in a day or by a special press release about a firm’s financial standing. It is a relationship founded on open communication as both customers and owners over years.
Nothing could be more important this year than showing coop owners that the CEO and board deserve their trust by being fully transparent with facts and open to the members’ questions and points of view.
That is how free markets are supposed to function in a competitive economy. That is how democracy is supposed to work.
As Bucky Sebastian reminded me many times about this past weekend, “Everyone’s Irish.” St. Patricks Day comes in the middle of Lent because an Irishman could not go for forty days without a drink.
At least that’s one theory.
So I got out my best Irish hat and tried out his thesis with a dark lager and two helpings of shepherd’s pie. There was even a vegan option. Here’s the outcome.
Which reminds us of the great Irishman who believed in his deepest being, the potential for credit unions. This is Jim Blaine’s, March 17, 2016 portrait of Ed.
“Always suspected that the problem with Ed Callahan was that as a youth he was beaten too often by Nuns in parochial school or, perhaps, not beaten enough. Well, whatever, either way the Nuns left their mark – an indomitable spirit!
Ed Callahan was Irish – brash, pugnacious, loud, hard drinking, fun loving – alive! But why be redundant? I said he was Irish!
For over a quarter of a century, we all watched and observed as Ed Callahan created shock waves in the credit union world. No one was neutral about Ed Callahan. His friends were fiercely loyal, his enemies equally committed. Ed inspired many and angered quite a few. Ed had style; he had presence. With Ed, you weren’t allowed to make contact without becoming involved, excited, immersed, engaged.
At Marquette, Ed must have played football in the same way he played life – without a helmet. You had no doubt that Ed Callahan always played for keeps. He had no intentions of losing, that was not one of the options. Ed was very straight-forward; your choices were always clear. The mission was defined; and, there was only one direct path to the goal. That path was either with you, around you, over you, under you, or through you; you could step aside or get on board. It was your choice; but your choice never changed the mission, nor the path, nor the goal.
Some said that Ed was a visionary…
… they were wrong. Ed Callahan was a revolutionary. Visionaries talk about change, revolutionaries take you there. Ed led from the front – a leader of conviction, rather than convenience; principles above posture – courageous. Revolutionaries, by definition, create problems; overturn apple carts; rebuke the status quo. That happened at NCUA. Appointed by President Reagan, Ed arrived at NCUA in the midst of turmoil. Ed defined the mission; he reformed and remolded the Agency. He taught a regulatory agency how to stop working to prevent the last crisis. He explained that a coach never executes a play and that on Monday morning it’s never hard to see what went wrong – but it is rarely relevant. Teacher, coach, lessons in life; hopefully well learned, hopefully still remembered.
But let me celebrate the essence of the man – that indomitable spirit – one last time, for those who never had the opportunity; for those who still have doubts; for those who never fully understood. One of Ed’s harshest critics, noted with much wryness, that even in death Ed “couldn’t get it right”. Why, I asked? “Because Callahan died on March 18th instead of on the 17th, his beloved St. Patrick’s Day.” You know this type of critic – cynical, smug, self-assured without much basis, not really worth the effort, but…
Just for the record, I would simply like to point out one final time that – first and foremost – Ed Callahan was a fully-fledged, fully-flagrant Irishman – body and soul! And, no self-respecting Irishman would ever celebrate the end of St. Patrick’s Day until the last bell at the pub had rung. That would have meant that Ed Callahan’s “last call” would have come sometime after 4:00 am – on the morning of the 18th. Style, presence, courage – true to the last! A shamrock of joyful vigor and purpose!
And one last thought… in the final analysis you can say many things about a great man’s life… some men are admired, some are respected, some are envied, some are feared… and countless other adjectives and accolades. But, in the final analysis, the most important thing you can say about a great man is… he will be missed. ”
And, Ed Callahan will be missed…
