7 A final word

With this issue, the Cleverly Newsletter begins its 40th year of publication. Four decades of telling the family story! That represents a pretty remarkable run.

The first issue of the Cleverly Newsletter, a single sheet of paper printed on both sides, rolled off the presses (literally my manual typewriter and a copy machine) on the first day of September 1973. The very next day, September 2, Claudia and I became parents with the birth of our first child.

Ten years ago, as we reached the newsletter's 30th anniversary, I noted, "Over the . . . years, we have varied the frequency, the format, and the style of the newsletter. But we hope we have stayed true to our original mission of keeping the family informed, building family unity, reminding us of our heritage, promoting family-centered gospel living."

Now at 40 years, we want to stay true to that original mission. But we need your help. With our upcoming mission call beginning in January, we are either going to have to curtail what we have been doing with the newsletter, turn it over to someone else in the family, or discontinue it all together.

That's where your present help is needed. Please weigh in on these (or even other) options. Please let us know what elements of the newsletter you particularly like. Or don't like. What you want us to keep? Or not keep? When you want to inherit this job? (I thought I'd just throw that in for any who want to execute a friendly takeover.)

Thanks for your input. And God bless you all.