March 2016

Tom Spellman

News about April 2016 Meeting in Santa Paula

Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 16, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Once again, the Ventura County Agricultural Museum will be hosting this event. The focus of the meeting will be on California's citrus history, and the beauty and marketing impact of the citrus label. The museum is filled with displays depicting Ventura County's rich agricultural and citrus history. It includes one of the best collections of California agricultural artifacts I’ve ever seen.

At noon, CLS member Jim Campos will be presenting a Power Point presentation featuring labels from the L.B. and Fleeta Hudson collection. L.B. specialized in labels featuring dogs as the primary image and Fleeta concentrated on labels with flowers. I’ve personally seen the collection; it contains many rare and beautiful images, and this program itself will make it worth attending this event.

At 1:00 p.m., we will be joined by a tour group from the historic Fillmore and Santa Paula railroad. They will be with us for the last hour of the meeting.

Be sure to invite friends or relatives to our meeting. We are open to the public and everyone is invited to participate in this event. It will be educational and entertaining, and have something of interest for everyone.

Saturday, April 16, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Ventura County Agricultural Museum
926 Railroad Street
Santa Paula, CA 93060

Dealer sales space will be limited and available by reservation only. For information and reservations, contact Tom Spellman at (909) 931-2458 or tom@davewilson.com .

Remembering Llaird B. Hudson

It is with heavy heart that I share the following news:

	Llaird B. and Fleeta Hudson

Citrus Label Society pioneer Llaird B. Hudson passed away, on December 11, 2015 at the age 93, surrounded by his family. He and his wife Fleeta of 72 years moved to Camarillo 22 years ago after starting and raising their family in the Ontario/Rancho Cucamonga area.

Llaird was a WWII army veteran, proudly serving in the Pacific and European campaigns. After returning from the War, he became a California Highway Patrolman, serving the Pomona/Ontario area. Llaird was a citrus farmer, growing lemons in the Upland district. He also served two terms as president of the San Bernardino County Farm Bureau. Later, he served on the grand jury.

Through the years, Llaird faithfully served in many capacities in local churches, including board member and high school Sunday school teacher. “L.B.,” as we all knew him, was an early collector of Citrus Labels and one of the pioneer members of the Citrus Label Society.

To me, L.B. was a great friend. I will always cherish the time I was able to spend with him at label meetings and at his home in Camarillo. He was always welcoming and cheerful; always willing to share his wonderful collection and his extensive knowledge of citrus labels and citrus history. I could go on for pages; there were so many great stories. It is always tragic to lose a good friend, but I like to look at it this way: L.B. had 93 years of life; a great family, good friends, and countless accomplishments and experiences. L.B.'s life is truly a story of success.

L.B.: You will be greatly missed, old friend, but always fondly remembered. May you rest in peace.

The Social Aspect of Collecting

Collecting has been a part of my life since I was a teenager: I would be digging for antique bottles, crawling under old buildings, and buying, selling and trading at swap meets for as long as I can remember. And my efforts have paid off. I’ve been able to put together a fine collection of citrus labels and citrus artifacts, antique bottles and Western advertising, of which I am truly proud. For me, the hunt is as important as the acquisition. Even more important is being among people who share these interests.

After 45-plus years of collecting, the things that really stand out to me are all the friends I have made along the way; friends I have known for decades, as well as friends I made just recently. The travel, the lunches and dinners, the meetings and shows, and so on, are all aspects of collecting to which I really look forward. I really enjoy the comradery among friends with interests similar to mine.

Things have changed in recent years as more and more collectable material has become available on the Internet. You don’t have to attend a Citrus Label Society event anymore to purchase citrus labels. You can sit in front of your computer at 11:00 p.m. in your bathrobe with a glass of wine and buy citrus labels or just about anything else you are seeking to buy. I’ll admit it: I've done that; I've purchased many items from Internet stores and eBay auctions. That’s great stuff, but it doesn’t replace the social aspect of collecting. It doesn’t replace spending time with your friends.

Due to the lack of available meeting locations, we will probably only have three or four meetings this year. But if you want the Society to survive, then please participate. We are trying to plan programs for all future meetings, and keep them interesting as well as entertaining. By the way, plenty of great labels that you won’t find on the Internet are brought to meetings.

What can you do for the Society? Deliver a program, write an article for the website, or just show up to visit with your friends.

Hope to see you at a meeting soon.

- Tom Spellman, CLS president