Club History

COLLIE CLUB OF MINNESOTA, INC.

"Dreams that become realities" has been the theme of the Collie Club of
Minnesota. In the early 1940's, Edwin (Ed) Pickhardt of Sterling Collies fame and
Raymond Opstad of Raellyn Collies had a dream together -- a dream of creating
a local Collie Club in Minnesota. Ray, with his organizational ability and
flair, got the ball rolling.

According to the first minutes available, a group of 25 or so enthusiastic
Collie people discussed the possibility of a collie club at a dinner held in the
Curtis Hotel. The second get together was an informal picnic dinner held at
Ray Opstad's, featuring a puppy judging contest with the prize -- Purina Dog
Food--- what else?

The organizational meeting following the first two informal meetings was held
at the State Fair Grounds, September 3, 1944. The club was named the Collie
Club of Minnesota, with the following officers:

President               Mr. Ray Opstad
Vice President       Dr. A. Armstrong
Secretary               Mrs. George Bantle
Treasurer               Mr. A.R. Kohn

and the Board for the year (after some initial switching):

Mr. Edwin L. Pickhardt
Mr. J. G. Cohen
Mrs. Virginia Pickhardt
Mrs. William D. Salisbury
Mr. Alfred Scrimshaw

Our 1st Annual Specialty was held as part of the Minneapolis Kennel Club Show
on September 15-16, 1945, in the Minneapolis Auditorium. Mr. Edward D.
McQuown judged the 13 dogs, 13 bitches and 1 special. (At this time, 12 dogs or
bitches were enough for a 5 point major.) The BOB winner,     Ch. Sterling
Syndicate, the special, went on to be Best in Show. The first Show Committee
consisted of Mr. Douglas Ketcham, Mrs. Wm. J. Curran, Mrs. Richard Gately and Mrs.
Clement Birkebak.

We have already mentioned Ed Pickhardt and Ray Opstad. There were many
others of our founders and beginning members who should be mentioned. Vice
President, Dr. D. A. Armstrong of Fairboern Collies was an outstanding breeder of
mink. He was also involved in an intense color genetic program. He had some
very beautiful collies and was the breeder of Ch. Parader's Golden Image. One of
our early meetings was a caravan to Fairboern near Albert Lea.

Secretary Mrs. George (Vivian) Bantle was as colorful and unique individual
who was famed for her Riverledge Collies. "Riverledge" was a showplace on the
banks of the Mississippi River not far from the Mendota bridge. There were
literally acres of golden collies everywhere and Vi in the middle of them.
Steve Field, Parader Kennels, was at "Riverledge" one evening after judging our
show. He spent sometime daydreaming. When asked what he was thinking of, he
replied that he just couldn't get a young tri male pup out of his mind. That
pup was Paul and Virginia Bauman's Royal Clansman, an Image grandson, who later
became an Am./Can. champion.

Mrs. William Curran, a member of the first show committee, and her daughter
worked with Vivian and did much of her exhibiting. They later moved to England
and have fairly recently and published a well acclaimed book on collies.

Near the time of our first specialty, Myrle and Lowell Cameron joined the
club. They consistently raised beautiful, typey Collies under the Raellyn Kennel
name (Myrle is Ray Opstad's sister). Robert O. Smith of Ros Collies was
another member well known for his devotion to the collie, his judging and his
photography. A group of his beautiful slides are still available through the
CCA's Library.

Gunnar Dahlstrom of Gunlo Collies, gentleman of the old school, was the
artist and creator of the Dahlstrom collie headstudy struck in metal and awarded as
placements at several of our specialties.

Rose Cohen of Thorne Collies, accomplished much of our club as president,
show chairman and chief fund raiser. She obtained donations of money, prizes,
and printing for our events. She dealt with sales managers for facilities and
helped our catalogue advertising. Rose also did fine work at the Anoka State
Mental Hospital bringing her Collies along where people really responded to
them. People who hadn't communicated at all for years made the breakthrough to
recovery due to her efforts. She was honored and given a special award.

Lois Jahn, Commandant Collies, was acting president for the 1969 Collie Club
of America Specialty hosted by the CCM. Show Chairman was the able Paul
Bauman of Pava. The Show Headquarters was the Ramada Inn on White Bear Avenue.
The Exhibition area was the Wakota Arena. Then Banquet and Annual Meeting were
held at the St. Paul Hilton.

Our first show with "Everything Under One Roof" was held at the Hopkins
House. People loved it. The following three years we held it the same way, but at
the more luxurious Holiday Inn Downtown in Minneapolis. It drew a larger
entry every year with exhibitors coming from all over the nation and Canada.

Shirley Edman, under Rose's tutelage, became a world class negotiator. She
took the Cohen abilities, added her own brand of Irish blarney, and began the
concept of holding the Specialty Show, Banquet, and Symposium on one weekend,
with everything under one roof!

Late in 1979, the CCM had another dream, a big one -- that of hosting the
1981 Collie Club of America Specialty Show Weekend. The reality was a total
success in every way. Almost without exception, the entire club worked hard.
This national specialty marked two firsts for the CCA Nationals: the first three
day CCA and the first National Symposium held in conjunction with the
National Specialty. The entry was over 600 collies. Throughout there was nothing
but praise and it was enthusiastically said to be the finest CCA specialty in
history. Mention must also be made of the cooperation with the Collie Fanciers
of Southeastern Minnesota who, through Kathy Metry and Mary Hardwick, raised ov
er $900 to host the Hospitality Room. Anything can be accomplished with
people working together, pulling their share, and doing it with lots of caring.

To communicate our club happenings to the fancy everywhere had long been a
dream of Shirley B. Edman. It finally became a reality when it was properly
launched as "The Word" in June of 1965. There had been a few previous issues,
but only to club members. It was very well received and supported. Within a
very short period we were printing 1,000 copies and mailing 800. Shirley was
the Editor of "The Word" for eight years. As the magazine continued to grow
and improve. the editorship passed on to Bob and Judy Williams of North Country
Collies who added a great deal with artwork, cartoons, poems, etc. Cindy
Phillips and Pat Jung were editors when the "funny little magazine" was awarded
Honorable Mention in the Dog Writers of America Contest. Unfortunately, rising
costs and other considerations made it prohibitive and the last issue was
published in 1980.

We, as a club, have continually furthered good causes. We gave a percentage
of our specialty profits for years to the University of Minnesota Opthamology
Department for CEA equipment. Later, we contributed a portion of our 1981 CCA
profits to help fund the ERG machine at the same institution.

In 1984 the Shirley Edman Commemorative Sweepstakes was started. Its'
challenge trophy, designed and executed by artist Carol Baynton Phelps, is coveted
by collie breeders nationwide.

Lifetime memberships were instituted to honor those members who have
contributed continually and selflessly over the years. This honor has gone to Walter
and Frances Welch, Shirley Edman, Mary Miller, Myrle Cameron and Elaine
McFarland. Others recently added in 2003 are Sandy Hall, Lois Walton, Vivian Zak
and Kathy Blake

Now we are in a new period of growth, having gained some fine new members,
full of enthusiasm and willingness and fresh ideas. That, of course, is our new
history in the making.

Revised 1975
Revised 1992
Revised 2002