The cup

"Guess what I found in our coffee room?" my daughter messaged me.

A cup for a credit union shouldn't merit much attention EXCEPT DCU played a very special part in my life and not just as a member.

It was the late 70s and I was working for Polaroid Credit Union as their PR Director. We were an innovative organization often being the first to offer any new program approved by regulation.

I had always thought of myself as a marketing person who promoted credit unions, but over the years I became a credit union person. I so believed in their philosophy that all profits need to be returned to members in the form of higher sayings rates, lower loan rates and better services.

Digital Equipment Corporation approached my boss about setting up a credit union for their employees. Credit unions need defined membership be it social, geographic, company, etc. They ended up hiring him and he, in turn, hired Polaroid Credit Union's management team with a responsible time between hires so the old credit union wouldn't suffer.

What a ride it was. Ken Olson, DEC's CEO, didn't want to be the first member, but the second. The first went to a factory floor worker.

Month after month we opened new branches until we had 35 around the U.S. and Puerto Rico. We worked as fast as we could to get programs and services in place. We worked equally hard to make it a good place for our employees. Fresh ideas abounded. It quickly became a multi-million dollar financial institution, growing monthly.

I left after eight years, not because I didn't believe, but because I was moving overseas.

The credit union flourished without me and is now worth over a billion dollars. It survived the demise of Digital. I was in Washington D.C. when I saw a DCU ATM.  I'm still a member.

I later became a journalist covering international credit unions, first for Credit Union Times then for my own publication Credit Union Newswire until I retired.

However, of all my jobs, DCU will always be where I was allowed to be most creative. Each night I knew whatever I did would help people better their financial lives. I think of DCU as my baby, that grew up and got its Ph.D.

As for the cup...small world isn't it.