THE FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS 14 THE MERGER’S IMPACT ON ACOFP The California Merger had a serious impact on the ACOFP, which lost many of its members in California, including some key founders, and at the time, California was the largest of the AOA’s divisional societies. California was also the site of the original headquarters and the secretary-treasurer’s office. Sadly, all the funds that belonged to ACOFP were turned over to the California Medical Society. All records and archives located at the College of Physicians and Surgeons were moved to the University of California at Irvine and were not available to members outside of the state. Research has not identified Dr. Schramm’s position on Proposition 22, but we do know that he transferred many of his records to O. Keith Pauley, DO, FACOFP, (ACOFP President, 1962–1963) for safekeeping and to preserve the organization’s history. Dr. Pauley then gave much of that information to J. R. Forbes, DO, FACOFP, (ACOFP President, 1968–1969) to prepare that history. When Dr. Forbes died, the records in his possession and any work he may have started on an early history were inadvertently lost or destroyed by his family. ACOFP’s assets were never transferred back to the organization that would be compelled to start again outside California. Due to the merger’s stress, collaboration and communication stopped between former friends and colleagues, dealing a severe blow to any new governing structure. Wounded by the loss of some of its key founders in California, ACOFP sought refuge among faithful members of the American Heartland. A decade of existence had produced many great leaders throughout the country through the great work of the organization’s regional vice presidents in the Western, Central, and Pacific Regions of the country. The loss of vital membership data and their hardearned capital dictated that the organization would be forced to go back to working out of the offices of whomever was the president or secretary at the time. But the new leadership was quick to realize that the trials and successes of the past had forged ACOFP into a vibrant and resourceful professional society with a national reach that could not continue to grow with this makeshift volunteer organizational management plan. ACOFP needed a full-time executive secretary and an office possibly close to the AOA headquarters in Chicago. Some of the members suggested cities in America’s sunbelt, where no heavy winter snowstorms could disrupt travel and the college’s operations. The remaining ACOFP Board members not affected by the California Merger exhibited substantial fortitude in the face of pressing organizational problems that would have scuttled other organizations of the same size. The national leadership would set out immediately to get ACOFP’s affairs in order. The final decision was made to move the national offices to Chicago, and leadership set about the long process of regaining financial stability. The near loss of the organization energized ACOFP and the entire profession with a newfound dedication and a strong resolve to never allow another loss of such magnitude to occur in the future.
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