65 Years Strong

 After the Great Depression in the early 1940s, the people in the Dawson Creek area of northern British Columbia (BC) were feeling the same financial burden as the rest of Canada.  The chartered banks were exceptionally cautious, and it was nearly impossible to get credit. This situation spurred a group of co-operatively minded individuals to join together.  They conducted research, formed study groups, and discussed the possibility of incorporating a credit union in the area.

On July 28th 1943,  this group of future credit union members collaborated late in the evening at the Lake View schoolhouse. At the time, twelve members were required to form a credit union, and the Lake View group only had eleven. According to long term board member Dwain Clease," they met to form the credit union and put up their six dollars. They put up fifty cents a piece by 12 of them. In fact they didn't have enough for the twelfth so they went down the road and got Mrs. Golata, who was the schoolteacher, to come up and join in her nightshirt almost. They got her out of bed...to join and to add her fifty cents."

At the eleventh hour, the original twelve charter members were Gunnar Mortenson, Ben Miller, Wm. Conn, A.R. Crull, Hans Larson, Ralph Lefferson, Bert Faulkner, Homer Stevenson, Ruby Stevenson, Arnold Ebert, Harry Wood and Elizabeth Golata.

Lake View Credit Union (LVCU) received its charter and opened its doors to the public in August of 1943. The original office for this fledgling financial institution was located in the northeast corner of the Dawson Creek Retail Co-op, and consisted of nothing more than orange crates and a cash box.

Gunnar Mortenson, who was the credit union's first General Manager, walked seven miles from his home every Saturday afternoon to open the office.  As a result of his hard work and determination, the title of LVCU's chief pioneer is attributed to Mortenson. He handled all Lake View's borrowing and lending, and volunteered countless hours. After three years of dedication to the credit union, Mortenson received his first paycheck for $150 as manager of Lake View on April 1,1946.

The efforts of the credit union's original members paid off. By December 31,1943, only four months since its inception, the membership had grown to from 12 to 76, with a share capital of $2,114.

One year later, in September 1944, the credit union had 141 members and a share capital of $25,820. The growth "developed out of lending money on a handshake…when you loan money to someone on a handshake, you basically have put your value in the man's handshake" (Dwain Clease, 2001). This approach allowed Lake View Credit Union to grow quickly. In its formative years, LVCU had the distinction of being one of the fastest growing credit unions in British Columbia.

Organization

Today, Lake View Credit Union has a board of seven directors, a number of whom have been re-elected for several successive terms. Director Clease mentions that when he was elected in 1977, the shortest time a member had served on the Board was eleven years, and he personally replaced a person who had been on the board for twenty-nine years.

Board members are elected and may be re-elected on a rotating basis every two years. The board acts as one entity, but has appointed chairpersons for specific sectors such as investments and audits, and the board is the acting committee for each of these areas. The LVCU board meets monthly to conduct the regular business of the credit union. Clease mentions that a pivotal view the board has consistently held is that "the members [of Lake View Credit Union] are the key" and by following its mission statement which in part reads "deliver the most beneficial services in a friendly, professional, efficient and financially responsible manner" the credit union has prospered as have its members.

In 1974, LVCU expanded its services by opening a branch in Chetwynd, B.C., and in 2001 it replaced the Royal Bank as the only financial institution in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Today, LVCU has maintained these three branches, and has grown to over 15,500 members with assets over $230 million,