It all began in 1970 when Russ Stadt, of Grand Rapids organized
the Marmon Owners Club and sent out a newsletter. This Club grew to 186 members
in 1972, when business pressures forced his retirement, leaving the Club in a state of inactivity for five years. In 1977 Leona Belote in Dunedin, Florida,
decided that someone should get things going again and picked up the ball with a newsletter and organized a meet at Thomasville,
Georgia. There were only
four Marmons at this meet, but it was a beginning. Leona kept things going for
the next four years with the help of Bruce R. Williams, who hosted a breakfast each year for Marmon people at the fall AACA
Hershey meet. From this came the start of a formal club, with a newsletter and
annual musters beginning in Indianapolis in 1982.
Bruce R. has served the Club continuously since then.
Duke Marston was president at this time and his service in
that capacity and later as secretary was representative of the devotion many members had for the Club. We have formed like-long friendships in the Marmon Club, and yet new attendees at the musters find a very
warm welcome. The Club is unique in that, with probably less than six hundred
Marmons left in the world, we have a relatively small club with unusually close relationships.
Ownership of a Marmon
or Roosevelt is not a requirement for membership.
Our club
today has over 289 members representing more than 455 Marmons and Roosevelts.
