Death Will Not Release You

A motto of LASFS, although in latter days they have been known to expel unwanted members.

Francis T. Laney said this when he discovered the club's exaggerated claims to 500+ members by the early 1940s was largely due to the fact that no one who'd ever paid dues as a LASFS member had ever been removed from the membership roster, even long after they failed to attend or pay dues.

Laney's remark alluded to a question that Charles Burbee reportedly asked Rick Sneary about the Outlanders; Sneary didn't answer the question.

Like many a Laney or Burbee catchphrase, "Death Will Not Release You" caught on with later generations of LASFans. On one notable occasion, Ernie Wheatley (called "the dormouse of LASFS" for his tendency to put his head down on his arms and fall asleep at after-meetings in local restaurants) woke up just as someone was using the phrase to add, "Even if you die!" – and then promptly put his head back down on his arms and went to sleep again.

from Does Death Release You? in Fancyclopedia 2 ca. 1959

From the Outlanders, that is. Sneary was questioned thus by Burbee, but evaded answer.

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