[The following obituary is from the October/November issue of "Local
2244 Labor News," the newspaper of Caroline's UAW Local at the NUMMI auto
plant where she worked.]
Caroline "Barking Dog" Lund passed away on October 14, a victim of the ravages of ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. She was 62.
Caroline became a NUMMI employee in 1992, and worked first on the door line. She began to put out a plant newsletter, "The Barking Dog" in 1997. Most NUMMI workers know of Caroline through "The Barking Dog." The readership of the newsletter steadily increased until she was distributing 1,000 copies, which got passed around to many of our members.
"The Barking Dog" defended workers against company abuses, and criticized union leaders when they didn't. She gave other workers space in the newsletter to voice their opinions on everything from speedup to contracting out to complaints about the union leadership. Through her activism, Caroline developed a reputation for being fearless, honest and knowledgeable.
While she was very tough and ready to defend her opinions, she was also always very respectful of those with other views, and never lost her temper or resorted to slanders or insults.
At one point, she was threatened with a lawsuit by then President Tito Sanchez and the Chairman of the Bargaining Committee Art Torres, because she had criticized them in "The Barking Dog." Many workers were outraged that the top leaders of the union would seek to silence a rank and file worker. She fought back and the lawsuit was quickly dropped. Support for her in the plant led to her being elected Trustee, where she oversaw union finances and was also on the Executive Committee.
In the 2003 election Caroline was re-elected Trustee while the old leadership was thrown out and a new team came in. Caroline then joined the newspaper committee.
Caroline was also a long-time socialist from the 1960s, and participated in the civil rights movement, the movement against the war in Vietnam, and the new women's movement of those years. More recently, she was on every demonstration opposing the war against Iraq. She participated in the huge march for immigrant rights in Los Angeles on March 25 of this year, and the one held in San Francisco on May Day, in spite of the relentless progress of the disease.
Caroline was a kind and gentile person. We will all miss her insights into what was going on in the plant and union and into what was happening to autoworkers around the country. She was an example for every union worker.
She is survived by her husband and comrade in arms for 40 years, Barry Sheppard,
and a sister, Catherine Vicary, nieces and nephews Danny, Elizabeth, Jeffery,
Kelly, Kevin, Kyle, Rachel and Rebecca.