Fort Collins Lions Club

Volume 3, Issue 1                 January, 2012

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE             Ted Blevins

As you know, Lion Dick Corl, editor of the Lions Tales is planning to feature bios and highlights of each active club president in this year’s newsletters. He is starting with the 1963 president, Lee Anderson. I have done a little research, and found some interesting history of our now 92 year old club.

Did you know?

In the 1920s, the Fort Collins Lions Club entertained the honorable Franklin and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt at a lunch in the Northern Hotel. Mr. Roosevelt spoke on the topic “Greater Efficiency in Government Affairs.”

In 1921, Colorado Governor Oliver Shoup threw out the first ball in a baseball game between the Lions and Rotarians held in May. Coach Harry Hughes pitched for the Rotarians, who won 31-15.

The 1937 funds were allotted between the blind – $25 and the Iron Lung Fund – $200. The Lions led the drive to buy the Iron Lung and an infant respirator, raising a total of $3000.

In 1941, Lions Art March and Bob Bales won the wild cow milking contest at the College Days Rodeo.

In the late 1940s, one program featured Bill Carlisle, a reformed bad man who had served 20 years in prison. He told how he staged a hold-up on the Union Pacific train near Cheyenne, and took over $500 from the passengers.

Lion Ben Delatour donated several hundred acres of land near Red Feather Lakes, which became the Boy Scout Camp, in 1959. The club later financed the planting of 4000 Douglas Firs by the Scouts in the camp areas.

Lions Clubs in 1966 had committees for: agriculture, youth, citizenship and patriotism, civic improvement, education, health and welfare, safety, United Nations and youth exchange.

In 1977, the Thanksgiving meeting featured the raffle of a live turkey. When Floyd Headlee won the raffle, the 28 pound turkey was released from the next room. Lion Floyd immediately donated the bird to the Salvation Army. There is no record of the bird’s capture.

We have a proud and fun history, and to carry it forward, we need new members. All you have to do is ask — a neighbor, a church member, anyone who you think would enjoy serving this community as a Lion.

A BIG WELCOME to our newest member – Dr. Marcelo Saldivia!

Ted

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THE A,B,C’S

Accept differences, Be kind, Count your blessings, Dream, Express thanks, Forgive, Give freely, Harm no one, Imagine more, Jettison anger, Keep confidences, Love truly, Master something, Nurture hope, Open your mind, Pack lightly, Quell rumors, Reciprocate, Seek wisdom, Touch hearts, Understand, Value truth, Win graciously, Xeriscape, Yearn for peace, Zealously support a worthy cause.

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LeMoyne W. Anderson

President of Fort Collins Lions Club

1963 – 1964

Fifty-five years a Lion!

I started life as a child before serving as a teen-age infantry soldier in WWII.  I married my college sweetheart after we graduated from Minnesota.  We lived in Chicago for 6 years after completing a Ph.D. from Illinois.  Served as a CSU administrator for 30 years, retiring as Dean and professor emeritus. We traveled the world extensively while residing in Fort Collins for past 54 years and are “enjoying” 61 years of marriage.  Have 2 daughters, 5 grandkids, & 4 great grandsons.

As President of the Fort Collins Lions Club I received a phone call late one Tuesday night in October, 1963, informing me that the kitchen at Ace Gillette’s restaurant had been closed by order of the State Board of Health…thus, no place for our Lions to meet on Thursday noon for our regularly scheduled luncheon in the GilBan Room of the Northern Hotel.  So, what to do!

Well, my wife, Hollis, and I got on the telephones trying to locate an alternate venue.  After several hectic hours, we finally found a meeting site:  Ladd’s Covered Wagon on HWY 287 north of the “Y” (since burned to the ground).  Following this episode, we proceeded to inform the Lions.  It took a while inasmuch as back then we had 125 members to call.

We continued meeting at Ladd’s for several months pending the re-opening of Gillette’s food services in the Northern Hotel, which eventually met the health standards of Colorado.

The experience was unprecedented and certainly not in the job description of a Lions Club President!

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The Best INSULTS of ALL TIMES

• “He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.” Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist
  
• “He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.” Samuel Johnson, British writer
  
• “He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” Forrest
  Tucker, American actor
  
• “He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” Billy Wilder,
  American film director
  
• “He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright, British politician
  
• “He had delusions of adequacy.” Walter Kerr, American critic and writer
  
• “He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” Winston Churchill, British prime minister
  
• “He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” William Faulkner, American writer
  
• “He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” Paul Keating, Australian prime minister
  

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Our Valentine’s Party

Noon,Thursday,February 9th,2012