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Victoria Lions 50 Years Later |
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by Sue Orsen The Victoria Lions celebrated the 50th anniversary of their founding with a big bash of 170 people on Friday night, October 28th, at their new meeting place, Elstan Hall at St. Victoria. International, district, and local dignitaries and spouses were on hand for the prime rib dinner, live music, and other festivities. Stated Bruce Beck, Lions International Director from Palisade, MN, "Yours was the biggest event of 1966. President of the USA that year was LBJ . Vice President was Hubert Humphrey. The average home cost $14,200. Gas at the pump was 32 cents a gallon. A new car cost $2,600. It's the year Pampers came out. The Beatles were hot. Dr. Zhivago was at the theaters." Continued Mr. Beck, "You are doing it right. You're doing things well. You are awesome. You guys really put it together. You have deep respect for the community. I'd love to put the Victoria Lions in my pocket and take us on a parade." Wilfy Plocher, one of the original 24 charter members of the Victoria Lions, stated, "I've been around here since 1922, when Victoria was a city of 150 people, and in 1966 we organized the Victoria Lions and we had our first meeting at Red Lobster West. Some of you here tonight don't appreciate that, and then we moved into the Village Hall and Marge Robling was a wonderful cook. Thank you to the St. Victoria Parish for letting us use this facility. No other facility in Victoria could accommodate us." Jerry Schmieg, also a charter member, spoke next. "Fifty years ago we chartered this club with 24 members. Today we have 101 members. We've never really failed. We met at the Village Hall and we called it the New Village Hall for 30 years. Wilfy was the guy who drew up the plans for the Hall and made it happen. Things don't change too much; the city council wasn't in favor of it. Wilfy and Ken Diethelm and I persuaded them and we got 50 years of good use out of it." Added Jerry, "We were chartered by the Chaska Lions and we chartered the St. Boni Lions. One time we decided to have a beer drinking contest with St. Boni. There were 15 guys on each team. It turned out to be very ugly." "It's interesting that in 50 years we've never had a repeat president," he said. "I think that's a valuable thing. I'm proud to have been part of the successful Victoria Lions Club." According to information compiled by LeRoy Worm, longtime Treasurer of the club, the Victoria Lions have donated $1.2 million in the past 50 years to a variety of worthy causes including $250,000 toward community events (Cross Country, Halloween, Scouts, Easter Egg Hunt, etc.), $400,000 to local Lion causes (VFD, Park and Rec, Concerts in the Park, CAP Agency, Food Shelf, Meals on Wheels, Wounded Warriors, Community Living, etc.), $250,000 to District and International Lionism (Hearing Foundation, Eye Bank, Diabetes, Youth Exchange, Leader Dog, etc.), and $300,000 in capital donations to Lions Park (land, shelters, tennis courts, field development, dugouts, hockey rink, playgrounds, fencing, lights, etc.). In addition to cash contributions, Lion LeRoy estimated at least 125,000 Lion-hours were donated to the local economy which, even at minimum wage, amounts to over a $1 million. Fifty years from now, when they are celebrating their 100th anniversary, the Lions International Director might report to his audience: "The Victoria Lions elected their first female president in 2016. Donald J. Trump was elected President of the USA. Michael Pence was elected Vice President. The average home cost $375,000. Gas at the pump was $2 a gallon. A new car cost $40,000. The population of Victoria was 9,000. Downtown events and development made the city once again a destination." Over these many years, the Victoria Gazette has covered the Victoria Lions 5th, 15th, 20th, 30th, and 40th anniversaries in some manner or other, plus nearly all of their annual community events. Rather than repeating what can be found in the archives, the Gazette chose a different approach to celebrate this latest anniversary. I asked each Victoria Lion five simple questions. They appear here in order received. Posterity has been recorded!
THE LIONS INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES AND CHRISTMAS MEMORIES APPEAR ONLY IN THE PAPER EDITION.
BUT THERE ARE MANY PHOTOS FROM THE LIONS 50TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY IN SUE’S ALBUM. |
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December 2016 |
