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| Lions Gather at Reston…District Governor Ted Rosenthal of McLean, right, discuses latest club plans at area zone meeting held at Reston Golf Course Clubhouse with David Conlon, President of Reston Lions, Jack Neiswander of Herndon, zone Chairman, and Donald M. Ralph, President of Pender-Navy Club.” |
Reston Lions: A Charter Dream
The Reston chapter of the Lions Club was first proposed in
mid-1966[i] and was
formerly
established May 12, 1967, making it the first service club to be organized in
the newly established community[ii]. Reston was
conceived as a planned community by Robert E. Simon. Founded on April 10, 1964
(Simon's 50th birthday) and named for his initials, it was the first modern,
post-war planned community in America, sparking a revival of the planned
community concept.
Don Frutchey, one of the earliest members of the Reston Lions
Club who is still a current member, shared with us insight into what motivated
the creation of the Reston Lions Club. At the time the growth and
development of Reston was being monitored by newspaper articles, national
magazines, and scholarly journals on architecture and land use. The story goes
that Robert Simon, and later some of the leadership of Gulf Reston, (which took
over development interests in 1967) realized that their new town needed clubs
and service organizations if it was going to be a fully-functional
community. They directed some of their employees and friends to found
chapters of existing organizations, specifically Lions. By creating this
organization, they would provide Reston’s residents with an opportunity to serve
in the place where they already “lived, worked, and played.”
The sponsorship of the new club came from the nearby Herndon
Lions Club. The founding club President
was David Conlon, with Paul Frick as Vice-President, Richard Jaegle as
secretary-treasurer, Richard Jessup as Lion tamer ad Don Mundy as tail twister[iii]. It shouldn’t escape notice that Reston Lions
Club was formed exactly 50 years after the creation of Lions Club by Melvin
Jones in 1927.
Reston Lions: The Early years
The early Reston Lions club held dinner meetings twice a
month at a local Methodist church. Almost immediately they began holding
service events focused on Lions core mission of serving the community and
answering Helen Keller’s 1925 charge to Lions to become the “Knights of the
Blind” by focusing their mission on sight and hearing. One of their
earliest events was a free glaucoma screening clinic at the Lake Anne Community
Center with the goal of “acquainting the public with the fact that glaucoma can
usually be arrested and remaining sight saved if found and treated early.” The
club also had a playful side and was known throughout the late 60s and most of
the 70s for their very popular Las Vegas Night fundraisers, pancake breakfasts,
and yearly holiday decoration contest.
There was even a large effort put into a Carnival to be held in Brown’s
Chapel Park.
The club held regular membership drives in the late 60s and
their numbers continued to grow. In 1979 some members of the club endeavored to
create a second Reston Lions chapter which persisted for a few years but was
eventually folded back into the original chapter (talk to member Joe Rohrbaugh
for more information)[iv]. In the mid-80s,
Lions Club International changed their charter to allow women to join the club
as full-fledged Lions for the first time instead of being relegated to
“Lioness” clubs. Reston Lions Club was at the forefront of the battle to allow
women to join the Club and welcomed their membership even before it was
officially sanctioned.
Reston Lions: Today and Beyond
The club today has grown to over 38 members combining the areas of
Reston, Herndon, and Great Falls. It is now entering its 45th
year as a Lions Club serving the community.
We meet twice a month at Mama Lucia’s Italian Restaurant in Reston. The
overriding mission of the club is still to provide service to the community
with particular emphasis on sight and hearing.
Each year, the club collects thousands of pairs of Eyeglasses for
recycling and re-issuing to people in need.
The club runs free sight and hearing screenings several times a year and
holds a number of fundraisers to support these causes. We also focus a large amount of attention on
filling the Lions motto “We Serve.”
They will now mark another day in the history of the club as
Susan Beffel takes over as our President.
She is bringing with her some new proposed activities, a whole cabinet
of new officers, and a promise that the Reston Lions Club will continue to be
there to serve the community long into the future.
Photo from the Reston Times, April 5, 1968, Page 12
Photo
caption: “Lions Gather at Reston…District Governor Ted Rosenthal of McLean, right,
discuses latest club plans at area zone meeting held at Reston Golf Course
Clubhouse with David Conlon, President of Reston Lions, Jack Neiswander of
Herndon, zone Chairman, and Donald M. Ralph, President of Pender-Navy Club.”
References:
[i]
The Reston Times; May 15, 1966; Page 15
[ii]
The Reston Times; May 19, 1967; Page 5
[iii]
The Reston Times; May 19, 1967; Page 5
[iv]
The Reston Times; July 5, 1979, Page C3
