Submitted article
The Bucyrus Lions Club recently celebrated the 75 years that they have been serving the community. They met for a special dinner attended by local Lions Club members and Lions from all over north central Ohio. Also attending were members of the Fredericktown Lions Club, the club that originally sponsored the Bucyrus Lions Club.
Terry Spiegel, club president gave a history of the club and past scrapbooks were displayed. District Governor Jeff Hillis, a Bucyrus Lions Club member, introduced the speaker for the evening, Past International Director Jerry Smith. Linda Spiegel received special recognition from the club, a Melvin Jones Fellowship, for her Lions service. She was the first woman in the Bucyrus Lions Club, joining in 1990, and now the roster includes thirteen women.
The club’s first president was Dr. D. D. Bibler and they originally met at the Elberson Hotel in 1939. In the 1940’s the club donated Lions Park on Whetstone Street to the city and is still involved with improvements at the park. The club has been involved with providing eye exams and eyeglasses to those in need for many years. The members also collect used eyeglasses that one of their members, Dr. Christina Fox, takes on eye mission trips for people in other countries. The club also provided two bicycles to give out at the Spooktacular, loans equipment to people with reduced vision and has many other local service projects. Their next fund-raising project is the selling of chicken dinners at the Council on Aging on Tuesday, November 11th. Pre-sale tickets are available before Nov. 7th from any Bucyrus Lions member or from WBCO/WQEL at 419-562-2222.