Presented by Kirk Klancke, May 2024
The Fraser River Valley Lions Club was rechartered on March 16, 1981. The original Fraser River Valley Lions Club was chartered in 1958. Several prominent families of the time made up the membership. Chuck Clayton (Fraser’s first Mayor, 1953), the Flourquists, Carlsons, Morrows, Pallinis, Millers and Dick Mulligan of Mulligan Mile fame. That charter lasted only a couple of years.
Our club was formed 5 years (1981) after the unincorporated town of Hideaway Park incorporated to become the Town of Winter Park. We had 33 charter members including the clubs founding father Bob Temple, Kit Klancke and John Dailey, who moved away decades ago but continues to pay his dues. This makes John Dailey our only remaining charter member. The first Lions President was Richie McDowell.
Our first fundraiser was a pancake breakfast. We worked out of a smoke-filled tent and not a well vented pancake trailer. We cleared $915 after 2 days of serving breakfast and lunch.
That same year we held a fishing derby on a private pond by the pole yard called the Huck Finn Pond. We also held our first Christmas tree sales which were 100% local Charley Brown trees. Clearing $850 in profit the club made $1,765 in our first year.
In 1982 we got into the eyeglass business by providing 3 children with glasses. The Lions Club was founded in Chicago by Melvin Jones in 1917. Melvin was an associate of Helen Keller and Helen challenged him to make vision our main mission. You can learn more about this here: https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-center/helen-keller
In 1983 we held our first Health Fair which has continued to this day. This service to our community was the start to our reputation of serving.
Our highlighting accomplishment in 1984 was to get involved with the Sunshine Kids by cooking breakfast for them at Dougal’s Restaurant in Grand Lake. Nowadays the Sunshine Kids are known as the Shining Stars and we are still cooking for them.
In 1985 we purchased a pink 1954 mobile home for $500. Lion Dick Enzian parked it in his yard and converted it to be our original pancake trailer. He painted it blue.
The Pancake trailer made its debut at the 1986 dedication of the veteran’s monument in the old Safeway parking lot. The Lions held a Fraser Valley flag design contest for the third flagpole on the monument which was won by Ingrid Karlstrom. Ingrid received $100 for her design.
Also in 1986, after having been shut down by the US Forest service in 1985, the Lions became the concessionaire of the Idlewild campground. Where the Forest Service had lost money on this campground, we made $4K our first year boosting our income to an all time high.
With the windfall from the campgrounds, Lion Tom Koblentz proposed offering college scholarships. We gave 2 $500 scholarships in 1987. Since then we have given over $440,000 in scholarships.
In 1989 Lion Bud Sannon got a stipend from the Lions Club to buy targets and set up an archery range at the base of the Mary Jane Ski Area. That year we held a State championship tournament serving breakfast and lunch out of our trailer. We also added Robbers Roost campground to our income which totaled $18K for campgrounds in 1989. This was also the year that the editor of the local newspaper, Virginia Cornell, approached the Lions board about becoming a member. Her brother was a member of the 1958 Lions Club. She was denied entry based on her sex and her exercising of the power of ink was a low point in our community image.
But by 1991 our leadership was finally ready to have women in our club. Nola Carlson and Ingrid Karlstrom were our first 2 female inductees.
Since that day our club has become the epitome of success, thanks to our female members.
In 1992 we held the District 6W convention at Silverado II. Years later, in 2013, we hosted another 6W convention at Winter Park Mountain Lodge.
By 1996 our pancake tailor needed a facelift so we painted it bright yellow, a color that you can see from outer space.
In Y2K (2000) Lion Gene Ackley started working with the Ski Area to form Powder Partners. This ongoing fundraiser has helped us raise a lot of community funds.
In 2001 with a $500 investment, a $5,000 grant and a lot of volunteer help from our construction community, we built a disabled accessible fishing dock at the Lions Ponds. John Holzwarth, who sold the Holzwarth Homestead to Rocky Mountain National Park, cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony from his wheelchair. The Lions also celebrated their 20th anniversary at this event.
Proving the value of women in our club, Jancie Hughes was given Lions highest award in 2002, the Melvin Jones award. After Jancie 2 other women members have also received this award, Barbra Nissen and Jill Childress.
Other women of distinction in the Lions Club at the time were Jill Childress and Reba Furgeson. JIll sponsored Reba in 2002. Reba was the grade school Principal that died in a car accident here in the valley. Since that day we have purchased school supplies for the kindergarten class, in her name.
Jill became our first woman President, served as the Health Fair Chair and in 2003 she came up with the idea for the Festival of Trees and chaired that event for years. (Not as many as Boyntons though)
In 2005 we held the Cozens Cup Golf Tournament. We had a snow delay that first year. Since then, our golf tournament has grown to be half of our income today.
In 2006 Kent and Jancie started the Run for Independence to raise money for Children’s Hospital. The Lions supported this with money and volunteers.
2008 saw the Lions raised $60K to place a monument size sculpture of Dwight Eisenhower in his fishing regalia down at the Lions Ponds. Ike was a frequent visitor to the valley in the 1950’s, fishing, painting and cooking, so the Denver Post dubbed us the Western Whitehouse. We placed a plaque at the sculpture to tell that story.
This is also the same year that Lions Joan and Kent Vonderheiden started the Cranmer Chapel dinners. Working Powder Partners, they met several ski area employees and learned about their struggles to make ends meet. Since the Ski Area had 2 week pay periods, most of their young employees were eating Top Raman by the end of the second week. The Vonderheiden’s decided that the Friday of the second week in the pay period was a good time to feed them a proper dinner. We got involved from the beginning and usually take the Friday closest to Valentines Day as our annual meal. Several other nonprofits take other Fridays with St. John’s Episcopal Church (Granby) coordinating the efforts at Cranmer Chapel.
This was our humble beginnings. We had a smaller club with big ideas. Going into the future, we will be building on this foundation and doing more for our community than that smaller club could have ever imagined back then.