Senior Boys Night

This tradition has been in place for many decades (about 50 years!): The senior boys are invited to share a meal with the Gresham Lions and hear a little about their future roll in community service. This photo is of the members of the class of 1980. Front row: Tom Huntington, Bryan Nietzer, Gary Paiser, Gordon Wesener, Brian Miller, Chuck Ward, and Joe Hoffman. Second Row: Lion President Grant Stoehr, Jim Beyer, Randy Nietzer*, Jay Crowe, John Meirhofer, and Brian Reopelle. * = current Gresham Lion. This tradition has changed, starting in 2016 all members of the Senior Class (male & female) have been invited to join the Lions for a regular meeting, meal and a guest speaker.

Gresham Lion's Scholarship

The first scholarship was awarded about forty years ago. The Gresham Lions are strong supporters of the Gresham Commnity School. They have donated to a wide variety of projects at the school ranging from computer software, public address systems for the gymnasium, playground equipment and milk for low-income students. Scholarships to help and encourage students to gain further training and education have been a constant goal of the club. The scholarship funds have increased five-fold and a committee selects the awardees from many applicants.

2010 scholarship recipients with Past-President Tim Paiser... left to right: Whitney Cerveny, Mariah Rekow, Amanda Paiser, Heather Bunker.

Charter Member - Lion Jim Redmond &

Gresham Lions Club's Sixty Year Anniversary!

The awards begin...

Lion Pete Andre, District Govenor, Lion Jim Redmond and Lion Raymond Rigsby, Gresham Lions President

Lion Jim's family: Wife, Sons, Daughters and Sons-In-Law

Johnson-Redmond Gresham Lions Park

Recently the park sign was up-graded. Lion Tom Mehlberg lead this project with the help of Lion President Ray Rigsby and Lion John Paul Bauman. Below is a "before" photo of the sign with Lion Jim Redmond:

Here the work proceeds to add new posts:

The nearly completed project with (left to right) Lion President Ray Rigsby, Lion Jim Redmond and Lion Tom Mehlberg. Future plans include further landscaping:

Looking Back as we built the Gresham Lions Shelter:

Centennial Community Legacy Project

In 2015-2016 the Gresham Lions chose to continue their efforts to improve the community and celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Lions Clubs. Our Legacy Project was to improve the signs leading into the village. We worked in partnership with the Village and had some help from the Utility Crews in re-erecting the new signs.

The first sign completed:

The second sign:

The third sign:

The project is completed:

Norman Brei

It was in 1961 that Norman H. Brei began his journey as a faithful lion with the Gresham Lions Club. Over an amazing 54 years he served the community and the Lions Club with pride. In 2011 Gresham Lions presented Norman with the first Melvin Jones Fellow award ever given to one of our members.

No matter what Lions project or event, Norm was always involved and helping in any way that he could. For many years he served his club as treasurer.

In Norm’s later years he became the person in charge of ordering and bringing all the candy to the Halloween Lion’s party for all the kids in our community. On the 4th of July Norm was a familiar sight riding our float and tossing out unbelievable amounts of candy.

On March 25th 2015 Lion Norman passed away. When a Gresham Lion member passes, our club shows up as a group for his wake. This summer, five years after Norman’s passing, one of our members notice that our friend was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. The Gresham Lions stepped up and started a community fundraiser.

Before:

After:

The Tim Paiser Memorial Pavilion

We lost another excellent member in 2019, Tim Paiser. The club decided to work on a project that would honor the memory of Tim and other club members and improve a small park by the Lower Dam in Gresham. The first phase was building a pavilion that could be enjoyed by the community and visitors. With great support by Lions members and the community, the project proceeded and the pavilion was erected. Further improvements are planned: electric service, play equipment, etc.

The Dedication Ceremony

September 28, 2020