The Club History by Lion Hiram Valliere
"The first charter night was held at Yeschecks' Tower. There are no charter members left today that were at the first charter night. There were a number of Lions present from the Arbor Vitae-Woodruff Lions Club who were our sponsoring club.
"The Lac du Flambeau Lions Club was chartered February 11, 1959 and included 39 charter members. The first couple of years went well, however the membership then began to decline. It was at this time a special club meeting was called by the remaining five active members. They met in a car in front of the hardware store on the main street in Lac du Flambeau. They decided not to disband; instead they decided to build up the membership. By the late seventies there were 68 members. Our club did many things. The meetings were fun and we had more ladies nights which included dinner and dancing for charter night, installation of club officers, fall cook out and the Christmas party.
"Our Lions Club to date had one District Governor, Lion Charles Francis. Lion Francis also served as Town Chairman for many years. It was while he was chairman that the Town of Flambeau in 1970 changed its' name to Lac du Flambeau. Lion Ben Guthrie was our last charter member and he resigned after serving our club for approximately 36 years.
"In the late sixties and early seventies the snowmobile had become popular. Our club joined with Arbor Vitae-Woodruff, Lake Tomahawk, Hazelhurst and Minocqua Lions Clubs to sponsor a cross country snowmobile race that started at the Lakeland Airport, to Tomahawk, to Hazelhurst, back to Minocqua and ended in downtown Lac du Flambeau. It was well over 50 miles long.
"I found a news clipping about the clubs 15th anniversary Charter Night. Charter member Ben Guthrie reviewed activities sponsored by the club which included golden glove boxing, little league, trapshooting, summer carnival, organization of the Indian Bowl, street lights, skating rink and lights, original Indian Pow Wow, historical marker, memorial veteran sign, improved roads, area map, high school and grade school athletic banquets, Scholastic Honor Society, eye glasses for the needy, Badger State Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Halloween party , Christmas party and clean up detail day."
Lac du Flambeau Lions Club hosted the 27-C2 Convention in 1998 and 2011 and will be hosting the 2014 District Convention in April. We are very proud to have had Lion Bob Moen as District Governor in 2010-2011.
Among other things we currently support the Wisconsin Lions Eye Bank, Lion Camp for the Blind, Sight First, Leader Dog, Diabetes Awareness, Dr. Kate Hospice, Lakeland Sharing, Lakeland Pantry, Lakeland Senior Center, Habitat for Humanity, Northwoods Wildlife Center, Intercultural Leadership Initiative, LdF Domestic Abuse, LdF Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Dept., LdF Museum, Tribal Boarding School Project and give four college scholarships.
We also provide yearly hearing and vision screenings at the Lac du Flambeau K-8 school, many of our members volunteer as tutors in the classroom and in the after school tutoring program, participate in the Lions Peace Poster Contest as well as hold a Peace Essay Contest at the school, provide transporters for the Wisconsin Eye Bank, and twice a year clean up several miles of Hwy. 70 W.
