The Barry’s Bay Review published a Lions Club Edition on November 24, 1960 which featured mention of the 23 members of the benevolent society. Money raised by the Lions Club is given to various causes in the community. Besides supporting the hospital in a monetary way, money was also used for the annual Santa Claus party (1300 Christmas bags for children the previous year), assistance for youth baseball and hockey teams, prizes for music festivals and public speaking contests, money for school trips, eye examinations for school children, and a myriad of other good causes. Many of their good deeds were done behind the scenes without any fanfare.
Here are the 1960 MV Lions listed in the paper. Not every Lion mentioned is accompanied by both a photo and a bio, but there are many familiar Valley names among the Club members.
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MV Lionettes of 1960
Working in concert with the men were the Lionettes. In 1960, the following women were listed as members: Clara Blais, Ursula Bloom, Agnes Carl, Nellie Colfe, Susan Cybulskie, Louisa Blaney, Carola Drevniok, Amy Davidson, Joyce Donaldson, Agnes Dunn, Olive Fisher, Valerie Fitzgerald, Ella Hoffman, Margaret Hudson, Joan Kitts, Joan Mader, Dot Marquardt, Kay MacArthur, Barbara MacMillan, Kaye Pecoskie, Maizie Ross, Claire Russell, Dorothy Waddington, Irene Waddington, Hazel Wagg, Helen Watt, Alma Weaver, and Doreen Yakabuski.
Madawaska Valley Lions of today
At this time of year many Valley children start to think about the upcoming holidays. MV Lions continue to organize the annual Santa Claus Parade through Barry’s Bay. I would love to see a list of the current members of the Lions Club. They deserve to be thanked for their selfless work on behalf of the community.
We thank Andy Mintha who provided us with this copy of the Barry’s Bay Review. If any readers can supply one of the missing Lion pictures, or perhaps a photo of some of the Lionettes, we would love to hear from you.
Note to our readers: If you are interested in having a picture and story featured in The Madawaska Valley Current, please submit the information to Bob Corrigan at madvalleycurrent@gmail.com (subject Heritage Photos) or mail your photo to Bob c/o The Current at PO Box 1097, Barry’s Bay K0J 1B0 (originals will be returned).
Editor’s note: This article was amended on Nov.23 2024 to include the write-up accompanying Bill Hoffman’s photo. Apologies for the omission.
Thanks for this / including pic and info on John’s grandpa Jack Fitzgerald!
The Lions do a WONDERFUL job !!!!
The MV Lions Club remains active and is always looking for more members. Active current membership includes: President Greg Kelly, Vice President James Currins, Treasurer Tom Smith, Secretary Bill Schroeder, Julian Pristanski, Ed Quesnelle, Bob Archambault, Donna Mask, Ted Van Hoof.
We look forward to welcoming the community to the 58th annual Santa Claus parade through Barry’s Bay starting at noon on December 7, with follow up kids activities at the arena being organized in partnership with the Rec Committee. Any group or individual who wishes to enter a float or make a donation is invited to contact one of us.
Great work, Bob and Andy. It’s wonderful to think of the MV Lions (I suppose the BB Lions back then) being so strong even 65 years ago – that’s quite a list of members! I have wonderful memories of my time with the Lions, organizing rain barrel sales and handing out balloons along the Santa Claus parade route while dressed in a lion costume. I encourage both men and women, especially younger ones, to attend a current meeting and find out just how many fun and productive things you can do for MV as a Lions member.
…Terry Newcombe, now living in Panama
“It’s wonderful to think of the MV Lions (I suppose the BB Lions back then)”:- actually it was the “Madawaska Valley Lions” even then:- look at the clip for Victor Demelis and he is described as the president of the “Madawaska Valley Lions”. The Lions then were primarily a business-mens’ fraternity and they obviously tended to think quite regionally instead of more locally which was not easy to do in an era of dirt roads and horse-drawn wagons with even the railways running less than 50 kmh:- it would take a long time for young people to learn the local regional geography, all those fellows were middle-aged or older. It’s so hard to believe now that we got all of our information and news from small black printing on off-white paper and this was the way news was disseminated since 1450 and the invention of the first “modern” printing press. Now in the Age of the Internet we can “trip the light fantastic” and travel the world and even travel back in time in seconds with just a few “mouse-clicks”:- I’m sure those old-time folks would be very intrigued by the concept of “clicking” a “mouse”, even |I would have thought that was “super-weird” back then as a small child! Progress marches on and we must march with it so we don’t get left behind!