Lake Holcombe Lions just getting started in first 50 years

Lions Past International director Ron Duffe (standing) was on-hand for the Lake Holcombe Lions Club 50th anniversary celebration Oct. 8, where he asked some of the members, including Carrie Ably (holding microphone) to speak about projects in their club. Photo by Ginna Young

By Lion Ginna Young

Gas was 55 cents and Richard Nixon was president, when the Lake Holcombe Lions Club was formed in 1972. Previously, the Holcombe Lions Club came into existence in 1952, chartered by the Cornell Lions Club, but Holcombe only lasted 15 years, before they were disbanded.

Enter Holcombe farmer Duane Dressel, who was a member of the Cornell Lions.

“He loved being a Lion and wanted to involve his friends in the Holcombe community, in this great organization,” said Lake Holcombe Lion Dianne Bayerl.

The Cornell club agreed to re-sponsor a Holcombe charter and the branch was rebranded to Lake Holcombe.

“Cornell has something unique about us that probably no other club in the world has – we sponsored Holcombe twice,” said Cornell Lions president Pat Denison. “They’ve been a smashing success ever since.”

Dressel stayed on to become the Lake Holcombe Lions president to give the new club a good start, along with the 31 other charter members of Robert Bayerl, Joseph Cigan, Richard Evjen, Walt Guthman Jr., Jerry Hayes, Howard Johnson, Donovan Lapp, Marvin Larson, Ivan Paulsen, Caroll Smith, John Wallace, Ed Bonn Jr., Al Dixon, Harold Flater, Raymond Gygi, Ray Hoople, David Justus, Denny Laramy, Glen Logan, Delmar Schmitt, Ted Strzok, Glenn Walters, David Brown, Edward Guthman, Harold Harke, Garold Johnson, Norbert Kraus, Ervin Larson, Steve Ness, Fred Scidmore and Richard Troupe.

“After 50 years, you now have 73 (members),” said Ron Duffe, Past International director.

Lake Holcombe, tongue-in-cheek, started out by plunging into debt, with their first project the purchase and installation of an electronic sign for the athletic field. The next big project, was leasing the Sportsmans Park from Northern States Power (now belonging to Xcel Energy), to develop it into the Lake Holcombe Lions Campground.

Over the years, the club made many improvements and now has 48 campsites available to the public.

“It’s one of our biggest fundraisers,” said Bayerl. To get the funds they need to give back to the community, the club has taken part in many endeavors to raise money, such as smelt feeds, cooked and served in the basement of the town hall. They also partnered for more than a decade with the Lake Holcombe Woman’s Club, for a July Fun Fest.

Less glamorous jobs involved cleaning toilets at the state fair, parking cars at Country Fest and serving refreshments at weddings.

“Anything to make a buck,” said Bayerl. Through those efforts and many more, the youth of Holcombe and Cornell, are able to play baseball, as in 1994, a need for more ball diamonds was recognized. Then club president Tim Bonn took charge and convinced landowner Henry Staudacher to give the club a five-year lease of his overgrown cow pasture, to develop a ballfield.

“This was not a small task,” said Bayerl, adding that clearing the land took many man hours and volunteer hands. “It was a major undertaking.”

Eventually, Staudacher agreed to sell the plot of land to the Lions, where they built a pavilion and named the field in honor of Staudacher. Recently, an addition was built onto the pavilion to house a new food pantry, after the 16x8-foot wide space was outgrown at the Holcombe United Methodist Church.

“It became necessary to improve our facility, because of the number of people and so on,” said Lion Bob Gamache.

Although the food pantry is not part of the Lions, that didn’t mean the club didn’t hit the ground running to help get the project completed.

“Give the Lions a job and they do it, that’s the bottom line,” said Gamache.

“Not that many clubs are involved in food pantries the way Lake Holcombe has been,” said Duffe.

Duffe also applauds the club for the work with their medical equipment lending closet, which was the brainchild of the former Dennis Engelking. The medical equipment is donated by the public, then is loaned out to those in need, free of charge, for however long it’s needed.

When the closet has a surplus of items, there are avenues to purge and send extra equipment to a program that serves Haiti, and to hospitals.

“It has been one of the most amazing programs I have ever seen,” said Lion Carrie Ably.

Ongoing projects of the club include providing school scholarships, supporting athletic needs and giving toward the club’s compassionate fund, as well as serving charcoal chicken and selling raffle tickets. That doesn’t mean the Lions are ready to sit back and relax, as they’re always ready to take on new projects.

“We hope the next 50 years, are as good as the first,” said Bayerl. “I think we’re off to a good start.”

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="244"] As charter members of the Lake Holcombe Lions, Robert Bayerl (left) and Erv Larson were honored for their years of dedicated service. Bayerl also served as a Past District governor and chartered the Lake Holcombe Leos Club, which celebrates 20 years, in 2023. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="243"] As president of the Cornell Lions Club, Pat Dension was present for the anniversary celebration, since Cornell chartered the club – twice. The Holcombe club was formed in the 1950s, before dissolving, then the Lake Holcombe club was started in 1972. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="243"] Lion Dianne Bayerl gave a history of the Lake Holcombe club, since she has been with the chapter since its charter in 1972, first as a wife of a Lion, then as a Lion member when women were allowed to join. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="243"] Lion Aron Cote was surprised to receive an International President’s Certificate “in recognition of distinguished achievements in fulfilling the mission of Lions Clubs International.” Also receiving the recognition, was Lion Ray Guthman (not shown). Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_155911" align="alignnone" width="300"] Bob Gamache, while not a charter member of the Lake Holcombe Lions Club, was nonetheless honored with an Appreciation Award for his 53 years of faithful service to the organization. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]