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The Delavan Lions Club celebrated serving our community for 75 years Saturday, May 11, 2013.

The club started in May of 1938. The country was coming out of an economic depression. The world was on the verge of war. And yet, a group of men in Delavan met and chartered a Lions Club and dedicated themselves to serving the community in countless positive ways.

The club is one of the longest-serving in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Our charter members in 1938 included:

Donn Borrer, Dr. J. R. Buckley, Dr. J.A. Carroll, Jack Christian, David Ekdahl, Madison Farrar, George Flood, Herbert Goff, Harold Lindner, Archie McBride, Ben McCauley, Harold McSweeney, Eugene Mink, Dr. S. C. Rusdal, Luis Schauwitzer, Jack Schmidt, Edgar Sikes, Bert Smith, Herbert Weiland, Lawrence Wuhrman.

A few notable milestones about the club:

• The club has managed the Sweet Corn Tent at the Walworth County Fair since the 1950s. We started using an automatic, propane-powered corn roaster in 1972. It was invented by Delavan Lion Lloyd Foote, who was legally blind.
• The club was home to then District Governor Lion Leo McGlade in 1959-1960.
• The club has sponsored the annual St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner fundraiser since 1963.
• In 1970, the club pledged $10,000 to launch the Delavan Mill Pond fund drive, which helped establish the city’s public swimming area.
• Scholarships are awarded annually to graduating seniors of Delavan-Darien High School and the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. Usually four scholarships are given to DDHS graduates, and two are given to WSD graduates.
• The club funded construction of the Delavan Veterans Park picnic shelter in 1986. We proudly hold our annual summer picnic there under our logo, and we sponsor some of the kid’s games during the city’s Fourth of July festivities.
• The club provides new eyeglasses to residents in need in the Delavan area and collects used glasses from throughout the community which are distributed to those in need in developing countries around the world. Club members also provide transport services for the Wisconsin Eye Bank, delivering transplant tissue between hospitals to help give the gift of sight.