John Stewart honoured for 50 years as Blyth Lions Club member
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
Blyth’s John Stewart was recently honoured for marking his 50th anniversary with the Blyth Lions Club - a milestone of volunteerism that few are lucky or dedicated enough to reach.
Last October would have marked the 50-year milestone for Stewart, who joined the Blyth Lions Club in October of 1974. However, the recognition came earlier this month at a zone meeting held in Wingham, still within the 2024/2025 Lions years. It is the norm, Stewart said, for honours to come a bit late within Lions Clubs International, but within the same season.
The Zone Chair made the presentation. It was quick and understated, but it honoured five decades (and counting) of volunteerism for Stewart who, along with several members of his family - brothers Ken and Donald, known to most as Tigger and Barney, wife Mary Lou and daughter Bonnie - has been, for many years, the beating heart of the club; a club that has accomplished so much and remained vibrant and strong while so many other service clubs see dwindling membership and a future in which they may have to consider folding.
Stewart joined the club in October of 1974. At the time, the issue of the day was the construction of a new community centre and arena in Blyth, but Stewart had a familial connection, as his father had been a member dating back to the 1960s. He remembers, as a kid, going door-to-door with his father for the club’s annual rummage sale, which was its biggest fundraiser of the day, when he was 11, 12 and 13 years old to collect items from community members, all in the name of making Blyth a better place to live, work and play.
Beyond the work being done to improve the community, Stewart said he remembered the group being a fun bunch of guys (it was all men back in those days) and that, to his father, the social time spent with his fellow Lions was just as important as the work being done by the club. This is something that Stewart has found to be true since he became a member and in the 50 years that have followed.
When he first became a member, he joined the ranks of members who will go down in the club’s history as some of its most influential, like Gordon Jenkins, Harold Cook, Doug Howson, Tom Cronin, Keith Richmond and others. He found their guidance and inspiration to be tremendously helpful and says they really helped shape him into the Lions member he has been for the last 50 years and continues to still be today. (In an interesting note of the family lineage that works its way through the Blyth Lions Club and many other service organizations, Stewart said he couldn’t help but be touched by the fact that Gordon Jenkins was president the year that he joined and his son, Joel, is the president as Stewart marks his 50th year.)
Stewart progressed in the club as any member, serving the first of his two terms as president in 1981-1982. One might think that Stewart would have served in the top spot more than just twice over the course of a half-century, but he said it’s always been important to him that the younger, newer members get involved and have their spot at the decision-making table, and returning again and again to the presidency would not help to achieve that goal.
It was after that term that Stewart began getting more involved with the Lions International organization, taking positions and getting involved beyond his local club. First, he put his name forward for the Zone Chair position, to which he was acclaimed in the absence of an opponent. However, when he set his sights on the position of Deputy-District Governor, there was an election and he remembers that process being fun.
He would travel around the district, making his case and working to attract support, just like any other election. However, in those days, he says it was a full club effort and, as he travelled from club to club, attending meeting after meeting, about 10 or 12 members of the Blyth club would make the trip with him, advocating and lobbying on his behalf.
He would eventually win that election and go on to be named District Governor at one point, later serving as the secretary for Multiple District A, which encompasses much of Ontario, for five years and then as the secretary-treasurer for the Past District Governors Association.
Involvement in the organization beyond the Village of Blyth opened a number of doors for Stewart and he has travelled to a number of the international conferences, visiting destinations that he, under normal circumstances, would have never had the opportunity to see. One such trip was to the Lions International conference when it was held in Sydney, Australia when it was held in 2010. He has attended other international conferences within the organization as well, but usually when they’re a bit more local. For example, in 2014, Toronto played host to the renowned get-together.
One of Stewart’s favourite memories and proudest moments as a Lion, however, came semi-recently, when he and his wife Mary Lou - as mentioned, an accomplished Lions Club member and past-president herself - travelled to Manhattan for Lions Day at the United Nations.
The year was 2019 and a young, smart Blyth girl named Mikayla Ansley had submitted a Peace Essay that was impressing judges. The International Peace Essay competition was introduced by Lions Clubs International as an alternative to the International Peace Poster competition, but for visually-impaired young people. Ansley had written an essay that won locally at several levels and, eventually, went on to win the international competition, earning her and her family a trip to New York, not just to claim her trophy, prize money of $5,000, but to be a special guest at Lions Day at the United Nations in New York and to read her essay to Lions members there, assembled from all around the world.
It remains a highlight to this day for Stewart and Ansley’s victory has echoed throughout the community, with a special day celebrating her victory with local dignitaries and a trophy presentation to her at her school, Londesborough’s Hullett Central Public School at the time.
To be there, not just with a family from Blyth, his home community, but to represent Lions from all of Canada and to see the country triumph on the world stage like that, Stewart said, it was so important to him and to what he feels the club can accomplish with and for its community members.
Of course, that isn’t the only accomplishment Stewart can summon when talking about his 50 years with the club. Much of the work, indeed, has gone into the Blyth Lions Park, which remains a crucial part of the community to this day.
There was the Lions’ extensive involvement in the arena construction and renovation and work on the local ball diamonds, as well as the purchase of the clubhouse and now, the ongoing new sports pad project, which only saw its cement foundation poured last year.
And while the work that has been done by the club and the influence of Stewart and the rest of his family has been undeniable over the past 50 years, what keeps Stewart involved and coming back after all of these years is the people. He says he genuinely enjoys the Lions Club members with whom he volunteers and the new faces that come aboard year after year. Similar to the nugget about Gordon and Joel Jenkins, Stewart has loved spending time with the older members just as well as he has to see their children come of age and become members themselves, supporting a continuum of volunteerism, community and friendship that has meant so much to him over the years.
He says that, while it has been great to meet so many like-minded individuals as a District Officer, knowing that they care about their home communities as much as he cares about his, it has been and still is the members of the Blyth Lions Club, taking time out of their busy schedules to do so much for their communities, that keeps him wanting to be so involved.
And, in the modern day, he says that the influence of the club’s women members cannot be understated. In 1998, when the decision was made by Lions Club International to allow women to be members of clubs, some met that decision with resistance. However, in Blyth, he says, many women have been members over the years, serving as presidents and in other important positions, both locally and further afield, and the club is far richer for it.
Through that inclusion, he said, the Lions Club has been able to dust off its “old boys’ club” reputation and attract the best and brightest of the community.
This summer, the Blyth Lions Club will mark its 80th anniversary, a milestone that would never be reached if not for the long-term dedication and hard work of members like Stewart, who have made helping their communities part of their lifestyle.