It’s a family affair.
Eleanor Arbour has been associated with the Fonthill Lions and Lionessfor 53 years, almost as long as her husband, Fred. Her parents were both charter members of the club back in 1945. And her son and grandson help out at the club on occasion.
“My dad was still coming to meetings and selling event tickets when he was living up at the Lookout Ridge retirement home,” said Eleanor.
As a Lioness, she has served as the district president twice, and was district treasurer for some 12 years. As a Lion, she serves as secretary, works at all organization functions, and at the district level has been the Effective Speaking and Peace Poster chair for 10 years.
Born in Fonthill, Eleanor attended local schools, and started work at age 12 with her father, Gordon, at his butcher shop, Klager Meats, once located near the corner of Pelham Street and Highway 20. He opened the store in 1934. She went to Mac School of Nursing in St. Catharines in 1962, but returned to the family business a couple of years later. When Fred married Eleanor, he went to work at the butcher shop as well. They closed the doors in 2015, tired of the six-day work weeks and 12-hour days.
The Fonthill Lions purchased 7.5 acres of land at Hurricane Road and Highway 20 in 1970, and in 1972, the land was opened as a park, now known as Gord L. Klager Park, honoring Eleanor’s father. The Lions hall itself was officially opened in 1974.
“Fred is here at the Lions hall pretty much every day. I'm probably here a couple times a week depending on what's going on, plus I do a lot of computer work and administration stuff from home,” said Eleanor.
When not immersed in Lions and Lioness business, the Arbours enjoy spending time at their cottage on Wahwashkesh Lake, near Parry Sound.
'The big thing is that we’ve got to attract some younger people'
“I've been going up to the cottage for about 70 years,” said Eleanor. “The cottage is accessible only by water. At first, there was no hydro power, no running water. We hooked up a hand pump, and had an old car radio that was hooked up to a battery that let us pull in the signal from CKTB radio in St. Catharines. We had no television until we installed hydro-electric in 1995.”
What about the future for the Fonthill Lions and Lioness?
“The big thing is that we’ve got to attract some younger people,” said Eleanor. “Like most service clubs and church councils, our membership is composed primarily of seniors. Our Lioness branch is down to about seven members now. It's hard to hard to find younger women willing to jump in. We just finished doing 360 meat pies, and need to prepare another 360 In January or February. We prepared and handled the sales of strawberry shortcake, peaches and ice cream, and turkey pies. Plus we do the men's meals once a month. So that's about all we can handle with the current membership.”
For the last four or five years, the Lions have had an E.L. Crossley student come out for community service hours, and assist with some of the chores involving heavy lifting, which certainly helps, said Eleanor.
“Right now we're lucky that almost all our Lion and Lioness members work at the full slate of our events, including Sliderfest, and all the various fundraising dinners we offer throughout the year.”
The Fonthill Lions and Lioness support a range of local groups, including Pelham Cares, Alzheimer’s Niagara, Pelham youth soccer and baseball, the Boy Scouts, and the Welland Hospital Foundation. To learn more about the Fonthill chapter, go to www.fonthilllions.ca/contact/join-the-club, or check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FonthillLions.
Lions International, which has been providing humanitarian service for 100 years, is composed of 46,000 clubs and 1.35 million members, making it the world’s largest service club organization.
