In Memoriam – Lion Bill Reed
Bill was born when Calvin Coolidge was President (late 1920ties). He was married to Jane and they had two sons. He joined the Cupertino DeAnza Lions Club in August 1991, a member of 32+ years.
Within the club, he was Treasurer while Lion Eli was club president, but left this assignment to have more time to spend at Camp Costanoan (now Camp Via West). As a board member, he never missed a meeting, and he attended the weekly morning meetings religiously in person (apart from a few months during the pandemic) until January or February 2024. Aside from his invaluable help and support of Camp Via West, he was in charge of collecting club mail from the club’s P.O. Box. He also volunteered for and attended almost all Lions events, fundraisers and special events, including the annual Thanksgiving food drives where he asked for donations outside of the food stores and manned the collection table as late as November 2023.
Here are some memories fellow lions shared:
About 30 years ago, there was a time when Lions Bill and Eli were assigned the duties of cleaning up the area around the waterwheel building and then painting that building. They took care of the clean-up, it looked pretty good, so they went to the paint shed and were told they could use any paint they wanted but suggested that the Lions use “those cans of brown paint over there”. Bill and Eli went off to paint the waterwheel. As they worked, the paint went on as a good brown, but after it dried it was bright pink! Eli made sure he was known as the apprentice and that Bill was the contractor. Bill took a lot of heat over that waterwheel and guess who grinned like a Cheshire cat! Several fellow lions remember painting sessions with Bill all around Camp: the amphitheater, cabins, logs, everywhere that needed paint. No one used pink paint, but they went all over Camp with brushes and cans in hand.
Several more Lions met Bill at the Camp; he left a lasting first impression with all of them. One year, Bill, et al, were building a fence at Camp (actually, the fence around the current garden) and it was clear that he was in charge. He was way up on the ladder while a crew of young guys were working at ground level. He was obviously the one who should not have been up there. But under his direction, the fence went up in no time. Lion Leslye met Bill at Camp when he was working with a crew of 6 or 7, and she was amazed at how strong he was. When Jane, Bill’s wife had to be in a wheelchair, he was pushing her everywhere. Bill is an inspiration to all of us older people.
He was probably in his late 80’s, and there he was, out-working everyone, carrying 4×4 posts, getting it all done. He was instrumental in building the bridge near the amphitheater at the Camp. He got a design and made that bridge go up. Once in the spring 2020, already way into the pandemic, he was doing clean-up with Lions near the cabins adjacent to the garden area. He was pushing a lawn mower along the hillside, accompanied by Son Patrick.
He insisted on working for our lions club whenever we worked for ROV (Registrar of Voters), just to be a part of it. He worked 8-hour shifts each session until February/March2024.
When he supported the club’s food drives, he also drove to the stores to pick up food to deliver to the Odd Fellows Lodge. For many years, he also helped with delivery to the families who were designated receivers of the food boxes, and he used his truck to deliver extra foods to the Sunnyvale Community Center.
Here is a little anecdotal remark from some fellow lions: if you rode with Bill you learned that he’d drive every road or freeway at 25 mph. No matter what. But he always arrived safely wherever he was going, and he made it to the weekly AM lions meeting well into his nineties.
More quotes from fellow lions:
We recently lost a highly respected, most-valued and the eldest member of our Lions family.
He always made everybody feel welcome with that smile of his.
He was so welcoming and amazing.
Bill was one great person!
Bill will be remembered as a most loyal, dedicated fellow lion who will be missed.
Such a sad day for the Cupertino DeAnza Lions. He was one of a kind gentleman, he will never be forgotten, “God Bless Him” .
“What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. For all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” -Helen Keller
Mort officially became a member of the DeAnza Lions Club in 2013. Even before that though, she presented annual Flag Day activities at a number of elementary schools, as well as participating in the Lion’s food drive, the golf tournament and the crab feed. For her spirited form of Lionism and dedication to volunteerism, Mort was bestowed several accolades and awards from the club including a Lifetime Membership to the Blind Center and a Melvin Jones Fellow Award.
