Fred Stark receives international Lions Club award

Lions Club State Parliamentarian Fred Stark received an international award from the organization at its state convention last weekend.

Stark said his community betterment was more than a goal. For him, it’s a way of life.

“I believe that if you’re going to be in a community, you want to be involved with the community,” he said. “I do many more things than just simply this, and I hate to use the word ’shotgun approach,’ but … I’m a person of many dimensions, I’m not just one thing.”

Indeed, Stark’s history of community involvement is diverse. He’s been a band director at Washington High School, worked with the National Education Association, contributed to “industrial archaeology” and served on the Washington City Council.

Stark has been a member of the Lions Club for 57 years. He joined after being invited to a meeting by a friend, and stayed for the repeated positive experiences.

“It keeps you going, you know the people, you develop friendships and camaraderie and you develop a whole new set of friends outside of your community, and you learn certain skills,” he said.

Stark received the International President’s Award, the second-highest honor in the organization. Past International Director Ardie Klemish said around 1,000 nominees per year are given the award, a narrow selection of the organization’s 1.4 million international members.

Stark said the award caught him by surprise, as he was preoccupied with the details of the meeting at the time.

“I did not know I was going to get this award, I was more concerned about the business meeting because I knew there were some thorny issues coming up,” he said. “You get overcome, honestly, especially after umpteen years, so I felt very grateful on that one. But then I look back at what all I’ve done and I thought, ‘You know, maybe I do kind of qualify for this,’ but I wasn’t thinking in (those) terms.”

While old age has hindered his direct involvement, Stark said he was happy to stay involved via his administrative role as the state parliamentarian. The appointed position tasks him with maintaining order at meetings and serving as something of a referee for any rules disputes.

After 30 years in the appointed position, Stark’s peers agree that he is a perfect fit.

“He lets us know if we’re out of line,” said Past District Gov. Debbie Doty, who also received the International President’s Award. “He remembers everything. We tease him about being a trivia king, the man knows tons of stuff, and … he knows Roberts Rules of Order inside and out.”

Although the respected award has always been a goal for Stark, he said his focus remains on his work.

“It’s gratifying, but I’m still doing my job as far as parliamentarian things go,” he said. “We want the club to grow, we’ve got to look at the club first and … my job is to serve.”

Still, Stark acknowledges that he will eventually have to step away. Until then, he will remain dedicated to his work.

“As long as I’m physically able to still do it, I will keep going,” he said. “I mean, I’ve had some arthritis, I’ve had this and that, I can still drive. With the hearing aids, I can still hear. At some point, all of us are going to retire, or die before we retire, but I’m not your typical person of my age.”