The six-year-old girl was so small she had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone.

That didn't daunt her. Nor did the 60 or so Lions attending the Tulsa Downtown Lions Club luncheon that day.

"I just wanted to thank you," she said in a young but firm voice. "For the first time, I only see one Mommy."

The girl was thanking us for the surgery that corrected a congenital vision problem that caused her to see double. The club also bought glasses for the girl's cousin whose parents didn't own a car and couldn't afford transportation to take her to the optometrist for an examination after we had approved her application.. The Lion who investigated her application for glasses also provided transportation.

But that's just part of the story and her cousin is another story.

A couple of years after she stood on that chair to thank the club, her father found a better job and sent the club $100 from one of his first paychecks. He sent $100 several more times.

The Lions didn't need her thanks. And we didn't need the money her father sent. We were repaid by the knowledge we had served. But he felt he owed us a debt and wanted us to use that money to help other people.

There are thousands of other stories about how we have served Tulsans for the past 90 years. About how we have helped thousands of people see better by financing eye surgeries or buying glasses for them or buying special equipment. It's what we are all about.

We serve.

Our service hasn't been limited to helping with eye surgeries or to buying glasses or collecting donor cards for the eye bank or providing transportation for the blind to obtain Leader Dogs or sending them to the Lions World Services for the Blind to teach them how to deal with their blindness or assisting with other vision problems.

We also have bought hearing aids, sent handicapped children to summer camps, held Christmas parties for handicapped children, bought prosthetic devices for the handicapped, bought glass eyes to help regain esteem, supported a school for handicapped children. We have replaced clothing and medicine and blankets lost in floods and tornadoes. We donated to the relief fund for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers and of Hurricane Katrina and matched members’ donations. We assisted a Cuban refugee in establishing a new life in the United States after he fled the Castro regime in his native country. We have provided special computer equipment for the Center for the Physically Limited. We have bought special computers to help cerebral palsy victims live more independently.

To sum it up, where there has been a need in Tulsa the Downtown Lions have been.

Some of our activities have been fun, some were tedious and tiring, some were difficult. All were rewarding.

Our community service had its beginning Oct. 11, 1916, when 25 professional and business men gathered in the grill room of Hotel Tulsa for the first official meeting of the Tulsa Lions Club, a year before Lions Clubs International was born. A few organizational meetings had been held earlier. The club's membership had grown to 40 by the time of the first international convention a year later in Dallas.

 Our service, fulfilling the Lions International motto of "We Serve," has been in all aspects of community life.

We have sponsored barbershop quartet contests and Boy Scout troops. We have taken handicapped children to camp. We still take Christmas parties to handicapped children in school, complete with gifts and Santa. There have been many other activities.

But the chief area of service has been to the blind, the vision impaired and those who need eyeglasses — in fulfillment of a challenge made by Helen Keller in 1925 pleading with Lions to become the "knights of the blind."

For many years, the club spent an average of more than $40,000 a year on its charitable projects with much of that money going to pay for glasses and for eye surgeries to restore sight. That need has grown to the point the club is receiving an average of six applications per day for eye exams and glasses, although the money available has diminished because of the downturn in the market.

To finance these services, the club has raised money through a myriad of activities. These have included sponsoring a golf exhibition, sponsoring runs, sponsoring golf tournaments, selling American flags, sponsoring performances of the Black Hills Passion Play at the old Convention Hall (now the Brady Theater), garage sales, collecting and selling newsprint, helping a television station collect vote returns on election nights, selling tickets for hockey games and for special shopping nights at Woodland Hills Mall and even delivering bottles of wine.

Some of the older members didn't think much of the idea but finally agreed to a club-sponsored 5-k Resolution Run on New Year's Day when most members and many runners probably would rather have been in bed. The first one was so successful — in spite of bitter cold — that it became an annual event that attracted 600 or more runners every New Year's Day for several years and gave us a lot of publicity as well as building up our treasury. But that project was dropped several years ago for several reasons.

The club's most successful method of raising money has been the annual Tulsa Boat, Sport and Travel Show that was originated by the club but which after a few years became too large for the club to handle by itself. For the past 50 years, it has been operated by marine dealers with club members selling and taking tickets. A couple of years ago, we began doing the same for the twice a year Green Country RV Show.

For several years, the boat show has added $16,000 annually to the club's activity fund, the fund that finances charitable activities. The club also has a trust fund that finances charitable activities such as paying for eye exams and buying eyeglasses, a legacy of far-sighted members of an earlier generation. The trust is a 501(c)3 organization which means donations to it are tax deductible.

The group that became the Tulsa Downtown Lions Club was the second such organization in Oklahoma. It is one of five Oklahoma Lions Clubs organized a year before the first national convention in Dallas in October 1917 when the name Lions Clubs International was selected — although the group was far from international in scope.

When the Tulsa Lions Club was organized, World War I was raging in Europe and the United States was close to joining the allies in the battle against Germany. Among the club's first service projects was selling Liberty Bonds in support of the war effort.

Two other civic clubs that continue in operation today were in existence but their objectives were provincial. The Rotary and Kiwanis clubs were formed with the idea that members would help the businesses of other members.

The idea for the Lions Club is credited to Dr. W. P. Woods of Evansville, Ind., who began working to establish such an organization several years before the Dallas convention. He was elected the first president.

Dr. Woods had engaged George Cunningham of Houston to help organize the clubs. After Cunningham formed several clubs in Texas, he moved into Oklahoma, forming a club in Oklahoma City in September 1916. From Oklahoma City, Cunningham came to Tulsa with three members of the Oklahoma City club to organize the Lions here.

T. J. Hartman, president of a bank, was president of the new Tulsa club which had 25 members on its charter date but had grown to 40 a few weeks later. From Tulsa, Cunningham went to Muskogee to organize a club.

Within a period of several months, Lions clubs had been organized in Ardmore and Chickasha. Representatives from all five of those clubs were among the 36 delegates and eight alternates who attended the first international convention in Dallas Oct. 8-10, 1917. Clubs were organized a few months later in El Reno and Okmulgee, too late for the convention but early enough for them to be designated charter clubs.

An attempt was made by a St. Louis delegate at the convention to change the name from Lions to Vortex. Except for a motion by a Houston delegate that was approved 24-6 to table that proposal, we might have been Vortexians today instead of Lions.

 Melvin Jones, who was to become world famous as secretary of Lions International, almost missed out. Before the convention, Samuel Hicks had been serving as unofficial secretary-treasurer. At the time of the convention, Hicks was an Army Infantry captain serving at Camp Taylor, Ky. He wrote, declining the nomination as secretary-treasurer, saying his military duties must come first. Melvin Jones then was nominated and elected by acclamation. His title later was changed to secretary general, a position he held until his death.

Jones' signature appears on the Tulsa Downtown Club's charter but the document is not the original issued in 1916 in spite of the Oct. 11, 1916, date it bears. The charter bears a Lions emblem superimposed on its face and a seal made of a gold Lions emblem which had not been designed at the time. It bears the notation that it was to replace the original and is signed by E. G. Gill, the 1943-44 international president, and Jones as secretary. The reason for the replacement is not known.

The pin worn today by Lions throughout the world was adopted in 1920. It was designed by R.A. Kleinschmidt of the Oklahoma City Lions Club and remains unchanged from its original form. Before that the pin featured a single lion's head with a club in its mouth. The club bore the word "International." Kleinschmidt, one of the first international directors, later moved to Tulsa and became a member of Tulsa Lions.

Several Tulsans served on committees at that first convention, including A. V. Davenport who was elected to the board of directors with a two-year term that started a year later. Davenport became the Tulsa club's second president and later was appointed governor of a district that included Oklahoma and Kansas, a position he held while serving as an international director. Others included W. L. Dickey as chairman of elections and Hunter Martin as chairman of education.

Near the end of his term as governor, Davenport held a district convention in Muskogee, the first convention of any district.

The motto "Do It Now" was proposed but the idea of selecting a motto was submitted to a committee to report at the next convention. There’s no record of what became of that committee’s report but the association’s motto, "We Serve," wasn’t adopted until 1954 although we had been serving for decades.

Interestingly, the founder of Lionism resigned from the organization because of a philosophical dispute with Melvin Jones, who proposed that Lions be dedicated to serving others. Dr. Woods' idea was that the club be for the mutual benefit of club members.

Jones later was named secretary general for life and served until his death on June 1, 1961. He is often credited with being the association founder. Although he was not the actual founder, he was involved at the beginning and forged the association's early history and policies.

Today we have more than 1.4 million members in 43,316 clubs in 180 countries, including some in former Iron Curtain countries.

Fun and entertainment have always gone hand in hand with serious work for the Tulsa Downtown Lions Club. At the fourth international convention in Denver, the Tulsa Lions entertained delegates with a quartet made up of members dressed in white hats and white smocks with the word Tulsa printed on the backs.

The Tulsa Lions quartet was in demand at district, state and international conventions for many years after that. That may have led to an alliance with the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. The first chapter of the SPEBSQSA was organized in Tulsa and included many Lions.

The club sponsored SPEBSQSA contests annually for many years until the mid 60s.

Singing wasn't the only fun stunt sponsored by the Tulsa Lions; one of the most popular came about by accident. The Tulsa delegates had no entry for stunt night at the 1933 international convention in St. Louis. By chance, they met an Indian and made a deal with him to represent them. He appeared with a headdress and drum and danced on the convention floor, winning third place in the stunt event.

But the beginning of the current tradition of Oklahoma governors wearing Indian headdresses in international convention parades didn’t come about until the 1986 international convention in Dallas when Deroy Skinner, an Indian, arranged for Oklahoma governors to wear headdresses to support him in his campaign for international director.

Skinner won and governors have worn headdresses at all conventions since.

Fun activities have been varied and at one time included an annual club liars contest.

Fun events also have included bowling teams, golf tournaments and a group of club musicians who organized what they called the "Catfish String Band." The band played about six times a year during its existence but never charged for its services. There also were stag parties annually until female members came along. Partly because no one could decide what to call the parties, they were dropped. They have been replaced by an annual chili cook-off party for all members and spouses following the boat show.

Tulsa made a bid for the 1937 convention but lost out to Chicago by 28 votes. That was fortunate because Tulsa didn’t have the facilities then to house such a convocation and even today, with increased convention meeting facilities and more and larger hotels, it would be impossible to hold in Tulsa today — even if all of Tulsa's hotel rooms plus those in Oklahoma City were used.

The most important project of the Tulsa Lions was Broomtown, founded in 1939. The club adopted the slogan "Help the Blind to Help Themselves" in the project which provided employment to hundreds of blind and handicapped persons in the manufacture and sale of brooms.

Business was good before and during World War II and included many government contracts for brooms. The firm prospered for a few years after the end of the war, but with the increased use of vacuum cleaners and the advent of plastic brooms the business declined.

The sales drop prompted the Lions to terminate the operation in 1965 when the plant site at 5410 E. Admiral Blvd. was needed for the Crosstown Expressway. Machinery and equipment were sold to the manager of the plant and the land was sold for the highway.

Proceeds from the sale of Broomtown were invested in a trust fund with its proceeds designated for use in the club's charitable activities. It has grown, thanks to several bequests and interest.

We also played a major role in founding the Oklahoma Eye Bank, that agency which supplies corneas from the dead for transplanting into the eyes of blind people. Although it was the idea of the Perry Lions Club, we adopted it eagerly and have worked diligently to finance it and to sign up donors. For years, the Tulsa Downtown Club annually generated the largest number of donor cards in the state. Because of a new law, donors now register their wishes on their driver’s licenses; not on donor cards. 

Interestingly, the first attempt to have Oklahoma Lions approve an eye bank failed at the state convention in Enid in 1956. The Perry Lions refused to take their defeat and began a campaign in which they visited every club in the state to appeal for support. The idea was approved when it was resubmitted at the convention in 1957 — this time in Tulsa.

Oklahoma Lions had to get a special state law enacted before the eye bank could begin operating. Until that new law was approved by the legislature and signed by Gov. Johnston Murray, it was illegal to remove any part of a body before it was buried.

Tulsa Downtown Lions have provided leadership on the district, state and international levels, including the election of the late Dr. R. D. McCullough as international president in 1970. McCullough's son, Dr. R. D. McCullough II is a member of the club today.

A Tulsa Lion, A.V. Davenport, was the first district governor for Oklahoma and Kansas in 1917-19 and served as an international director from 1918-22. Another Tulsa Lion, C. H. Jameson, served as a director in 1928-30.  

The Tulsa Downtown club also has provided three district governors in addition to Davenport, including the late Ralph Bethel and Sid Hicks and Gene Curtis, active club members. Bethel and Hicks served as president of the Oklahoma Eye Bank and Bethel and Curtis served as chairman of the council of governors. Curtis served a second term as governor, as state membership chairman and as state secretary. All also have served in many other state and district positions.

The objective of the Lions Clubs from the beginning has been to serve others — those who are less fortunate than we. This attitude was expressed well by a charter president addressing his new club in 1921:

"This Lions club is founded to perpetuate in men's hearts love of our native land, to help us strive for honesty, for reciprocity and cooperation in business, community betterment and municipal growth. We are organized that there may flow good fellowship, mutual help and profit so that our combined influence may be directed and utilized toward the welfare and reinforcement of our community.

"We are free from political entanglements and sectarian opinions. We are a brotherhood without secrets. We will always conscientiously and loyally set about to make a better place to live and we will willingly and earnestly join hands with all citizens, or groups of citizens, in all worthy undertakings.

"In other words, we are here to serve. We cordially invite from, and at the same time extend to, all organizations of like kind, character and purpose, hearty cooperation in achieving like aims for which all Lions stand. To an earnest realization of all such aims, our Lions Club does now dedicate itself. We have no other cause for existence.

"Modestly, we hope someday it may be said that our community is a better place in which to live, to work and to play by virtue of its Lions Club."

Tulsa is a better place to live, a better place to work and a better place to play by virtue of the Tulsa Downtown Lions Club.

We have served.