Northeast-Richland Lions Club

The North Richland Hills Lions Club was chartered March 7, 1963 with 24 members. It was originally named the Northeast Lions Club. The first meeting was in a cafeteria in Richland Plaza mall. The original charter members were Raymond L. Anderson, H. L. Arnold*, Charles C. Brinkley, Rev. Hal Brooks*, A.E. Brown*, Harry J. Bryant*, Hiram J. Davis, Alvis Dowell, Rev. Gus Eoff, J. D. Foster*, William E. French*, Brian H. Haenish, Alan Hamm, John P. Hunter*, W. B. Leffingwell*, Chester Lewis*, Charles M. Morrison*, Clyde Mynatt, R. R. McKinney, A. C. Nichols*, J. B. Sandlin*, Hoyte L. Teague, D. Wayne Tidwell and Woodie C. Vardeman.
(*Deceased)
The Fort Worth Founders Lions Club was the sponsor and Verne Carrington was the District Governor. Eleven members transferred from other clubs and thirteen new members joined to make us start with twenty-four charter members. Charles C. Brinkley was elected President and J. B. Sandlin served as charter Secretary.
Northeast Lions and the Greater Richland Lions clubs merged into the Northeast-Richland Lions Club just a few years after being chartered in 1963. The Northeast-Richland Lions Club has now grown to over 100 members and is the largest Lions Club in District 2E2 of Texas. Lions Club projects have included an annual Chili Supper with auction. Proceeds have purchased eye glasses for students and for sending crippled children to summer camp in Kerrville, Texas. Another ongoing project is our annual Basket Ball tournament in the Wiley G. Thomas Coliseum each December. All funds raised are used to purchase eye-glasses for children and Christmas food, clothing and toys for needy families with children. Our club has been a real asset to North Richland Hills and all of Northeast Tarrant County.
Lions Clubs do more than help the underprivileged as listed above. We also support the Lions Club International Foundation where millions of dollars are donated each year to help people all over the world with disaster, blindness and sight conservation. Lions Club International also operates the World Services for the Blind facility in Little Rock ,Arkansas, where people are taught how to cope with their blindness and become self supporting. There is a Leader Dog School in Rochester, Michigan where blind people of all ages are given a leader dog and taught how to use the dog and live a rather normal life. Other areas of support include financial aid for cornea transplants, Glaucoma screenings, diabetes awareness and research and disaster relief any where in the world. Lions Clubs International is the largest service organization in the world.
Past Presidents of the Club are as follows:Charles Brinkley 1963-1964, Harry Bryant 1964-1965, Alan Hamm 1965-1966, J. B. Sandlin 1966-1967, John Parish 1967-1968, Wayne Tidwell 1968-1969, Tom Connell 1969-1970, Oscar Reeder 1970-1971, Gene Barrow 1971-1972, Charley Rough 1972-1973, R. L. Fain 1973-1974, Cullen Turner 1974-1975, Ottis Gothard 1975-1976, Gerald Dixon 1976-1977, Danny Jeffries 1977-1978, John Mayberry 1978-1979, John Bryan 1979-1980, Don Waters 1980-1981, Lon Wimberley 1981-1982, Charles Mayberry 1982-1983, Gene Riddle 1983-1984, Bob Brady 1984-1985, Tommy Brown 1985-1986, Tommy Powell 1986-1987, Michael Brinkley 1987-1988, Bob Fenimore 1988-1989, Richard Davis 1989-1990, Don Bybee 1990-1991, James Brock 1991-1992, Douglas Terry 1992-1993, Bob Yates 1993-1994, John D. Spicer 1994-1995, Ken King 1995-1996 , Larry Arnold 1996-1997 and Christine McKown 1997-1998, Steve Shields 1998-1999, Bill Eisen 1999-2000, Sean Hughes 2000-2001, Don Phifer 2001-2002, Mike Rigby 2002-2003, Nancy Watkins 2003-2004, Gary Price – 2004-2005, Bill Mapston – 2005-2006, Tom Muir – 2006-2007