Wells awarded Melvin Jones Fellowship, highest honor a Lions Club can award

Lions Club President Martha Wells suspected something was up at Monday’s meeting, and she was right. Fellow Lion Bill McDonald presented Wells with a Melvin Jones Fellowship.

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Charter member of the local Lions Club Martha Wells became very suspicious when WLAF’s Charlie Hutson showed up at Monday afternoon’s weekly meeting. Her suspicions were validated when fellow Lion Bill McDonald stepped up with a plaque to present to Wells.

“Martha, the Lions Club International Foundation is recognizing you today with a Melvin Jones Fellowship. This is the highest honor a club can bestow upon a member,” said McDonald as he presented Wells with the fellowship plaque.

As Wells accepted the fellowship, McDonald mentioned how the club has grown since Wells and others founded the Lions Club in 2006. “She’s a participating member and rarely misses anything. Plus she knows everybody,” said fellow Lion Carol McDonald.

Martha Wells is a charter member with the Lions Club dating back to 2006.

“You know I don’t mess with junk, and after I met and heard the story of an optometrist at a Lions conference at Gatlinburg, I was sold,” said Wells. The doctor shared the story of being in another country and fitting a child for glasses. The boy’s mother sad and sobbed as the boy ran away to play wearing his new glasses. The doctor, upset, asked the interpreter what he’d done to make the woman cry. “The woman was crying tears of joy, because the boy was never able to see well enough before to play with other kids. It was his first time ever playing,” said the interpreter.

Also attending Monday’s meeting were Virgie Selvidge, Cordell Petz, Birdine Dixon, Dave Watson and Janice Craig.

Bill McDonald and honoree Martha Wells with the local Lions Club.

“We (the Lions Club) may not be big. We may not be known. But what we do matters,” said Wells. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 06/25/2024-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)

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