Although he never served as President and died 60 years ago, Melvin Jones remains prevalent in LCI literature today. Rarely is any other Lion mentioned as contributing to the early establishment and growth of LCI. Even today, individual clubs and headquarters seem to compete as to who can out-praise Melvin, to the point that Melvin seems more legend than man.
We know that his father, John Calvin Jones (1850-1931), a long time resident of the American southwest–a sometimes rancher, soldier, and marshal, is buried in Douglas, Arizona. His plaque informs all visitors of the relationship between him and his famous son: FATHER OF MELVIN JONES FOUNDER LIONS INTERNATIONAL.
We know he lived for many years in Flossmoor, Illinois with his beloved wife Rose-an accomplished professional golfer-in a cozy 2400 sq ft house situated on 1.85 acres, nestled in between Olympia Fields Golf Club and Flossmoor Golf Club and less than a mile from Idlewild Golf Club.
Rose is buried nearby in Elliott Cemetery in Mattson, Illinois. Her dignified headstone reads in part:
BELOVED WIFE OF/MELVIN JONES/FOUNDER AND SECRETARY-GENERAL/LIONS INTERNATIONAL
As his father’s plaque and Rose’s headstone imply, it is Melvin’s work with LCI for which he achieved fame and high accolades, to the point of virtually becoming a myth. Below are statements/claims about Melvin from official LCI literature or individual clubs’ websites. Sources are provided afterwards.
- He had a dynamic personality and a heart filled with kindness. (1)
- He was an energetic, extroverted salesman who in private hours would reread Shakespeare. (1)
- He was gifted with a fine tenor voice and considered making music his career. (1)
- His “boyhood memories were a mélange of horses and blue-clad troopers, bugles and war cries, wagon trains, gaunt settlers and dust.” (2,4)
- His uncle knew the men killed in the gunfight at OK Corral in Tombstone and was outraged by the shooting. (4)
- He was not afraid to innovate and take risks. (4)
- He said that dreams “are the fool ideas of the day before yesterday that have become the commonplace miracles of today.” (7)
- “Melvin began building Lions Clubs in the age of discovery and adventure, an era where the Poles were explored. But he ventured inward, toward the heart and soul. He understood that people were about more than just self-interest.” (4)
- His personal code – “You can’t get very far until you start doing something for somebody else” – became a guiding principle for public-spirited people the world over (5)
- “In November 1959, while in route to address an anniversary celebration of the Edmonton Canada, Lions Club he suffered the first of several slight strokes. Despite the attack, which would have put other eighty-year-olds to bed, Melvin donned his dinner clothes and acknowledged a standing ovation from a wheel chair.” (2)
- “He missed none of the important events on the hectic schedule of the 1960 International Convention, where cheers for the greatest Lion of them all frequently shook the rafters.” (2)
- “… when death came to Melvin Jones, it came not as an intruder, or the winner of a violent struggle, but as an invited guest. The sturdy frame and eager mind, which had inspired and guided a worldwide brotherhood of kindly men to the very pinnacle of world prestige and influence, finally became tired. As the darkness gathered, Melvin took the hand of his beloved wife Lillian, and found eternal peace.”(2)
- “In the hearts and memories of the men of Lionism, and in the hearts of countless human beings with restored courage and hope throughout the world, Melvin Jones is not dead.”(2)
- “He will live forever as the symbol of the great Association he founded, and through its program of unselfish service will multiply his influence for humanitarian service to the end of time.” (2)
- “Once in every generation or era a man appears, and in his fleeting hour upon this stage leaves an indelible imprint upon the lives of his fellow men, and upon generations yet to come. Such a man was Melvin Jones. All over the world today he is the symbol of man’s concern for his fellow man.” (3)
- “Not many 20th-century men have shared the core beliefs of our Founding Fathers as closely as Melvin Jones did, and it is fortunate for all of us that those core beliefs—Jones’ sense of duty and responsibility and his emphasis on active service to others—continue to change the world through the thousands of active Lions around the globe today.” (6)
- According to the January 21, 1932 edition of the San Diego Union reporting on a luncheon sponsored by two Lions Clubs,” Jones is known as the ‘Grand Old Monarch of Lionism.'” Strangely enough, the same paper reported the next day that Jones proudly donated one half hour to visiting the very ill woman who raised him for over 10 years.
- The ‘Tampa (Fla.) Tribune’, quoted Melvin while giving a speech to the Tampa Lions Club: “Back in 1914, when I was beginning the Lions Clubs, …”
Source 1
From LCI’s Melvin Jones Biography: The Original Lionhttps://www.lionsclubs.org/en/discover-our-clubs/melvin-jones-biography
Source 2
From edistrict.org: http://e-district.org/userfiles/47/file/MELVIN%20%20JONES%20BIO.pdf
Source 3
1961 Lion Magazine, Quote by then President of LCI Finis E. Davis
http://history.ohiolions.org/md13history101/md13history/lionmagazine1961MJ.pdf
Source 4
Lion Magazine, “Searching for Melvin Jones.” https://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=229522&article_id=1839335&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5#{“issue_id”:229522,”view”:”articleBrowser”,”article_id”:”1839335″}
Source 5
Lions Club International http://lions100.lionsclubs.org/print/EN/about/melvin-jones-bio.php
Source 6
Quote by Kenneth Hammontree, Melvin Jones impersonator as reported in Lion Magazine, “My Neighbor Melvin Jones”
http://digital.lionmagazine.org/publication/?i=118591&article_id=1116640&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5#{“issue_id”:118591,”view”:”articleBrowser”,”article_id”:”1116640″}
Source 7
http://www.lions-mjm.org/index.php/melvin-jones-history/