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| Fullerton Lions Breakfast Club HOW IT ALL BEGAN...... The day is January 13, 1879. The world is preparing herself to welcome yet another joy. Rutherford Hayes is President of the United States. Kit Carson is attempting to corral the Apache Indians in Canyon de Chelly. Arizona is not yet a state. A Joyful event is taking place that will have significant effect upon the world. Captain John Jones and Lydia became the proud parents of a baby boy. He was named Melvin Jones. Captain John Jones, a picturesque pioneer figure, was a member of the United States Army and later a scout for the government service. His primary scouting activity was searching for Geronimo. Jones' early life was spent in an atmosphere of a western with blue clad troopers, bugles, painted Indians, covered wagons and the suspense of the old West. After the capture of Geronimo, the Jones family moved to Kahoka and St. Louis, Missouri, where Melvin received his elementary and secondary education. While in high school, he found that he had an excellent tenor voice. He formed his own musical organization and performed for social activities in his community. Upon graduation, he had to make a decision as to whether he should follow the entertainment business or another profession. He entered the Union Business College and later the Chaddock College of Law in Quincy, Illinois. It is 1900 and Jones, now 21 years of age. He joins the Higgins and Johnson insurance brokerage. At thirty, 1909 he marries Rose Freeman. She in her own right was a quite person. Rose became one of the leading women golfers and was President of the Women's Western Golf Association in 1938 and 1939. Admiral Robert E. Perry had just discovered the North Pole. Wilbur Wright set a new world's record for aeroplane speed of 46 miles per hour. And Melvin Jones forms his own insurance brokerage, the Melvin Jones Insurance Agency, in 1910. The United States adopts a federal income tax in 1913. The same year March, a historic event took place which will have worldwide ramifications. Melvin Jones was invited to attend the prestigious Business Circle Club. A local club which made "classification by occupation" its basis for membership. There were only 17 members present the day he attended, although the Business Circle Club had a membership of 250. He was accepted into membership and little did Melvin Jones realize what destiny had in store for him. That Fall he was elected Secretary and took the office in January, 1914. On the surface, this was an ordinary event since throughout the United States men's luncheon clubs were a popular institution, almost a fad. They sprang up in cities by the hundreds. The most common incentive for the membership was "you boost my businesss and I'll boost yours." Though only six years old, the Busienss Circle Club was destined to be one of the losers. It already suffered serious membership losses. But the Business Circle Club had Melvin Jones with his speech that that had the trace of a western twang, a smile that seems permanent and inviting. His superb salesmanship and genius for organization. Within a year he help restore the club's health and its membership rises to over 200. As secretary, he gave the Circle a new impetus and soon all the officers were depending on this man to furnish the initiative and ideas to make it a larger and a stronger organization. He studied the past history of the club, analyzed its present position and compared it with affiliated business organizations such as: Rotary, Kiwanis and others. Some of the earlier members of the Bussienss Circle had quit to join one of the affiliated clubs. They were not so much in appreciation of what the other organizations were doing, or what they stood for. Their primary motive of joining those clubs were to belong to an affiliated local club. That started Melvin Jones thinking. It prompted him to make a thorough and far reaching study and survey of the position of business classification clubs and their place in the business world. He studied the clubs with national and international affiliations. Talked at length with men who were members of these organizations and got their ideas. In all his interviews, in all his contacts, he found a universal and deep underlying desire for something fundamentally different from the clubs already in existance. Businessmen wanted to belong to clubs that were big and strong and clubs with prestige. Mostly they wanted to belong to an organization that was actively contributing to the betterment of people and their communities. Melvin Jones came to the realization that the existing organizations were not meeting the needs or fulfilling the desires of these businessmen. He was correct in his findings. As the years have gone by, lunch on clubs disappeared without a trace, the victims of inertia, lethargy and aimlessness. About this time he made the statement " You don't go very far until you start doing soemthing for someone else." In 1916, Secretary Jones goes to the Board of Directors of the Business Circle Club with a propasal that the Business Circle Club seek out other clubs across the country which might be interested in forming a national asociation. In the back of his mind the thought that confronted him was that: mutual business advantage is an unworthy goal for luncheon club members who are the most prominent men in the community. He perceived the thought: "What if these men, who are successful because of their drive, intelligence and ambition were put to work helping to improve their communities?" The Board of Directors approved his propasal and for one year he contacted clubs throughout the United States to ascertain if there was an interest in a national organization. Much to his pleasure the reponses were encouraging. In May of 1917 Melvin Jones felt he had enough support to call a meeting for the purpose of exploring the possibilities of a national organization. The meeting was called for June 7, 1917, in the La Salle Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. Roughly 12 delegates assembled in the East Room of the La Salle Hotel on Thursday, June 17, 1917 representing Optimists, Vortex, Busienss Circle, Busienss and Professional Men's Associations of St. Paul and the Royal Order of Lions. It should be remembered that there was no air travel and auto transportation had not been sufficiently developed to make a comfortable cross country trip. The only mode of transportation was by train, and it took approximately two weeks to make the journey one way. The discussion proceeded smoothly. Though there was a concern over the name of the organization. Most of the delegates were in full accord that there should be a new organization formed. Upon adjuorment, Dr. William Woods, Evanille, Illinois, was elected president, Melvin Jones, Chicago, Illinios, was elected secretary and the first convention was called for October 8, 1917, in Dallas, Texas. Mevin Jones is now 38 years of age and heads a very lucrative insurance brokerage. It is said that Melvin Jones was elected Secretary-Treasurer in Dallas over his protest. During the Dallas Convention it became clear that his vision of a national service organization was becoming a reality. The service club movement had been instituted by him, the members were of the opinion that the future of the organization depended almost altogether on the continued efforts of Melvin Jones, his organizational ability and skills. So from the begining, he was faced with the responsibility of giving the International Association of Lions Clubs much time, thought, effort and work. Melvin Jones and his wife Rose nurtured the young organization through flu epidemics, depressions, war and economic recesions to the largest service organization in the world. On July 18, 1950 he became Secretary-General. He had given 33 years of his life to Lionism. He continued to be active in Lions until his death on June 1, 1961 at 82. This story was modified slightly from an article author unknown. |
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Melvin Jones honored at
Washington DC.
Thank you Karl Werner
for the picture.
Washington DC.
Thank you Karl Werner
for the picture.
| We meet every month 1st & 3rd Thursdays 7.15 a.m. at I Hop Orangethorpe Ave Fullerton, CA 92832 Call David 714-521-0735 |