Jim Keller is the final remaining charter member of the Magic City Lions, a service club that began in Minot on August 5, 1969. Although Jim is the last of the charter members that formed the Magic City Lions in 1969, he was the very first, and still to this day, the only member of the Magic City Lions who has been inducted in the Lions Hall of Fame.
For Jim a fellow Minot businessman stopped by his shop one day and asked him to consider joining the Magic City Lions. “I didn’t even know what Lions was. Olger (Barsness) from the Minot Lions club (a noon Lions club) came to my business and asked if I would like to join this new club and I indicated to him I would but he had to educate me on what Lions was about. He told me that the Lions organization did community service. We went out and made money by different projects and put that back in the community so that was my start” according to Jim.
There is no official record that would verify that the Magic City Lions was one of the first clubs to have early morning meetings, but Jim thought that these meetings that happened before the business day got started were good. “I think that’s one of the benefits of the morning meeting. You can belong and you can participate and still work your job, you don’t have to be retired.”
Over the 56 years of belonging to Magic City Lions, and moreover, Lions International, Jim has been busy. “I went through the club offices from tail twister to the vice president. I was never secretary but I was president twice over the years. Eventually I became District Governor. Part of that position (meant) it was up to me to arrange for young people to go overseas and for young people from oversea to come here to visit us in western North Dakota” Jim remembers “in the western part of the state we had 54 clubs and I had to call on them at least once and some twice during that year and that wasn’t all of the activity the district governor had; you had to help prepare the state convention and the multiple district conventions and be involved in those activities as well, so, it was a fairly big job.” Of course, all of the district level activities were on top of the activities of his home club, The Magic City Lions.
As you can imagine, 56 years of being a Lion can mean quite an accumulation of Lions memorabilia. In his home are several plaques and awards that when removed from their display cases and other storage containers covers a large table and then some. “When I first went into Lions trading pins with other Lions was a big deal. All the clubs, or most of them at least, made pins for themselves so they could trade them.” On a horizontal cloth display Jim was able to point to many, many pins that he had collected, all with a history and all with a story. “I arranged these (as he points to the board) according to places. Some are international pins and some are just from clubs around here.” There are also several other pieces of memorabilia, perhaps one of the most prominent a hand crafted knife. “the knife that you see there has my name engraved on the blade. My youth exchange person gave that to me when she came here” says Jim.
Lions Clubs International (LCI) has a variety of recognition programs, including the Lions International Hall of Fame, which is the most prestigious honor for Lions at the state level. Jim was inducted into the North Dakota Lions Hall of Fame in 1989. “well first of all you have to list all of the activities that you’ve been part of as a District Governor or as a President or club member and the various committees (you’ve served on) and other things that you’ve been involved with. The selection was based on your background of activities and how involved you were.” Jim Keller proudly sports the recognition ring that he received as a ND Lions Hall of Fame inductee. “Going into the hall of Fame was good for me. I wear the ring always. I’ve had people ask me; “Is that a Super Bowl Ring?” and I say “Yep, it’s a Super Bowl Ring of Lions” Jim says with a smile. “But I tell them what it is first of all, the significance of it (the ring) and I tell it’s because of my activities primarily with the Magic City Lions and the things that we did for the community and for each other. I try to explain it in that way.”
The other award that Jim has received is the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award. Lions Clubs International recognizes outstanding individuals by bestowing on them an award that is named for its founder, Melvin Jones. This Fellowship Award is the highest form of recognition and embodies humanitarian ideas consistent with the nature and purpose of Lionism.
As with all of us, medical issues have challenged Jim Keller along the way. But that has not dimmed the light of Lionism for Jim. “even though I am at the point in my life where I can’t participate every week because of medical things, you (members of the Magic City Lions) know in my heart I’m still there.
For Magic City Lions President Tracey Lawson, the past year has been spent making sure that Magic City Lions members, new and old, take pride in the history and legacy left behind by members like Jim Keller. “Preserving the history of the Magic City Lions Club by celebrating the many achievements of charter members, Lion Jim Keller, is important” says Lawson. President Lawson also spearheaded a project to record a video with Lion Jim Keller that allowed him to reminisce about his years as a Magic City Lion. “The completed video provides a valuable link to our past that our club can always learn from and appreciate. It is an honor and privilege to highlight the 55+ years of active membership Lion Jim Keller has with the Magic City Lions Club!”
One article or one video can certainly not capture the many contributions Jim Keller has made to the community over the years. Every time a group of Magic City Lions gets together they often share stories from the old days, like the white sportscoats that former Lions District Governors are awarded, or how Jim Keller comes to the semi-annual Magic City Lions bake sales and walks away with literally hundreds of dollars in baked goods. “I may not be able to be out there helping on the projects anymore, so this is my way of contributing” he explained to me.
From a club dedicated to carrying on the tradition of the folks whose names are on the original Magic City Lions charter, the right words are pretty easy to come by…Thank you Lion Jim!
