Our beloved president Jim Kearney of the Columbus Lions Club died suddenly on March 12.

Jim and his wife, Jo Ann, both joined our Lions Club when they moved here from Tombstone Arizona in 2010, and they literally “hit the ground running.”

Their club had capitalized on the Wyatt Earp connection in growing their club and promoting Lions programs for that small community.

Both sought committee assignments and we heartily elected Jim to be our president when Fran Goodwin completed her term of office. Jim ran meetings well, and always handed me as secretary a complete agenda, so all I had to do was make a few notations to complete my minutes (also true of wife Fran, but I am writing about Jim).

When he volunteered at Hospice, he gave me as a reference. When he thanked me later, I told him that I had responded to their call by noting that he was an old grouch who never smiled. To which he flashed that big grin of his that assured me that he understood that I was lying big time. I see that smiling face now as I think of Jim.

Jo Ann has most of the planning done for our annual VIP (Visually Impaired Person) luncheon so they could be away visiting some of their many descendants. Now others must step up to the plate (the game must go on) but Jim will always be in our hearts. His ready smile and natural good nature had endeared him to all of us.

We have lost another of our WWII vets from the oval table at McDonald’s. Vernon Moss wore a cap that proclaimed that he was “Not as Lean, Not as Mean, But still a Marine.” Well, if he were any leaner, he would have blown away. And his cousin Howard Williams agreed that there was not a mean bone in his body.