Bob Williams has done pretty much everything a person can while being a member of the Lions Club.
Williams, 75, of Jacksonville was recently honored with the Roy Kumpe Award from World Services for the Blind, which is in Little Rock.
“I consider it a large honor, myself,” said Williams, who is currently the secretary for the Jacksonville Lions Club. “I’m the third member of our club who has received this award. It’s been available for several years. Our club hasn’t awarded it much.”
The award is named after Roy Kumpe, the founder of World Services for the Blind. According to the World Servies of the Blind website, Kumpe “founded the organization in 1947 to serve blind and visually impaired people who need to learn independent-living skills or job-training skills tailored to the special requirements of their individual visual impairments.”
Kumpe, who was born in Pulaski County, died in 1987 at the age of 77.
Williams said the Lions Club is always a big supporter of World Services for the Blind. He has been a member of the World Services board of directors for 11 years.
“I’ve actually seen how World Services changes people’s lives,” he said. “Mid South Sight and Hearing is the same way. We’ve had the opportunity to sponsor a young lady to Mid South. She had diabetic retinopathy. She lost [sight in] one eye.
“When you see what the Lions are doing and the lives they are changing, it just makes me want to be a part of it.”
“[The Roy Kumpe Award] is the highest award that they give for sight conservation and support of sight conservation,” Williams said. “One of the [Lions Club’s] main objectives is aide to the blind and visually impaired.
“World Services provides vocational training for the blind and visually impaired where they can go and get training to get a job and be employed and become a productive member of society.”
To be eligible for the award, a club must donate at least $1,000 to World Services for the Blind each year.
“This award can be given to anyone,” Williams said. “The award is available through a $1,000 donation. Any club or individual, any Lions Club that donates the necessary money, is eligible to give out this award to someone.”
Williams said World Services is one of the Jacksonville Lions Club’s state projects.
“All of the clubs in Arkansas support it, as well as clubs in other states,” he said.
Williams said the Jacksonville Lions normally give at least $1,000 to World Services. At times, the club has given more. It is just according to what the fundraising budget will allow.
“We do our fundraisers with that in mind,” Williams said. “Last year, we actually donated $2,000, with $1,000 going to a capital campaign fund that World Services has going on for mechanical repairs within the facility.”
Paul Richards, Jacksonville Lions Club president, said Williams is deserving of the Roy Kumpe Award.
“Bob got me into the Lions Club,” Richards said. “We worked together at Jacksonville Wastewater. When he retired, I took his place as engineering/technical services manager. He’s been involved with the Lions Club for a long time. He’s one of the main driving forces of our club.
“It’s a big deal. The club votes on who they thought would be best to receive the award. We voted on him for that. The Roy Kumpe Award is one of the highest awards that a club or district can give through World Services for the Blind. He’s very deserving of the honor.”
Williams, who is a 1962 graduate of Clarksville High School, has been a Lions Club member for almost 23 years. He got his start in Heber Springs when he and his wife, Dianne, were living there. A year later, in 1998, he moved to Jacksonville and transferred his membership to the Jacksonville Lions Club.
“I was invited to join,” he said. “You have to be invited to be a Lion. I was invited by a past district governor. I joined the Heber Springs Lions Club. A year later, we moved to Jacksonville. I’ve been a member of it ever since.”
During his time with the Jacksonville Lions Club, Williams has served as president and treasurer and has held the position of secretary for several years. He’s also been a district governor.
“It’s very rewarding to be a Lions Club member,” he said. “It’s a chance for me to give something back. I’ve been blessed over the years. … I’ve been fortunate enough to be a district governor in the past and a council chair for the state of Arkansas Lions.
“I’ve been busy with it, but it’s something that I enjoy doing.”
Williams said the Lions Club is a service organization. Jacksonville’s chapter meets twice a month — at noon the first and third Wednesdays at the Bar-B-Que Shack, 1000 Arkansas 161 in Jacksonville.
“The purpose of the Lions Club is to provide humanitarian service wherever it’s needed,” Williams said. “Our motto is, ‘We serve.’ The Jacksonville Lions Club supports a lot of different things. The community is our primary focus, as for all Lions Clubs. The main focus is the community that they serve.”
The Jacksonville Lions Club provides eye screenings for the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District, in cooperation with the North Little Rock Lions Club. Williams said the Lions Club did about 1,100 screenings last year and will do screenings again this year.
“We already have it scheduled to do it again this year,” he said. “We’ll start Sept. 9 and do all the elementary students and middle school students.”
The Jacksonville club also hosts biannual rummage sales, a golf-ball drop and a golf tournament, among other events.
“It’s also a worldwide organization,” Williams said. “We’re there in case of a disaster. We provide assistance when there is a tornado or flood, stuff like that,” adding that the Jacksonville Lions Club has provided assistance outside of its area when needed.
After graduating from Clarksville High School, Williams lived in several areas, including Hot Springs. He was a construction manager for a company in Hot Springs Village for 21 years.
“After I left that job, I worked for a construction company for years; then I went back to school and got my education,” Williams said.
Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in construction management from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a master’s degree in operation management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He took classes for his master’s degree at the Little Rock Air Force Base.
“It’s something that I always wanted to do,” Williams said, referring to getting his college degree. “The line of work I was in, construction, it got to a point where if you wanted to move up the ladder, you actually needed the credentials. They do make a difference, not in what you know, but in your credibility.”
While he was going to college, he and his wife, Dianne, moved to Jacksonville, and he worked for Jacksonville Wastewater for 19 years. He retired in 2015.
Since he retired from work, Williams said, he will continue his service with the Lions Club.
“I’ll continue doing it as long as I’m having fun,” he said. “That’s what I’ve always said. That’s one of our goals — to serve wherever there’s a need and have fun doing it.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.