Lions honor Raymond Myers for 40 years of service

Raymond Myers of Carthage was announced as the Carthage Lions Club’s Lion of the Year for 2007 at the annual meeting of the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce Feb 9. Myers was unable to be at that dinner, and received his plaque from Lion President Joe Cole at the next regular Lions meeting.

“What goes around, comes around,” it is said.

Raymond Myers was reminded of that phrase last week as his sons arranged for “Meals on Wheels” for him and his wife, Dorotha, after she was dismissed from the hospital.

Myers was well aware of the Meals on Wheels service, since he and Dorotha had delivered meals to other senior citizens for over 20 years.

“We won't do it very long,” Dorotha said, grateful for the nutritious meals brought daily to their home. “But we are lucky to live in a community like this one.”

Both Raymond and Dorotha turned 90 in 2007, and still live independently in a new home in Carthage, smaller than the one where they raised their family of four sons.

“We are comfortable, and have no steps in this home,” Raymond said.

Raymond and Dorotha moved to Carthage in 1963 after the Prairie Farms plant closed where Raymond worked in Mt. Sterling. He became a John Hancock Insurance agent and set up an office in the same building as his brother, Vernon “Dutch” Myers, who was also in the insurance business. Not long after coming to Carthage, Myers became a member of the Carthage Lions Club. He was honored this year as Lions Club Member of the Year for his 40-plus years of service.

He served as president, vice president and secretary over the years, and helped with many activities of the Lions Club like selling Christmas trees, selling candy, serving food at 4th of July, and cleaning up trash along the highway.

“Raymond never misses a meeting,” said current Carthage Lions Club president, Joe Cole. “He always has input on what we're discussing.” He is an example to other members of long time commitment to the goals of the Lions Club.

“I feel like I need to pay some back,” Raymond said about his volunteer work. “Dorotha and I have had a good life here with the boys. Everyone needs to pay something back to their community.” Both Raymond and Dorotha did much for their new home community, long before they became retired.

“Dorotha spent a lot of years in Scouting,” Raymond noted, “starting with the older two boys when John and Jack were still in high chairs. We went to a lot of ball games.”

The Myerses are members of the First Christian Church Disciples of Christ. When people in Carthage learned Raymond had been on a building committee at Mt. Sterling, he was asked to help with a building project going on in Carthage. He and Dorotha have both served as elders at the church and taught adult Sunday school. He is elder emeritus now.

Raymond was in on the ground work of creating the Carthage Industrial Development Corporation when Methode Electronics first came to Carthage. He was secretary of that group for four years or more.

In the mid-1960s, he and his brother were the founders and developers of Sherwood Oaks, a subdivision north of Carthage that has grown over the years.

“We started that about the time that the Robert Morris College first came to town, and we thought there would be some demand for new houses,” Raymond said.

After he retired he worked for a couple of years, going around to check First Alert monitors worn by senior citizens to call for help. He tested them to be sure the batteries were charged and the monitor in good working order, in case it was needed in an emergency.

Raymond was an alderman on the Carthage City Council for four years.

“It takes someone to run things. You take your share of the work, as part of a community,” Myers said, who served on the police and public safety committee. He recalls being on the council when Jim Smart was chief of police. “He always had such thorough reports.”

Myers was on the board of the Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum for 10 years, during the time they expanded into their current building. He is glad to hear of additional expansion plans for the museum.

“They need more space. There's a lot of stuff stored away that they have never been able to show. Some of the things they have took quite a bit of space to demonstrate,” Myers said.

He also worked with the Carthage Senior Citizens and that work took him on to serving four years with the five-county senior housing board that worked to build senior citizens'housing in Quincy.

After many years of service to the Carthage area, both Raymond and Dorotha can relax and appreciate the efforts of others who continue their example of “paying something back to the community they call home.”