The Lena Lions held their annual awards and pre-Christmas banquet Dec. 2 at Romy’s Holiday Inn at Kelly Lake.
For many years, the Lions Club has recognized Lena residents who contributed many hours of volunteer work to the community. Volunteers are recognized in three categories: educator, community/church volunteer and Lions member. Glenn Magnin, president of the Lions, presented plaques to the 2014 recipients.
Ben Pytleski introduced the education volunteer award recipient, Barbara Dietsche. Dietsche grew up in Middleton. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in art education and a minor in English at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and later earned her Master’s in Education degree from Viterbo University in La Crosse.
Her first teaching job was in the Wausaukee school system, where she taught art and freshman English. After one year, she was hired to teach art at Lena and taught for 27 years there. For her last five years at Lena, she was the computer technologist and spent many volunteer hours to get the Internet running in the school system.
She said her most memorable teaching experience was watching students develop their talents to the point of surpassing their instructor.
While teaching, she volunteered by chaperoning student bus trips and helped with float building. She was prom decorating adviser every year while she was the art instructor.
At St. Anne’s, she teaches faith formation classes, repairs and paints religious statutes, teaches Bible classes twice a day on Mondays, is a lector and Eucharistic minister, and served on the merger committee, church renovation committee and education committee.
Eric Blazek introduced Shirley Kushava, honored for her community/church volunteerism.
Kushava was born in Oconto. Her parents, Ed and Angie Patenaude, moved the family to Peshtigo, then to North Carolina, then back to Butler and Menomonee Falls and finally to Lena, where she lives with her husband, Darrell.
Well-known for her desserts, she has shared her kitchen skills at the American Legion Christmas party for 30 years, Lena Night Out, Lions Club fish fry, St. Anne’s chicken dinner and pancake and porkie breakfast, Lena Dairyfest food booth, Lena School spaghetti supper, National Honor Society Valentine cookie making, fireman’s pork and beef dinner, and the boys and girls basketball teams’ cake walk.
She also made and donated the boys’ crowns for homecoming since 1980.
She has served on the parish worship committee and activities committee, prepared families for baptisms, worked with families to prepare funeral Masses and taught faith formation classes for 25 years, preparing candidates for Confirmation. She is a Eucharistic minister and lector and writes the intercessions and introduction for weekend Masses.
Glenn Magnin introduced Lion Tom Bitters.
Bitters was born and raised on a farm located between Lena and Oconto. He attended Louisville Grade School, graduated from Lena High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in business law with a minor in finance from UW-Whitewater.
He married his high school sweetheart, Kay Valley, in 1967.
After graduating from college, he served in the U.S. Army on active duty for two years and in the reserves for four years. He attended Army combat surveillance flight training and flew 100 combat missions in Vietnam and Cambodia as a navigator.
Bitters was a dairy farmer for 10 years and worked as a farm credit loan officer for 24 years. He serves as treasurer of the town of Oconto. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and Lena American Legion and has served as post commander since 2005.
Bitters also is the secretary/treasurer of the Oconto County United Veteran’s Council, director of Maple Valley Mutual Insurance Company, chairman of the Lions fish fry committee and a member of the Lena Lions since 2001. He is a member of the annual fly-in at the Oconto Airport and the Warbirds of America, and has exhibited aircraft at the annual EAA airshow in Oshkosh since 1999. He has flown in the Warbirds Airshow for 14 years in a row.
Since retirement, he has time to pheasant hunt in South Dakota or ice fish with Jim Lukas in the dead of winter.
Bitters said, “If life and society have been good to you, and they have been good to me, then you should give something back in return.”
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