John Bay – Lions Club and Delta Community Servant
Small towns and villages can be great places to live with the local school system and municipal government providing the foundation for the community’s social infrastructure. But what really provides the glue that connects all the separate entities and brings residents together to work for the public good are the selfless community servants. John Bay, a lifelong resident of Delta and a Delta High School graduate, is one of those selfless servants.
John was one of the founding members of the Delta, Ohio chapter of Lions Club International (LCI) and has served as President and Vice-President of the Club. Founded in 1917 in Chicago, LCI shifted their focus to work for the blind and the visually impaired when Hellen Keller addressed their international convention at Cedar Point, Ohio in June of 1925 and charged the Lions to be Knights of the Blind.
Sponsored by the Wauseon Lions Club on April 1, 1972, the Delta Lions were chartered for over 35 years until October of 2007. The first Delta Lions Club had many successes and served the Delta community very well in those 35 years. Some of the long-term fund raisers included: Lions Club Light Bulb sales, Delta Community calendar, Toll Bridge with funds collected donated to The Open Door of Delta, a nonprofit food and clothing service, Fulton County Fair paid Lions for working the entry gates. Other service projects included student scholarships, Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinners in conjunction with several other community organizations, Community Food Bank in conjunction with other Delta organizations among many others.
The Delta Lions became inactive for seven years until the Delta-Liberty Lions was chartered in 2014 and lasted until the end of 2022 when they were disbanded when they were unable to sustain the required level of membership. Sadly, they became another victim of serious decline in volunteerism seen around the country.
Still wanting to contribute, several of the remaining members joined the Wauseon Lions. John went in the other direction and signed on with one of the most active Clubs in the area, the Swanton Lions, in January of 2023. “I joined Swanton Lions because, whether local or international, Lions have much to offer. In addition to service, comradery with members is part of the privilege of a service organization.”
John’s combined service with all three Lions Clubs has now reached an incredible 45 years. However, his legacy of serving his community extends well beyond the Lions Clubs. He was a member of the Delta Volunteer Fire Department as a fireman and EMT for 25 years, previously served on the Delta Park Board and with the Delta Chicken Festival and is currently serving as a member of the Delta Library Board.
With all the time spent helping others, John found time to have a life of his own. He attended the University of Toledo’s College of Business and worked in the banking industry for 30 years before becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). John has been married to his wife and fellow Delta High School alum, Beth for 51 years. They have a daughter, Ellen Bernal, the Principal at Pike-Delta-York Middle School, who lives in Delta with her husband Andy. The Bays have four grandchildren and one great-grandchild and have been members of Hope Church of Delta for their entire married life.
Fulton County Ohio Media 