Adrian Optimist honor one of their own....
It is with heavy hearts that the Adrian Optimist shares the news of the passing of the sole surviving Charter Member of The Adrian Optimist Club, Don Durbin.
The Adrian Optimist Club chartered on August 26, 1969 with fifty four members. Don Durbin was one of those fifty four men. Throughout the years Don served as Club President, Secretary Treasurer, and chairman of numerous club programs and projects. He was always ready and willing to serve in any capacity, to fill any void and meet any need. Don was a familiar face at all club functions, often with his three sons, Mark, Mike and Allen in tow. His son Mark holds the record for eating the most biscuits at the Saturday Morning breakfast meeting. Adrian Optimist believes the number of biscuits consumed was nine. And Don’s twelve passenger van was always available to haul fellow members on Christmas Tree Expeditions or to the annual float trips on the river.
Don was recognized and honored as The Optimist of The Year, and
was the first recipient of The Adrian Optimist Lifetime Achievement Award, later
renamed, The Gene Irvin Lifetime Achievement Award. Don also served as Adrian
Optimist Fourth of July Parade Grand Marshal. The year Don served as club
president, 1976, at the annual banquet he stood up at the podium and burned the
mortgage to the original Optimist Building, which was constructed only three
years earlier. It was very exciting considering the fact that several of the
members said the club would never pay it off.
In 1969, there was opposition within The Clinton Sunrise Optimist Club to building a club in Adrian. They said it would never last, looks like they underestimated the drive and commitment of the fifty four. It’s hard to imagine that even those fifty four men could have envisioned what the Adrian Optimist club would become, and the impact it would have on this community. The Adrian Optimist is forever grateful for their foresight and the solid foundation they laid for them to build on. The Adrian Optimist is grateful for each and every one of them. And it is at this time that we bid “See you later” to their dear friend and mentor, Don Durbin.
