Frankfort Lions Club’s first female president gets larger state role
Years of honing her knowledge, compassion and leadership skills have paid off for Frankfort resident Sue Wolf, who now will oversee Lions Club International clubs in a large chunk of Illinois.
Wolf recently was named governor of a Lions of Illinois district that includes part of the south suburbs. In her new role, Wolf will be overseeing roughly 70 clubs in a district that runs from Orland Park to Champaign and from the Indiana border almost to the Mississippi River. She was sworn in as governor during a virtual ceremony June 29 but trained for a week in February, learning the rules and procedures of Lions clubs.
Wolf said she joined the Frankfort Lions Club in 2010 and eventually became the club’s first female president, serving in that role from 2015 to 2017, and she wanted to expand her involvement.
“I was interested in doing more, finding out more and I wanted to see what the district did,” Wolf said. “It’s great to be a member, but it’s also nice to branch out.”
Wolf said her favorite part of being a Lion was helping people. One of the main Lions Clubs’ goals is helping people who are visually impaired and Wolf and fellow longtime Frankfort Lions Club member Joe Rohaly have been part
of an ongoing effort to get more children tested for vision problems early on. They also screen adults.
With the help of other Lions, the two screen 5- and 6-yearolds in church or recreation department preschools. The district also recently acquired a special camera for child screening, which includes checks for nearsightedness and pupil alignment.
“Lions are really big on vision and hearing,” said Wolf, who has lived in Frankfort for decades. “At an international convention in Ohio in 1925, Helen Keller challenged them to be knights of the blind. so they started doing that.”
The club also went to a summer camp for children with cancer to do eye screening and cook meals as well as delivering groceries and gift cards.
Royaly said he couldn’t think of a better person for the governorship, which includes installing new club officers, meeting with other club officials to brainstorm ideas and continuing with special projects.
“She’s a visionary and she is relentless with her drive to succeed in making things better,” Royaly said, adding Wolf had been able to see the bigger picture, rather than merely what was going on in one club.
“You’re there to see and to witness how a club is doing, are they active, effective,” he said. “If not, you’re there to give them help. She’s been doing that since almost right after she started with us.”
Rohaly said Wolf has made helping others her life’s mission, working as a special education teacher for years, volunteering at her church food pantry, belonging to Rotary Clubs International, and in high school, the Key Club.
“It’s good to be out with people and see what you can do to make a difference in someone’s life,” Wolf said.