|
CHARTER MEMBER
LION ERK Worden
Lion Erk was a colorful Charter Member of
the Annandale Lions Club for more than 65 years. He joined
the Annandale Lions upon its formation April 13, 1948, and he
participated in projects, attended meetings, and regaled the
Club with stories of our early years throughout his years of membership. According to
Lions Clubs International, of the more than 1.3 million members
of Lions Clubs worldwide, only 47 are Charter Members with more
than 65 years of service. Lion Erk was a special Lion.
He was the Club's second President, serving
from 1949 to 1950. Starting a new Lions Club was no easier
then than it is now, and there was some concern that the new
Annandale Lions charter might be revoked due to inactivity.
But the Club rose to the challenge under Lion Erk's leadership,
cleared some inactive members from its rolls, and has never
looked back. The Annandale community is better for his efforts.
Lion Erk was awarded a Melvin Jones
Fellowship, the highest honor that can be awarded by the Lions
Club International Foundation.
Among Lion Erk's favorite stories about the
early days of the Club was the rodeo fundraiser in the 1950s.
There was much concern among Club members and the public as to
whether the reinforced corral would be able to hold one of the
bulls as the bull become more and more aggressive. There
was much general bashing of the corral gate by the bull,
whereupon Lion Erk brought a pick-up truck to the gate to buttress
it. The gate held and the bull remained in the corral, but
that was the last rodeo fundraiser ever sponsored by the Annandale
Lions.
Erk was a WWII Navy veteran, and he served
in the Pacific theatre. He was on a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) in
a group heading to an invasion of Japan when the atomic bombs
were used in August 1945 bringing about the surrender of Japan.
Before the war he worked in the Arlington Post Office on
Washington Boulevard near Clarendon Circle. Shortly after the
war he joined his dad Edwin "Pop" Worden (also a member of the
Annandale Lions) in running their lumber business and sawmill.
At one time that operation was on Columbia Pike near where the
Pentagon was built. They moved the sawmill to a tract of
land on Rolling Road south of Keene Mill Road.
In the 1950s, when Annandale was still a
farming community, Erk had a house on Columbia Pike just east of the
Masonic Lodge and Pop lived in an old farm house on 14 acres on
Columbia Pike where the Curtis shopping area is located today (The Room Store,
Juke Box Caf�, etc). When Pop sold that land, he moved to an old farm house that was
on his sawmill site down on Rolling Road.
In 1967 Lion Erk obtained a real estate
brokers license, and eventually he got into real estate sales
activity with
Gordon & Meekins in Annandale. He was a Lion, and he shall
be missed.
|
_________________________________________________________
ERSKINE C. WORDEN "Erk" (Age 95)
|
|
 Died
peacefully on Friday, December 6, 2013, with his
daughters by his side. The cause of his death
was renal failure. He was born August, 4, 1918,
at Washington Grove, MD, in a logging camp to
Edwin C. Worden and Florence Whitney Worden.
In the early years, Mr.
Worden grew up in Washington, D.C. and later in
Arlington, VA and spent many summers at Lake
George, NY. Mr. Worden graduated from Washington
and Lee High School in Arlington, VA. He married
his beloved wife Lorraine Pearson on June 8,
1940. They moved to Annandale, VA in their early
twenties.
Mr. Worden worked at the
U.S. Post office before he was inducted into the
Navy and served in
WWII at Okinawa. Upon leaving the service,
Mr. Worden owned Worden Lumber Co. with his
father for many years. Along with the lumber
company, he also raised cattle in Annandale and
Gainesville, VA. After his lumber company days,
Mr. Worden became a Real Estate Realtor and
Broker in Annandale, VA first working for Gordon
& Meekins Realty and later for Meekins &
Associates, Inc.
Mr. Worden was a Charter
Member of the Annandale Lion's Club which formed
in 1948 to the present serving as President and
in many other capacities. Mr. Worden also
belonged to the Washington Hoo Hoo Club; an
international lumberman's club which met in
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Worden was a Charter
Member of Hope Lutheran Church, Annandale, VA in
the 1950's. After serving as President of Hope,
he held many other positions at the church
during the past 50 plus years. Mr. Worden
enjoyed bowling starting in his teens and
throughout his life and bowled every Tuesday on
a team for the past 20 years until his early
nineties. He also enjoyed hunting with his twin
brother, son-in-law Bob and grandson until well
into his eighties. Mr. Worden loved playing
poker and enjoyed getting together with his
daughter Lynn, nephews, and other family
members. Besides, bowling, hunting, and poker,
Mr. Worden enjoyed playing cribbage, canasta,
and chess.
Erskine C. Worden was
preceded in death by his wife, Lorraine in 2006
after 66 years of marriage, his father and
mother Edwin and Florence Worden, his twin
brother Robert and his sisters Marguerite Rodney
and Katherine Sullivan. Mr. Worden is survived
by his daughters Gail Kolos and son-in-law Bob,
Lynn Piercey and son-in-law Vince Buono, his
grandchildren Kimberly (Colin) Wrenn, Chris (Linette)
Kolos, and Kindra Lee Harrison, three
great-granddaughters Megan Kolos, Danielle and
Brooke Wrenn, and sisters-in-law Jean (Ralph)
Brown and Carole (Don) Gordon and his
brother-in-law Glenn (Margaret) Pearson along
with nieces and nephews.
The family will receive
friends, Friday, December 13, 2013 from 2 to 4
p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at the DEMAINE FUNERAL
HOME, 5308 Backlick Rd., Springfield, VA
703-941-9428.
A Funeral Service will be
held at Hope Lutheran Church, 4604 Ravensworth
Rd., Annandale, VA on Saturday, December 14,
2013 at 11 a.m. Interment will immediately
follow at National Memorial Park, Falls Church,
VA. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions
may be made in Erskine's name to Hope Lutheran
Church. Please view and sign the family's
guestbook at: www.demainfunerals.comwww.demainfunerals.com |
Published in The Washington Post
on December 11, 2013 |
|
