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Beach community celebrates “Lion Fred”

By Staff | Jul 18, 2018

A bench was placed at Bay Oaks in Fred Schmiesing's honor.

He was the life of the annual Shrimp Festival and an ear for anyone who needed it.

Community members gathered Friday at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus to remember and celebration the life of a Lion.

Fred Schmiesing was the president of the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club for many years, as well as a president of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and of his community board at Gulfview Colony. The Minnesota native died April 20, at the age of 75.

To celebrate his life and contribution to Fort Myers Beach, members of the Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce and his beach friends came together at Bay Oaks, where a bench has been placed in his honor. Their celebration of life was held at the same time that Schmiesing’s family was holding one in Minnesota.

“He inspired us, and did a lot of work, always pulling (the Shrimp Festival) together,” said Darby Doerzbacher, a Lions member.

Catherine Lau of the Bonita Springs Community Lions adds a piece of bread to the bench during the Lions Club ceremony for the “missing lion.”

She led the “Missing Lion” ceremony, a commemorative act done for Lion members when they die during membership. Traditionally, the ceremony is done on a round table with a white tablecloth and an empty chair to symbolize the circle of life, purity of service to others, and the empty chair to show that he is no longer there. Instead of a table and chair, however, the Lions completed the ceremony on the bench. One by one, while Doerzbacher read the significance of each act, Lions placed items on the bench: a lit candle, symbolizing the light of love for life and family; a pinch of salt to symbolize the sweat of a Lion’s labor and the tears of those left behind; a piece of bread to symbolize the fruit of the Lion’s work; and an inverted cup to symbolize the Lion who cannot celebrate with the rest anymore.

The Chamber brought two canvas prints of the Fort Myers Beach Pier; everyone in attendance used an inkpad to add their “prints” to the sandy beach in the picture. One will be sent to Schmiesing’s family. He’s survived by his wife, Carol, three children and four grandchildren.

“He always had an open ear. I keep expecting him to walk through the door (at the Chamber),” said Jacki Liszak, the Chamber president. “There is a big space with his loss.”

The Lions Club has named an athletic scholarship after Schmiesing, who was a basketball and football player and track star, and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. He also was a coach and teacher for Tartan High School in Minnesota.

Bob Grant, a Gulfview Colony resident and personal friend, used to golf with Schmiesing every Tuesday. He said it was a shock to the community to learn of his death.

Darby Doerzbacher adds her thumbprint to the memorial for Fred Schmeising.

“He was a good man. A leadership guy,” Grant said. “He was always involved in community projects.”

Lion Fran Peters holds up the post card commemorating late Lions President Fred Schmeising. Those who attended the celebration of life filled the postcards with messages about Schmeising to send to his family.

Members of the Fort Myers Beach community gathered at Bay Oaks on Friday to celebrate the life of Fred Schmeising, the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club president.