The Cleveland Lions’ Joe Hall Memorial Scholarship Breakfast is Saturday, Aug. 30 at the Lions Club, serving 7-10 a.m. Breakfast will include scrambled eggs, grits, country ham, sausage, bacon, homemade biscuits, coffee, tea and juice. Signs will point the way in from Statesville Boulevard (U.S. 70) beginning at the fire station. The Lions Den is on Cemetery Street.
Joe W. Hall was a charter member of the Mount Ulla Lions Club, and a life member of the Cleveland Lions Club. He served these clubs for more than 40 years and was active in the Cleveland Community Volunteer Fire Department, the Cleveland Precinct of the Democratic Party, and the Rowan County Farm Bureau.
Because of the commitment shown by Joe and his wife Suzanne for education, the family has chosen to keep his memory alive with scholarship efforts. The family supports not only this effort, but also an endowed scholarship fund at Catawba Co11ege.
The scholarship is among the longest-running awards in western Rowan County, dating back to 1981 as a joint effort with the Mount Ulla Lions Club. For 1989 and 1990, the scholarship was funded and presented as the OTC scholarship. Former Lions Curtis and Mary Jane Ribelin and their company, Old Time Craftsmanship Construction, led the fund-raising efforts for those two years. Currently, the Cleveland Lions Club awards two scholarships, each for $1,000, to West Rowan High School seniors. Since 1995 the Hall family has contributed $1,000 to each year’s efforts. Proceeds above the scholarship amount go to a savings account certificate of deposit, with the intent that it will grow to become self-sustaining.
The recipients for 2013-2014 were Corbin Phifer and Chloe McNeeley.