Local Lions leader honors actress Duke

Pam Beyer, a district vice governor of Lions Club and member of the Kalispell Lions, wants to put a new face on Lionism - that of renowned actress Patty Duke.

Beyer recently traveled to Coeur d'Alene to realize her childhood dream of honoring Duke, known in private life as Anna Marie Pearce, for "bringing light to a dark world, much like Ms. Keller did for the deaf and blind."

Duke played Helen Keller in the Broadway play "The Miracle Worker," which ran for two years, and won an Academy Award for her role in the subsequent movie. The actress became widely known through the television series, "The Patty Duke Show."

She now lives with her husband, Michael Pearce, on a farm in Coeur d'Alene where she helps promote local private theater and nonprofits between making movies and performing on stage. She speaks internationally about blindness, deafness and mental illness.

Beyer, district governor-elect for the Lions, presented Duke with a special award and honorary Lions Club membership in recognition of the actress' role as Helen Keller and her life of service to others.

"She just gives and gives and gives," Beyer said.

The awards, bestowed on behalf of Lions Club International via Idaho 19E and Montana 37N districts, represent just the first step in Beyer's campaign for a much broader role for Duke in the organization given a mission as "knights of the blind" by Helen Keller in 1925.

Beyer's inspiration came from meeting Helen Keller when she was 9 years old and then seeing Duke perform as Keller in "The Miracle Worker" the next year.

Another profound link was her own daughter. At the awards ceremony, Beyer said that her daughter called the family together and announced that she had bipolar disorder.

When Beyer said she didn't know what that was, her daughter had a memorable response.

"It's the same thing Patty Duke has."

The actress has written two books on the illness formerly known as manic depression. She also maintains a Web site - www.pattyduke.net - on mental wellness that provides information and helps dispel the stigma of mental illness.

In spite of Duke's busy professional life, she agreed to a role with the Lions, saying "just plug me in where you need me." For Beyer, her attitude makes a perfect fit with the club's motto: "We serve."

She said most people know about the organization's collection and retrofitting of eyeglasses that it distributes around the world. Beyer said a local doctor, Steve Weber, and his wife have traveled to Third World countries to fit and distribute these glasses.

"People who have never been able to see put them on and cry," Beyer said.

Less well known are Lions programs fighting river blindness, researching premature baby eye problems, providing guide dogs for the blind and sensing dogs for seizure patients, and operating cornea banks.

"The eyesight work is multifaceted," Beyer said. "Now, we're also involved with Arbor Day."

The Flathead has active clubs in Kalispell, one in Bigfork, one in Columbia Falls and one in Polson. Beyer and her husband, David, recently were part of a team of eight Lions who worked to initiate a new club in Whitefish.

"I think Whitefish will become so popular we could have three clubs," she said. "The Sunriser Lions in Kalispell stepped up to sponsor the new club."

Instead of trying to revive the former Whitefish club, Beyer said the team launched the new international strategy of starting fresh to grow a new club. Experts from Lions International provided three days of training to the eight local Lions.

Following training, they fanned out across Whitefish in teams of two to tell prospective charter members about the Lions, started in 1917 by a Chicago businessman Melvin Jones.

"In three days, we had 25 people," Beyer said. "People were just jumping at it."

Beyer invites anyone interested in the Lions to call her at 837-0921. Member qualifications are as simple as the motto "We serve."

"You just have to have a heart of giving," she said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.