James and Linda Eklund are the Shelter Island Lions Club Citizens of the Year

To be named a Lions Club Citizen of the Year, you don’t have to be a Lion, but you do need to exhibit a lifelong predilection for helping your neighbors on Shelter Island.

By that criterion this year’s winners James and Linda Eklund are eminently qualified.

The Shelter Island Lions Club started in 1950 and has been improving the quality of life here for 75 years, with fundraising events such as the annual Snapper Derby, and the Scallop Dinner to benefit a host of charitable causes from the Lions Eye Bank for Long Island to Shelter Island youth sports and scholarships. Over 45 of those years, the Lions have recognized 30 individuals and 10 two-person teams with the Citizen of the Year Award.

President Frank Adipietro once said, “The Citizenship Award embodies volunteerism at its best. Each year’s Citizen of the Year symbolizes the spirit that makes our Island home a very special place.”

James and Linda Eklund were summer kids, who married and settled on Shelter Island in 1973. They started the Reich/Eklund construction business in 1974 with Peter Reich, ran a wine and cheese store, raised Jonathan, Elizabeth and Andrew, bought The Rams Head Inn in 1979 and before they knew it were at the center of Island life. In 1994, they bought The Chequit which they ran until 2014, and in 2021 they sold The Rams Head Inn.

With five grandchildren to enjoy, Linda has settled into retirement, and James still manages his construction company.

Always neighborly and ready to help, they started to focus on giving back to the Island in the 1980’s when the school budget was defeated one year, and its fall sports programs were threatened. “We contacted the school to see if we could start a booster club or something, and they said, ‘Yeah, I guess so,’” said Linda. “So, we started a booster club, and the community just embraced it.” In a few weeks of fundraising, they were able to raise enough money to support a fall sports program.

If they had any doubts about the volunteer spirit on Shelter Island, the booster club experience erased it. “You have examples all around you,” said James. “Even when we were younger, we saw other people doing all this stuff, whether the Chicken Barbecue or Brownies and Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts and Little League, all those things, helping, doing whatever had to be done. Once you start living in a place, you see how that’s the grease that makes it go.”

These were the days before the causeway connecting Ram Island with the rest of the Island was built up, and during storms, the Rams Head Inn was the defacto shelter when the road washed out.

“There were a lot of older people that lived on Big Ram, and we were designated as a spot where they could come,” Linda said. “We had a generator, we had food, they knew that there would be heat, there would be water, and they’d be safe there.”

The rest of the Island made their way to the Rams Head, too. It was a frequent location for the school prom, the annual site of the school’s Honor Society luncheon, the Gift of Life benefit, State of the Town luncheon, as well as birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings.

“The Rams Head is part of Shelter Island,” Linda said. “We always wanted it to be responsive to the needs of the community.”

In 2001, the late Charlotte Hannabury was putting together the Island Gift of Life, an organization to provide support to people with serious, often terminal illness in memory of her daughter Cheryl. The Eklunds’ involvement with the Island Gift of Life goes back to its inception, when Linda joined the board of the foundation.

“She sent us a letter asking if we would join in, which we did, and they started having the annual fundraiser at the Rams Head,” Linda said. “It was there every year until COVID.”

Linda was the chair of Shelter Island’s 350th Anniversary Celebration in 2002, a year-long celebration of the Island’s history. She helped to develop the scope of events, coordinated a commemorative book that was written by local historian Patricia Shillingburg, and led a board of volunteer residents to make it all happen. To honor the Island’s farming history, the image of a sheep served as a logo and fundraiser for the celebration.

“Some of the painted sheep are still visible on a few lawns,” Linda said.

James said, “It wasn’t a conscious decision to do things, they’ve just kind of happened. I think you’ll always have volunteers. Maybe the vision of what the Island should be has changed a little bit, but the love of this island by the people who live here is the same. And they will step up.”

James added that he and Linda have benefited as much as the people they’ve tried to help. “We’re the lucky ones. That that’s the thing to take home here.”

The Lions  Citizenship Award Dinner will be Thursday, May 22, 2025 at 6 p.m. at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club. $65 per person for a three-course dinner. Purchase tickets with credit/debit cards at https://shelterislandlions.org/citizenship-dinner/ or with cash/checks at the Shelter Island Public Library.