Luncheon held to honor Sid Wieser

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Jack Shelton, right, presents Sid Wieser with a bronze eagle at a luncheon last week in Wieser's honor. For decades, odds have been that if a major civic project proceeded in or around Lampasas, Sid Wieser helped lead the effort.

The Kiwanis Club of Lampasas and The Texas Trails Council held a luncheon last week at the Hostess House to honor Wieser, a philanthropist and former member of the Lampasas City Council and Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees.

Jack Shelton, a friend of Wieser's, delivered a tribute to the honoree and discussed a variety of the Lampasan's experiences, service activities and philanthropic leadership.

Born in 1917 in Hamilton, Wieser joined the Boy Scouts in 1930. He has been an Eagle Scout for more than 77 years.

Noting that Boy Scouts pledge to "do a good deed every day," Shelton said Wieser has embodied the Boy Scout oath consistently throughout his life.

Wieser's civic leadership, Shelton said, includes work in support of Fort Hood -- particularly valuable, he added, during the difficult years of the late 1960s and early '70s -- service for the Lampasas County Chamber of Commerce and a variety of fundraising activities instrumental in the establishment of Metroplex Hospital. Wieser also contributed to the reopening of Rollins Brook Com- munity Hospital, now part of the Metroplex Health System.

In addition, Wieser has promoted Central Texas College actively for more than 40 years. The Lampasan helped with the overseas expansion of the college's extended education system, Shelton said, and serves as president of the Central Texas College Foundation Board, which oversees a scholarship endowment of $5 million.

"Sid will just go and do whatever you ask him to do," Shelton said. "Sid has never been one to go through life saying 'no.'"

Wieser was presented a bronze eagle and a Boy Scouts of America 100th anniversary cane and a commander's coin presented on behalf of Col. Jasper P. Jones III, commander of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.