The love of a Lion

Diana Pinto COURTESY PHOTO Diana Pinto, 67, settled down with a dewy iced tea in her mobile home in Estero and named 11 of her favorite things — her grandchildren, all of whom live in Lee County — in order.

Her heart is enormous. There is no grandmother on earth kinder, sweeter or gentler. She is also president of the South Fort Myers-Estero Lions Club, which sponsors regular "jambos" for children, a day of fishing on the lake by Miromar Outlets.

But there is also toughness in Ms. Pinto, a steeliness in her gaze that hints at tough times survived with grace and aplomb. At least one of those stories is wrapped up in her second husband, Mike Pinto, who taught her what love is. She first heard of the Lions Club through him as well, after they met in 1973.

Their relationship was more than simple and the couple split up nine years after they started dating. They lived in Connecticut at the time, unmarried. After having a lover's quarrel, she left for Florida without telling him.

Ms. Pinto's two oldest daughters stayed behind and she moved to Cape Coral with her two youngest daughters. Fittingly enough, they arrived on Independence Day, 1982. Five months later, Ms. Pinto said, "He calls. And I say, 'when are you coming to Florida?' And he says, 'I'm at the airport.'"

Fast forward five or six years: Because of complications with diabetes, Mike Pinto has had surgery on his leg, and his toes have become infected with gangrene. In the end, the doctors had to amputate his leg. Although they weren't yet married, that was when Ms. Pinto found a concrete definition of love: when someone loses a leg, and you stick with him.

"You'll know when you have that connection with somebody," she said.

After that, they moved back to Connecticut for five years, to "the valley," the neighborhood in Milford she grew up in. She worked as a bookkeeper for an Italian food manufacturer.

"Some nights I'd come home from work and he'd be sitting there in the wheelchair with a martini in his hand," she said. "And I'd say, 'How did you know? How did you know? I am so ready for a martini — you wouldn't believe the day I had.'"

On Friday nights they would usually take off for the weekend to explore nearby towns. "I'd come home and he'd say 'let's get out of here' and we would. We'd go drive three or four hours and stay there."

She added, "I think those five years in Connecticut were the best I ever had."

Although they had met in 1973, through friends via an Eagles Club, they weren't married until 1993, the last year they spent in Connecticut together.

"He said, 'I'll get married when I've been divorced as long as I was married the first time,'" Ms. Pinto recalled. "All our friends in the valley were at the wedding. They said the day Mike and Diana get married, we are going to be there."

In 1994, the Pintos built a home in Cape Coral. One year later — 22 years after they met each other and just two years after they were married — he died. Ms. Pinto continued to work as a bookkeeper for Frye Wholesale on Evans Avenue, and became president of the Cape Coral Lions Club.

In 2001, she sold her home in the Cape and moved to the Tahiti Mobile Village in Estero. At Tahiti, she is vice president of the Koffee Klatch, a group that meets for coffee and doughnuts on Tuesdays.

"I love it here," she said.

On July 11, Ms. Pinto and the South Fort Myers-Estero Lions will host a party at Bourbon Street Bar and Grill, on U.S. 41 and Estero Parkway, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All are welcome. The group is down to only five members, so Ms. Pinto hopes to drum up support.

"I'd like to see as many people in this area as possible join this club and come up with ideas to support the community," she said. "I would just like people to think about where they live and the people around them. Join an organization. If not the Lions, somebody. With the world the way it is today, we need each other."