'Tis the Season for Installations

It most certainly is the season for the Installation of Officers throughout our great state of Michigan.

Each time I attend an installation I am reminded of something from my DeMolay days. Long, long ago while in DeMolay one of our many duties was to pull chairs for the Masonic Installations. We are talking the winding down of the glory years in Masonry.

I joined DeMolay in 1974 and remember vividly working the installations. My chapter was in the Flint Masonic Temple where there were 5 Masonic Lodges, 3 OES chapters, 2 Jobs Bethels, DeMolay, York Rite including Chapter, Council, and an enormous Commadery and many other affiliated bodies.

It was December of 1976 and WB Howard Durbin was being installed as Worshipful Master of Fellowship #490 for the upcoming year of 1977. We were at our post ready to pull chairs out of the Blue Room after each officer was installed.

My DeMolay brother Rickey Malone motioned for me to come over where he was. He told me to go into the Blue room before the installation started and to look at all the people. He said, " When you get in there pretend you are looking for someone, so you can check out all the people." So, obligingly I did exactly that and came back out after a minute or so.

I asked Rickey why he had me do that. He responded, " I wanted you to take a look at all the people in there, over 400 in fact. You will never see that many people at another Masonic Installation. I don't care how many you go to over the years, you will never see that again."

That scene plays out in my mind every year as we enter into the installation season. Rickey was right, I've never seen that again. In fact sometimes there is more like 40 not 400. Now I will be the first to admit that WB Howard Durbin was a legend in his own time when it came to Masonry. He also had tons of non masonic friends which may have contributed to the huge turn out at his installation.

It was not uncommon in those days to have 200 show up for an installation. The officers being installed were most generally being installed in that office for the first time and their families were there. The installing officers usually had their wife or companion with them. It was a rare thing to hear " I'm traveling alone this evening." Now it is rare to hear someone introduce a wife or family member or friend whatever the case may be.

How is it that we have arrived at where we are today. Many things have changed in the last 40 years or as my mom says a lot of water has went under the bridge. One thing which has changed is the attitude toward our installation. Years ago it was a celebration, something to look forward to and to share a slice of Masonry with our relatives and friends. Now it has become more of a necessary task which needs to be performed.

Another thing is the closed installation. This was very rarely heard of or used back in the day because chances were that the Worshipful Master was being installed for the first time. I joined Masonry in 1983 and served as steward for 2 years then on through the chairs not skipping positions. When I finally did make it to the East it was a big deal not only for me but for my family because they were aware that it took 6 years to get there.

I understand that in the age of the recycled Master that an open installation is not necessary but there may be other officers who are being installed for the first time, and we miss out on a chance to "shine" in a situation that the public at large can witness.

A contributing factor to the relatively small attendance at installations these days is that as the population of the county has decreased severely so has the population of our Masonic Lodges in the county decreased. The attendance numbers are spread out among some 16 lodges in the county. On the same thought those lodges were in existence years ago and they had some very large turn outs as far as attendance goes......but there is no denying the fact that Genesee County's population has shrank considerably.

Taking that into account, then perhaps the 16 some lodges still being open and functioning says something positive about the situation, that they are still able to assemble a corps of officers.

When it comes to the attendance at the installations I suppose one thing that can be surmised is that the installation of officers is not that important to the officers and their families. Things which are important seem to always have time made for them. It's funny how society in general has changed over the years. Other events such as funeral home visitations brings into question the dress of those visiting. My mom's friend passed away and the attire of  her family was less than fitting for a funeral, in my mind it was very disrespectful to a wonderful woman. I think it is just a sign of how things have become less important to people over the years.

A brother who had been away from the craft for a number of years with a little encouragement has been attending some events lately. His comment was that he can't believe the dress of those attending lodge.
My response was that yes a lot of things had changed over the years and dress requirements was one of them.

Somehow we have to instill in our new members the importance of this Fraternity. That really is our job to sell them on the benefits to them socially and morally. In addition to that we have to have some activities beyond meetings and degree work. We need to be more socially active with each other. We learn in our lectures that man was created for the social and active life, the noblest part of the work of God.

Looking back on the glory days, the fraternity was a huge social outlet.....and it was important to the men who participated and by it being important to those men....their families recognized that it was important and supported them in their endeavors. We have to lead the way and encourage our new brothers to involve their family and friends in their Masonic journey......and along with that we need to get our families and friends more involved by demonstrating to them the importance of the Fraternity and ensuring that we solicit their support in our endeavors.

Brothers, I've rambled on for long enough.....but take notice at the next installation you attend.....you may be surprised at where we are and find it hard to believe we were ever where we were only 40 years ago.