Thanks for the Memories

 Fellowship Lodge #490 had so many traditions that it takes a while to bring them all back to memory. My apologies for seeming to be one themed as of late, but I feel it bears sharing so other lodges may profit from some ideas and to imagine what it was like in the "glory days"

Every year at the Annual Stated Meeting, which is a fancy way of saying the December Regular, a special meal was served after the meeting.........OYSTER STEW.....not for me but the brothers enjoyed it immensely.

One year I had the pleasure of watching Larry Batiste make the concoction. Two gallons of drained raw oysters, about a gallon and a half of whole milk, couple of pounds of butter, salt, and pepper. Get it warmed through a slight simmer with the butter melted....done. I also enjoyed watching the older brothers slurp a couple of bowls down....and they would all joke they were going home to chase the wife around the house.

Come Installation of Officers time there were a couple of more traditions. Boutonnieres for the officers and corsages for their wives or significant other. Two robust poinsettias were perched in front of the lectern in the East, one for the outgoing Master's wife and one for the incoming Master's wife.

At the November Regular the officers would wear their tails to be photographed for the Installation in December. I was in the West in November preparing for my time in the East. November was also our annual Memorial Service for the brothers who had passed that year. This particular year WB Bob Shaw was going out as Master and I was in the West.

When I arrived WB Bob informed me that we had a task to do that evening after the Memorial Service, we were to scatter the ashes of a deceased brother who had requested that his ashes be scattered at the Flint Masonic Temple. Worshipful Master Bob Shaw and myself climbed out on to the fire escape on the Blue Floor which was directly behind the Masters Chair and hallway. WB Bob opened the door and we went out on the fire escape in the brisk snowy wind of November. After a moment of silence Bob opened the bag and began to empty the brothers ashes....just then a real strong November snowy gust came rifling down the alleyway and I do believe we had more of the brother on our black tuxedos with tails than got scattered. I will never forget this experience.

A long and I do mean very long standing tradition for many years was Brother Marshall Burns, who served Fellowship Lodge for well over 40 years as Tyler. Brother Burns began working in Buick in 1927, which was 10 years before the union. He dug the basement of their home with a team of horses. Marshall was an amazing man, a kind gentle man, and had an unwavering loyalty to Fellowship Lodge. Among other things Marshall was a Bee-Keeper and made the best honey from his bees.

I remember fondly that WB Lynn Ross was installing the officers and when it came to the Tyler being installed, WB Lynn said "Brother Marshall Burns you are now going to be installed as Tyler of this lodge for the 43rd consecutive year, consider yourself installed my brother."

One last thing is that Brother Marshall would show up at every Memorial Service in his black suit, narrow black tie, trench coat and dress hat carrying the "funeral case" which contained the white aprons, gloves, and registry book for memorials. He was always at least 30 minutes early and performed this task amazingly well, such an air about him. Not bad for an old country boy who was a gentleman's gentleman.

Thanks for the memories.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

 Writing my last blog entry opened the floodgates of memories. I took some good natured brotherly teasing about the length of the last entry but that's okay, Fellowship Lodge generates many fond memories and some not so fond, but I digress.

Something that occurred at every regular stated meeting was introductions. Introductions in Fellowship Lodge were different than most and again another tradition. After opening the lodge, the Master would go around the room and introduce every Past Master of Fellowship Lodge usually beginning with the Secretary. It would go something like this, "Good evening WB George Savage it's a pleasure having you in lodge this evening." The respondent would typically say how good it is to be in lodge and what they are looking forward to etc. This was just a nice touch and paid respect to the Past Masters of the lodge.

My association with 490 goes back to my DeMolay days. I remember like it was yesterday, we DeMolay boys were selling hot dogs and pop at the old IMA during the circus. My dad and WB Danny Helmer were chatting while we were working, WB Danny asked my dad why he didn't come to the DeMolay meetings. My dad replied that he couldn't attend, Danny said well you're a Master Mason aren't you and my dad said no that he wasn't. WB Danny then asked an obvious question, " How did David get into DeMolay?"

Dad explained that I had been sponsored by a teacher. Danny investigated further and my dad said that he had wanted to join but did not know how, BINGO ....the magic answer and WB Danny took care of that. My dad thoroughly enjoyed the craft and travelling with WB Howard Durbin and WB Jimmy Carter. My greatest accomplishment in my Masonic career was helping lead my dad to the fraternity. Of course dad joined Fellowship 490 and the rest is history as they say.

WB Mel Malone was a great influence to many brothers. I first met WB Mel as a DeMolay dad advisor. Fellowship Lodge was a huge supporter of DeMolay and most of the advisors came from 490. WB Danny Helmer, Russ Helmer, WB Chris Corrigan, WB Mel Malone, WB Roy Warren, WB LT Wiliston to name a few.

WB Mel also did the makeup for the Master Mason Degree, yes makeup. The fellowcrafts all received a trip through Mel's barber chair for makeup and beards along with the ruffians, the kings, and others. The third degree was quite the production.

Another tradition that 490 had was it's unique way of presenting the charge to the brethren. WB Mel would dress as father time complete with a scythe, beard, wig and makeup. I remember vividly WB Mel doing the charge during my degree, it took a while for me to realize who it was. After a couple of paragraphs I was able to pick up Mel's slight accent.

What made WB Mel's delivery unique was that he would come from the East and present the charge on the East side of the altar with the newly made Master Mason on the West side of the altar with the cast of the allegory assembled around the new Master Mason. Through a succession of Grand Lecturers this was deemed illegal and 490 was forbidden from doing it in this fashion again.....thus ending a long standing tradition.

This seems like an appropriate time to call this entry complete. Undoubtedly more will follow as I contemplate the wonders of Fellowship Lodge #490

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

 It has often been said that all good things come to an end. Regrettably it seems that Fellowship Lodge will be consolidating in with Swartz Creek Lodge.

Fellowship Lodge #490 was established many years ago, and I am embarrassed that I don't recall the exact year. It was one of the five lodges that once occupied the Flint Masonic Temple. My first recollection of Fellowship Lodge was in 1974 when I joined the Order of DeMolay.

At that time and 20-30 years prior, Fellowship Lodge #490 was the premier lodge in Genesee County. It was a well known fact that during the 50's and probably into the 60's that Fellowship Lodge would be running simultaneous degrees on the Blue Floor and the York Floor. This of course was a direct violation of Michigan Masonic Law, but necessary to handle the huge influx of members during the "hay-day" of Masonry.

In 1983 it was my pleasure to join Fellowship Lodge #490 or as many referred to it as simply 490. It was the intention of the lodge to take me to their sister lodge in Anderson, Indiana for my Master Mason degree. I took my Entered Apprentice degree and gave my examination, full form, in open lodge. The vote was in the affirmative and I was scheduled to take my Fellowcraft Degree shortly there after.

The Monday came for me to receive my Fellowcraft Degree and I was scheduled to travel to Anderson, Indiana to receive my Master Mason degree in Fellowship Lodge there in Anderson. So 5 days after taking my Fellowcraft Degree we boarded WB Bob Shaw's motorhome and started toward Anderson.

That was quite the ride. WB Howard Durbin grilling me on the examination while WB Bob Shaw was driving of course, also riding along was my dad, WB Dale Thomas and his dad, and possibly WB Pete Crane. About half way there, WB Howard determined I knew it and said just briefly go over it, you know it.

Lodge was opened by WB Richard Short(a topic for a whole other blog entry) and WB Roger Wills was Senior Deacon and would give me the examination.....the funny thing is that WB Roger got stuck and I gave him a word and he carried on. Later in the evening one of the mature brothers from Indiana got me off to the side and asked me if I had prompted the Senior Deacon.....he commented that he had never seen that before.

My brothers from 490 put on one hell of a second section in full form, costumes, props, the whole nine. It was fantastic.

Fellowship #490 was known throughout the state and probably other areas as having a first-class Master Mason degree team. They had travelled extensively in the earlier years. This was just one of many fine traditions that 490 had that most other lodges did not.

One of the traditions were that the main officers wore tuxedos with tails for degree work, it was expected and demanded of the officers. Soon I found myself as a Steward and we wore black robes much like a judge wears, another tradition.

The Entered Apprentice degree had props for all of the different parts of the second section of the Entered Apprentice degree. Those stations were set up for each EA degree and the brothers manning those stations wore white robes and white doughboy hats, yet another tradition. It was rumored that back in the day they also had props for the FC degree but I never saw those used.

The Master Mason degree had numerous props, rather large blocks with an arch and keystone for the east and costumes for all, both kings, three overseers, the fellowcrafts in costume heed to toe along with makeup and beards, a full complement of guards in full costume, a captain of the guards, a night watchman, a sea faring man and a sea captain, and even disguises for the three fellowcrafts travelling down to Joppa.

Many times we would be doing the first section of the MM degree and we would take a break and open the doors to the inner lobby and there would be dozens of brothers mingling in full costume ready to go for the second section. Often back in the robing area Brother Howard Diem's hairpiece would be on a Styrofoam head while he did his duty as third base, a masterful job, and I can't ever recall seeing Howard in lodge other than third base.

One advantage that we had was having Batiste's restaurant in the basement. I had many very fine meals at lodge and during the day at lunch in the basement restaurant. Another tradition of Fellowship lodge was quarterly family nights. Once a quarter Fellowship lodge hosted a family night in the auditorium with the main meal, usually Swiss-steak, prepared by Batiste....the Swiss-steak was lovingly referred to as "lodge meat" by WB Chris Corrigan's sons WB Tim and George. Postcards were sent out ahead of time and last name first letters A-L brought salad with M-Z bringing desert to pass among the tables. Usually there were about 100 in attendance. While I was in DeMolay we would bus tables, pour coffee, and distribute little cartons of milk. What a glorious tradition.

In the main dining room in the basement every year the lodge would host Past Masters, Widows, and Awards night. This was held in honor of all Past Masters and Widows, also anniversary awards were given out 25, Lifetime, 50 years etc., and also the Mason of the Year award....which incidentally was in place well before Grand Lodge Mason of the Year, in fact it is said that the Grand Lodge borrowed the idea from 490. Again, more traditions.

Something else that existed was the 490 Past Masters Club, some brothers knew nothing of the existence of such a club including myself, that is until I completed my time in the East, and I believe it was about one year after that I was invited into the club. It was usually held at a Past Masters home and grilled steaks were served and it also included a little ritualistic ceremony as well all in good jest, I don't recall attending another one after that.

Along with being a Past Master one received a beautiful, elegant Past Masters Apron which was and still is the envy of most Past Masters from other lodges. My first time in the East in 1990 also gave me $1 per dues paying member to go toward purchasing my Past Masters ring, which incidentally most 490 Past Masters all had the same style ring. I received a check for $444 which meant at that time we had 444 dues paying members. I'm not sure how long this tradition continued, I do know that the same style apron is still presented to the outgoing Master.

The only thing that remains the same is change. I'm sure that there were traditions that had ceased to exist when I joined Fellowship Lodge, but I did have the honor of participating in many of them and being the proud recipient of many of the traditions.

It is a sad time for me to see Fellowship Lodge cease to exist as I was knew it, but in a significant way it will continue to live on with the good brothers of Swartz Creek Lodge. The traditions and memories of the past are safely lodged in the repository of my faithful breast.

What a Week

 This has been quite the interesting week in Masonry. We actually started off last Saturday by visiting Roseville Lodge for an all-degree day. That Masonic Temple is just a very fine specimen of what lodge rooms should aspire to be. We were able to stay for the Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft degrees which were very well done and interesting in their interpretation.

Monday we had a King Solomon's Club Round-Robin at Linden Lodge and conferred the Master Mason degree on a very worthy brother from Swartz Creek Lodge. There were about 40 brothers in attendance for a great portrayal of the Master Mason Degree.

Tuesday at Fellowship Lodge the Master Mason was conferred on one of their very worthy brothers. The attendance was near 50. This was fantastic coming on the heels of Monday night. WB Austin Conquest of Fellowship Lodge put on a Master class on how a Worshipful Master should conduct the Master Mason degree.

Wednesday at Metamora Hadley was a Fellowcraft degree with 20 brothers in attendance. An excellent degree with the Worshipful Master doing his first degree along with the Senior Warden, another great evening in Masonry.

Thursday closed out the week with a Fellowcraft degree at Vassar Lodge. There were probably 30 in attendance for a fantastic degree on a very attentive candidate, and again the work was done very well.

To the nay-sayers and the skeptics it's hard to say that we are on the decline when just in our little slice of the world we had such a plethora of activity.

The glass is above half-full my brothers. Hopefully we continue on this trend, I am convinced that we will because success breeds success.

Masonry Unites Men

 As I've mentioned it's not a lack of experiences to share. This will shock a few but I have to share our experience last evening at Fellowship Lodge #236 last evening. We gathered for a Master Mason degree at Fellowship Lodge which meets at the Swartz Creek Masonic Temple. Keep in mind we had a King Solomon's Club event in Linden where the Master Mason degree was conferred the evening prior.

Both events had over 40 in attendance and last evening was probably closer to 50. Fellowship has been struggling trying to find it's way while sharing facilities with two other lodges. Thankfully the Worshipful Master Austin Conquest is serving his third consecutive term to keep stability in leadership and he has done a great job.

Last evening the brethren showed up in force and put on an extremely great Master Mason degree. We were also honored by the presence of several of our brothers from Eureka Lodge PHA including the Worshipful Master. In fact I believe there were 5 sitting Worshipful Masters in attendance along with 7 Grand Lodge representatives.

It was just one of those magical evenings in Masonry, the work went very good. The lectures were spot on, the vocals on the song was tremendous, Honorary Member WB Eddie Booth PHA served as Junior Warden and WB James PHA gave the final charge.

This will resonate in my memory bank for a long time to come. It was an incredible evening and a testament to the Craft as a whole. Just when the critics say we are on our death bed we have the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful evening and demonstrate that the glass is half-full and increasing everyday. Freemasonry not withstanding has still survived.

...Masonry unites men of every country, sect, and opinion and conciliates a true friendship among those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.

Am I a Builder

 Again I've been very remiss in adding anything new to the blog. It's not for a lack of material for sure. Here we are starting another Masonic year. January seemed to be a little slow but there are many things on the horizon. 

We just had another very successful Tri-District Lodge of Instruction with over 60 brothers in attendance from at least 3 different districts. Also, the Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer, Tom Braun added to the instruction.

Last evening King Solomon's Club had a Round-Robin Master Mason Degree at Linden Lodge with 40 brothers in attendance. The candidate was supplied by Swartz Creek who had a great showing to support their candidate. There is a very healthy competition between Swartz Creek and Linden lodges, these 2 lodges have become the power houses of District 16.

The driving force of both of these lodges are the younger members who are joining both lodges. By younger I mean any brother under the age of 50 is considered "Masonic young" . The younger brothers are eager and hungry for tradition, history, why we do the things we do and how can they learn more. This in turn encourages the "Masonic Mature" (which is nice speak for old farts) to teach, guide and learn.

Imagine that, the elders teaching the younger and showing them the way to foster their growth and to empower those young brothers to be the future leaders.....hmmm it's interesting how that works.

While these 2 lodges are growing there are several lodges on the other end of the spectrum. In the same district we have at least one lodge that will be consolidating into another lodge, with at least one more lodge that is contemplating it's future, there is one bright spot, we had a lodge from a neighboring district merge into one of our lodges. In other neighboring districts we have several lodges that are at a crossroads and their future is in question. 

"Travelling is one of the hidden gems of the fraternity", a quote from the late WB Michael Burt. Travelling is the one thing that Swartz Creek and Linden have in common that the lodges that are floundering don't have in common. By serving as Board of General Purposes, I attend many regular business meetings. The lodges that are successful spend a lot of time discussing how they can do more, make the lodge look better, get in the community more and plan out travelling to other lodges for degree work.....there definitely seems to be some correlation there.

It would be refreshing to see the consolidations and dissolution of lodges slow to a minimum ...the goal should be for those lodges losing their way to regain a foothold in their community and get back to doing Masonry. The challenge is that they have to "want" to make a comeback first in the community of their lodge but also the community at large.....and those lodges somehow have to juggle the finances of utilities, insurance, and property taxes while trying to nurse their lodge back to health.....not an easy feat once the pendulum swings to far to the negative side.

There are 2 very under-utilized resources available to Michigan Lodges they are PGM Fred Kaiser and PGM Bob Conley. These two brothers have a vast knowledge concerning best practices for lodges and lodge renewal. Honestly I've been hearing the term "lodge renewal" for 35 years, some lodges embrace the help and guidance and use them to their advantage while it seems the majority of lodges bristle at the notion of receiving guidance, ideas, and help from these Past Grand Masters. The catch is that the lodges have to do the work themselves, the very hard work of getting the lodge back on track and serving the needs of their Masonic community and their local communities where these lodges reside. The bottom-line is Leadership or the lack thereof that separates the successful lodges from the floundering lodges. Strong leadership is a must to bring these lodges back to life. Jurisdictions around the country bring in PGM Conley to present lodge renewal programs to get lodges back on track, and we have him right here in our state, and he is always very willing to oblige those who will help themselves.

In closing I would like to share a poem which used to be a part of our DeMolay installations....there appear to be many authors from anonymous to Brother Edgar Guest so we will go with Brother Guest

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
The men you’d hire if you had to build?”

He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”

And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?

This poem by Edgar Guest raises an important and serious question for all of us: “Am I a builder or a wrecker?”

Patronizing the Assemblies

 Well....well....well....seems to be the current state of the "Craft" in our little area here. Lately some lodges have been overwhelmed with the response of visiting brothers attending degree work. For several years, many skeptics and nay-sayers have been saying that we are on the brink of our own demise.

It seems that the words of the Fellowcraft recap ring true once again....Freemasonry nothwithstanding, has still survived.....through a succession of ages, are transmitted unimpaired, the excellent tenets of our institution.

The numbers attending degrees here of late are staggering for our time. They remind many of the "good old days" when large numbers were the norm. Perhaps we are establishing a new "norm". Another encouraging factor is that the age of the candidates seems to be decreasing, young men seem to be the ones really embracing the craft and for a variety of reasons.

For some time, I've been commenting that it sure seems that we are doing a lot of degree work and wondering if it will pay off. My brothers, it seems to be paying dividends. It appears that several factors are driving the increase in numbers. First and foremost is traveling, the lodges that travel are reaping the rewards, sometimes it can be only one faithful brother and that brother will influence brothers to travel to his lodge. Some of the new brothers are being encouraged to travel with some of the more seasoned brothers, imagine that, including new brothers to participate in perhaps the greatest influencer the act of traveling to other lodges. For a while it seemed that first the TV, then the internet, then the phone were big distractors of people attending lodge.....but I think brothers have grown bored with those things and they realize.....thus man was formed for the social and active life, the noblest part of the work of God.

So, for the ol' timers out there.....occasionally pinch yourself, keep your head down and keep going....the greatest and best of men in all ages have been encouragers and promoters of the art, and have never deemed it derogatory to their dignity to level themselves with the Fraternity, extend their privileges, and patronize their assemblies.