District #17 - F&AM

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Saturday, December 5, 2009

December 1st, 2009 -- Installation update

Installation Update

3 down, 5 to go. And 1 in another district.

The next Installation will be on Friday, December 4th, at Olympia Lodge #1. This is their first stated meeting in December, and the installation will be closed. There will be a 6:30 Dinner preceding it. WB Ed Bennett will be installed as Worshipful Master, WB Ed has presided over Tenino Lodge in 2006, and did a fine job.
The Following week, on Wednesday, December 9th, at 7:00, will be Morton Lodge #209’s installation. It will also be closed. More importantly, there’s a distinct possibility that this will be their final installation! I would like to see a good turnout to this event.
Little Falls Lodge #176 will install Bro. Wayne Brown on Friday, December 11th, at 7:30. It will be an open installation, with Kelso’s installation team performing the ceremony. Remember that Bro. Wayne has visited and assisted the bulk of the lodges in our district, and we should show our support.
And then the day after that, at 8:00, will be Robert Morris’s installation. It also will be closed.
Tenino Lodge will be holding its open installation on Thursday, December 17th, with a 6:30 dinner and a 7:30 installation. This is a momentous occasion for me, as I’m installing my successor, Bro. Tim Lund, into the East, and will be installed as one of the Stewards, along with WB John Shull. Oops, that got changed, as is the will and pleasure of the incoming Master, I will be the Tyler. WB Doug Mathers will be the Junior Steward.
It looks like Bro. Kurt Schmid will be installed as Master of Harmony Lodge #18 on Saturday, January 9, 2010, at 1:00 PM. That will conclude the installations for District #17.

November 19th, 2009 Tenino’s triple move-up night.

Don’t’ be surprised that I keep mentioning my lodge in this blog. It’s not too often that a presiding Master has the Senior Deacon run a meeting. The Senior Warden’s run 2, and the Junior Warden conferred a degree and was okay with letting Hal Moulton have a go in the East. Hal found it to be a new experience, and his father, WB Art Moulton, was most proud of seeing his son wear the Top Hat and conduct his Lodge’s business.

November 11th, 2009 Chehalis Lodge #28 Installation of Officers

This will be VWB Ernest Goad’s 4th time in the East, and all in different lodges. Brother Goad has presided over Yakima #24, Mount Adams #227 (also in Yakima), and John Paul Jones #271 in Gig Harbor. VWB Goad also was District #20’s Deputy, around 15-20 years ago. So, it should be expected that he’ll have a well planned and well attended installation ceremony. Since I was to Install Ernie, the expectations for me were high as well. I will tell you that this was one of the most impressive installations I’ve seen. The Job’s daughters did their closing cross, and the DeMolay did the Arch of Steel. A few rainbow girls were present to escort the officers in as well. And according to several accounts, between 80 and 90 people were in the building. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a little friendly competition between bros. Vaudrin and Goad to see whose installation would be better attended. I think Ernie won, but I also think we have 2 winners here!

November 5th, 2009 Tenino Lodge Outage meeting

The windstorms are coming, and sure enough, we show up to a building with no lights on. The Washington Masonic Code now allows a presiding Master to cancel a meeting due to inclement weather, and this would probably qualify, as a windstorm induced the outage, but remember, we’re talking Tenino Lodge here, and remember who the Master is. Yep, we held a meeting. In the dark. Okay, there was power across the street, and the streetlights shone a little into our room, but our chaplain still borrowed my flashlight to read the prayer. Power was restored around 40 minutes into the meeting, and we closed shortly afterwards. I’m telling you, Tenino Lodge has had an incredible year.

October 23rd, 2009 Winlock Lodge #47 125th Annual Installation of Officers

Again, the attendance wasn’t the greatest, and the ritual involved was quite creative, but we got to see a preview of VWB Ernest Goad’s installation work. WB Mark Hanshaw is now the Master, and while he is a “rerun”, it’s been around 15 years or so since the last time, so hey, he’s fresh as far as I’m concerned, as I’ve been out of high school for only 17 years. Remember, this lodge meets on the first Saturday of each month, at 10:00 AM.

October 19th, 2009 Centralia Lodge Ladies night

While there was a conflict with an Eastern Star event of the same night, there were enough present to make the evening fun. Those ladies got a treat in the Worshipful Master, Jerry Vaudrin, who knows his way around the ladies, and he certainly did so with the newest widow, who received a widow’s pin from WB Vaudrin.

October 15th and 16th, 2009 Tenino Meetings

The twin meetings of Tenino Lodge. Somebody said it’ll be quiet in Tenino Lodge after the Pig Roast?

The stated meeting, October 15th

We had election of Officers, and Bro. Tim Lund was elected to be Worshipful Master of Tenino Lodge for the year 2010. His installation will be open, on December 17th with a 6:30 dinner and a 7:30 ceremony. Also introduced to Tenino Lodge was a new Hoover Vacuum cleaner. It proved to be quite popular, and the brethren even named it R2D2, after the famous Star Wars droid. I even had 2 secretaries for the meeting.

The Special meeting, October 16th

Due to one of the brothers’ imminent deployment overseas, time was short, and harmony Lodge needed to get degrees done fast. Tenino lodge stepped in and opened a special meeting to confer Courtesy degrees on 2 fellowcraft Masons of Harmony Lodge. WB Rich Lathrope, who set up the degree, wanted to get as many lodges involved as possible, and he did not disappoint. At least 5 lodges were involved. Most noteworthy was the drama, where many brethren were introduced to the excellent ritual work of VWB Ernest Goad, WB Steve Carmick and Bro. Wayne Brown. I hope that the principal officers of all of the lodges involved catch on to this idea and see the different ways that we can perform degree work on our candidates.

October 10th and 12th, 2009 FCM degrees in Centralia and Robert Morris

It should be noted that 2 of the Apprentices at the Tenino meetings received their Fellowcraft degrees within 2 weeks.

Ocotber 1st, 2009 Tenino Lodge, 1st degree, DDGM OV

It’s not too often that a Presiding Master gets appointed District Deputy at the same time. After checking the Grand Lodge proceedings from the past, it appears that I’m the first to be both a Worshipful Master and a District Deputy at the same time in District #17 since at least World War II. It may seem like a landmark distinction, but I assure you, it’s that many more chain saws to juggle! Here’s an example. This night, to mark the combination Master-Deputy distinction, I decided to maintain the scheduled Official Visit I had planned last Fall for my Year as Master, and Officially visit myself, with a move-up night to have the Senior Warden run the meeting. But, we’ve balloted on a new member to receive the degrees, and I scheduled it for the first meeting in October, this night. Wow. After the degree was conferred, by the Junior Warden, thus keeping all 3 Principal Officers busy, we had in attendance 4 Entered Apprentices, all from different Lodges! And since the hour was late, I kept the length of my speech to a whopping… well, it was short. Break out the stopwatch. But it was a memorable night.

September 22nd, 2009 Job’s Daughters initiation

In reciprocation to their ceremony in Tenino Lodge, we decided to attend an initiation ceremony of the local Job’s Daughters Bethel. It was well attended, and the young ladies of the bethel were most appreciative.

September 19th, 2009 Centralia Lodge #63, Annual Installation of Officers.

Yes, you read it right. Centralia Lodge installed their officers…in September! The meeting was very well attended, with over 70 people present to watch VWB Dick Nyholm install bro. Jerry Vaudrin into the East. The ceremony also included the DeMolay’s Arch of Steel, and escorting by the Rainbow Girls. Also notable, and very important, is that none of the Wardens, Deacons or Stewards are Past Masters! This shows promise for this growing lodge.

September 3, 2009 Tenino Lodge #86 Pig Roast

Oh, baby! This is the big day for Tenino Lodge! It took much of the year, and all Summer, to reach this point. There was tons of hard work involved by many people. It was a true Team effort. And it all boiled down to this day. This meeting featured an 80 pound pig, roasted on a spit. Upstairs, those who attended were invited to watch Bethel #51, International Order of Job’s Daughters, perform a ceremony recognizing the different Masonic Bodies, and, of Course, our Most Worshipful Grand Master, MWB Gale Kenney, who gave a speech that was enjoyed by all. Also, Bro. Tim Lund, Senior Warden, announced that a board would be made, a small replica of the Tiled Floor of Tenino Lodge, for which people could buy a square for $15 a square that day, and $20 thereafter. This proved to be quite popular, and to this day, squares are still available. Check Tenino Lodge’s website for more details. Some of the brothers think this’ll be the climax of the year, and it’ll be “downhill” from here. We’ll see, the year’s not done quite yet, my brothers.