"Tidings from the East"
So far this year I have
been blessed to be the WM for so many pleasurable events and meetings.
We attended Lafayette's Lodge 492's Rusty Nail night which was
unbelievably fun, helped host the Freemasonry booth at the Tippecanoe
Co. 4h fair, hosted a full lodge of brothers and guests at a Triple
50-year ceremony, and had another successfully planned chicken dinner
fundraising event. (I am sure I am leaving out several other items too
!)
But undoubtedly the most rare and invigorating was the pleasant news
delivered at our first meeting in June. I am pleased to welcome WM
Perry R. Schnarr, the officers, and all of members of Greenhill
Lodge 455 to our lodge. In many ways Otterbein Lodge now becomes a new
lodge for both its' pre-existing members and our newest brothers. Our
membership has almost doubled with so many well qualified brothers.
This is a blessing and I am thrilled.
This was a hard decision for many of the brothers of Greenhill lodge to
make. Some of our newest lodge brothers have told me of the anguish
involved in making the decision to close such an old and venerable
lodge and then decide where to go. I hope that ALL of the members of
Otterbein Lodge, both new and old, will respect these feelings and that
we all can sit together in friendship and brotherly love with renewed
hope for OUR lodge.
In respect for Greenhill lodge's momentous decision, I am
inviting WM Perry R. Schnaar to share the east with me for the
remainder of the year. It is my hope that the elected and appointed
officers of Otterbein lodge will also extend this courtesy to the
officers of Greenhill lodge.
I also want to thank both Bro. Secretaries Fred Feigel (455) and Ron
Shoup (561) along with Most Worshipful Brother and Grand Secretary Max
L. Carpenter, and the Most Worshipful Grand Masters James L. Chesney
(immediate P.G.M.) and Richard J. Elman for preparing all of the
extensive paperwork and making this lodge consolidation possible. In
particular I would like to thank Brother Jerry Jones of the Grand
Lodge for making this an exceptionally smooth transition. I can
honestly tell you that all of these Brothers, along with WM Perry R.
Schnaar, made this an event I just watched as it happened.
For our newest members we hold meetings twice each month on the first
and third Thursdays and are tyled promptly at 7:30 pm. A social hour
with a meal is served one hour earlier at the second meeting of the
month. We are dark in July and August.
We have many programs and events planned for the remainder of 2004. We
will be finalizing the plans for the by-laws changes already approved
by the trustees, officers, and members in open meeting. We will be
having a final vote on any additional changes at the second meeting in
September. The lodge trustees are also considering how to implement a
widows and orphans night, a fall fundraiser, visits to shut-ins,
building improvements and repairs as well as finalizing plans for the
phone survey mentioned in the last newsletter. Including officer
elections for the coming year in November, a special presentation
meeting for WM Schnaar and our new lodge brothers from Greenhill, and a
hilarious rendition of the Rusty Nail degree, we have a full schedule
with plenty of fun and fulfilling meetings this year.
When you attend lodge be prepared to see some innovations in the
business part of our meetings. This spring we eliminated the reading of
the minutes at the start of each meeting and vote on approval of
pre-published minutes. This has already been met with enthusiastic
approval. With your approval and support I hope to continue these
innovations towards a less "tedious" business section at each meeting.
I have already asked for more planning and help from our lodge's
trustees on other improvements.
But we NEED your guidance too. We are including a questionnaire and
return envelope with this newsletter. The first four questions are for
you to let the lodge know how you feel about us and how we and
Freemasonry are doing. Your answers and information are crucial to
planning the events for the next several years. Please take a moment
and fill this out, but at the very least please answer questions 5
through 11 along with giving us your contact information.
Finally one meeting you should make plans to attend will be our "Rusty
Nail" meeting. This meeting will help you remember all of the secrets,
and will be quite unlike ANY masonic meeting you likely have attended.
Parting on the Square,
Bob Finch, W.M.
