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From the East: Greetings, Brethren!

As a brief introduction for those who do not yet know us, Wilmette Park Lodge No. 931 meets at 7:30pm on the first and third Thursday of each month in Wilmette, a Northern Chicagoland area community located between Evanston and Kenilworth along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Wilmette Park Lodge No. 931 meets on the 3rd floor in the Wilmette Masonic Temple located at 1010 Central Ave., Wilmette, IL 60091, where there is elevator access as well as generous parking both in our off-street parking and also along Central Ave and the surrounding streets. Meals are available on Stated Meeting nights, the first Thursday of the month, at the Wilmette Masonic Temple. Meals on Special Meeting nights, the third Thursday of the month, are frequently eaten together at area restaurants in time to make the 7:30pm opening gavel at the Wilmette Masonic Temple.

The month of May and early June has been a great time together in productive Stated Meetings, in conferring a Second Degree, and in preparation for the Wilmette Park Lodge Picnic on June 16. It has been very pleasant for the officers and brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge to come together in growing numbers! We always look forward to seeing our brethren and we recognize that it is sometimes more difficult for some of us to make our meetings. We are very pleased to welcome back to our meetings Brother Chris Alonzi after his long journey back to good health! Another area of effort at Wilmette Park Lodge has been in the Bylaws Committee which has met, prepared and presented the proposed Bylaws amendments, and is looking forward to a good turnout at the July 18 Stated Meeting when we will vote on those amendments.

Wilmette Park Lodge is also preparing for a Special Meeting that will occur on Thursday, July 11. In the Special Meeting on July 11 we will be raising another candidate to Master Mason. The officers and brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge look forward to coming together on July 11 to welcome our newest Master Mason to full membership!

Two days later, on Saturday, July 13, the brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge will once again throw the doors to our building open to the community during the Wilmette Street Fair. There will be an open installation of officers for the Royal Arch Masons of Wilmette Chapter 253 that same day. Come out and join us in a day of celebration of our community, of our fraternity, and of our facilities!

The Officers and brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge are also working hard to prepare for future Degree work. We have set a date of Thursday, July 25, for a night of training in preparation for future Degree conferrals. The evening of July 25 is a night for continuing our study of our standard work and for refining our execution of that standard work. Although there is not yet a Third Degree conferral scheduled following July 25, we will be focusing solely on Thursday, July 25, on the first and second sections of the Third Degree. Just as we encourage our candidates to work diligently at their progress, the Officers of Wilmette Park Lodge are committed to continuing our progress in our understanding and execution of our standard work. We invite all Master Masons to join us on Thursday, July 25, at 1010 Central Ave. in Wilmette as we make another installment in our continuing investment in ourselves as individual Masons and as future Officers.

There will also be other upcoming events that will occur in July and August that we will advertise on our website and Facebook page as those plans come together. As the brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge work and play hard together to improve and support ourselves and our community, though, we will always have room for another Brother to join us as at least a guest!

To learn what the brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge have been up to and to see what is coming up next for Wilmette Park Lodge, please visit us on the web at http://www.mastermason.com/wilmettepark/, on Facebook by searching for “Wilmette Park Lodge 931”, in our articles in the Wilmette Patch, and in our subsequent Temple Topics articles.

The Officers and brethren of Wilmette Park Lodge No. 931 look forward to seeing you in lodge!

Fraternally,

Gary Wayne Hardesty II, P.M.

Worshipful Master – Wilmette Park Lodge No. 931

From the South:

The visit to the Wilmette Village Hall in April was interesting. As a bonus, it counts towards the Grand Masters Award of Excellence program. Five brothers had a good time before at dinner as well as after the visit.

At our Special Meeting in May, the cast from the York Rite College did an excellent job in performing the play “Hiram the Work”, which is aimed at Master Masons who want to learn even more about Masonry, which is possible by becoming a Royal Arch Mason. Since the feedback on the Table Lodge we held in February was so good, we are planning another one in fall, more details will follow in the next months.

Another event we will be holding after the summer is a billiard tournament. The last official tournament was about 82 years ago, so it is long overdue. The winner’s name will be engraved on the plaque which can be admired on the wall of our banquet hall. On May 2nd our Educational Officer, Brother Hoover, gave an interesting presentation on Elias Boudinot, who lived from May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821 and served in numerous positions during the War for Independence, culminating in his role as 4th president of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783. As president, he signed the Treaty of Paris, ending hostilities with Great Britain.

So far 2013 has been a great culinary year, several home cooked meals were served, some reflecting the heritage of our Brether. To name a few dishes, a roast that had been smoked for 7 hours, Austrian style pork tenderloin with spaetzle and a sauce of dark beer, authentic Mexican tacos, and Columbian specialties.

On the July 13th, the same day as the Open House, the Royal Arch Masons of Wilmette Chapter 253 will have an open installation at 11:00 in the Wilmette Masonic Temple. From the Education Committee Chair:

July is most known for the month that we celebrate the birth of our nation. As we all know, the Masonic Fraternity had a lot to do with bringing liberty and freedom from tyranny to our country's founding forefathers and families. But did you know that July was the month that the very first charter for a Masonic Lodge in the United States was granted 43 years before that? St. John's Lodge in Boston Massachusetts claims the title of the very first Lodge charted in the United States.

Here's an excerpt of part of the history from St. John's Lodge's website:
Contemporary accounts reveal that a Masonic lodge had met in King’s Chapel, Boston, as early as the 1720s (meeting according to the “old customs”). In 1733, Henry Price, a prominent tailor and storekeeper who had emigrated to Boston in 1723, was appointed “Provincial Grand Master of New England and Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging” and authorizing him “to Constitute the Brethren now Residing or who shall hereafter reside in those parts into One or more Regular Lodge or Lodges as he shall think fit” by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, Anthony Lord Viscount Montague. On July 30, 1733, at a meeting held at The Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston, Henry Price exercised his authority and granted a group of eighteen Masons a charter empowering them to work as a Masonic lodge in Boston. Thus was formed St. John’s Lodge, the first duly constituted and chartered lodge in the Americas.

To find out more about this lodge and/or to visit look here:
http://www.stjohnsboston1733.org/history/

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