Star in the East Lodge No. 166

A.F. & A.M.

4524 Charles Street

Rockford, Illinois 61108

(815) 394-1666

August, 2002

Stated Meetings

3rd Tuesdays

7:30 PM

Officers

Master - Darrin Salzman 637-0635

Senior Warden - Marty Dinges 316-8160

Junior Warden Dave Repogle 282-4140

Treasurer - William McKenna 629-2550

Secretary Larry Petty 229-3005

Senior Deacon - Jerry Salois 398-6410

Junior Deacon - Dave Turner 229-6639

Senior Steward - Kenneth D. Kerley 398-3831

Junior Steward - Erwin Emery

Chaplain - Robert K. Cronk 332-7125

Marshall Willis Taylor 362-6844

Tyler - John Poshka - 874-2855

Greetings from the East!

Star in the East had its annual installation of officers on Saturday, June 22nd, 2002. Seventy people were in attendance. Jobs Daughters Bethel #57 performed The Cross and Crusader Commandry #17 provided escort. Both did a really great job! Moreover, the installing officers did a remarkable job of installing this year’s officer line for Star in the East. Many thanks go to everyone who helped make our annual installation of officers an enjoyable event.

UPCOMING EVENTS. The officers of the lodge have several activities planned for the upcoming year. All members of the lodge are encouraged to participate. The events are as follows:

  1. STANDARD SCHOOL KICK-OFF. We will be hosting the Standard School kick-off on Monday, September 9th. There will be a potluck dinner at 6:00 p.m. and a guest speaker at 7:00 p.m.
  2. FRIENDS & FAMILY NIGHT. We will be having a Friends and Family Night on Saturday, November 16th. We will be serving a lasagna dinner at 5:00 p.m. Following dinner, the Valley of Moline, A.A.S.R., will be presenting December’s Rose in the lodge room. The play will last approximately one hour. Your friends and family are sure to enjoy it. Dessert will be served after the play in the dining room. Please come!
  3. SOCIAL SECURITY SPEAKER. We will be having a speaker from Social Security present at our December stated meeting on Tuesday, December 17th. The speaker, Mr. Rick Haefele, will discuss changes affecting Social Security benefits in 2003. After his presentation, he will accept questions from the audience. We will have a potluck dinner before the meeting and dessert afterwards. Please bring interested friends and family members.
  4. PASSION PLAY. We have purchased 22 front row tickets for the American Passion Play performance on Saturday, March 22nd, 2003. The play runs from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. We will carpool down to Bloomington and have a private buffet luncheon before the performance at 1:00 p.m. in the Valley of Bloomington’s DeMolay Room. I was in the Passion Play for three years when I lived in Normal, and I must say it is an amazing production. There are over 100 scene changes and a volunteer cast of around 300 masons and their families. You do not want to miss it. The ticket and luncheon will run $25.00 per person. Contact myself, Darrin Salzman, by phone at (815) 637-0635 or by e-mail at d_salzman@msn.com to get your ticket.
  5. PAST MASTERS LUNCHEON. We will be having a luncheon at the Hoffman House on Sunday, May 18th, 2003, at 1:00 p.m. After the meal we will make presentations in honor of our past masters and present other awards.

NEW SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. The lodge has also decided to begin a scholarship program and has budgeted $4,000.00 for this purpose. A committee will be meeting in September of this year to put the program together. We would like for our scholarship program to promote the values of our great fraternity. To this end, we hope to select young people whom we think will serve and be active members in their communities some day. We will work out the specifics in September and October. We hope to present our first scholarships on May 18th, 2003 at our Past Masters Luncheon.

150th ANNIVERSARY COMING SOON. As many of you know, our lodge’s 150th anniversary will be here in just a couple of years. Steve Aarli has agreed to chair a committee to begin preparation for our celebration. Steve is a Masonic history enthusiast, so I am certain he will do a great job as we begin preparation to celebrate our lodge’s 150th anniversary.

Fraternally,

Darrin Salzman

Worshipful Master