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After being snowed out of our
headquarters for our stated meeting of March 10, we sure had a busy
month in April! It started with a called meeting on the fifth to pass
Steven L. Freeman, who had been initiated at the stated meeting of
February 10, 2007, to the Fellow Craft degree. Ernie Royal led the first
section of the ritual and Herb Edwards performed both the Stair and
Letter G lectures. All other officers remained at their respective
positions and everyone did a great job. Steve was very excited in
attaining his second step in Masonry and motivated to “full speed ahead”
for his Master Mason degree.
The stated meeting of April 12, while lasting until the marathon hour of
5:30PM, was equally as interesting, although there was a lot more work
packed in to catch up on. It started with the District 12 Deputy Grand
Master Tim Root’s official visit, which turned out great. He assisted
Acting Master Paul Peck, in the presentation of fifty-year pins and gold
cards to both Jim Griffin and Charlie Fife. As brothers in law, these
two valued members had earned their degrees together in early 1958, and
subsequently qualified for their awards this year. We are very proud to
have them as members.
If the people at Valley Lodge weren’t such dog-gone good friends to us,
this may sound like a complaint. The eternal refurbishing of the Lodge
hall finally reached a point where a group of Daylight Lodge volunteers
had to arrive very early in the morning on our meeting day to clean up,
so we could even hold a meeting. The place was covered with dust and
everything had to be cleaned and swept.
If not for those volunteers, it could have been very disturbing, since
we had planned an Entered Apprentice degree conferral and wanted it
spick and span for the occasion. It all worked out fine, though, and we
began with an excellent Entered Apprentice proficiency from Mike Dunberg,
who was initiated in October and lectured by Mike Stephens. Ron
Hendricks led the examination, which qualifies Brother Dunberg to
advance to the next level at the June 14 stated meeting.
Michael Grass, who had petitioned for the degrees in December of ‘07,
was then initiated in a great Entered Apprentice conferral led by Don
Dunlap. The rest of the degree team consisted of Daylight members,
except for the third section, for which we can again thank Herb Edwards,
on whom we have depended so much.
While Mike lives in the eastern end of Jefferson County with his wife
Shawn and kids Lindsey and Alec, he spends much of his time in the
Valley Station area at his chiropractic career at Valley Station
Chiropractic. He is a welcome addition to Daylight Lodge and we look
forward to his participation.
Daylight also welcomes Terry Parker, who was elected to receive the
degrees at that same meeting. He resides with his wife Gerri and two
children, David and Chris, in the Rockford Lane area. Terry is a truck
driver for the Industrial Driver Company in Louisville.
So in review, we have a lot of folks to congratulate this month, such
as: Steve Freeman, who completed the Fellow Craft degree on April 5, Jim
Griffin and Charlie Fife, who received their 50 year awards, Mike
Dunberg, who completed his EA proficiency, Mike Grass, who received the
EA degree, and Terry Parker, newly elected to receive the degrees. This,
plus all the guys who worked hard to make all of it happen.
Terry Parker and Barry Pickett
are currently scheduled for initiation at the next stated meeting of May
10 and Michael Dunberg, hopefully accompanied by others, will advance to
FC on June 14. As usual, the super chefs are planning a great
meal, which will be served at
noon and the Lodge will open at 1:00PM for both meetings.
And don’t forget our monthly breakfast on
May 12, at Shoney’s Restaurant
on Eastern Parkway. It starts at 9:00AM and ends when the food,
coffee, and jokes get stale. Better be there early for a good seat,
though.
It seems that the impression held by some regarding dues is that its
something the lodge can just absorb. The truth is, that we have to pay
the Grand Lodge $26.50 for each member listed on our roster on July 1.
This year there are eighteen members who are delinquent, resulting in
Daylight facing a $477.00 tab. That’s a pretty big bone to chew and we
really can’t afford it. If the fee creates a problem for anyone, please
get in touch with me and we will help where possible, but it is a debt
that should not be ignored.
This year’s Grand Lodge Annual Communication will be particularly
interesting, because we have a whole herd of the best Masons in the area
running for Grand Line offices. So far, resolutions of nominations for
Grand Junior Warden have been announced for David Boone of Hebron 757,
Terry Bowman of Valley 511, Mike Yount of Solomon’s 90, and Rick Nation
of Shelby 662. Nominations for Grand Secretary have also been announced
for Past Grand Masters Dave Carter of Boaz Masonic Home 850 and Joe
Conway of Hiram 4. With this quality of these candidacies, its win/win
for the Fraternity, no matter who is selected. |
