contact with Freemasonry and he helped bring countless men into the Fraternity. Occasionally, callers were interested in Prince Hall, and he would provide those callers with the appropriate contact information for MWPHGLDC. WB Duerhing grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin where, by his account, he learned that “separate is not equal.” And after several years of answering calls from men interested in the two separate Masonic bodies, WB Duerhing wondered whether a joint program might be warranted. He believed that it was important to strengthen the relationship between the two grand lodges. So, with the permission of the Grand Master at that time, MWB George Adams, WB Duerhing invited MWB Nathaniel M. Adams, Jr., the Grand Master of MWPHGLDC, to a festive board to be hosted by Hiram-Takoma.1 Records of the March 25 festive baord are sparse. Any pictures taken that evening have unfortunately been lost. However, we do know that the Junior Warden, Michael Dixon (now Michael Samet), served as chairman of the event. As recorded in the March 11 minutes, the meal was promised to be “homemade [p]asta.” and the Lodge introduced and sold its new toasting glasses. A subsequent publication reflects that “a capacity crowd filled the dining room for what was a historic day.” What MWB Nathanial Adams in 2017 brought that crowd—perhaps as many as fifty men—to the upstairs room was the guest speaker: MWB Nathaniel Adams, accompanied by “several of his officers and a Past Grand Master.”2 After recounting the history of Prince Hall, MWB Nathaniel Adams described some of the organization’s work in D.C., including its “…blood bank program, high school scholarships and [its] hopes to award $50,000 to deserving high school seniors.” MWB George Adams, however, didn’t hear that speech, because did not attend the table lodge. According to WB Duerhing, that was because he “…felt it more important for the Lodge to make the connection than to make it about the two Grand Lodges.” He also wanted to avoid overshadowing MWB Nathaniel Adams and the extension of Hiram-Takoma’s fraternal hand to MWPHGLDC.
What is perhaps most remarkable about this festive board is how otherwise unremarkable it was. One would expect that such an august and important event would be worthy of far more attention than it received in 1993. But the relative lack of attention it received tells us of its total ordinariness. That those who attended saw no reason to record or memorialize the greatness of the evening’s events is evidence that they saw nothing out of the ordinary about breaking bread across racial lines. In the words of WB Neal Jarvis, who served as Hiram-Takoma’s Senior Steward in 1993, “The generation we were raised in did not see differences in others, except on issues of personality—not race or religion.” Perhaps those men—who crowded the Takoma Masonic Center’s dining room on that historic day—understood
1 It was providential that the two Grand Masters’ surnames in 1993 were “Adams.” They would become close friends and acquire the endearing designation, “The Brothers Adams.” 2 As many as ten, as recalled by one Past Master present that evening 18 | THE VOICE OF FREEMASONRY ISSUE 3, 2020
