Michigan Masons Cornerstone Spring 2023

CORNERSTONE

Michigan Masons

SPRING 2023 ISSUE 11

Protecting Traditions

The History of the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library

Enriching Environments

Your Masonic Journey at the Michigan Masonic Home

Inspiring Brothers

Masters Leading Lodges Around the State

THIS IS

MASONRY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

03 04 06 08 10

Spring Greetings & Upcoming Events

Michigan Masonic Museum and Library

Supporting Your Masonic Journey at the Michigan Masonic Home

Leonard's Story: This Is Masonry

Meet the Masters: Highlight

Congratulations to the following lodges who raised Master Masons in September through February!

Zion #1 Detroit #2 Mount Clemens #6 Trenton-Wyandotte #8 Peninsular #10 Pine Grove #11 Battle Creek #12 Phoenix #13 Jackson #17 St. Albans #20 Three Rivers-Mount Hermon #24 Monroe #27 Grand Rapids #34 Romeo #41 Birmingham #44 Meridian Sun Eagle #49 Almont-Dryden #51 Lapeer #54 Port Huron #58 Utica-Macomb #64 Lake Superior #67 Tecumseh #69 Livingston #76 Byron #80 Myrtle #89 Marquette #101

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Fenton #109 Allegan #111 Commerce #121 Ithaca #123 Fairfield #125 Stockbridge #130 Linden #132 Saline #133 Livonia United #152 North Newburg #161 Milford #165 Big Rapids #171 Dearborn #172 Genesee #174 Grand Ledge #179 Northville #186 Richmond #187 Unity #191 Delta #195 Montague-Whitehall #198 Vienna #205 Traverse City #222 Flushing #223 Mt. Moriah #226 Lisbon-Crescent #229 Fellowship #236 Corinthian #241

Alma #244 Brighton #247 Ann Arbor-Fraternity #262 East Bay #264 Centre #273 Vandalia #290 Alcona #292 Attica Imlay #295 Pere Marquette #299 Wabon #305 North Branch #312 Joppa Wenona #315 Cadillac Clam Lake #331 Hesperia-Arcana #346 Belding-Ionia #355 Grayling #356 Palestine #357 Bethel #358 Crystal Falls-Iron River #385 Iron Mountain #388 Marion #392 Otisville #401 Lake City #408 Brown City #409 Grand Island #422 John J. Carton #436

St. Joseph #437 Brookfield #439 Pellston #440 Trufant #456 Swartz Creek #458 THE Brotherhood #468 Sojourners #483 Smith's Creek #491 Composite #499 Atlanta #516 Welfare #517 Roseville #522 Walled Lake #528 Olive Branch #542 Goodrich #548 Center Line #550 Northwood-Ancient Craft #551 Trelum #552 Jefferson #553 Morning Star #556 Houghton Lake/ Roscommon #579 Solomon's Key #580 Golden Ark #595 JJJ Gourgas #602

Michigan Masons - Cornerstone Magazine - Spring 2023

SPRING

GREETINGS

WE FREEMASONS ARE PROUD. OF OUR FRATERNITY. OF OUR SYMBOLS. OF OUR HISTORY. OF OUR TRADITIONS. BUT WHAT IS MASONRY? WELL, SIMPLY, IT'S YOU. THE LEADERS. THE INVENTORS. THE SCHOLARS. THE SERVANTS. THE GAME CHANGERS. THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS. THIS IS ABOUT THE IMPACT YOU CAN MAKE ON THE WORLD AND EACH OTHER. THIS IS MASONRY.

This issue comes to you just as spring starts to make its appearance in our wonderful land of Michigan! I hope you find the time to take a moment and reflect on how majestic Michigan is in every season, but especially as the cold of winter releases its grip and the buds of spring start to take hold. I love this time of year.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship and fraternity at the 100th anniversary of the cornerstone laying at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia on the 20th of February. There was an impressive contingent of Michigan Masons representing the lodges and Masonry of our great state, as well as the Grand Lodge officers and their guests. It was just fantastic.

Events of this significance come only rarely and when they do, we owe it to ourselves and our Craft to participate, if at all possible.

To celebrate the occasion, our cover photo for this issue is a "photo mosaic" of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, comprised of hundreds of small photo tiles of our very own Michigan Masons throughout the years!

Our spring leadership classes are in full swing, and again, I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity to attend and improve yourself and the Craft in your community. You can find all the information necessary at michiganmasons.org under Events.

Our Grand Lodge Annual Communication is coming up in May at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant. Our team is planning a fun filled and enlightening event for you and your guest. You can find more information on the back cover of this issue.

As you can see the fraternity is busy and moving forward in Michigan! I hope you’ll take advantage of the incredible opportunities for self-improvement and personal growth that are available to you as a member of our gentle Craft.

Looking forward to seeing you in lodge soon, I remain; Fraternally,

Robert P. Conley

Michigan Masons, SCEO

Michigan Masons - www.michiganmasons.org - Spring 2023

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THE HISTORY OF

By Dirk Hughes, Museum and Library Director

THE MICHIGAN MASONIC MUSEUM AND LIBRARY

W

e Freemasons are proud of our fraternity.

We are drawn to its symbols and heritage, so it should come to no surprise that Freemasons are often collectors of our fraternal paraphernalia such as books, documents, regalia, etc. Since the formation of the Grand Lodge of Michigan in 1826, these collections were usually in the private hands of our members or local lodges. They told the story of the Craft and showed pride in its history from a local perspective. Initial steps were taken in the 1940s to establish a Grand Lodge library to showcase these collections of our Masonic heritage in a broader light, but it wasn’t until 1980 that a more organized effort to maintain our historical legacy at a jurisdictional level gained traction with the formation of the Masonic Foundation of Michigan, which would eventually become the Michigan Masonic Charitable Foundation.

Early elements of an official Masonic library were housed at the Michigan Masonic Home in Alma, Michigan and primarily reflected the rare and extensive collection of books amassed by Brother James Fairbairn Smith (pictured) over the years.

Brother Fairbairn Smith was raised a Master Mason in 1921 in Scotland, but he would move to the United States and affiliate with Kilwinning Lodge #297 (now Union of S.O. #3) in Detroit by 1938. There he would work diligently to increase the distribution of fraternal information by editing the popular

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Masonic World magazine published out of the Detroit Masonic Temple, the largest paid circulation Masonic news magazine in the country. He would also work hard maintaining our fraternal legacy by becoming the historian for the Grand Lodge of Michigan, and would eventually author two books specifically dealing with the history of Freemasonry in Michigan: Freemasonry in Michigan Vol. 1 published in 1963 and Dateline 1764: Michigan Masonry Vol. 2 published in 1979. In 1996, a formal budget was adopted for the creation of the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library.

It remained in Alma until 2000 when it was decided to renovate the lower level of the Grand Rapids Masonic Temple for a new facility, combining the Fairbairn Smith collection with another large collection of books and artifacts already in Grand Rapids gathered and maintained by Brother Charles P. Sheffield.

The Michigan Masonic Museum and Library has been located in that space ever since, and has grown its collection from the original Smith and Sheffield contributions with the help of generous donations, loans, and acquisitions. With a full lending library of over 8,000 books, a wide variety of on-site artifact displays, and the repository for the Grand Lodge of Michigan archives, the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library has been a source of Masonic education and research for members of the Craft and the general public for over two decades. But just as our collections continue to grow and evolve, so do the

Michigan Masons - Cornerstone Magazine - Spring 2023

plans for the Museum and Library evolve to help us remain viable, relevant, and accessible in this changing world.

Currently, the Museum and Library integrates technology in both our on-site displays and our informational outreach. Combining tradition with innovation, the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library is still a place that people can physically visit to see the artifact displays and documents in real life -- like an apron worn and signed by President William Taft, a letter of demit required to transfer to another lodge from 1810, and an ornate antique apron from the 1700s commissioned and hand-delivered as a gift by Bro. George Washington, the first President of the United States. And these are just three of the thousands of artifacts in our museum displays, many of those employing newer technologies like video monitors and virtual reality headsets to enhance the story of our prestigious fraternity.

In-person presentations by our staff are still available to be brought to your lodge or other organizational event, but we are also incorporating virtual ZOOM presentations as a method for providing more convenience and wider audience participation. In our pursuit to take advantage of opportunities on the internet, the Museum and Library has daily posts on Facebook to showcase interesting artifacts, photographs, and other Masonic-related items. We even have a YouTube channel with over fifty locally-produced informational videos on a variety of Masonic topics where viewers worldwide can learn about our proud fraternity. And as we’ve been doing in the past, we continue to organize our collections and archives to prepare for their eventual digitization and accessibility to anyone with a computer at any time of the day.

leverage the most effective, advanced, and interesting ways to tell our story to potential audiences.

From the very beginning of its incubation, the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library was not intended to be just a storehouse for our Masonic artifacts and documents; but rather, and perhaps more importantly, it was intended to be a resource to share our Masonic message and legacy with members and others. It was meant to preserve and to educate.

It was meant to be a safe home and a tool. It was meant to be the metaphorical can and the can opener.

The general membership can help open that can of Masonic education by using what the Museum and Library has to offer in many ways. Schedule a presentation by knowledgeable Museum and Library staff as part of your lodge education, either in-person at your lodge or virtually. Use the facility as a lodge field trip destination. Invite potential lodge candidates to watch the videos on the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library YouTube channel to help them understand the organization they are about to join.

Remember, the Museum and Library is yours to use.

REMEMBER, THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY IS YOURS TO USE.

The future of the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library looks bright as well. New and established platforms on social media are excellent opportunities for Masonic education and access. We are currently in the process of developing a Museum and Library podcast along with investigating how we can make use of other popular platforms, such as TikTok, to

Freemasonry, by its very nature, is a traditional organization in its symbolism, lessons, and substance.

That is why the fraternity has existed for so long.

But to protect that tradition through time, we at the Michigan Masonic Museum and Library know we cannot be cemented to traditional ways of telling its story in a world that is constantly changing. That is why we are devoted to maintaining the legacy of our traditions by sharing the long and honored story of our Craft in the most effective ways possible in an evolving society.

Michigan Masons - www.michiganmasons.org - Spring 2023

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S I S I H T . . .

Y R N ASO MTHIS IS LEONARD'S STORY. Pictured: Grand Master Leonard Davis and former Senior Warden, Gary Pritt, reunited at the Florida Reunion in February 2023.

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Michigan Masons - Cornerstone Magazine - Spring 2023

I

t was a typical spring day on April 19th, 1993; as always, I left that morning for work, leaving my wife and son at home while my daughter went off to school. Around two o'clock in the afternoon, I received a frantic call from my nextdoor neighbor saying that my house was on fire. I rushed home to find my distraught family in the front yard and my home engulfed in flames; it was my worst nightmare. My in-laws raced over to pick up my wife and kids. As they pulled away, I turned to watch my life burn down around me while firefighters battled the blaze.

In that moment it struck me: all I had left were the clothes on my back. I felt like a failure; no home for

Hiram Lodge hosted a monthly spaghetti dinner, and that month they donated all the proceeds to my family. The WM from Wolverine Lodge dropped by my parents with a station wagon filled with food, clothing, and toys. Gifts were coming in from lodges I had never attended: $20, $50, on, and on, and on.

Another dinner, another donation; over the period of about six weeks my family received over $3,500.

I remember telling Brother Fred Miller,“How will I ever be able to pay them back?" To that, Fred said, “There is no need for that, just pay it forward and help the next Brother in need.” Slowly, things started to come together. We were able to buy a few necessities, secure temporary housing, and then move into our new home in August.

"DURING ONE OF MY DARKEST TIMES, BROTHERS NEAR AND FAR, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, ILLUMINATED MY LIFE." my family, no clothing or toys for my children. The destruction, the pain… I’ve never felt as low as I did in that moment. As I waited there, I saw a blur to my left. Racing down the sidewalk toward me was the Senior Warden of my lodge, Gary Pritt. The words he spoke to me in that moment have been with me my entire life. He said, “How can I help you? What do you need?” He offered no placations, no empty words; instead, he simply offered service.

He immediately started a phone tree notifying everyone in my lodge, and before I knew it there came my Worshipful Master with the same words of, “How can I help you? What do you need?” Later that night my WM attended a dinner where they passed the hat and gave me the $500 they collected.

Back then, that was a weeks wages. For a young family, living paycheck to paycheck, it was an act of generosity that was life changing. As you can imagine, I was immediately uplifted! And in true Masonic fashion, the aid to me and my family didn’t stop there.

This fraternity has always been, and always will be, my extended family. During one of my darkest times, Brothers near and far, known and unknown, illuminated my life. They offered hope and showed me a true picture of Brotherhood. Freemasons are taught to practice charity and to care, not only for their own, but also for the community as a whole through charitable giving and volunteer efforts.

We gather together to help each other become better men and to forge a better world. In those moments and countless moments since, I have had the privilege to serve along side great men who live by and put into daily practice these values. This, my dear Masonic family… is Masonry.

It has been an honor to serve as your Grand Master.

But, there is much more to be done. There are other Brothers and Sisters who need your compassion and your generosity. My story is only one; there are so many others. I ask you to join me in paying it forward. Help me uplift those who are in need.

Please dig deep and give with your heart.

Michigan Masons - www.michiganmasons.org - Spring 2023

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G N I T R O P P SU R U O Y

C I N O MAS Y E N R JOU T

he Michigan Masonic Home is a senior living community that provides a supportive and enriching environment for individuals who have been associated with the Masonic fraternity. It is a unique place for Masons to continue their journey and to remain a part of a community of individuals with similar values and beliefs. Are you interested in learning more about the Michigan Masonic Home and the opportunities it provides for you to keep leading your life and continuing your Masonic journey?

Contact the Member Care Department today at (800) 321-9357.

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Michigan Masons - Cornerstone Magazine - Spring 2023

THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS WHY A MASON MAY CHOOSE TO CONTINUE THEIR JOURNEY AT THE MICHIGAN MASONIC HOME, INCLUDING:

SENSE OF COMMUNITY The Michigan Masonic Home offers a sense of community and belonging that is important to many Masons. They can connect with other Masons who share their values and beliefs and who they can relate to on a personal level. This can be especially important for individuals who are looking to deepen their connections with their Masonic Brothers and Sisters.

CONTINUED LEARNING The Michigan Masonic Home offers a variety of programs and activities that are designed to encourage learning and personal growth, which is important to many Masons who are committed to self-improvement. Access to Masonic events and activities is especially important. The Michigan Masonic Home offers residents the opportunity to participate in a variety of Masonic events and activities, including lodge meetings, educational programs, and social events. This provides residents with a way to stay involved in the Masonic community and to continue growing in their Masonic knowledge and understanding.

ACCESS TO RESOURCES The Michigan Masonic Home provides access to a range of resources, such as healthcare and rehabilitation services, that can be helpful to Masons as they age. The purpose of the Michigan Masonic Home is to help meet the physical, mental, and social needs of older adults in an atmosphere of love, peace, dignity, and security.

CHANCES TO GIVE BACK Masons are known for their charitable and philanthropic work, and the Michigan Masonic Home provides an opportunity for Masons to continue to give back to their community by volunteering and participating in various programs and activities. The Michigan Masonic Home also offers residents the opportunity to serve their fellow residents in addition to their wider community, while providing them with purpose and meaning.

Michigan Masons - www.michiganmasons.org - Spring 2023

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What first drew you to Masonry?

Rod Ridgeway: For years I thought of becoming a Mason, but work, family, and life kept me busy. My grandfather, father, and older brother are all Masons. Being raised around Masonic men, I unknowingly learned and practiced Masonic ways. I have always been involved in charity throughout life and after I was hurt, I had to find another way to be active in my community and the Masons provided that. So I was induced to join out of family lineage and the need for community involvement.

What is your favorite community event your lodge is involved in?

RR: My favorite event our lodge does is the Bikes for Books program. We will be giving away thirteen bikes again this year. If only for a little while a day, the Bikes for Books program gets kids to read, open their minds, exercise their imagination, and give them a goal.

It's a great program and well worth our time.

What are your lodge's goals in 2023?

RR: In 2023, Elsie Masonic Lodge will be having a rededication on June 3rd. Lunch will be served in our lodge at two What do you o'clock in the afternoon, and the rededication will be held at three-thirty remember most about in the afternoon. We will be starting the day you were raised? our mural on the Elsie Masonic RR: Being raised was Community Center in June. special for many I would like to do a better reasons, one of which job at getting the word was being raised by out about our pancake Elsie Lodge #238 my father. There were breakfast to get more in Elsie many Brothers that attended attendance, as well. I would also that day. At the end, each Brother like to see more Brothers return to our lodge, congratulated me and offered support in any and more men seek to become better men. I way they could. It struck me that day how these have asked my Brothers to think of something men, most I’d never met, came so far to support in the community we can get involved in. I am a Brother in the beginning of his new lifelong looking forward to their ideas. Our lodge is journey. That kind of support and friendship is just that, OUR lodge. We do things together, as what I was searching for and want to share.

Brothers, on the level.

ROD RIDGEWAY

Elsie Lodge #238 meets every second Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

101 W. Main St. in Elsie

Meet the

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MAS

Michigan Masons - Cornerstone Magazine - Spring 2023

What first drew you to Masonry?

What do you remember most about the day you were raised?

Andy Willermet: I remember as a child seeing the Masonic symbol on cars, AW: Everything. I was so nervous and buildings, and jackets and wondering what remember listening to every word it meant. While studying in college and action with intense curiosity.

I accidentally stumbled upon Specifically, I remember that very meaning. I was doing entering the lodge as an EA research on the cultural impact and being received on the of civil war soldiers returning point as well as praying at from battle, when I came the center of the lodge. across a letter a soldier had Of course, the 3rd degree written his wife. He wrote was a surprise. I never that this man, a stranger looked ahead to try and to his wife and short-lived find out what was going acquaintance to himself, to happen, so everything was wounded and would be was an unexpected coming to their house to stay. experience for me. I try to He told her the man was a convince new candidates Brother Mason, so they could to do the same, as it will be secure in the fact that he was be a much richer experience. honorable and trustworthy. It really Lastly, the feeling of belonging struck me at the time that a after I was raised. husband would send a After the degree, stranger to his wife’s we all went out home for her to take as a lodge and care of him in recovery, celebrated. The Lou B. Windsor #363 based almost entirely on evening was about in Reed City the fact that he belonged me, and I always felt to a group that so exemplified bonded after that night. excellence and high virtue. I knew at that point I wanted to learn more. A year later I What is your favorite community learned a friend was a Mason, and I never event your lodge is involved in? looked back.

AW: As a lodge we are starting small to Lou B. Windsor #363 not outpace our active members. Last year meets every first we started getting more involved in the Thursday at 7:30 p.m. community through a recognition dinner 215 E. Church Ave. in Reed City for our local fire department and a multilodge Edgar Guest award banquet open to the public. This year, we are starting a Bike for Books program, as well as planning a few more community events.

ANDY WILLERMET

STER

Michigan Masons - www.michiganmasons.org - Spring 2023

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1200 Wright Ave Alma, MI 48801 michiganmasons.org

Annual

MAY 22nd - 23rd, 2023

COMMUNICATION

Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort • Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

Registration information can be found on the Grand Lodge website under Members and 2023 Annual Communication.

(800) 321-9357