Brethren:

This is my last message as Master of this Lodge. Thank you for your confidence during the past 12 months. I have tried my best to make the right decisions for this Lodge as a whole. We elect succeeding leaders to make decisions for us. Right or wrong, we all hope that he makes decisions based on the best information available at the time.

Jim (PM) and Millie Bishop

This is a Lodge that consists of about 375 members, not a specific individual. Every Master’s responsibility is to view the larger picture. Pick a day and pick an event and everyone has an opinion of how things ought to be done, often differing. These opinions stem from how we should dress for events, to the quality of degree work, to the decision of a one day class for Master Masons, and so on.

The Master’s view point is always that the potential outcome is considered before a decision is made respecting the impact on this Lodge as a whole. We need to do a job and at the same time understand our financial means. Free dinners, a dazzling building, simplifying ritual work, and churning out Masonic degrees during a year does not alone help this Lodge.

Membership must see quality in our leaders and our activities, and then desire to return and participate. Getting someone to come is hard enough, getting them to stay is yet another thing. We are very, very fortunate as Lodges go. We have a very vibrant, cohesive, and growing Lodge. Each of us needs to understand how truly rare that fact is. We should do our individual part well, however large or small it may seem, to the best of our ability.