| Los Altos Lodge No. 712: | Last Updated on July 13, 2000 |
Return to the Los Altos Lodge Trestleboard TOC Page
Return to the Los Altos Lodge Papers Page
Here it is mid-summer, and we are having a busy time.
First, congratulations to Miss Juliana C. Fowler. She is the senior at Los Altos High School who was selected as the winner of the Los Altos Lodge Educational Scholarship award. A big Thank You to Worshipful Dan McDaniel, P.M. for chairing the Scholarship Committee this year, and to Wor. Patrick Bailey, P.M. for making the presentation. This is the second consecutive year Los Altos Lodge has made this scholarship to a student at Los Altos High School who has expressed an interest in becoming a teacher. The scholarship is $1,000.00, which makes it one of the largest (if not the largest) local scholarship awarded from an organization in our community to a student here.
A big thank-you to Paul Nyberg, the owner and Editor of the Los Altos Town Crier for the entertaining speech he gave in June to our ladies during our Stated Meeting.
Also a big thank-you to Bro. Jason Martin for presenting the DeMolay Flower Talk (formerly named the Mothers Talk) to the entire lodge and ladies. Flowers were presented to every person present.
Los Altos Lodge also will be having its first Deep Sea Fishing outing on Saturday August 19th. Wor. Coy Vincent, P.M. is chairing this committee. He has obtained for us an excellent boat the Salty Lady, and Coy tell us her skipper knows where the salmon are! The cost is only $70.00. If we do not fill the boat, we may have others joining us. It will only hold 20 people though, so if you are interested, please contact Coy right away. His phone number is [snip].
Remember our stated meeting in July has been moved by vote of the lodge and a dispensation from the Grand Master. It will be on the SECOND Monday in July, which is July 10th. This meeting and dinner will be a stag meeting Only, as voted on by the lodge. Master Masons only please for the dinner. Please phone our Junior Warden as usual for dinner reservations.
On Tuesday July 11th we will have a visitation to California Lodge No. 1 in San Francisco. We will be car pooling at Los Altos Lodge at 5:00 p.m. The traffic to San Francisco will be heavy that time of evening, so please come join our car pools. We plan to arrive in time for the 6:30 meal, which always is quite wonderful. Many of us know well Wor. David Banastre who is the Master of California No. 1, and of course our own Wor. Richard Rosenberg was Master of (what is now) California No. 1 in 1984 and again in 1989.
There will be no Santa Clara County Masonic Officers Association Meeting in July. (Dark)
I regret to announce that we have lost contact and have no address for three of our brethren. The lodge voted to declare them deceased. This points out the importance of keeping in contact with your lodge, especially if you know of a brother who is dying or who has died. We want to be there for all our brethren, even when they live far away. And we need to know if a brother is in a nursing home or hospital. Please call us and let us know of any news you may have. If the lodge ever declares a brother deceased in error, we will immediate reinstate him as soon as we know he is living. Of course, the reason the three brethren were declared deceased is that we have not received any dues from them, so it was necessary to either declare them deceased, or else suspend them. Also, in some cases a brother is incapable of handling his own money. We never want to suspend a brother for non-payment of dues, if the reason is he is incapable. He is our brother, and we will remit his dues.
The current issue of the California Freemason states that we now have 85,000 Masons in California. (That number is the number of members who belong to California lodges. We also have a large number of sojourning Masons in California.) 85,000 may seem like a lot, but the number was 235,000 just 25 years ago, so we have dropped membership by 2/3 rds since 1975. But even scarier was the next statistic. Our Grand Lodge predicts that our membership in California will continue to drop and by the year 2010 (just 9 and 1/2 years from now) the remaining number of California Masons will be only 30,000. To put that in perspective, every home game of the San Francisco Giants this year at Pac Bell Park has had more than 30,000 tickets sold! The next 10 years are going to be difficult ones for many of us , as we see lodges closing or consolidating.
Wor. Ralph Head had been serving as Editor of the California Freemason for a very long time. He has been a dedicated Mason for over 50 years. I would like to direct everybody's attention to Wor. Ralph Head's editorial comments about membership in the current issue. He states that he is only one man, but I believe he has a tremendous insight into our fraternity, and I doubt I have ever heard or read anybody who exudes love of our craft any more than he does.
On a happier note, Los Altos Lodge this year has contributed to Redwood City Rainbow Assembly and to Campbell DeMolay. Although we no longer have a Masonic youth group in our community, we are fortunate to have several nearby. In addition to our financial support, the youth also need us to be present at their meetings, car washes, pancake breakfasts, etc. Remember, they are the Masons, or the wives of Masons of the future.
Fraternally,
Robert W. Martin, P.M.
Master
Congratulations to Ms. Juliana C. Fowler who was selected as the winner of the Los Altos Educational Scholarship Award for the year 2000. The award is in the amount of $1,000.00, and was presented during Senior Recognition night on May 23 at Los Altos High School by Patrick Bailey, Jr. PM. This award is presented to the scholarship winner, a graduating senior who has been accepted to a college of their choice, with teaching as their primary career interest.
"The formal presentation included the following text: "Masons around the world place a high value on education because AN EDUCATED POPULACE is a nation's primary safeguard to maintaining a democratic society - and the individual's freedom. Masons therefore are assisting your education with the trust that you will become, in due time, a responsible citizen upholding the freedom of all. We have been informed of your outstanding scholastic record at Los Altos High School, your leadership and abilities in teaching deaf students, and that you have been accepted to Willamette University, in Salem, Oregon. We also note that motto on Willamette's School of Education website says: 'Educators First, Specialists Second, and Leaders Always. We feel that you are a wonderful example of this motto, and we wish you well in your future education and personal accomplishments."
Patrick Bailey, P.M.
Jr. Past Master
GRAND MASTER'S ACHIEVEMENT AWARD REMINDER
All Lodge members, their ladies, family members, and friends, are invited to attend a special open presentation after dinner at 7:30 PM on September 11 [not on July 10, as was printed in the last TB], in the Lodge Room preceding our scheduled Stated Meeting:
Brethren, I was raised in Sunnyvale Lodge No. 511 September 15, 1979, which is 21 years ago. There were approximately 200,000 Masons in California lodges at that time. The number now is about 85,000. The following lodges in Santa Clara County have consolidated during that 21-year period:
Palo Alto Lodge and Josiah Roller Lodge became Palo Alto - Roller Lodge No. 346
Great Lights Lodge and Menlo Park Lodge became Three Great Lights Lodge No. 651
Cupertino Lodge and Sunnyvale Lodge became DeAnza Lodge No. 511
Charity Lodge and John P. Jarman Lodge Became Charity Jarman Lodge No. 362
Los Gatos Lodge and George E. Tutt Lodge Became Los Gatos - George E. Tutt Lodge No. 292
It is clearly evident that consolidations are the past, present, and the future of California Freemasonry.
During 1999 Los Altos Lodge No. 712 held zero third degrees. During the first 6 months of 2000 we also have held zero third degrees. Our lodge has one Entered Apprentice, and zero Fellowcrafts. The way things now appear, we might have one third degree during this entire year.
We are having some difficulty in sustaining a line of officers. When that happens, the first way to handle the problem is to place past masters in the line again. I am a PM, as well as our Senior Warden is a PM. Our Secretary, Treasurer, and Chaplain also are PM's. This is not uncommon among lodges to have some PM's in the line.
Looking toward the future, we must recognize that one of three things will happen:
1. We initiate, pass and raise, or get by affiliation, enough new members to sustain our corps of officers and continue to successfully run our lodge. I estimate that out of every five new Master Masons raised, we might be able to expect one to go into the line of officers and eventually become Master of the lodge. I do not think it is realistic to expect to raise one new member a year, and expect every one of them to go on and become the Master of the lodge eventually. Age, illness, job responsibilities, job transfers, family situations, and a variety of other reasons often prevent highly motivated and enthusiastic men from serving as officers.
2. We look for another lodge or lodges to consolidate with, in order to have enough officers. Sometimes this works, but sometimes not. Additional consolidations often become necessary.
3. We decide to close our lodge and surrender our charter to the Grand Lodge, which then takes over ownership of all our lodge assets, including the savings accounts and the building. When this happens, each member of the lodge in good standing (having his dues paid up current) is given one year to find some other lodge to try to affiliate with. He must then apply to that lodge, and be voted on in the usual manner, in order to keep his Masonic membership. Otherwise, in one year, he will automatically become suspended.
As your lodge's Master, my first and most important duty is to ensure the continuation of our lodge. Naturally, I would like to see Option 1 above happen. I would not like to see Option 3 above happen. If we cannot achieve Option 1, then Option 3 will eventually happen unless we choose to do Option 2.
Grand Lodge calls the event of two or more lodges joining together a "consolidation." I am more familiar with the term "merger" and I may occasionally use that term, but for some reason unknown to me, the word "merger" seems to be frowned upon. Whatever it is called, it is not a simple matter. I was a member of Sunnyvale Lodge No. 511 when it consolidated with Cupertino Lodge No. 510. I also was a member of Charity Lodge No. 362 when it consolidated with John P. Jarman Lodge. I have seen first hand some of the challenges faced by a lodge when it finds itself in need of a consolidation. I also have heard horror stories about consolidations that did not go well.
The consolidation of two or more lodges is something akin to a marriage. After a marriage (or a lodge consolidation) members of two different families find themselves now part of a bigger family. When the merger is done well, everybody comes out a winner, and happy. This takes time, patience and perseverance. I mention this now, because the way things are going, it appears to me a certainty that we will have to consolidate (the apparent alternative is to close) our lodge in a few years. Now is the time to do some thinking and planning about this.
Fraternally, Robert W. Martin, PM, Master
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education.
They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They gave you and me a free and independent America.
The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just The British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.
Remember: freedom is never free! It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.
Many of these men were Masons, and the United States still stands as a beacon for those freedoms which all Masons hold dear.
Call For Help! - Missing Members!
We are trying to locate the following two brothers: James Patrick Bradley, [snip] [in] San Jose, CA [snip], and Matthew A. Troth [snip] [in] Tucson, AZ [snip].
We are asking all our brethren and readers of this Trestleboard for help.
If you have any information as to how we can contact these brothers either mail it to us at the Lodge address or contact us at the Lodge or contact Ernie Castillo [or Robert Martin] at [snip] [650-941-6615]. Thank you. ed
Go to the Last Trestleboard Issue
Go to the Next Trestleboard Issue
Return to the Los Altos Lodge Trestleboard TOC Page
Return to the Los Altos Lodge Papers Page