| Los Altos Lodge No. 712: | Last Updated on February 11, 2000 |
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Master - From The East
Our next Stated Meeting will be on July 12 - NOT July 5. This is our "Wild Tie and Be Patriotic" Night! Dinner will begin at 6:30 PM, and Lodge will begin at 7:30 PM.
Here come the fireworks! July will be a very active month for our Lodge! Our State Meeting will be on July 12, under dispensation, to allow our Brethren to enjoy a three-day holiday weekend. "Be Patriotic! " Events this month include the Los Altos Art and Wine Festival on July IO and 11, including our "KIDS ID Program" booth sponsored by Grand Lodge, the LAMTA meeting on July- 14, our 1999 Hiram Award Presentation on July 19, & our Lodge Information Night on July 26!
Volunteers are needed to help man both our Lodge Booth and the KIDS ID booth in front of the Lodge during Saturday and Sunday July IOI I during the Los Altos Art and Wine Festival. Our KIDS ID booth has been advertised to the Los Altos Mayor's Office, the Police, and the Fire Department - so we expect to draw a crowd of interested parents and children. Additional volunteers are also needed to assist me downstairs in preparing and festivities for anyone that wishes to visit us that day.
We will offer cool air, warm fellowship, Masonic information, and Masonic videos for all visitors! The patio area will be closed, as this year I have loaned it out for use by the A&W Festival committee.
The 1999 Hiram Award will be been given to Worshipful Brother W. Bruce Pruitt, PM on July 19 - who was notified in an appropriate / surprising / shocking / and pleasing manner at our June 7 Stated Meeting. (Got'em!) This event will be combined with our family barbecue, which had been scheduled on August 23. The Barbecue will begin at 6:30 PM, and the Hiram Award Presentation will begin at 7:30 PM. Reservations for the BBQ dinner are required to be made through Bill Malmstrom by Friday July 16th PM!
Our 1999 Masonic Information Night will be held on Monday July 26 for all those that might express an interest in more information during the Art and Wine Festival, and at any other time. Copies of the recent one page Grand Lodge newspaper announcement "Something So Simple Isn't So Secret" are available to be sent to you for your use, upon your request: give me a call.
Our planned Lodge Visitation to Monterey has been postponed, due to problems with the July date in Monterey. We will schedule another Saturday with better weather in August, September, or October.
We had a visitor from a New Zealand Lodge at our last Stated Meeting: Phil Jackson, P.M., who was traveling from St. Albans Lodge No. 2597 in Christchurch, NZ (home of the world's largest teddy bear store). He presented our Lodge with a very nice book entitled "Masters' and Past Masters' Lodge No 130: Questions and Answers," 2nd Edition by R. Hepburn, P. Dep. G.M. of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand. We have his address and email on file for those that may wish to contact him.
Also, our June "Receiving More Light" function was very informative as Edgar Fentum, Flemming Nielsen, and visitor Joe Herriges (PM of Charity-Jarman Lodge) read instructive paragraphs from the California Grand Lodge Constitution and Bylaws. These members did receive "More Light", in the form of Masonic flashlights attached to a key chain! This function will be repeated at each Stated Meeting this year! So, come to Lodge, join in the fun, and receive More Light!
In addition, the Los Altos scholarship presentation went very well at Los Altos High School, last May 25. The scholarship was presented to Mike J. Friedman, who plans to attend UC San Diego. The text of my presentation, which received several compliments, has been placed on our Lodge website in the "Papers and Reports" area. Several Lodge members were also present, including Robert Martin and his sons Jason and Christian, and Richard and Sandra Rosenberg.
Our events schedule continues to grow! I am now in contact with other Lodges and Eastern Star groups within our local area, and we will be sharing our events for the summer and the rest of the year. Get ready for some new and exciting events - they will be announced soon!
The After Dinner Program for July 12 will be a travel video on Israel, about 2 hours long. Mrs. Helen McDaniel and Shirley Pruitt recently toured the Holy Land, and they will share their experiences with the video. The title of he video is "The Holy Land - Time Trek Through the Ages", and recounts the dramatic history of the Land of the Bible through a time-travel format, with views of fabulous scenery and important sites covering the length and breadth of the Land: "Watching "The Holy Land" is an education in itself, and is the next best thing to actually visiting Israel."
I look forward to greeting you in Lodge!
Fraternally,
Patrick Bailey
Master
"W. Bruce Pruitt, PM - 1999 Hiram Award Recipient "
This year we the membership of Los Altos Lodge No. 712, F&AM are very proud to receive the latest recipient of the prestigious and coveted "Hiram Award," he is none other than our very own W. Bruce Pruitt, PM.
Brother Bruce was born September 14, 1931, in Anderson, South Carolina and received his basic education there. He attended Davidson College and the University of North Carolina, receiving his Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Physics. He also holds a Business and Management Certificate and has done additional studies at the University of California extension, Lockheed Management Institute, and the University of Santa Clara. He is also a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration at Golden Gate University, San Francisco.
He and his wife of 39 years, the former Shirley Elisabeth Amott, are the proud parents of three daughters and three grandchildren.
Brother Bruce is retired from the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Sunnyvale, CA, where he was a manager in such programs as MILSTAR, Hubble Space Telescope, Space Station, and OATS Computer System Proposal. Other business experience includes owner of a manufacturers representative company, Parks & Pruitt Associates, National Sales Manager for Varian Associates, and Manager of Product Development for Huggins Laboratories. He has also been rated as "Certified Manager" by the Institute of Certified & Professional Managers.
After completing the Navy ROTC Program, he was commissioned in the USN in June, 1955. His active duty was aboard the USS Tarawa CVS-40). From 1959-1987 he was in the active Navy Intelligence Reserve and retired in 1987 with the rank of Captain. He held three Reserve Intelligence commands and earned several citations for his military service.
Worshipful Brother Bruce is an accomplished writer, and has published articles in such periodicals as the Knight Templar Magazine, the California Freemason, South Carolina Masonic Light, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, The Masonic Philatelist, Prosit Magazine, and Covanant Home Altar.
The principles of Freemasonry came early to Bruce when as a young man of 17 years he became a charter member in the establishment of the Anderson SC DeMolay Chapter (1 948). His interests and contributions were so intense that he was eventually awarded the coveted DeMolay Legion of Honor. In fact until today he still maintains his DeMolay Alumni 47 year membership.
When the day finally arrived he found his way to the door and having knocked was accepted for membership in Hiram Lodge No. 58, in Anderson SC, where he was Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in May of 1953.
From then on his Masonic service expanded. His straight forward, ever-ready-to-help personality served him well, as he served the Craft in numerous capacities including...
Los Altos Lodge:
Master: 1981
Grand Lodge of CA:
Director: Nob Hill Masonic Management Corp.
Chairman: Masonic Homes Endowment Board
Member: Grand Lodge Masonic Education Committee
Member: Grand Lodge Masonic Information Speakers Panel
Grand Bible Bearer: 1994-1995
Concordant Bodies:
Knight Commander of The Temple: Grand Encampment of the United States of America Northern CA Deputy: Grand Encampment of the United States of America
Grand Commander: Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of CA
High Priest: 1985 Palo Alto York Rite Bodies
Commander: 1986 Palo Alto York Rite Bodies
Illustrious Master: 1988 Palo Alto York Rite Bodies
Member: California Commandery No. I
Prior: CA Knights Templar Past Commander's Assn.
Recipient: Knight York Grand Cross of Honor SF Priory, #38
Sovereign: St. Francis Conclave, Red Cross of Constantine
Member: New Covenant Tabernacle LXIII, Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests
Member: Royal Order of Scotland
Member: Robert the Bruce Assoc.
Master: Britannia Council, Allied Masonic Degrees
Suffragan: California College, Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis 32nd Deg. Member: San Jose Scottish Rite Bodies
Director, Member: North Santa Clara County High 12 Club
Member: Islam Temple, Shrine
Member: Sunnyvale Shrine Club
Member: El Camino Research Lodge
Member: So. CA Research Lodge
Member: So. Carolina Research Lodge
Member: Philalethes Society
It goes without saying that the privilege is ours counting Brother Bruce among our number. Welcome to the "Hiramfold "Brother Bruce.
Fraternally,
Brother Lou Orozco, H.A.
Editor
Trestleboard Editor - "Joseph Warren: Part II"
Greetings my Brethren. You will recall last month we began the story of Bunker Hill, and that of General, Brother Warren, finding him foretelling his own death three days before it actually happened. This month we conclude the story as we find that...
- Continued from Last Month -
The shooting lasted less than one hour but only because the Patriots ran Out of ammunition. Warren had been Shot in the back of the head and thrown the ground. His body was thrown in a ditch by a British o and buried with the others. It was discovered months later and identified by Paul Revere who recognized a false tooth he had made for Warren. He was next buried in the Granary burial ground (Tremont St., Boston) where he was laid after Masonic ceremonies in King's Chapel and, thirdly, in the Warren Tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral, Boston. Finally, on August 3, 1855, "The precious ashes were carefully deposited in an imperishable urn and placed in the family vault at Forest Hill Cemetery where they now repose." (G.L. Proc. 1855-69 p. 511.) On April 8, 1777 Congress ordered a monument to be erected over the grave of Gen. Warren in the Town of Boston, but like many other things Congress resolves, it was never accomplished. In 1794 King Solomon's Lodge of Charleson (now meeting in Somerville)erected a monument on Bunker Hill land donated by Brother Benjamin Russell for that purpose. It was "A Tuscan pillar, 18feetinheight placed on a platform 8 feet high, 8 feet square, and fences around."
The Bunker Hill Monument Association was formed in 1823 for the "purpose of erecting on Bunker Hill a more fitting and enduring monument to the memory of the brave men who fell there in the cause of human liberty." King Solomon's Lodge(1783)then gave the Association the ground which it owned, together with the monument it had erected to the memory of Brother Warren, on condition "that some trace of its former existence might be preserved in the monument to be erected.
On June 17, 1825, Grand Lodge opened, 8 a. m. and a procession was formed on the Common which marched to Bunker Hill in Charleston. There in the presence of Brother Lafayette (the apron he wore is in the Grand Lodge archives), representatives from every New England state except Rhode Island, along with the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, Grand Master John Abbot, and Senior Past Grand Master Isaiah Thomas, assisted in laying the cornerstone and Lafayette and Brother Daniel Webster addressed the great gathering. The monument was completed and dedicated June 17, 1843, but without the presence of the Grand Lodge. It was during the anti-Masonic era and a resolution to attend was defeated. Inside the present obelisk is a model of the first monument that had been erected by King Solomon's Lodge. It is made of the finest Italian marble and, including the granite pedestal on which it stands, is about nine feet in height and bears substantially the same inscription as the former one. The memorial is now under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service ( 1976) and anybody can climb the steps to the top without charge. From windows can view Boston and, in particular, Charleston Navy Yard where the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) is berthed.
(Contributing source: Cornelius Moore in the Voice of Masonry, published in The Freemasons Repository, Nov. 188 1, Vol. I 1.)
(Scanned for Hiram's Oasis from the Southern California Research Lodge newsletter, Feb. 1991)
Fraternally,
In Service To The Craft,
Brother Lou Orozco, H.A.
Editor
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