The month of April was a very successful month of Fraternity, Education, and Charity. We celebrated degree conferrals, enjoyed a very educational walk through the back alleys of Chinatown in the City of San Francisco, and we supported Payton’s Walk team for Walk MS in support of finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

More the 19 people attended the educational walking tour through the back alleys of Chinatown. The walk was very eye opening about the history of Chinatown, Chinese culture and the role that small area played in California history. We toured through Old St. Mary’s Church, had the opportunity to see the headquarters of the notorious Tongs, which were disguised as Masonic lodges, and we saw the site of the very first public school (founded by Masons). We concluded this very interesting day by enjoying a Chinese banquet at one of the premier Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. Thank you for everyone who participated!

In April we had a TRIPLE Second Degree conferral for Brothers D’Ambrosio, Harms and Romero! Each brother did a fantastic job during his 1^st degree proficiency and they were very impressed with the Second Degree Conferral. Congratulations Brothers and we are looking for your Third Degree.

This coming month of May, we will continue supporting our public schools, Masons 4 Mitts, helping the food bank and finally after all hard work; we will be relaxing and playing golf and having dinner with our brothers, friends and families.

On Sunday May 13^th, the South Bay DeMolay Association is having A Breakfast of Love, Honor and Celebrations for Mother’s Day. Please join us on Sunday May 13, 2012 at the San Jose Masonic Center from 9am to noon.  For reservation please contact Andrew Litfin.

On May 18^th, a tradition of Friendship Lodge is to participate in the Chandler Tripp School Carnival by setting up a Child ID booth. Friendship Lodge has supported this school for many years, and this year is not the exception. If you want to participate in this event please contact Brother Helmuth, Junior Warden.

On May 26^th, Friendship Lodge is bringing back the Friendship Lodge Golf Tournament at the Villages Golf and Country Club. It is the time of the year to relax, play golf and enjoy friendship. The best ball scramble will include: Carts, practice bucket of balls and drinks. Tee time will be 10:00pm. After the tournament, we are having a dinner organized and prepared by our Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts. Social hour will start at 4:00pm followed by dinner.

On June 6^th, Friendship Lodge is helping the Second Harvest Food Bank to sort food at its newest facility in San Jose. The Second Harvest Food Bank approached Friendship Lodge for their annual Helping Hand food sort. Just recently, the Second Harvest Food Bank opened a new facility in North San Jose. We will be helping them from 9:00am to Noon on Saturday June 2, 2012. If you are interested in participating please contact me for location and reservations.

In support of the Masons 4 Mitts project, Friendship Lodge has purchased tickets for Masons Night, Monday, September 17^th at AT&T Park.  The Giants will be taking on the Rockies. So we have a lot of things to do to support our Masons 4 Mitts and in particular our team from the South Bay. This is the conclusion of the Masons 4 Mitts project and the presentation of a check to the Junior Giants.

We have tickets for sale at the discount price of $15 each.  Please purchase your tickets in advance since the promotion price is only for our members and their families. For tickets please contact our Brother Helmuth Litfin, Junior Warden.

At the beginning of this year, I charged the Sunshine Committee to reach out all our members via the telephone and to find out: How are you doing? Do you need anything? and How can we best be of service? During the past couple months the sunshine committee has been working very hard and has reached out to almost 50% of our brethren.

Starting this month and for the rest of the year, we added a section in our Trestle board for the Sunshine Committee. This is to keep us updated of our Brothers and their progress. This month is their first article, please enjoy it.

I would like to thank Brothers Jason Barnett, Tony Gonzalez, Gene Meyer and John White, members of the sunshine Committee for their dedication and effort to this important project for our Lodge.

Friendship Lodge is so bless of having so many Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft who are ready to exercise the Values of Brother Love and Affection. EA and FC group by the direction of Brother Sagin and Brother Jason took Brother Gene Meyer’s wife, Pam, to celebrate her Birthday in a local Restaurant in Morgan Hill. Thank you the EA and FC group for making this event unforgettable for Pam and Gene Meyer. [see attached photos].

Last month our Tiler, Brother Gilbert Sanchez, informed me that his job will move him back to San Diego. It is very difficult for Friendship Lodge to lose such a hardworking and dedicated officer like Brother Gilbert. He was always available to set up the lodge and perform his duties.

Dear Brother Gilbert, on behalf of Friendship Lodge we wish you the best and remember that Friendship #210 is your Lodge and your brothers will miss you. Good luck!

Brother Marc Crowe has kindly agreed to take the responsibilities of Tiler. Brother Marc is a very respectful and hardworking brother who always looks for the benefit of our Lodge. Thank you Brother Marc for taking such a great responsibility.

Remember that May is the month to support our schools, our local food bank, and children through our Child ID program and through Masons 4 Mitts; but it is also a time to relax with the fraternity by playing golf and having dinner with our family and friends. Enjoy it!

Fraternally,

José L. Pulido – Master 2012

Our April stated meeting Easter Ham (and Chicken) dinner was outstanding.  Thank you to both Past Master Worshipful Kirk Wells and Senior Warden Vassil Bebelekov for preparing the food, and to my wife Evonne for the very nice table decorations.  Also, thank you Job’s Daughters for your table service and helping out!

Our next stated meeting dinner on May 3^rd will be a Mexican feast in observance of Cinco De Mayo (the Fifth of May), and will be prepared by Past Master Worshipful Joe Alarcon and his wife Rose and Brother Frank Sepulveda and his wife Sally.

We really need to have an accurate count of how many persons we expect, so if you plan on attending please contact me for reservations.  Because food must be arranged for in advance of each of the dinners, reservations need to be made by the Monday before the dinner (for May 3^rd this means you must call for reservations no later than April 30^th).  See my contact information below.  Remember, if you already have standing reservations then you do not need to call again unless you are not able to attend.

As a reminder that reservations really are important, the lodge has passed an increase in the price of the dinners for those who do not make reservations.  See “From the East” in the previous Trestleboard for more information.

The South Bay Association, Order of DeMolay, will be collecting CRV-compatible (that is, “California Refund Value”) recycling before the stated meeting dinners, to be turned in for money for the DeMolay boys.  This includes Aluminum cans, plastic PETE-type-1 bottles (typically from water or juice), and glass bottles that have the “CA CASH REFUND” or “CRV” marker on them.  A DeMolay boy or two will be just outside the door to collect your recycling.  Again, this is for “CRV” recyclables ONLY.  See the flyer in this Trestleboard for more information.

Our annual Golf Tournament this year is on May 26^th, followed by a BBQ.  Cost for the golf is $70 per person; for the BBQ it is $10.  The Sign-up sheets for this event will be available at the dinner.

To make reservations for any of the stated meeting dinners, please contact me at:

    Phone:  (408) 985-5248

    E-Mail:  helmuth@magicbells.com .

Also, you can now make Dinner/Event Reservations through the Lodge’s Web-Site at  http://friendship210.org .  Click on the appropriate tag in the “Upcoming Events” section to make reservations on-line.  Be sure to indicate your full name and e-mail address and an accurate count when you use the on-line site.  We have encountered some “bogus” reservations generated by spam-bots, and we need to make sure that these reservations are genuine.

Fraternally,

Helmuth Litfin, Junior Warden

Worshipful Jose Pulido charged the Sunshine Committee to reach out to every member this year and ask each brother:  How are you doing? Do you need anything? and How can we best be of service?

As the Master requested, we set our goals for 2012 and beyond:  To retain and bring back our Brothers who may want and need our encouragement and assistance as a team to return, as well as to provide assistance to our members in need.

The most profound result in reaching out is the realization of how many active members we have compared with our Brothers, who for various reasons are not attending Lodge.

Solutions are always closer than we think. Let’s explore some of the reasons and percentages for non-active members.  To begin, the committee would like to thank Brother Tony Gonzales for the bulk of the work here. He has single handedly taken this task and embraced it full speed. He, like all of the committee, wants our Brothers back.

We have 171 members. 53 % are non-active, 21% active, 26% live out of town or state. This was a bit shocking to me at first because we know that we have a very active and thriving Lodge. So what do we have here? With non-active members, Brother Tony found the reasons are many and varied as to why they do not attend. Here are a few.

1. Transportation. Due to age, economics and locality. Solutions: Reach out with carpooling by officer rides and member volunteers. When all the data is collected, we will be more specific with solutions.
2. Not interested in Lodge events. Although we have had a wide range of events over the years, maybe more membership ideas are needed. What kind of events are other Brothers and families hoping for?
3. Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts who have not progressed and reach our sublime Degree. Did they understand the ritual? How can we improve their Masonic education? Did each of us reach out to greet and introduce ourselves to these new Brothers and families? Did we call them enough or too much?
4. Live out of town or state.  Encourage lodge visits when in town, and let them know we are always here for them and their families wherever they are.

Brethren, are you in need of support? A home visit? or Just want to talk?

Please let us know. We can help! Fraternity is what makes our Lodge strong.

Here are some phone numbers to assist you. Worshipful Master: Jose Pulido 408-205-6432. Masonic outreach services: 888-466-3642 or any of our officers who would like to talk to you as well. Their phone numbers are on back of the Trestleboard.

This is our first report to the Lodge in 2012 and we will continue to report in the months to come.

From your 2012 Sunshine committee,

Jason Barnett – 2012 Chairman

Everyone knows the work of Freemasons. It is so universal that it is used to identify a group of individuals.  But, what are the origins of the word – Freemasons?

The first-known use of the word Freemasons – in the form Free Masons – occurs in City of London Letter-book H of 9 August 1376, though the word is in fact deleted in favour of Mason. Masons and Freemasons were interchangeable during the 15th and 16th centuries and Freemasons were generally meant to denote hewers or setters of freestone, Masons being used to embrace all stoneworkers. Ashmole, in his diary, wrote that he was made a Free Mason and referred in 1686 to the “Fellowship of Free Masons”.  James Anderson, when writing his 1723 Constitutions, did not use the single word – Freemasons – once.  Whatever the reasons, the 1723 Constitutions contain approximately 126 references to Masons, 12 to Free Masons, 10 to Free and Accepted Masons, 9 to Free-Masons, one to Accepted Free Masons and none to Freemasons. And such is the tenacity of tradition that to this day the most of the Constitutions are addressed to Free and Accepted Masons and not to Accepted Freemasons. The earliest-known anti-masonic leaflet, of 1698, warns the public against “those called Free Masons” – almost certainly what we now know as speculative Freemasons.

Sincerely and Fraternally,
Vassil Bebelekov, Senior Warden

When Worshipful Billy told me of his article about Brother Trace, I remembered that there is an Elementary School in San Jose named Trace Elementary School.  I did some research with the help of my wife, Sherri.  She works at the District Office for the San Jose Unified School District.  She was able to confirm that Trace Elementary School was indeed named for Merritt Roscoe Trace. 

Through her assistance, I was able to dig up a little more information on Brother Trace that you may find VERY interesting.  The following is part of a small article about Brother Trace:

Merritt Trace was born in Pennsylvania and as a small boy attended Trace School, too.  When people in that district [in Pennsylvania] of small farms decided that they must have a school for their children, Merritt’s grandfather, Jacob Trace, gave them the land on which to build the school.  So, it was called Trace School, and there Merritt began his education.

The family moved to Plainview, Minnesota, when Merritt was about eight years old.  There for the first time in his life he saw … Indians.  They used to come to the house, always two of them together, to ask for food.  His mother never refused feed them even when they came when she was baking and insisted on taking all the bread she had made.  She was afraid of them [this was about 1856].  Their sharp, bold glances worried her and she thought they asked too many questions.  The neighbors said the Indians were quite harmless, but later events proved that she was right and the neighbors were wrong.

Merritt went to school in Plainview but when the Civil War … broke out, he wanted to quit school and join the United States Army as a “drummer boy”.  As he was only thirteen, both his father and the United States Army refused to let him go.  However, a Home Guard was organized and Merritt was the Drummer Boy.  He loved the drums.  Perhaps that was one of the reasons why when he was a teacher himself he liked to have the children march into the school house to the roll and beat of drums.  Old Hester School [in San Jose] remembered that.

In 1862, the Sioux Indians rose against the whites, massacred settlers in outlying farms, threatened towns and terrified the people in that part of Minnesota.  Merritt’s mother had been right [Merritt was 14 at the time].  His father took charge of the defense of Plainview until the United States Army could send troops to put down the rebellion.  Merritt played his part with the Home Defense Guard.   

He was seventeen when he began teaching school in a country school which was quite different from the schools of today.  People had very little money and when they wanted a school built they had to build in themselves.  They couldn’t pay the teacher very much, so he had to take part of his salary in what they called “boarding ‘round”.  Merritt would live a week at  one home, perhaps two or three days at another, according to how much the family could afford.

The school was held in the winter months as the boys had to work on the farms in the spring and summer.  Many of the boys didn’t care much for study but went to school mostly to put in the time, and one of their favorite amusements was to try to “run the teacher out”.  They had already disposed of two or three when Merritt took charge.  He was well aware of the rough practice and was on his guard.  He was exceptionally strong through the shoulders and arms, and one day when two of the big boys got up from the bench where they were sitting and started toward him, he didn’t wait to see what would happen.  He made it happen.  He grabbed the boys, one in each hand, held them high in the air, shook them so that, as someone said, “…he made a windmill out of them,” threw them don on the floor and made them lie there until all the fight was gone out of them.  From that time on he was really the school master.

Later, he went back to Pennsylvania to attend Allegheny College.  While there he taught one term in the Trace School to help pay some of his college expenses.

When he returned to Minnesota, he taught in Melrose, a small town in the southern part of the state.  A Swedish family living on a farm a mile or so out of town sent their children to school.  One of them, a boy named Charles, was a very earnest lad and studied hard.  From there he went on to the University of Michigan, practiced law, and was sent to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives.  His last name was Lindbergh and he was the father of Col. Charles Lindbergh.

Frpm Melrose Merritt went to Sauk Rapids, a town across the Mississippi from St. Cloud.  He was principal of the Grammar and High School there when a terrific tornado swept through the town, killing and injuring hundreds of people besides wrecking most of the businesses and many homes.  He was one of the relief committee which took charge of affairs, helped to restore confidence, rebuild homes and businesses saw that doctors and nurses were supplied and did for the community the sort of thing the Red Cross does now.

His first school in California was in Cambria where he organized on of the first, if not the first, Union High Schools in San Luis Obispo County.  He was also a member of the County School Board of San Luis Obispo County.

When he came to Hester School [in san Jose] that district was not in the city of San Jose but was still a county school.  In 1907 he came a member of the County School Board of Santa Clara County.

Later he helped to organize the DeMolay of San Jose, the first DeMolay in California.

As a person, he was very friendly, interested in people, and dearly loved children.  The children loved him, too.  When he would walk out on the school grounds, the little children would come to take hold of his hands, one to each finger, hang on to his coat, any place they could touch him.  His teachers called him “Father”, and many of the children called him “Daddy” or “Grandpa”. 

Because so many people loved him, they asked, after he died that the new school be named in his honor.

An so his school story which began at the little Trace School in Pennsylvania ended at the M.R. Trace School in San Jose. [Author Unknown]

Fraternally,

Jim Greer, Secretary

Grand Lodge recognizes that our Masonic youth are the future of Freemasonry.  They have designated the month of May as Masonic Youth Orders month and have asked that every lodge in California honor our Masonic youth.

Last month’s article profiled Brother Wells. This month I would like to profile another member of Friendship Lodge No. 210.  Brother Trace also dedicated his life to public education and was also very active in Masonic organizations, including the San Jose Chapter of DeMolay.

This Month in Friendship Lodge History

Eighty Seven Years Ago….

Merritt Roscoe Trace

Born: March 27, 1848

Called from Labor: May 26, 1925

Merritt Trace was principal of Hester grammar school for twenty five years, with a staff of twenty two teachers.  He was a power in education and stood for advancement and the adoption of modern methods.  He was well known and educators throughout the state thought highly of him.  On his passing, the flag was lowered to half-mast and school was dismissed.

Brother Trace was a 33rd degree Mason and was buried with the impressive services of the highest Masonic ritual from the new Scottish Rite temple in San Jose.  It was the first funeral ever to be held in the beautiful new temple.  Three weeks earlier, Trace himself had the honor of being the first to confer a degree, the fourth, on candidates in the initial exercises in the temple.  Marking this coincidence, the ritual was opened on the fourth degree which he had conferred there.

The auditorium was packed.  Hundreds of his Masonic brethren, fellow educators, pupils and prominent residents were present at the services.  Seating was reserved for Scottish Rite members, Blue Lodge members and Eastern Star chapters. He was Past Patron of Starlight Chapter No. 31. Seated next was the DeMolay Chapter.  He was a moving spirit in this youth group.  It was said that his untiring activity contributed to the success of the San Jose DeMolay.  The faculty of Hester School was next, followed by members of the Hester Parent-Teachers Association.  Graveside services were conducted by Friendship Lodge No. 210.

Brother Trace was called from labor in May, the month we designate as Masonic Youth Orders month.  I thought it was appropriate to present his profile to you at this time as he was a member of our Lodge.

Sources:

Grand Lodge Website: Masons of California

San Jose Weekly Visitor, San Jose, CA, May, 1925, San Jose News, San Jose, CA, May, 1925.

Fraternally,

Billy L. Mills, PM 2007

Lodge Historian

***************************************************************

It has long been understood that the Baby Boom generation didn’t join the Masons. As a result, there is a five-decade difference between the generation of men who kept Freemasonry alive for us and the men who are now moving into leadership positions throughout the fraternity. At any other time in the history of Freemasonry, each succeeding generation came along approximately in twenty-five year intervals, making changes in their lodges, and in Freemasonry as a whole, to reflect their needs and desires. Masonry has always adapted to serve the societies in which it resided. Until recently. Now, instead of a twenty-five year adjustment in direction, Freemasonry is suffering from fifty years of habit and hardening of the arteries.

Leadership has no age, and there are no limits on imagination. But a lodge has to mean something to its members. It has to remain part of their lives, every day, every week, every month. Because once it’s more fun, or less hassle, to stay squeezed comfortably in the LaZBoy, curled up with a remote control, than it is to go to lodge, we have lost them. No one would ever voluntarily join a memorization club, and no one wants to join the oldest, greatest, most legendary fraternal organization in the world, only to be sentenced to a lifetime of cold cut sandwiches made with suspicious meat, generic cola, and monthly meetings of nothing but minute-reading, bill-paying and petulant sniveling over why no one comes to meetings anymore. Be honest with yourself. What rational human being seriously wants to go to the trouble of leaving home to go and listen to someone spend twenty minutes reporting that nothing happened at last month’s meeting either?

It will be the lodges that provide programming for their active members – whatever their age may be – that will survive and prosper into the future. But those that stubbornly cling to the notion that lodge is no event, that lodge is just one more meeting to be borne, that lodge is that most terrible of things, Ordinary – those are the lodges that will literally bore themselves to death. Those are the lodges that will slip silently away in the night. And the shadows of things that Might Be will have faded into the concrete Reality of a deserted lodge room.

Fraternally,

Jim Greer, Secretary

I would encourage everyone to go to the Grand Lodge website and read the home page.  Two key dates to look for are 1862 and 1920.  You will find a brief article explaining the profound effect Masonry has had on public education and especially here in California.  As a result, April is designated Public Schools month, which brings me to a portion of this month’s article profiling the life of Brother Wells, a member of Friendship Lodge No. 210 who dedicated his life to public education.

I have taken on the job of preserving and stabilizing lodge records.  In this process, I have been working on records of obituaries which I found in a box. They cover a period from December 1921 to June 1933 and consist of newspaper clippings glued to a sheet of paper.  Proper documentation should include the name of the newspaper, location, date of publication, page and column number of the article.  All of this information was missing.  So by checking with Wikipedia, I determined that the San Jose Mercury was founded in 1851 as the San Jose Weekly Visitor and the San Jose News was founded in 1883.  In 1942 the Mercury purchased the News and continued publishing both newspapers, with the Mercury as the morning paper and the News as the evening paper.  To me, this explains the two nearly identical newspaper clippings for Brother Wells.

This Month in Friendship Lodge History

Eighty Six Years Ago…  

George S. Wells

Friendship Lodge No. 210 member

Superintendent of Schools in San Jose

George S. Wells was born 1852 in Virginia and moved to this valley in California in 1881.  He was a twenty five year member of Friendship Lodge No. 210. 

In 1883 he was elected to the school department of San Jose and served as teacher until 1891.  He was then elected to the position of principal of the Lowell school and later resigned to make an unsuccessful run for the post of county superintendent of schools.  He then entered Stanford and received a degree in 1894.  In 1895 he was elected to principal of Washington school and served in that position until 1904.  He was then elected and served as city superintendent of schools from 1904 to 1906.  Subsequently, he was elected a teacher of science at the San Jose High School where he taught until his retirement in 1917.

After retirement, Terra Bella, Tulare County remained his home until his death on April 22, 1926 at the age of 74.

Brother Wells was a twenty five year member of Friendship Lodge No. 210 who dedicated his life to public education.  He was called from labor in April, the month we designate as Public Schools month.  So I thought it appropriate to present his profile to you at this time.

Twenty Five Years Ago….

Nothing too exciting happened in this meeting.  Worshipful Theodore Bohrer read a proclamation from the Grand Master regarding Public Schools month.  The Secretary talked about the upcoming baseball game on May 1st and tickets were passed out to the brethren. 

To me, the more interesting part of the minutes were the officers of the lodge at that time as listed here:

Walter Krill WM, James D. Marlowe SW, “Tasso” Papapsomas JW, Glen Guttormsen, Treasurer, Frank M. Smallwood Sec, Ronald C. Reed SD, Vernon Parmelee JD, Minord Gonzales PM Chaplain, Theodore A. Bohrer PM Marshall, David G. Meyers SS, Bruce W. Weller JS, and Robert Parres as Tiler.  Hopefully some of you will read these names and recall some of the special times you shared with them.

Twenty Years Ago…

In this meeting, Worshipful Walter Fox, PM gave a status report on the upcoming lodge trip to Fort Bragg on June 13th and 14th.  The trip sounded exciting and appeared to the brethren to be a fun trip.

Worshipful Bruce Weller presented a nicely framed Past Master’s Certificate to Worshipful David Meyers, PM and a Third Degree Proficiency Certificate to Brother Walter Gilchrest. 

Secretary James Greer gave his annual report on the lodge’s membership which showed a decline from 336 in 1990 to 323 at the end of 1991.

Worshipful John Runsey, PM George E. Tutt Lodge presented a very informative talk on Masonry during the Gold Rush period.

Sources:

Grand Lodge Website: Masons of California

Wikipedia: The San Jose Mercury News

San Jose Weekly Visitor, San Jose, CA, April ??, 1926, page ??, column ??

San Jose News, San Jose, CA, April ??, 1926, page ??, column ??

Lodge Minutes and Records

Fraternally,

Billy L. Mills, PM 2007

Lodge Historian

Our March stated meeting dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage was outstanding.  Thank you to Past Master Worshipful Kirk Wells for preparing the food and to both Job’s Daughters Bethel # 129 and my wife Evonne for the very nice table decorations.  Welcome Back Job’s Daughters for another year of table service and helping out!

Our next stated meeting dinner on April 5^th will be Ham and Chicken, prepared by Worshipful Kirk Wells and everybody’s favorite Senior Warden Vassil Bebelekov.  We really need to have an accurate count of how many persons we expect, so if you plan on attending please contact me for reservations.  Because food must be arranged for in advance of each of the dinners, it is strongly recommended that reservations be made by the Monday before the dinner (for April 5^th this means you should call for reservations no later than April 2^nd).  See my contact information below.  Remember, if you already have standing reservations then you do not need to call again unless you are not able to attend.

Our Annual Pizza Party / Magic Show / Ice Cream Social on March 15^th was a complete success.  There was more than enough Pizza and Ice Cream, and the new pre-event Tortoise/Turtle Exhibition was a fascinating addition to the activities.  Everybody’s favorite Magician Worshipful Hank Vlcek was (as usual) outstanding in his presentation, and he even had some new tricks this year (how DOES he DO that?).

The South Bay Association, Order of DeMolay, will be collecting CRV-compatible (that is, “California Refund Value”) recycling before the stated meeting dinners, to be turned in for money for the DeMolay boys.  This includes Aluminum cans, plastic PETE-type-1 bottles (typically from water or juice), and glass bottles that have the “CA CASH REFUND” or “CRV” marker on them.  A DeMolay boy or two will be just outside the door to collect your recycling.  Again, this is for “CRV” recyclables ONLY.  See the flyer in this Trestleboard for more information.

On Saturday, April 21^st, there is a Walking Tour of San Francisco & Chinatown starting at 11:00 AM.  The cost is $40 per person.

On the following Saturday, the 28^th of April, there is the “WALK MS 2012” for Multiple Sclerosis.

Our annual Golf Tournament this year is on May 26^th, followed by a BBQ.  Cost for the golf is $70 per person; for the BBQ it is $10.

Sign-up sheets for these events will be available at the dinner.  See the flyers later in this Trestleboard for more information.

To make reservations for any of the stated meeting dinners, please contact me at:

    Phone:  (408) 985-5248

    E-Mail:  helmuth@magicbells.com .

Also, you can now make Dinner/Event Reservations through the Lodge’s Web-Site at www.friendship210.org .  Click on the appropriate tag in the “Upcoming Events” section to make reservations on-line.

Fraternally,

Helmuth Litfin, Junior Warden

Greetings from your Favorite Senior Warden! Here is something that I really like. Enjoy it.  It is Good Story.

***************************************************************”A young man passed a pawnbrokers shop. The money lender was standing in front of his shop, and the young man noted that he was wearing a large and beautiful Masonic emblem. After going on a whole block, apparently lost in thought, the young man turned back, stepped up to the pawnbroker, and addressed him: I see you’re wearing a Masonic emblem. I’m a Freemason too. It happens that I’m desperately in need of $25 just now. I shall be able to repay it within ten days. You don’t know me; but I wonder whether the fact that you are a Freemason and that I am a Freemason is sufficient to induce you to lend me the money on my personal note.”
The pawnbroker mentally appraised the young man, who was clean-cut, neat and well-dressed. After a moments thought, he agreed to make the loan on the strength of the young man being a Freemason. Within a few days the young man repaid the loan as agreed and that ended the transaction.

About four months later the young man was in a Lodge receiving the Entered Apprentice Degree; he had not really been a Mason when he borrowed the $25. After he had been admitted for the second section of the degree, the young man looked across the Lodge room and saw the pawnbroker from whom he had borrowed the $25. His face turned crimson and he became nervous and jittery. He wondered whether he had been recognized by the pawnbroker. Apparently not, so he planned at the first opportunity to leave the Lodge room and avoid his benefactor. As soon as the Lodge was closed he moved quickly for the door, but the pawnbroker had recognized the young man, headed him off and, to the young man’s astonishment, approached him and greeted him with a smile and outstretched hand.
Well, I see you weren’t a Freemason after all when you borrowed that $25, the pawnbroker commented.

The blood rushed to the young man’s face as he stammered, No, I wasn’t, but I wish you’d let me explain. I had always heard that Freemasons were charitable and ready to aid a Brother in distress. When I passed your shop that day I didn’t need that $25. I had plenty of money in my wallet, but when I saw the Masonic emblem you were wearing, I decided to find out whether the things I’d heard about Freemasonry were true. You let me have the money on the strength of my being a Freemason, so I concluded that what I had heard about Masons was true, that they are charitable, that they do aid Brethren in distress. That made such a deep impression on me that I presented my petition to this Lodge and here I am. I trust that with this explanation you will forgive me for having lied to you.
The pawnbroker responded, “Don’t let that worry you too much. I wasn’t a Freemason when I let you have the money. I had no business wearing the Masonic emblem you saw. Another man had just borrowed some money on it, and it was so pretty that I put it on my lapel for a few minutes. I took it off the moment you left. I didn’t want anyone else borrowing money on the strength of my being a Freemason. When you asked for that $25, I remembered what I had heard about Masons – that they were honest, upright, and cared for their obligations promptly. It seemed to me that $25 wouldn’t be too much to lose to learn if what I’d heard was really true, so I lent you the money and you repaid it exactly as you said you would. That convinced me that what I’d heard about Masons was true so I presented my petition to this Lodge. I was the candidate just ahead of you.”
Sincerely and Fraternally,
Vassil Bebelekov, Senior Warden