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THE FLORIDA M SON FREE & ACCEPTED MASONS OF THE GRAND LODGE OF FLORIDA VOLUME 102 ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 2003 www.phmainstreet.com/flmason www.glflamason.org "Today’s Basics provide Tomorrow’s Light" ARTWORK courtesy of the grand lodge of montana MONTANA 3-7-77 “How Freemasonry tamed a Territory” See STORY ON PAGE 5 M:.W:.John R. Givens Grand Master (2003-2004) THE FLORIDA MASON IN THIS ISSUE VOLUME 102 ISSUE 3 Editor's Message - "Failing" 3 NOVEMBER 2003 htp://www.phmainstreet.com/flmason/ Down the Road (Calendar of Events) 4 EDITOR MONTANA 3-7-77 (Cover Story) 5 W:. Tim Bryce P.O. Box 1637 NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE Palm Harbor, FL 34682-1637 Tel: 727/786-4567 Amelia Lodge Holds Ft. Clinch Civil 14 Fax: 727/786-4765 War-era MM Degree E-Mail: [email protected] Harbor City, Merritt Island, and Brevard 16 BUSINESS MANAGER confer Joint MM Degree State Chairman, Public Relations & Publicity R:.W:. Bob Harry, PDDGM Sutherland initiates Six Brothers; 17 5337 Riverview Drive That's Right - 6 St. Augustine, FL 32080 Tel: 904/461-0171 (H) News from Hibiscus Lodge No. 275 18 Tel: 904/806-1255 (O) in Coral Gables E-Mail: [email protected] Indian River Lodge No. 90 Donates 19 PUBLISHER to Area Schools The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida News from Olin S. Wright Lodge No. 79 F.& A.M. 19 Located at: 220 Ocean Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202 MASONIC EDUCATION, OPINIONS & POETRY Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1020, Jacksonville, FL 32201-1020 Not One Person - W:.Dan Weatherington, PM 20 Tel: 800/375-2339 WWW: http://www.glflamason.org/ Masonic Virtues/Masonic Attributes 20 - W:.Gil Weisman, PM Grand Lodge Elected Officers for 2003-2004 Grand Master - M:.W:. John R. Givens, PDDGM Masonic History: the Forget-Me-Not in 21 Depty GM - R:.W:. Elmer Coffman, PDDGM Germany, "Das Vergissmeinnicht" SGW - R:.W:. John F. Kavanaugh - R:.W:.Richard G. Hoover, DDGM/21 JGW - R:.W:. Robert Trump Grand Treasurer - M:.W:. J. Roy Crowther IF - (poem), Bro. Rudyard Kipling 22 Grand Sec.- M:.W:. Roy Connor Sheppard, PGM Masonry in Early America; Did you Know that... 22 GRAND MASTER'S CHARITY - Bro. C.J. Jennings The Masonic Home of Florida Corner of 1st Street North & 30th Avenue North The Fundamental Nature of the Craft 23 3201 1st Street NE - M:.W:.Neil Neddermeyer, GM of Minnesota St. Petersburg, FL 33704 Tel: 727/822-3499 The Pigeon Degree 24 Fax: 727/821-6775 - W:.John E. Gardner, PM E-Mail: [email protected] http://www.phmainstreet.com/mashome/ For the Veterans 25 Past Master Humor - W:.Gil Weisman, PM 25 GRAND MASTER’S THEME "Today’s Basics provide Tomorrow’s Light" (continued on page 2) NOVEMBER 2003 1 THE FLORIDA MASON IN THIS ISSUE THE FLORIDA MASON is the official magazine of the (continued from page 1) Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Ma- sons of the State of Florida. It is published bi-monthly MASONIC HUMOR: The EA 25 and made freely available to Masons and friends of the - W:.Edward C. Avance, PM fraternity. MORE HUMOR: Good for Clearing your Mind 26 Opinions expressed by individual contributors are their - Bro. Richard Brooks own and do not necessarily reflect official position of the Grand Lodge of Florida unless so stated. A Letter to Marathon Lodge from 27 Krystal Glove (US Army), Tikrit, Iraq THE FLORIDA MASON encourages submission of ar- ticles and pictures, but the editor reserves the right to AND FINALLY... 28 edit or reject any article for any reason, and to use only - Leaving their mark on Freemasonry as needs and policies dictate and space permits. Articles and pictures should be sent to the Editor. Articles can be submitted through THE FLORIDA MASON’s web site; also, copies of the publication can be downloaded from there as well: OLD COMPUTERS NEEDED! http://www.phmainstreet.com/flmason/ I work with a gentleman who builds computers for Permission to reprint original articles in THE FLORIDA handicapped children, classrooms and churches in MASON is ganted to all recognized Masonic publications need. If you have old computers, parts, printers, providing credit is given the author and THE FLORIDA monitors, etc. and would like to unload them, please MASON. Copyright © 2002 by the Most Worshipful Grand e-mail me at [email protected] and I will Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Florida (also known arrange to pick them up. I prefer to stay in the west as the "Grand Lodge of Florida"). All rights reserved. central area of Florida, but I will travel if needed. Please include in the subject line “Masonic ADVERTISING RATES Computers” so that my e-mail program will identify it as non-spam. Thanks so much. The following rate card is based on an annual run of 6 issues per year. Yours in Brotherhood, Bro. Craig Cramer 1/20 page (25/32" X 3+3/4") $ 135.00 [email protected] Business card size (2" X 3+3/4") $ 225.00 Gulf Beach Lodge No. 291 F.& A.M. 1/4 page (horizontal) (2+5/16" X 7+5/8") $ 375.00 Madeira Beach 1/4 page (vertical) (4+5/8" X 3+3/4") $ 375.00 Tel: 727/581-3509 1/3 page (3" X 7+5/8") $ 450.00 1/2 page (4+3/4" X 7+5/8") $ 675.00 FM FULL PAGE (9+1/2# X 7+5/8") $1,125.00 CLASSIFIED (50 words or less) $ 20.00 CLASSIFIEDS: A lodge may like to post their location and meeting times so that visiting Brothers will know when and where the lodge will meet. These classified ads would be inexpensive and would have statewide coverage. Even District Deputy Grand Masters might list their official vis- its so all members could make plans to attend. The list of possibilities for classified advertising is endless. Call W:. Bro. Tim Bryce to place an order: 727/786-4567 www.phmainstreet.com/mashome NOVEMBER 2003 2 THE FLORIDA MASON EDITOR’S MESSAGE Let me leave you with this quote from Bro. Theodore Roosevelt of Matinecock Lodge No. 806 F.& A.M.; entitled, “Daring Greatly”: “Failing” “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of This December marks the end of my term as Worshipful deeds could have done them better. Master of Sutherland Lodge No. 174 F.& A.M. in Palm Harbor. Like any Master, I experienced the usual ups The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, and downs but, overall, I think I had a pretty good run whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who and hope the Craft at Sutherland feels that I left the strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and Lodge better off than when I was first installed Master. again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who Perhaps the biggest lesson I learned this year was from at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high a Past Master who warned me, “Don’t be afraid to try achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least new things and fail.” Excellent advice which I’ll pass on fails Daring Greatly so that his place shall never be with to the incoming Worshipful Masters for 2004. those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” If we do nothing but maintain the status quo, then our Best of luck in 2004. Happy holidays! story is told. We should always be looking for new and imaginative ways for improving the fraternity. Change Keep the faith! is natural and we should embrace it, not fear it. This is W:. Tim Bryce why I tried new things this year and although some things [email protected] were successful, I also experienced my share of flops. Editor Fortunately, there wasn’t anything catastrophic and this is why I feel a little smarter than just a year ago. For a list of other Grand Lodge e-zines and Florida Trestleboards, please see our web site at: If we as a Fraternity are to make any progress, either at the Lodge level or higher, we must be willing to try new http://www.phmainstreet.com/flmason/ ideas and be willing to accept our failures. I am reminded of the passage from Bro. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “IF”: P.S. Don't forget to add me to your Trestleboard mailing list. “If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss;” (I’ve included Kipling’s poem in its entirety on page 22.) Some people fear failure of any kind, large or small, whether it be a major business transaction or a game of tiddledywinks. No, I do not suggest we should deliberately try to botch something, but we should accept failure with dignity, learn from it, and become stronger. But to do absolutely nothing, because we are afraid of making a mistake and looking bad, would be tragic. So, did I bat 1.000 this year as Worshipful Master? Hardly. I went down swinging a few times. But I also hit a few out of the park and drove in some runs. Because of this, I would like to believe that we are better off simply because we weren’t afraid to try.