The Friendly Word
Spring arrived at last, at least the weather has become moderate. The Sun and still air was a welcome respite from the erratic chill of the previous months. The white-clothed tables, with just the right amount of glasses and silver and a complimentary
bottle of wine were set at each place. The large picture windows look out at the blue expanse of Seneca Lake.
The occasion was a gathering of Nobles and their Ladies at Belhurst Castle in the Finger Lakes. Potentates from Tigris, Damacus, Mecca, Cyprus and Ziyara Shrines were among many visiting dignitaries in attendance, along with Ladies of the Iderim Temple and Eastern Star.
Also among the attendees was a contingent of Brothers from Liverpool Syracuse Lodge No. 501 who were privileged to serve as an honorary escort for Illustrious Sir Efrain ‘Frank’ Rosa and his Lady Elba.
Brothers present were:
of course . . . Frank Rosa and his Lady Elba
R.’.W.’. Bil ‘dizzy feet’ Vassily
R.’.W.’. Gary Heinmiller
W.’. Bob Bowles
W.’. Lew Paradise
W.’. Bob Tyrrell
W.’. Bill Schuetz [and his sister Barbara, a past Queen of Iderim Temple]
Bro. Paul Altenburg [Past Potentate] and his Lady Pat
Bro. Dave Depan
Bro. Leroy Forbes and his Lady Karen
Bro. Dennis Lagoe, Sr.
Bro. Tai Shaw Ngo
The Brothers of Liverpool Syracuse Lodge wish to extend to Bro. Frank and Lady Elba and the Nobles of the Tigris Shrine our Best Wishes for a Successful and Enjoyable year.
The Friendly Word
Brethren,
The Masonic year is moving fast, and before we know it Move Up Night will be here [7 May]. We have a fine group of young men getting ready to have the Degrees conferred upon them. The Entered Apprentice Degree, will be on 16 April and the Fellow Craft Degree on 18 June. We will have our Master Mason Degree this summer; the date and time will be announced on this page and in the Word. Brothers, advertisements are out for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, 7 April. Those of you who will help please come 1 ½ hours before the program starts. [First race starts at 9:30 am]
Check out the upcoming events page on this website, and, speaking of sites, please give us feedback about our website. Brother Kevin Razawich is the Webmaster and will update this site once a week. When you see Brother Razawich acknowledge his job well done. Help out our site by sending our link to your favorite visited sites and ask them to post it. If any of you want to do Masonic reading go to our History page and
click onto the OMDHS link. This is the Onondaga and Oswego Masonic Districts Historical Societies website hosted by our very own Secretary. From the home page of this site you can wander to an endless library of Masonic materials. Our secretary has put in many hours in developing the materials for this site. Use it for your Masonic Education, and keep coming back as he will be having plenty of updates.
What I am about to write was not my original plan. As you all should know by now we had a very special Brother lay down his Working Tools; W.’. Floyd A. Proper, our Overseer of the Work (see the Broken Column page). W.’. Floyd knew what it was to be a Freemason. He assisted in all aspect of the Degrees. At 78 years of age he wanted to and did confer the Master Mason Degree upon the largest class that I had ever seen performed at our Lodge. I was awestruck to see such a conferral perform by a Brother who had not done it in over a decade. W.’. Floyd offered wise counsel to his Lodge leaders in a positive and constructed way. He always made you feel welcome and encouraged what you were trying to accomplish. He showed up for rehearsals and guided you in the proper floor work. He was never lost to share a joke or two during fellowship. W.’. Floyd had this boyish smile that would light up a room. That smile was the first thing I noticed when he was walking through calf-deep snow to show up for a Masonic service for a Brother who didn’t belong to our Lodge; a Brother he didn’t know. The family of a visiting Brother had requested the Memorial service, and W.’. Floyd came to assist. He was recovering from knee surgery when he made this journey. The village had not cleared the snow off the walks, and when I tried to discourage him from walking on the sidewalk, for fear of him falling, he lifted his cane and with a big smile said, “That is what this is for.” I will always treasure that smile. W.’. Floyd showed me there are no boundaries between generations of men practicing our Craft. He most definitely was always practicing, he, Master the Craft. Brother Norman Vincent Peale once stated, “Live your life and forget your age.” W.’. Floyd I believe did just that.
I will order the altar draped until the end of the Masonic year in honor of one of our Lodge’s finest.
Robert Bowles
Master
The Friendly Word
Brethren,
As I write, your lodge is conducting an investigation for membership in our Great Fraternity; if found favorable we will be conducting the three degrees. The TB will have to be change to meet this obligation. 19 March for the Entered Apprentice Degree, 14 April for the Fellow Craft and 7 May for the Master Mason Degree.
Winter will soon be behind us and hopefully by the time you read this Spring will be peeking around the corner. Your lodge had a nice gathering for the Super Bowl game and plenty to eat. R.’.W.’. Vassily prepared his tasty Greek wings and every one else brought something to pass around. Our two out of town work commuters even stopped down. It was a nice night even though most wanted the Chicago Bears to win. Our JW Dennis Lagoe and your Master put on the spread for the first Monday this February. We have 5 March and 2 April 2 open for our esteemed First Monday Chef. Please call the JW 427-5031 to reserve your spot.
Our Chaplain W.’. Bill Schuetz will be hosting a Masonic booth at the Shrine Circus this year 30 March – 1 April. He will be looking for help; there will be 6 two-hour slots to cover during the event. For more details please call him at 457-8875. Brother Paul Killius’ daughter won an Ambassadorship to Australia representing Liverpool High School and the United States. She needs to raise funds to assist her with this travel. Any donations may be sent to the Lodge Secretary for this young lady’s assistance.
The Long Range Planning Committee handed in and read their report. This committee has put forth many recommendations for improving your Lodge. Many, if not all of the
recommendations, can be reached. This committee is made up of a mixture of seasoned and new Brothers, and their recommendations are well received. Improving the functions of your Lodge should be every Brother’s concern. I openly ask each of you to contribute at least one suggestion to assist in moving your Lodge into the 21st Century. I believe every brother who lives out of town or state can actively participate in the Lodge’s growth. You say how may I do this? One thing that comes to mind is the new program that I will dub the ‘501 Short Talk,’ and it may be done by proxy. You need not be scholars to put together a couple of paragraphs of Masonic Light to be read in open lodge on your behalf. The list is endless on what you may share. From those who research, to those who wish to share humble or humorous stories, the topics are endless. Your stories and research are very important to your Lodge, as are you, the Brothers. Your Lodge roster has many Brothers listed but lacks biographies for most of them. I urge you all to submit a Masonic Biography to our Secretary. You are part of the oldest Fraternity in the world. Let us place your time in the Quarry and family history in our vault of Brotherly Love. Feel free to contact the Secretary if you need some guidance with this undertaking; he had written many hundreds of pages on our Masonic District and his family history, encompassing over 60,000 people, plus a unique socio-biographical summary of all of the Grand Masters of England, Scotland and Ireland. We are fortunate to have a Historian such as our Secretary willing to record the life and times of your Lodge and its Brethren. Brothers it cannot be said enough: Teamwork is the cornerstone of all success whether in family or business; our Lodge without teamwork will come down. Andrew Carnegie said it well; “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It is the fuel that allows common people to obtain uncommon results.”
Robert Bowles
Master
The Friendly Word
I am very proud to announce that Liverpool/Syracuse Lodge No.501 has been selected to receive a Mark Twain Award for Excellence in Masonic Awareness from the Masonic Information Center in Silver Springs, Maryland. The award was announced at the Grand Masters Conference in Alexandria, Virginia in February and will be officially presented at Grand Lodge in New York City this spring. We are the only lodge in New York State to receive the award and one of only eighteen in the country. The award recognizes excellence in both internal and external Masonic awareness and emphasizes the importance of Masonic awareness to stimulate the quality of the lodge experience and to raise awareness among the community about Freemasonry’s history and value to the community.
I am also pleased to announce that Brother Benjamin Lees has been selected to receive the Dedicated Service Award for 2010 from the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. Brother Lees is being recognized for his dedication, talent, participation, and leadership in our lodge and to Masonry in general. A dinner and open awards presentation meeting will be held at our lodge on Monday April 19, 2010. Regional DSA Committee Member James Jones will present the award and talk about the history and significance of the award. Dinner is prime rib with all the trimmings and tickets are just $15.00. Reservations can be made through the secretary…..don’t miss it!
Our “Recruitment and Retention” campaign continues to produce results with more inquiries coming in than ever before. Many of these inquiries are being followed up with petitions for membership, and we hope to be initiating a new class before we go dark for the summer. Membership committee chairman Bob Bowles has been magnificent in his follow up with inquiries we receive through the website and emails.
Our lodge now has a Facebook page and a Facebook group. If you are unfamiliar with facebook.com, it is a social networking site that has grown exponentially since its inception and has millions of members. The more “friends” and “members” we get on our pages, the more powerful our presence will be. Please visit and join by going to facebook.com/syracusemasons. It will take you to both the page and group. You can leave a message, watch video, or just read the latest words from your fellow member Masons.
It is exciting to be recognized for our achievements this year. We are moving in the right direction, but it will take commitment and energy to bring about the needed change we seek. Redesigning and re-branding our fraternity’s public image is an important part of our modernization, but people will always be job one! We must all make a concerted effort to move forward and bring our glorious fraternity into the 21st century. Remember that everything we do today will effect the viability of our organization for years to come.
The Friendly Word
Our “Recruitment and Retention” campaign continues to produce results with more inquiries coming in than ever before. Many of these inquiries are being followed up with petitions for membership, and we hope to be initiating a new class before we go dark for the summer. Special thanks go out to our Senior Warden Kevin Razawich for his efforts with the website and social networking connections, as well as his fine work in conferring the Fellowcraft degree at our lodge. Membership committee chairman Bob Bowles has been magnificent in his follow up with inquiries we receive through the website and emails. Thank you both for making our campaign a huge success!
Speaking of social networking….our lodge now has a Facebook page and a Facebook group. If you are unfamiliar with facebook.com, it is a social networking site that has grown exponentially since its inception and has millions of members. The more “friends” and “members” we get on our pages, the more powerful our presence will be. Please visit and join by going to facebook.com and search Liverpool-Syracuse Masons. It will take you to both the page and group. You can leave a message, watch video, or just read the latest words from your fellow member Masons.
Please join us for our Master Mason Degree on April 5th. We will be having our 3rd degree practice at our March 15th meeting to make it easy to participate. We can always use more help…..come and be a craftsman or take a speaking part. If you have never participated in a Master Mason degree this is your chance to experience the degree in a new and rewarding way.
Our lodge will be busy hosting the Liverpool Village Easter Egg Hunt this spring. It is an annual event that draws more and more families every year. If you would like to participate or help out at the event check our website for details.
Our education initiative for new and existing brothers continues as a part of our retention effort and is aimed at educating our new brothers in the symbolism, history and etiquette of our fraternity as well as introducing them to the duties of the officers. If your lodge would like to have new Brothers attend we would be happy to accommodate them.
For a complete schedule please check our website www.syracusemasons.com.
Exciting changes are underway at our lodge. We are spreading the beneficent influence of Masonry in the lodge, out in the community, and on the web. We encourage each of you to come back to Blue Lodge and be a part of our rebirth into the twenty-first century. We are redesigning our methods to grow the Fraternity in a new digital world and we need both your help and ideas.
The Friendly Word
Our “Recruitment and Retention” campaign is in full swing and we are beginning to see some results. It looks like we will have as many as twelve candidates to put through the first degree in December. If you haven’t been to lodge in a while, we could really use your help. It is great to be able to have this many new brothers come in, and we want to have enough Masons to put on a spectacular degree.
Our lodge kicked off our retention campaign with a lively, open discussion in lodge. A special committee was formed to recommend changes in our retention practices to keep new brothers coming back, and to get existing brothers to come back again. This committee will report at our next meeting and we will adopt new methods of dealing with our newest brothers. We are excited about experimenting with change and improving our membership retention. We must also recognize that new ideas don’t mean much if they are not implemented and executed with enthusiasm and responsibility.
I am still asking our members to distribute our campaign materials around the community and the Central New York area. If you need more materials please feel free to call me. I would be happy to put together more materials for whatever you may need. If you were not at the recruitment meeting and would like to become a part of the effort please call me and I will get a materials package out to you. Remember ….this is a viral campaign….no billboards, TV or radio. It is up to each of us to do our part to get the materials in front of the public. We hope the campaign will drive interested parties to the website where they can view our video, learn more about the fraternity and our lodge, and even download a petition for membership.
Look to our website for updates and news. It is totally redesigned for easier access and better navigation. We have a great web presence for those seeking out information on Masonry and also a great resource for our members. Please visit our online home at www.syracusemansons.com or our interesting historical website at www.omdhs.syracusemasons.com.
This is a year of change at our lodge. If we all participate with an open mind, a passion for innovation, and the enthusiasm we all felt when we became new Masons…success is inevitable. Although change can be daunting, it is long in coming and badly needed. Let us be the Masons who take responsibility, lead with the needed changes, and keep the Fraternity thriving into the 21st Century.
