Moonlighter
Steilacoom Lodge #2	VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1

January 2003 Newsletter

Howdy Brother and Sisters!

Well it’s a new year with new beginnings. I hope your holidays have been safe and fun. I would like to thank everyone who was able to make it out for the installation. In spite of the little glitches I think it went relatively well. As I said in my acceptance speech, y’all will notice a few changes in the Tressleboard, aka; “The Blue Card”. We have added what the dinner theme will be for each night’s potluck. Also added was an extra night for a Special Communications meeting. This night will be to do degree work or to work on our floor work. This, I hope, will help us to perfect our floor work and spread fellowship amongst the brothers. I realize this may be a little early, but if all goes well at our first stated meeting we will be doing a first degree on the Jan. 31st Special Communications meeting. I want to make our meeting fun and informative, so to that end I plan on bring in guest speakers. If anyone has topic they would like to talk about or hear about please let me know so I can get it on the agenda. I also want to expand our fellowship time with our families. I’m working on a couple of ideas for some day trips to local spots. One of which will be a trip in the spring to the Tulip Festival. As this trip comes together I will get more information out to y’all. Well that’s about it for now, remember our diner for this month is grill cheese and tomato soup. A kind of “take the chill out of winter” theme. Y’all take care and may all your travels be safe.

 Tom K. Master

May all your travels be safe,
May the wind always fill your sails,
May your table be filled with plenty,
And may the sun keep you in its' warm embrace!

Howdy Brothers and Sisters!

[Editor here!]

Joe got tied up too much and did not have time to send me his input...however I got plenty of input this month...maybe next month.

Announcements

Kaffee Klatsch

Tressleboard for January:

The New Year has arrived and I am off on serving as Secretary.  With the help from our past secretary, VWB Stan and the brethren,  I will try to carry on the good work that has been a credit to our lodge. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed time with family and friends.  Now it is time to work off all the extra weight from the good foods of the season.  And this term at Steilacoom will keep us busy in accomplishing that goal, for our Worshipful Master has an itenary of great events and involvements.  And we hope you will come and enjoy being a part of it.  Please call me or contact me by email of anything you want to share and express and the status of any of our brothers.  Thanks.  So, I would like to leave with some sayings that are to the point.  "Everything should be made as simple as possible but not one bit simpler." ---Albert Einstein "Keep the conscience clear, then never fear."---Benjamin Franklin "Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls dues."---William Inge "The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up."---Mark Twain Fraternally, WB Lee R. Webb II

From the Ex-Secretary 

We have a new corpse of officers and now we must go forward.

During the past year we have lost some of our old-timers:  Harvey L. Blue, Richard W. Attwood, Harry R. Lunetti, Lowrie R. Kelly, Kent Wegner, George W. Sandberg, Donald Miller, Lloyd Wayne Burchfiel, Lester D. Hansen, Clayton W. McClintock, Alex Ostwalt, James E. Smith, Almor Stern, and Elmer D. Stirn, Others may have passed on that we don’t know of.  We must stay in contact with those who we do not see monthly.

We have more than 40 members who have 50+ years in masonry.  We must work towards getting new, younger blood into our lodge.  Attendance is about 9-10 percent of the membership.  This is fine when we have a total membership of 294.  Age, sickness, and disbursement throughout the country may account for a greater number of absentees.  We do appreciate the brethren and their ladies at each meeting.  Let us grow while we have the “experts” to show us the way.  Carry a petition in your pocket!

Stan Cybulski

Board Report from South Tacoma Masonic Hall Association

Greetings from the Board of Directors of the South Tacoma Masonic Hall Assoc. Inc.

I felt that we should let you know how this Corporation works for you. Many of you were associated with a “Building Committee” and that is a different breed of animal. The Lodge members are the owners/shareholders of the Corporation and the Board of Directors manage the Corporate assets on their behalf.

The Board consists of six Directors, five of whom are elected by the members of Clover (Steilacoom) Lodge. They are elected at the Corporate Annual Meeting, which is held during the January stated meeting of the Lodge. The newly installed Junior Warden is the sixth director and serves one year with those elected. The Board members are normally elected for a three-year term. We elected an entire new Board last year and assigned terms of one, two and three years so we would have a normal turn over of members.

The Directors are governed by a set of by-laws specifying how they are elected and what their duties and responsibilities are as Board members. These by-laws were last amended in 1992 and we will need to do this again showing change of ownership of the Corporation.

With funds remaining in our bank account from Clover lodge we were able to accomplish the following improvements. We had the entire concrete block portion of the exterior painted with a special paint which should last ten to fifteen years. We removed the old electric range and replaced it with a modern gas range. We have four burners, a grille and double ovens. We had all the carpets stretched and cleaned, we had the dining room floor stripped and polished.

We have a new-lighted sign on top of our building that says South Tacoma Masonic Center along the top and just below there is Steilacoom Lodge #2 with Masonic emblems on each end.

We are melding the furnishings of both lodges together hoping to preserve the best of each in the process. Both Steilacoom lodge and Clover/Ancient Landmark lodge have a lot of history between them. We will be doing more this coming year to take advantage of pictures, memorabilia and historic items.

There are still projects that need to be completed to make our building more usable and convenient to all the groups that meet here. The kitchen needs a basic remodeling and a new dishwasher along with some sink and drain work. We want to replace all the lighting in the kitchen and dining room. Modify the indirect lighting in the lodge room to make it just a bit brighter. Replace the sound system with new equipment as needed. The last update of any of that system was 15 years ago. We need some minor repairs and painting on the wooden portion of the building exterior. We are also going to do a general clean out of all excess items, usable or unusable. 

Our goal is to provide a clean, usable, comfortable building that all of us can enjoy and be proud to call this our home.