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St. John’s Lodge No. 9, F. & A. M.
Trestleboard
7910 Greenwood Ave. N.
(206) 623-0261
stjohns9@seattlemasons.org
www.seattlemasons.org
April 2015
Jim Russell, editor
Serving Seattle since 1860
FROM THE EAST
Masonic Wages
“To pay the Craft their wages, if
aught be due…….”
By his sixteenth birthday, George Washington had
Masonic wages are those which
written, copied actually, “110 Rules of Civility & Decent
are paid in love and brotherhood and
Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Although attributed
mutual help and information and
to our beloved brother, French Jesuits may actually have
inspiration and charity and assistance
composed these rules in the 1500s. Some of these rules sound
and being pals. They are worth much
a little stuffy but they show a character that is becoming very
more than money. Take the Masonic
difficult to find in today’s society: these rules focus on other people rather than on
wages out of a Lodge and you would
our own self-interests. More than just manners, they teach us to make small
need to revise the whole fraternity.
sacrifices for the good of everyone and the sake of harmony.
The payment Masons make to
So why did Brother George select the following as the First Rule: “Every
Masons is the most valuable which a
Action done in Company ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are
man can receive.
Present.” Perhaps Brother George believes that respect is the keystone to the
success of civility.
CALENDAR
First of all, what is respect? Respect is a feeling of esteem given to a person
 April 9 (7pm): Officers meeting
or group. It relates to one’s positive ethics and attitude towards other people and
 April 15 (6:15pm) 7:30pm: St.
entities. Respecting others is a way to express our feeling for them. It’s a method John’s 9 (dinner) Stated Official Visit
of communication, which can build strong relations between people by respecting
DDGM5
each other. When a person shows respect for someone, it means that the person has  April 18 (10am): Daylight 232
some value for him. Some people, often the younger generation, think that
Table Lodge
showing respect means that they are degrading their own selves. They take respect  April 25 (10am): Past Masters
Brunch (Jimmy’s On Broadway)
as a sign of weakness or inferiority that could harm one’s self-respect. However,
 April 25 (10am: Masonic Service
this concept is very wrong at its core. Respect is a basic trait or emotion, which
Bureau (Kirkland Masonic Center)
makes us real human beings.
 April 27 (7-9pm): Ritual
The best benefit of showing someone respect is getting it back. As is often
instruction classes
said, respect is not something that you get by asking for it or demanding it but
 April 28 (7pm): “Intender”
rather by earning it. To be able to earn the respect of others, one must also show
Masonic Education Study
respect to them.
 April 29 (6:30pm): District 5
In Lodge, we are expected to conduct ourselves with the proper decorum; to
Assoc. meeting (Spiro’s Pizza)
show respect to our Brethren, the Lodge, Ritual and Masonry. While every Brother
 May 3 (8:30am-10am): FABulous
professes a respect for the Lodge, etc., we must all be diligent to guard against
Family Brunch – Ivar’s Salmon
unintentional disrespectful behaviors. Minor and offhand actions can actually be
House
disrespectful. Actions such as: talking during the ritual, laughing or jibing when
 May 7 (7pm): Master Masons
officers make mistakes, not doing what you say you will do and being
Study Group Greenwood
unappreciative of the work of others are all signs of disrespect to others. Although
 May 13 (6pm): Board of Trustees
unintended, these actions can cause significant hard feelings among the Brothers. In  May 16 (1pm): Open Air FC°
Roche Harbor (lunch 11am)
this area we all can work to improve.
 May 20 (6:15pm) 7:30pm: St.
Parson Weems got this right; when he wrote that it was “no wonder
John’s 9 (dinner) Stated
everybody honored him who honored everybody.”
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FABulous Family Appreciation Brunch
Sunday, May 3 – again at Ivar’s Salmon House on Lake Union
 May 21 (7pm): MM ° practice
 May 28 (7pm): Master Mason
degree
 June 2 (6:30): Mark Twain
Speaks dinner & entertainment
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WBro. Russ Johnson, Master
April 15 Stated Communication
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WBro. Russ Johnson and his officers invite everyone to come out to our April stated communication for a full
evening of food, fellowship and Masonic instruction. Our Deputy of the Grand Master, VWBro. Sam
Ali, will be making his first “official visit” bringing greetings from the Grand Lodge and offering a
few inspirational gems of wisdom. VWBro. Ali is just getting his “feet wet” in his new role as
Deputy of the Grand Master, only appointed to this position in February following the resignation and
departure to the East Coast by VWBro. Franklin Donahoe.
VWBro. Jim Russell, Lodge secretary and a member of the fraternity since 1984, will present
this month’s Masonic education topic “How does Freemasonry really work on each Freemason?”
followed by discussion on “is this Fraternity really worth my time and why?” Members of the Lodge
will be encouraged to answer this question during the discussion period. (Because of very full
VW Sam Ali
business agendas, this will be the third attempt to hear VWBro. Russell’s thoughts on this subject.)
VWBro. Ali is a Past Master of Daylight Lodge No. 232. He was the winner of the Grand Lodge Senior Warden’s
ritual competition in 2013.
Last month we celebrated in grand style with our
FAMILY APPRECIATION BRUNCH MAY 3
annual Table Lodge – a tiled combination of Lodge
Bring the kids. Bring mom, dad, and brother and sis!
business and dinner amid an abundance of Toasts. This
Reservations for this year’s FABulous Family
month we again welcome all guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Appreciation
Brunch will again be limited, so don’t wait
to our dinner and program. “Meet and greet” time
too
long
to
get
your name on the list. Call the Lodge
generally begins at 5:30pm, followed by dinner at 6:15.
number today for this Sunday
Please make your dinner reservations with the secretary
morning May 3 event. Ivar’s
at 206 623-0261 by Friday, April 10, prior to the meeting.
Salmon House will open the
If you need a ride, the secretary will be happy to find one
doors at 8:30 for our St. John’s
for you. Do you know of a brother who has not attended
crowd – the public will be admitLodge in a while? Call him and ask if you can pick him
ted at 9:30. If you arrive after
up and bring him to Lodge.
9:30, you’ll likely be charged
along
with
the
general
public
(and fight the crowd).
Grand Master’s Golf Invitational
The Salmon House is located on the north shore of
Lake Union and puts out a FABulous spread for our
enjoyment.
Below is just a sampling of one of Seattle's best
brunches (Note: offerings may change due to seasonality).
• Alder-Roasted Blackened Salmon over Andouille
nd
Corn
Hash
The 2 annual “Grand Masters Golf Invitational”
rd
• Salmon Cakes
will be held Sunday, May 3 , 2015 at the Nile Shrine Golf
• Crab and cheddar egg strata
Course. Here is an opportunity for Fellowship,
• Dungeness and Snow Crab Legs
Friendship, Fraternalism, Family and Fun. This event is
• Carving station including Prime Rib, Honey Glazed
designed to support our youth groups and is open to
Ham,
Roasted Chicken
anyone who wants to take the challenge.
•
Oyster shooter bar
The tournament will be a 4-person scramble. Tee
• Sautéed clams in white wine sauce
time is 8am, with a shotgun start. Signups are under way.
• Ivar’s award-winning clam and salmon chowders
The cost is $100 per player. This covers green fees, cart• Traditional breakfast delicacies including eggs,
sharing, snack bag, golf goodie bag and a banquet
French toast, sweet breads, buttermilk pancakes, sausage,
afterwards at the course.
thick-cut hickory bacon, breakfast potatoes
Visit with the Grand Master and his team members.
• Made-to-order omelets and crepes
For further information contact gmgolf@freemasons• Various salads and fresh fruit
wa.org. Deadline for Registration and Payment is
• House-made pastries and legendary dessert bar
April 24th, 2015.
including chocolate fountain
This event conflicts with the St. John’s FABulous
• Complimentary beverages including coffee, tea, soft
Family Brunch, so you golfers will have to make a tough
drinks
and juice (free refills)
choice.
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DEPUTY OF THE GRAND MASTER TO VISIT IN APRIL
MARK TWAIN VISITS IN JUNE
Fifteen members of St. John’s Lodge enjoyed the
opportunity to share a Saturday with our Grand Master,
MWBro. Sam Roberts last month.
Brothers from all Lodges in our District had lunch
followed by a report on the “state of the District” from our
newly appointed District Deputy, VWBro. Sam Ali.
Grand Master Roberts invited the brothers to share their
concerns and also reported on what is happening in our
Washington jurisdiction. He encouraged the brothers to
attend the annual meeting of Grand Lodge in Kennewick
this coming June and said that there are a few exciting
changes coming our way.
Two candidates for Junior Grand Warden spoke and
were available to greet the brethren.
VWBro. Tom Eastman, a member of St. John’s and a
Past Master of Eureka Lodge No. 20 received the
prestigious Grand Master’s Achievement Award for his
many contributions and service to our District.
Attending from St. John’s were brothers Ashley
Brinkley, Chuck Brockway, Greg Brown, David
Campbell, Fred Eastman, Tom Eastman, David
Holdsworth, Al Jorgensen, John Louderback, Jim
Lumsden, Jeffrey Pullen, Neil Quinn, Jim Russell, Charles
Tupper, and Darrel Womack.
CHARTER
In Latin charta was a paper, a card, a map; in Medieval
Latin this became an official paper, as in the case of
“Magna Charta.” Our “chart” and “card” are derived from
the same root. A Masonic charter is the written paper, or
instrument, empowering a group of brethren to act as a
Lodge.
An Evening with Mark Twain
Dinner and show: $10 (advance), $15 at door
Send $10 to “St. John's Lodge No. 9”, identify “Twain”
PO Box 30069, Seattle, WA, 98113
Fifty years ago this month….
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St. John’s Brothers Enjoy District Meeting
On April 29, 1965, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck Puget
Sound, exactly 20 years after a lesser temblor did the same.
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MWBro. Roberts
presents VWBro.
Eastman his GMA
Is there anyone who hasn’t read a little Mark Twain
and fallen in love with his work? Or has heard about his
successes and even more failures? Counted among his
greatest successes were his live
lectures and tales of adventure.
Spend an entertaining,
homespun evening with
Jefferson H. Jordan, Jr.,
performing as master storyteller
Mark Twain, a.k.a Samuel
Clemens, in his one-man tribute
to the great American writer
and humorist’s life and works.
MWBro. Jefferson Jordan,
Grand Master of the Most
Worshipful Grand Lodge of
New Mexico AF&AM is known for his portrayal of Bro.
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). St. John’s is bringing
MWBro. Jordan to entertain us on Tuesday, June 2nd, at
the Greenwood Masonic Center.
Dinner will be served at 6:30pm, followed by an
“Evening with Mark Twain” starting at about 7:15.
Tickets for the buffet dinner and show are $10 in advance
- $15 at the door. Mail your reservation payable to St.
John’s Lodge.
MWBro. Jordan was elected as Grand Master of New
Mexico Grand Lodge AF&AM in March. He is also a
member of the York Rite, Scottish Rite and the Shrine.
FABULOUS FAMILY APPRECIATION BRUNCH RETURNS MAY 3
Reservations Required - Act Today!!!
St. John's Lodge extends a cordial invitation to you and your family to be its guests on Sunday, May 3, for our 21st
annual FABulous Family Appreciation Brunch at Ivar’s Salmon House
beginning at 8:30 a.m. Doors open to the public at 9:30, so let’s beat the crowd!
Ivar’s Salmon House is known throughout the Northwest and beyond for its fine
cuisine and alder-smoked salmon. St. John’s members have also discovered their
FABulous breakfast buffet!
For our Brothers, as the name implies, all members of your family are invited.
We encourage the kids to join us. Don’t forget
Mom!
For the Widow of our departed Brother, we
invite you and your family members to share in this
springtime celebration. We encourage the grandchildren to
join us.
St. John’s will be picking up the tab except for any alcoholic
beverages – those are on you.
Reservations are mandatory and are limited. Call the Lodge number 206 623-0261.
IVAR’S SALMON HOUSE
Taste what generations of families have known for, well... generations!
Join us Sunday, May 3rd, for a lavish Seafood (and more) Buffet Brunch from 8:30 a.m. to
10:00 a.m. Call: (206) 623-0261 or email stjohns9@seattlemasons.org for reservations.
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Directions to Ivar's Salmon House:
Take 1-5 to N.E. 45th Exit (#169). Go east,
toward the University of Washington, and
turn right at Brooklyn Avenue. Follow
Brooklyn to Pacific Street and turn right. At
stop sign, turn left. The Salmon House is
one block further, on the left, at 401
N.E. Northlake Way.
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Choose from wild salmon roasted over an alder BBQ pit, cracked Dungeness crab, chilled cocktail prawns, Manila
clams, mussels, freshly shucked Pacific oysters, carving station with prime rib and honey baked ham, made-to-order
omelet, crepes and pasta, traditional breakfast fare, freshly prepared salads, fresh fruit and a legendary dessert bar.
Give me time to think. Give me a moment. Give
me a second. You have heard these words many times,
and you could not! It’s not yours to give. You have
your time and I have mine. I can share with you a
moment of my time. It takes my time to write this
message to you and I hope that it brings meaning to you.
I hope that it provokes thought.
“Time is money.” Wrong! Money can’t buy
Time. (Fact). Money can’t even buy Happiness.
When you are born you’re given only so much time
and what you do with your time is your business. When
you are sitting in your rocking chair in the golden days of
your life, all you will have are the memories, if you even
have that!
Don’t waste your time. Don’t waste your life. Don’t
wait for anything. (Well, I overstate a bit.) Wait for me to
complete this thought. "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on
Earth)” – John Lennon.
What are you doing with your time? You are
probably doing what you have to do! I am. It so happens
that I am finding that this time is soul searching for myself
as well as conveying this message to you.
Who are you that I am writing to? You are my
fraternal brother. I may not have met you yet. In time we
will meet. We share a meal and attend Lodge in the
inspiration that joins us together. It may be on a different
day and a Lodge in a State that I have never been to – yet.
The theme of “give me time” is not a request for your
time. It is an alarm. Take time where you can. Enjoy
every moment. Make time. Make every moment count.
Have fun. Laugh without concern. Join in a conversation
not a controversy.
Time now to think; think how you can affect the
world, your community, your neighbors. Oh, what the
heck. Reach out and touch your bride and say “Thank
You.”
Think now, you have the time. Give time when you
can share it. Take your time you deserve it.
District 5 Event Might Be Up Your Alley!
The District 5 Assoc. is looking to offer a day of
Bowling at the Roxbury Lanes and Casino—2823 SW
Roxbury, Seattle. District
president Bro. Steve Harrell is
looking to reserve a day in May
or June and will have
information and cost available
for the April 29 Association meeting. Expect Lodge
competition as well as a possible competition with District
4. Start practicing to knock down those pins!
o VWBro. Jim Maher announces that there will be a
South King County Rainbow for Girls reception at the
Renton Masonic Center on May 2 to honor the Grand
Worthy Advisor. (The Grand Worthy Advisor is
Susannah Maher, VWBro. Maher’s daughter.) Tickets are
available at $36 each.
o Bro. Steve Harrell encourages the brothers to help out
at the Masonic Information Booth at the Fremont Fair,
June 20-21. A sign-up sheet is available through the
Daylight Lodge website.
o Bro. Andrew Everett invites everyone to his
installation as DeMolay’s State Master
Councilor at Great Wolf Lodge (Grand
Mound) on Saturday, April 25. Dinner
($39) will be at 6:30, followed by the
installation of officers at approximately
8:15.
o VWBro. Ashley Brinkley reports that
tickets are available for the June 26 Everett AquaSox
baseball game. They are priced at $10 each and include
the game and all-you-can-eat pre-game gathering in the
covered food pavilion.
o WBro. Eric Koteles reports that the Master Mason
study group holds monthly sessions in the Greenwood
Masonic library, led by WBro. Helmuth Svoboda.
In 1895
They got it right the first time!
State of Washington public education: HB 90,
broadened curriculum to provide that “not less than ten
minutes each week must be devoted to systematic
teaching of kindness to not only our domestic animals,
but to all living creatures” (1895 Wash. Session Laws Ch.
V, Sec. 1).
APRIL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:
Here’s a look at what’s happening at our April stated
communication:
Dinner - guests welcome
1. Menu: Minestrone soup; beef tenderloin with
bordelaise sauce; season roasted vegetables and potatoes;
deep fried apple pie a la mode. (allergies, vegetarian? Let
us know a week before.)
2. Know your brother (tentative)
3. Committee chairmen reports
Stated Meeting - tiled
1. Masonic education: How does Freemasonry
really work on each Freemason?
2. Deputy of the Grand Master visits
Refreshments
Kick back, visit, and enjoy a beverage and dessert
5
Bro. Jeffrey Pullen
Give Me Time
GOOD OF THE ORDER
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Junior Warden Message
Here’s a little known fact about Freemasons – they are
obsessed with empty chairs. You don’t have to talk very
long to just about any group of Masons, and the subject of all
those empty chairs comes up. “We’ve got to fill those empty
chairs in our Lodges!” they’ll exclaim. The Blue Lodges are
worried about empty chairs. The Scottish Rite is worried
about those empty chairs. The York Rite is worried about
empty chairs. The Shrine. Amaranth. Order of the Eastern
Star. “We've got to fill those blessed empty chairs!”
Grand Lodges come up with plans to increase
membership. Here in Illinois, just since I’ve been a Mason
we’ve had several different ideas about how to fill those
chairs. We went from 2B1ASK1 to being able to ask
somebody if they'd like to join our Fraternity. We still have
empty chairs. One of our Grand Masters, a good friend of
mine, had a great plan. Every member should add a member
to their Blue Lodge. He was known to always have petitions
in his pocket. We did add members, but we still have empty
chairs. My York Rite Chapter back when I joined came up
with a magic number of new members they’d like to add that
year, and they worked tirelessly, putting on degrees, and
putting guys through the Chapter. They added a large
number of new members. I was one of those guys that went
through then. Guess what? They still have empty chairs!
The problem is, we’re asking the wrong question. The
question isn’t how can we fill those chairs – the question is
why are those chairs empty to begin with?
When I joined the Lodge, it was because I was looking
for something. I wanted to improve myself. I wanted to
learn new things. I wanted to gain new skills. I wanted to be
more active in my community. I wanted to be a part of
something traditional and something ancient. In an ever
changing world, I wanted something in my life that remained
steady and consistent. And I’ve found all those things, but
not entirely within the walls of my Lodge. Much of what
I’ve gained has been through my own explorations and
studies into the Craft. If it hadn’t been for my own initiative
I’m not sure I would have found that greater meaning that
makes my Lodge attendance and participation so fulfilling.
Our chairs are empty because so many of our Lodges
have gotten so involved with the business of Freemasonry,
they’ve forgotten the purpose of the Craft – to make good
men better by constantly working to improve ourselves. We
spend so much time reading minutes, and reciting committee
reports, we forget that we’re supposed to be learning
something as well. The expectation of our membership
versus the reality of our meetings is the reason so many of
our chairs are empty.
The world is a busy place, and very few men are willing
to waste a couple hours of their time once or twice a month
to sit through a meeting when the only thing they might learn
in that meeting is that the Lodge’s building insurance went
up 8% from last year, and somebody needs to make sure we
have enough pancake mix by Saturday’s breakfast.
Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight
Freemasons blog and the author of several books and novels,
including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is a
Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and currently serves
as Secretary. You can contact him at:
webmaster@toddcreason.org
Bandera Masonic Lodge Awards Essay Winners
Bandera, Texas - Representatives from the Bandera
Masonic Lodge awarded top fifth grade writers at each
Bandera SD elementary school an HP split tablet laptop
for their winning essay entries in the annual Masonic
Lodge contest. The runner-up at each campus received a
check for $100.
This year’s essay topic was taken from an
inspirational quotation given by Bandera School District
Athletic Director David T. Sine – “In order to sail the high
seas of tomorrow, you cannot be anchored to yesterday.”
Each January, fifth graders at Alkek and Hill
Country elementary schools are challenged to write an
essay that highlights patriotism, scholarship or American
heroes on a designated topic.
The Masonic Lodge of Bandera has sponsored this
contest for more than 25 years.
…and Eureka Lodge Sponsors a Science Fair…
St. John's brothers WB Greg Brown and VWB Tom
Eastman getting ready to present the awards (on table
behind) at the 58th annual Washington State Science and
Engineering Fair in Bremerton on March 28th. Eureka
Lodge No. 20 is a major sponsor of the Fair and WB Greg
is the current Master of Eureka. VWB Tom is a Eureka
Past Master.
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by Todd E. Creason, 33°
There’s no sense in worrying about how to fill those
chairs in your Lodge if you aren’t willing to figure out why
they are empty to begin with. We must do better. Like it
was said in that famous movie “Field of Dreams” – if you
build it they will come. Your Lodge will start seeing fewer
and fewer empty chairs when you start giving your members,
old and new, the thing we promised them in the beginning –
Light!
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Freemasonry's Obsession with Empty Chairs
St. John’s April 15 Communication: Headline 150 Years Ago
Lincoln is assassinated and Olympia and Seattle mourn on April 15, 1865
HistoryLink.org Essay 858
about unattended, in the darkness of night, as the noon day
sun. This was the most severe blow we had yet received,
for it shook the confidence of man in his fellow-man and
almost seemed to betoken a revival of scenes as bloody as
had marked the French Revolution, but it was the last
expiring struggle of slavery, and the blood of Abraham
Lincoln, poured out on the altar of Freedom, had consecrated our soil forever, so that none but Freemen could
hereafter breathe upon it. The assassin’s knife had only
added certainly to certainty” (Seattle Weekly Gazette).
The shock and sorrow apparently was shared by
nearly everyone. Following President Lincoln’s death,
every Puget Sound newspaper printed black borders
around all of their columns.
Years later an episode came to light that occurred
when the news of Lincoln’s assassination reached Seattle.
Jake Harding, a fiddler who played for Seattle’s First
Dance, and who used to “call” Quadrilles in Chinook
Jargon for dances attended by both Indians and whites,
worked at the time in the Eureka Bakery. In 1909 Harding
recalled that when the news of the assassination came, “a
sawyer in Yesler’s mill, named Bill B. Dillon, said he was
d----d glad it had happened.” This fellow was chased for
days, “for the purpose of hanging him from a tree, but he
escaped in a canoe and was never seen again.” (Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, 1909).
Sources:
Seattle Weekly Gazette, April 20, 1865, p. 2; Washington Democrat,
(Olympia), April 15, 1865, p. 2; "Jake Harding Fiddled for First Dance
in Seattle," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 20, 1909, p. 1.
By Greg Lange, February 03, 1999
The annual communication of Grand Lodge is
practically around the corner. The 2015 annual
communication will be Friday, June 12th and Saturday,
June 13th at the Three Rivers Convention Center in
Kennewick, Washington.
Get the registration information from the GL website
at http://www.freemason-wa.org/, but hurry, hotel space is
filling fast. Thinking that you will skip this year? Think
again! This is where we elect the Junior Grand Warden (a
future Grand Master), vote on changes to our rules and
laws and review our finances. It’s THAT important!
All Master Masons are eligible to attend the annual
session, with voting rights for Masters, Wardens and Past
Masters.
Three have declared their candidacy for Junior Grand
Warden. They are VWBros. James Kendall, Paul
Waadevig, and Charles Wood. Each has contributed his
thoughts about the future of Washington Freemasonry
within the pages of the Masonic Tribune.
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GRAND LODGE ANNUAL COMMUNICATION
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At about 1pm on April 15, 1865, Olympia and Seattle
(probably at the same time) received news by telegraph
that President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) had died that
morning from an assassin’s bullet he received the night
before. Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States
of America, and guided the country through the Civil War.
The Washington Democrat in Olympia reprinted the
first news by telegraph transmission received from the
East Coast via California as follows:
“Marysville, Cal. Saturday, April 15. President
Lincoln was shot through the head at Ford's Theatre at
Washington [D.C.] last night. Secretary Seward was
simultaneously stabbed in his bed. The President died at
8:30 this morning. Seward about 9 o'clock.”
There are misstatements in the telegraph. The
president died at 7:22am, not at 8:30. Secretary William
Seward (1801-1872), secretary of state in Lincoln's
cabinet, was badly injured, but survived the stabbing. In
1867 he would negotiate the purchase of Alaska from the
Russians.
Seattle gathered to mourn Lincoln’s death in one of
the largest meetings ever assembled here. The main
speaker, the Honorable Selucius Garfielde, addressed the
people in an “eloquent and thrilling” oration. In summary
he stated:
“Deep as was the stain ... cast on the American
Nation by this causeless and cruel rebellion, - low as we
had sunk in our own estimation, we were to sink still
lower. It had been our boast and pride, that [President
Lincoln], our Ruler, was one of ourselves. No pomp or
pageantry surrounded him; no body guard waited on him
as he went forth, nor sentry kept a watch at his door, but,
secure in that respect which his fellow citizens paid his
station, let their politics be what they might, he had moved
Delia Motavalli - Fairfield, Connecticut
Dependency CASA Program
I believe in finding a good frog. It seems that all
throughout childhood, we are taught to look for a happily
ever after. “And they all lived happily ever after”; isn’t that
the conclusion to many children’s films? When I was a kid I
always thought of that as magical; but now really it just
seems unrealistic. And it teaches us that what we want is a
fairytale like they have in the storybooks. We all want to be
Cinderella who gets swept off her feet
by the hot prince; we want to live in
the royal castle, right? But I don’t
think that’s necessarily a good thing
for us to seek. Now I’m not saying I
believe in being pessimistic, but I do
believe in being realistic; it’s
something I got from my mom.
My mother and I always have our
best conversations in the rain. We sit
Delia Motavalli
in the car, neither of us wanting to
brave the rain to get to the house. So we sit. We watch
droplets race down the windshield, listen to the rain strike the
roof of her little blue Honda, and feel the heater on full-blast
rushing at our feet (just the way we like it). I don’t know
why, but sitting in the car, we always talk more than normal.
There was one rainy day when my mom told me something
that is going to stick with me forever. Earlier that day she
and my dad had been arguing about something; I can’t
remember what. So she said, “Don’t spend your life looking
for Prince Charming. Instead, find yourself a really good
frog.” At the time, I found this thought really disheartening.
Who wants to think that you’ll never find Prince Charming?
You’ll never get to be Cinderella? Another thought that
struck my mind: if my mom says there’s no Prince
Charming, then what’s my dad? A frog? I asked her, and she
replied with, “Of course! If he were Prince Charming, he
wouldn’t snore, would be able to cook, and we would never
argue. But you know what? He’s a damn good frog.” Of
course, being young, I didn’t think of the meaning behind
what she was saying. I was too busy thinking of it literally,
visualizing my mom as a princess and my dad in frog form.
But a few years later, I understand the value of my
mom’s words. You can’t expect everything to be perfect.
Let’s be completely honest; if you wait your whole life for
your prince with flowing hair, statuesque features, and a
white horse, you’re going to be lonely. I think that the point
of finding a good frog is you accept something that’s great,
flaws and all. It’s so easy to be picky. You can find the one
tiny thing that’s wrong, and that one tiny thing is what you
can’t get your mind off of. But in life, we can’t afford to wait
years in vain for perfection. So I think that a good frog, an
amazing frog, the best frog you can find is what we’re really
looking for in this world. Don’t laze through life waiting for
a happily ever after, because I don’t think you’ll be very
happy with the outcome.
This I believe.
One of many community programs that St. John’s
members help to support, both with our time and our
dollars, is the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
program for children. In addition to our financial support,
our Treasurer VWBro. Jim Maher devotes a portion of his
time to this cause.
A Voice For Children
The Dependency CASA Program serves children up
to 11 years old who have allegedly been abused and/or
neglected. The process focuses on the best interests of the
child. The court will try to reunite a family if conditions
at home improve sufficiently.
A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a
trained volunteer who represents the best interests of
children as they are taken through the legal process.
These trained volunteers:
 Investigate the case and inform the court
 Help identify resources to address a child’s
special needs
 Recommend temporary and permanent plans for
the child
Process Designed To Act Quickly
Usually, a court orders the appointment of a CASA
and the program attempts to quickly assign the case to an
available volunteer.
The CASA talks with the child, parents, family
members, social worker, school personnel, health care
providers, foster parents and others who know about the
child’s situation. In addition, the CASA reviews relevant
documentation and prepares periodic reports to the court
as to findings and recommendations for the child. The
CASA assignment continues until the child is returned
home or finds another permanent home.
Volunteers are represented in court by program
attorneys and assisted by paralegals and social work staff.
The Advocates
Each Court Appointed Special Advocate is screened,
trained and supervised. They are equipped with a detailed
training manual and must complete 28 hours of training
before receiving a case. Volunteers also participate in
ongoing training, study groups and recognition events and
conferences.
Due to a shortage of volunteers, the program is
currently able to assign a CASA in only about 60 percent
of the dependency cases in King County.
The program is accredited by the National CASA
Association, which conducts regular assessments, using 12
standards of compliance, and requires periodic
reaccreditation. In addition, the program frequently
solicits feedback from attorneys and the advocates they
represent.
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St. John’s Charities
Page
Find a Good Frog