Lewis Jewels At Queensboro
A Night to Remember October 1, 2015
On the evening of October 1, 2015 a number of great Masonic events took place in Queens at Queensboro Lodge No. 892.The Lodge was opened by the MW William J. Thomas, Grand Master of Masons of the State of New York. He presided over a FULL Lodge room, it was a sublime evening for all who were there. The first event was the awarding of the Lewis Medallions to the many (I later heard it was 50 all total!!!) fathers and/or sons and grandsons in attendance, by MW William J. Thomas.
Queens District Deputy RW Joe Saglimbene sat as the Senior Warden and Grand Stewart RW John McKoy sat as the Junior Warden. Brother Christopher Kane presented the District Brotherhood Fund Certificate to Brother Sal Bonomo for his years of hard work and service to the Brotherhood Fund. RW Stewart C. McCloud II presented Pins and Certificates to Brother Christian Schlottmann for 60 years, to Worshipful Frederick Garttner, Sr. for 55 years and to Right Worshipful Jay Austin for 50 years.
The District Deputy was then presented with a special thank you for all the work he has done for the Lodge over the past year.
The Grand Master then spoke of how a relationship with Brothers is a wonderful thing, but, a father/son relationship is something very special. We have great pride in transmitting Brotherhood from father to son. The Grand Master then explained what a Lewis was and said it is a strong bond made between father and son. New Masters are respected and older Masters should be respected because of what they have brought to the Craft.
MW Thomas went on to talk about guarding the west gate, the inner door and outer door is something we all should be aware of. If you sign a petition you should REALLY know the person before taking him in as a Brother. The candidate should feel comfortable as well as the Brothers of the Lodge so that you know the candidate will be a good fit for the Lodge. Another thing we should be checking on is police records! How would you feel if a sex offender were sitting next to you in Lodge? In your home? We are the ones responsible for guarding the gates, if we let our standards fall we are all responsible. Do a Facebook check, a criminal background check, you never know who is knocking at our door!
The Grand Master then spoke about making meetings more interesting, this way we will keep Brothers coming back for more “Light”. If you don’t change the way the meeting goes you will get the same old results, and this leads to Bored Brothers. “You have to”, as Newton said, “change the inertia”.
A hearty round of applause was given to RW Chick Berger for all the years of service he has given to Masonry and to the Queens District. He was always there to help a new Brother to become all that he could be. He made a success of his Masonry and all the brothers he came in contact with over the years.
It was noted that Grand Lodge Session was in only 215 days, so we should start getting ready. The Lodge was then closed in due and ancient form.
Presented by,
W Nicholas Isabella
Queens District Historian