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There’s no denying that Free Masonry is
rich in symbolism and mystery. But there’s no mystery locally however,
as the Masons here are known quite simply as a group of hard-working,
civic minded individuals.
And, with the purchase last year of the
old clinic building on Hwy 16, and subsequent renovations,
“hard-working” seems a more apt description than ever.
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ARMSTRONG LODGE. Lodge member Earl Sadberry in the Armstrong
Lodge’s renovated headquarters at the old clinic building on Hwy.
16 south. Lodge members did the work themselves (except for some
electrical) including the woodwork and tile. |
For many years, members of the Armstrong
Masonic Lodge #445 met in an old brick building on Reynosa Street.
“That building was built, by the Masonic
Lodge, in 1952,” said lodge member Earl Sadberry, “and I think at that
time they’d already contracted with the post office to rent out the
downstairs portion.”
The post office remained in the lower portion of the building until it
moved to new facilities on Hwy. 6, in 1998.
“Then later the library moved in,”
Sadberry said.
The Masons still own the building, but
lodge members decided to find new quarters for several reasons.
“There’s only one exit,” Sadberry said, “creating a potential fire
hazard. And our membership’s age had increased to the point where we
really needed a downstairs building.”
Which brings us to their new location, on
Hwy. 16, at the south end of town.
“This building was built in the 1970s by
Higginbothams as a funeral home,” Sadberry said. “They sold it to the
hospital, and they turned it into a clinic. This (large meeting) room
was originally a chapel, that’s why the configuration. When the
hospital bought it, they came in and put examination rooms in, so we
had to take all those down.”
The result is a large open meeting area,
with beautifully detailed wood work and tiled floor.
“Everything that was done in here, was
done by the members,” Sadberry said, “with the exception of some of
the electrical work.” Several pieces of the current lodge furnishings
had a rich history prior to their placement at the new location.
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WOODEN
COLUMNS. These old wooden columns were rescued from the old
Desdemona Masonic Lodge building and renovated by Armstrong Lodge
members. |
“Those two wooden columns, and this light
fixture, were rescued from the Desdemona Lodge,” Sadberry said. “Mrs.
Gale Clayton, present owner of that building, allowed us to recover
and restore them and we are most appreciative. The Desdemona Lodge
joined with Gorman in 1984 and these items were left in their old
building.”
Although the columns and light fixture
look wonderful now, that was not the case in the beginning.
“They didn’t look like this,” Sadberry said, “The columns had been
used as an owl perch, and the light would have looked like an old
piece of junk if you didn’t know what it was.”
Just as in the building renovations,
several Lodge members stepped forward and carefully refinished the
columns, and rewired and refinished the lamp.
Even though the theater-style seating
around the room most recently came from the previous Armstrong Lodge
location, they have a bit more history as well.
“They were acquired from the movie
theater here,” Sadberry said, “if anybody can remember when they had
one downtown. To give you an idea of how old they are, they still have
the original hat racks on the bottom of the seats. We had a lady who
had just joined the Eastern Star recently, and she reupholstered
them.”
A lighted letter “G” is featured
prominently in the new lodge, and Sadberry explains its significance.
“The letter G actually has two significations,” he said. “It alludes
to geometry, first of all, and it also alludes to God.”
Although there is a certain amount of
mystery associated with the Masons, Sadberry said there is
surprisingly little that is a secret.
“The only thing secret about Masonry,”
Sadberry said, “is a few passwords and so forth that we use to verify
that someone has been through the degrees, to eliminate imposters,
basically. What we do here is nothing you can’t see on the history
channel.”
Sadberry went on to explain that most
everything displayed in the lodge has some sort of symbolic
significance.
“The three lights, the columns,
everything in here, all of this relates back to King Solomon’s temple
when it was being built,” he said. You have officers in the east, west
and south, but no nobody’s over in the north, because the north is,
Masonically, called the place of darkness. King Solomon’s temple was
built north, so there was never any light that got to the north. So
the significance is based on stuff like that.”
Sadberry said he believes, “most Masons
don’t discuss it much because most of us don’t know enough about it to
know what we can tell and what we can’t.”
Masonic Lodge members are also known for
their generosity.
“We give out a scholarship every year,”
Sadberry said, “and if somebody’s really in need, we try to help them
anyway we can. And Masonry as a whole, including “Blue Lodges” which
is what this is, (it’s the ground roots) Scottish Rite, York Rite and
Shrine contribute over a million dollars a day to charities,
nationwide. And it’s getting close to two million.”
Masonic Lodge members also pitch in where
needed, having recently worked, with the Boy Scouts, to help erect the
playground equipment at the new Festival Park.
Locally, Master of the Lodge is Bill
Plaunty. There are five stations that are elected, and the rest are
appointed.
According to Sadberry, Eastern Star
members use the lodge facilities too.
“Men and women both belong to the Eastern
Star,” he said.
In DeLeon, the “monthly stated meeting”
is the first Tuesday of every month. “Each lodge picks its own stated
meeting (day),” Sadberry said. “And then we have called meetings for
any special purpose. We have two different kinds of meetings, a tiled
meeting, which is for members only, and an open meeting, which anyone
can attend.”
Some of those are the “degree” meetings.
“In the Blue Lodge, there are three
separate degrees,” Sadberry said. “There’s an entered apprentice?,
which is the first step. Once they’re initiated, they have a learning
process they have to go through, a series of questions and answers to
learn. Then they advance to a Fellow Craft degree, and that’s the
second degree. They have a few more answers to learn and then they
progress to the Master’s degree, that’s the third degree.”
The new location on Hwy 16, includes a
nice kitchen and roomy dining area. There’s also a separate reception
area and several vacant office suites that lodge members hope to rent.
“We have 1,400 sq. ft. of office space
for rent,” Sadberry said. “And there’s one office here that could be
used as a library, or for someone that really wanted a single office
to rent, we could probably do that,” Sadberry said. The rental space
is arranged with a separate entrance, as well as separate utility
meters.
“And anyone that rents this can shut it
off and have a secure area,” Sadberry said. He then goes on to
describe other ways the lodge members will make the office space a
comfortable and attractive rental space, and it’s obvious that lodge
members will be as compassionate and caring with their tenants as they
are with their fellow DeLeon residents -- which is all in keeping with
their beliefs.
“The purpose (of being a Masonic Lodge
member) is to be able to associate with a group of individuals who
have a single purpose of improving ourselves morally and spiritually,
and at the same time help our communities,” Sadberry said. |
