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CALIFORNIA CHAPTERS MOVE INTO THE COMMUNITY
Each Chapter in California is being
challenged to complete at least one Community Service Project within their
community!
Not sure what to do? Here are a few
suggestions for your Chapter:
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Community Dinners – Members of Lily
of the Lake Chapter (Lemoore) and Welcome Lodge, local businesses, and
other members of the community have helped and continue to put on an
annual Thanksgiving dinner, ‘free’ to local citizens. The Walt and Trish
Kendell (members of the Chapter and Lodge) family organized this event.
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Parades – Fallbrook Chapter (San
Diego) participates in their local Christmas Parade.
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Fairs & Homecomings — Star of Vista
Chapter (San Diego) participates in their local Highland Games,
Fallbrook (San Diego) participates with Avocado Days, and Joaquin
Chapter (Tracy) participated in an Antiques Road Show.
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Human Services Agencies — Help
“kids” that have been removed from their homes with donations of toys or
clothing, Lucerne Chapter (Hanford) gives new toys and a monetary
donation each Christmas to their local agency. A Chapter in the East Bay
Assoc. has been working closely with a Homeless Shelter. They are
helping to make a difference for the homeless people in the East Bay
area.
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Child ID Programs – Lucerne Chapter
(Hanford) helps Hanford Lodge with this program at the Chili Cook-Off,
International Day in the Park, most community functions, and at
Pre-Schools. Many of our Chapters participate with their local Lodges in
this worthwhile program.
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Reading Mentor Programs — ask your
local elementary school or library if they have a program. Members of
Big Bear Chapter (Big Bear) have joined other community service
organizations (Kiwanis, Arts Council, the High School Mihaylo
Foundation, Church of Religious Science, Friends of the Library,
Soroptimists, Lions, and the Bear Valley Read-To-Learn Literacy Tutors)
for hosting a “Spell-A-Thon” to raise money for the local library’s
Learn-To-Read Adult Literacy Program.
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Association or District Yard Sales —
donate the money to a local Women’s Shelter or Recreation Department
(helps the summer free breakfast/lunch programs).
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Local Cancer Awareness Runs/Walks —
There are many Chapters participating in a Cancer Dressing Station and
donating knitted blankets or caps to local cancer patients.
The most important thing to remember about your Chapter’s
Community Service Project is to have FUN! Whatever your Chapter decides to
do please remember to take pictures and send them with a caption to the
Public Relations Committee. Don’t be SHY, get INVOLVED!!! (Note: In
mentioning Chapter names, the committee is not stating they are the
only Chapters doing community service, but they are the Chapters the
committee is aware of participating. It is important to let the
committee know WHAT YOUR CHAPTER IS DOING!)
SCHOLARSHIPS: Remember to get those
scholarship forms out to local Masonic Youth Groups, high schools and
colleges when your Chapter receives them. Even if you don’t personally
know of someone who needs our help, there are many deserving young people
who don’t know about our scholarships. This is the time of year that most
seniors start filling out forms for scholarships.
“WE CARE” PROGRAM: The “WE CARE”
Committee needs your help in establishing a database of names of military
personnel. If you know members, or family members, in your local area that
are in the military, serving overseas, please send their name and
overseas military mailing address. The committee has names if
your Chapter is looking for someone to sponsor. Simple care packages,
letters, cards are a great way to show our Armed Forces personnel that we
do support them and what they are doing for democracy.
Contact: Jack Rahl e-mail: oeswecare05@yahoo.com
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display in the hallway on the 18th Street side of the International
Temple in front of a picture of
the Little Red Schoolhouse, where Brother Rob Morris did his writings of
our Ritual.
Through the efforts of PM Joyce Holloway (36), PGP Glenn Jones, and PGM
June Lucretia Barnum, contacts were made with the Board of Right Worthy
Grand Trustees of the International Temple to ascertain if they were
interested in obtaining the ownership of the Signet. Additional
paperwork was then prepared to transfer the title and to fulfill the
wishes of Jim and Jean Morris by presenting it to the International
Temple. Brother Glenn then prepared a light weight reinforced wooden
container with a hinged lid to pass it through the 9/11 security at the
airports with his family's luggage on a vacation trip to the East
Coast. The transfer was consummated on June 18, 2002 when Sister Betty
Briggs, RWGS received the Signet on behalf of the International Temple.
About 1984, the 1964 Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron of Rising
Star Chapter No. 36, Sacramento, Sister Jean and Brother Jim Morris had
a visit from Jim's Sister, Burnis, who lived in Shafter, CA. She was a
member of Wasco Chapter and was planning, at the time, to move back to
Springfield, MO. She brought with her a very old Eastern Star Signet
that was in terrible condition. She told them that it had been in the
Morris family for years and that another sister, who had been interested
in genealogy, traced the family through Dr. Rob Morris, as well as to
two other individuals who had been signers of the U. S. Constitution.
At one time, Jim had a copy of that record but lost it with all their
other possessions when their home burned to the ground in 1981; they
were lucky to get out with the nightclothes they were wearing. Burnis
promised to send them another copy when she got settled in Missouri -
but she never did and Jim never pursued the matter. However, Burnis was
convinced that this signet was handed down through her family on the
East Coast from the earliest days of the Order of the Eastern Star.
In 1986, Jim decided to see what he could learn and sent the
signet with trusted friends to a leather conservator in West Virginia.
Mary Jane and Bill Meikle were so protective of their treasure that they
kept it wrapped in a blanket and took it into their motel room each
night as they traveled across country.
The conservator then sent Jim an examination report and treatment
proposal plus an estimate of the cost of rehabilitation. The signet
itself is made on untanned calf; goat or sheepskin leather prepared as
parchment and had been stretched to a pentagon shape on a wooden frame.
The parchment underwent alternate wetting and drying under tension. The
flesh side had been worked with a blunt knife and finished by rubbing it
with pumice and chalk to whiten and degrease it. The narrow wooden
strips that divide the 15 separate zones were finished with an uneven
coating of oil. Some of the nails contained in the piece are original
and some of more recent manufacture. The words and letters have been
handwritten in black ink and brushed pigments produced the paintings.
Only four areas are non-pigmented - the Bible, the lamb, the lily-of-the
valley, and the background of the crown. The ends of the frame were
glued with animal-hide glue. The untanned skin had suffered from water
damage, beetle larvae, some tears and the surface soiled. But through
the meticulous care of the conservator, Mr. Raphael, working one small
area at a time by local and gradual humidification, the signet has been
restored too much of its original beauty. A new replacement frame was
made and attached to the remaining wooden supports. The Signet was then
placed between layers of Plexiglas to protect it from rapid fluctuations
in humidity and to preserve it for the future.
At one time, Jim was able to speak with "someone" from the
Historical Society who told him that after examining the wood strips on
the signet, that the wood came from a sailing ship that was
decommissioned in Baltimore in 1734. Because the salinity of the
Atlantic Ocean varies all down that coast the observation can be
directly correlated. Where the wood was stored for over 100 years
before being used in the signet is a puzzle, but someone has suggested
that since mahogany was a precious commodity on the East Coast in those
years, it would have been used only for special purposes.
Unfortunately no pictures were taken of the signet before its
renovation. The conservator has been retired and attempts to contact
him have been unsuccessful. The lesson for all of us to take away from
this is that if there is a precious item in our family or in our
possession, gets and keep the provenance. Records disappear; memories
dim; and family members pass away. But there is still the hope that the
true origin of this lovely old Signet may one-day be revealed. We
learned from Marilyn Headlee, Secretary (362), Bakersfield that Burnis
was born in Greenfield, MO. Our records show that Jim was also born
there and his obituary lists a brother Frank and sisters Burnis, Lita
Price, and Rozella Johnson and Rita Owens of Bolivar, MO. We would
appreciate any information that anyone might have so that we can tie
together the missing links, please send to
Glenn M. Jones, PGP: e-mail
glenn2kwgp@jps.net. |
