Volunteers For A New Lodge

There are many historical connections between Texas and Tennessee, from country music to Davy Crockett to Willie Nelson to the many brave Tennesseans who helped defend the Alamo.  Because of those links, it's appropriate that we follow up two very Texan episodes with one from Tennessee.  Recently, Crockett Hall Lodge #59 was re-chartered in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.  Brother Robert Gentry, who headed up the effort to revive the lodge, joins us to tell his story.  Like many of us, he first encountered historical relics of the Odd Fellows' presence in Middle Tennessee, including a road bearing the name of the Order.  That led to research, which led to a desire to form a lodge, which eventually led to the Grand Lodge of Tennessee and PGM Tammy Barton, who assisted with the process.  He also shares some of the ways in which he was able to find members interested in reviving the lodge, including taking many people down to Alabama to get their degrees in the closest lodge.  The Shoutout goes to Four Creeks Lodge No. 94 of Visalia, California, home lodge of our guest host Michael Crile, for their work in becoming active again and getting new members.  In the Odd Podge, guest host Brother Michael gives us a brief history lesson of Tennessee Wesleyan University, which was first going to be chartered as Odd Fellows Women's College and spent an amount of time named for Brother Ulysses S. Grant; Robert previews the August Back-To-School Motorcycle Run, Toby shares his visit to Mount Constitution Lodge No. 88 on Orcas Island and gives an impromptu history lesson on the Pig War; and Meredith talks Cinco de Mayo and the "Good Neighbor" policies toward Latin America under President Brother Franklin D. Roosevelt, which, of course, prompts another history lesson from Toby.