Ever wondered about the inner workings of Masonry? Buckle up for a deep dive into this fascinating world with our guest, Bill Catsulis. As the current State Chairman of the Masonic Leadership Training Program and a Past District Deputy Grandmaster, Bill is uniquely positioned to guide us through the symbolic and practical aspects of Masonic life. We peel back the layers of Masonic rites and rituals, examining everything from the symbolic importance of the common gavel to the practicalities of the trowel. Bill also offers an insider's perspective on the leadership training program and how making it mandatory caused a stir among the officers.
Bill doesn't hold back on sharing his personal journey within Freemasonry, and trust us, it's a story you won't want to miss. From his early days in EA to his almost quitting experience, Bill's road hasn't always been smooth sailing. But it's been a transformative journey, one that has seen him rise to leadership and inspire others along the way. The importance of having mentors, the art of recruitment, and the essence of brotherhood and fellowship in the Masonic fraternity are all touched upon in this candid conversation.
One of the highlights of our chat is the captivating tale of the Washington Memorial Gavel's journey, an artifact of immense symbolic significance in Masonic rites. From its discovery in a Georgetown lodge to its trip to Florida arranged by Bill's friend Glenn Garner, the Gavel's journey mirrors the values of the Masonic brotherhood - unity, honor, and diligence. We also discuss the Masonic trip to DC, the potency of Lodge Renewal, and the essence of Masonic brotherhood. Each story, each anecdote weaves a multi-faceted picture of Masonry, a tapestry of tradition, honor, and camaraderie. Join us on this journey and discover the world of Masonry like never before.
#freemasonry #podcast #freemason
Connect with us on:
Email us directly!
Ever wondered about the inner workings of Masonry? Buckle up for a deep dive into this fascinating world with our guest, Bill Catsulis. As the current State Chairman of the Masonic Leadership Training Program and a Past District Deputy Grandmaster, Bill is uniquely positioned to guide us through the symbolic and practical aspects of Masonic life. We peel back the layers of Masonic rites and rituals, examining everything from the symbolic importance of the common gavel to the practicalities of the trowel. Bill also offers an insider's perspective on the leadership training program and how making it mandatory caused a stir among the officers.
Bill doesn't hold back on sharing his personal journey within Freemasonry, and trust us, it's a story you won't want to miss. From his early days in EA to his almost quitting experience, Bill's road hasn't always been smooth sailing. But it's been a transformative journey, one that has seen him rise to leadership and inspire others along the way. The importance of having mentors, the art of recruitment, and the essence of brotherhood and fellowship in the Masonic fraternity are all touched upon in this candid conversation.
One of the highlights of our chat is the captivating tale of the Washington Memorial Gavel's journey, an artifact of immense symbolic significance in Masonic rites. From its discovery in a Georgetown lodge to its trip to Florida arranged by Bill's friend Glenn Garner, the Gavel's journey mirrors the values of the Masonic brotherhood - unity, honor, and diligence. We also discuss the Masonic trip to DC, the potency of Lodge Renewal, and the essence of Masonic brotherhood. Each story, each anecdote weaves a multi-faceted picture of Masonry, a tapestry of tradition, honor, and camaraderie. Join us on this journey and discover the world of Masonry like never before.
#freemasonry #podcast #freemason
Connect with us on:
Email us directly!
Hey Chris.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Fred, what's a Mason?
Speaker 2:That's a really good question, fred.
Speaker 1:You've reached the internet's home for all things masonry. Join Chris and I as we plumb the depths of our ancient craft, from the common gavel to the trowel. Nothing is off the table, so grab your tools and let's get to work. This is On the Level. Well, chris, here we are again. Yeah, there it is. I am going to record that. And then every time I click this button right here. This pink one is going to make that sound.
Speaker 2:What's the pink sound right now?
Speaker 1:I can't. I can't do it. It's a bad sound. It doesn't have any sound whatsoever.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was disappointing, sorry, this one's good though.
Speaker 3:That's my favorite.
Speaker 2:That's kind of like a Batman. That's what I'm trying to place that it's Batman. Yeah, yeah, I was like Biffo Biffo, that's right, that's awesome man.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, here we are 2023 Grand Communication.
Speaker 2:Beautiful.
Speaker 1:Orlando.
Speaker 3:Florida.
Speaker 1:Yes, doing this would be our third interview that we've done and they've gone really well.
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed. Those are the lies we tell ourselves. That's the lies we tell ourselves.
Speaker 1:The interviews have gone well.
Speaker 2:Great, everything's fine, everyone's happy. No one's killed me. Well, it's good.
Speaker 1:Before we banter ourselves right out of a job. This you're not prepared for this.
Speaker 2:Apparently. We were told about this next guest yeah to just hold on to your hat. Let's say he's the man, the myth and the legend of Bill Katz. It's oh, and you know what I bet. I just said his name wrong. What I think? Because name is everyone pronounces wrong. I've heard many people say your name.
Speaker 1:Almost everybody gets out of the way right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm curious of the actual, correct way to pronounce your last name Correct pronunciation, sir Please.
Speaker 3:Katzulis, katzulis, common spelling Katzulis.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you can read it phonographically.
Speaker 1:So, and your current title would be State chairman Masonic leadership training.
Speaker 3:Past district. Deputy grandmaster Right Right Right Katzulis.
Speaker 2:See how hard it is If you say it three times. You'll never forget it Katzulis, katzulis, katzulis. There we go. This is a worst nightmare for Bill.
Speaker 3:I haven't heard that name pronounced so wrongly so many times yeah, I do too, such a short period of time Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah so oh from us.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So clearly you already know that we have no idea what we're doing. So, we like to get that part out of the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's immediately. The expectation should be set.
Speaker 1:The expectation should always be set low, and then there's nowhere to go but up. Yeah, that's kind of been our philosophy, on and off, I don't know.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we have Right, we're full bill Katzulis with us, which is so exciting for me because you're such an awesome Mason. I mean you really are. I mean, aside from being a friend, personally I consider you a friend. There are a few people in Masonry, outside of my little district, you know, first started with my lodge and that's all I knew. That was Masonry to me, that lodge.
Speaker 3:So sure, everybody starts right there.
Speaker 2:And then I realized I could go to another lodge and I was like wait, guys are even cooler over here and they're doing even cooler stuff Like this is awesome. And I first I was like I have to join every lodge. That, I think is awesome. And I had.
Speaker 3:I joined multiple lodges and now you're out of money. Now I'm like wait, right, York, right, trying money, money.
Speaker 2:And like okay, I better repair this. I can still help and not be a member of every lodge, but you are an example, I think, of how Mason should behave, because you're really passionate about things, but you do something about something positive and you make actually change that affects the entire state. You have a state chairman. Change the Masonic Leadership Training Program for the better.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, I appreciate it. It's very nice, that's very nice.
Speaker 2:Which is hard to do because I hate the program. I'll say that and I've told you this and I've told everyone that will listen to me I don't hate the program. What is frustrating about that program is they made it mandatory and I know it was a problem because I saw you guys scrambling at the end of every year.
Speaker 1:you know like every December, you're like.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you guys got no sleep for the entire month of December and January because there are so many of those going on just to get these guys installed.
Speaker 3:Right, you know, after three years of being mandatory and working our way up to where the worst will master, and all three officers had to be completed. It wasn't mad scramble at the end of last year, because it wasn't quite well every year. That's frankly those brothers who were supposed to have this.
Speaker 2:They know they're supposed to do it. They know they're supposed to have it.
Speaker 3:We keep telling them and they waited and waited and waited and I'll get it. Later I'll catch a zoom or whatever, and at the end we always made the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did to get in the classes.
Speaker 3:And I think that after two years of that I didn't even put the legislation in that made it mandatory prior to nomination. Somebody else did, a brother who had nothing to do with the program.
Speaker 1:He was not a district chairman or zone chairman. It makes sense. Right, and it does make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 3:So if you don't have the time to, because what?
Speaker 2:was happening. He's a new mayor since, so it's like my wife.
Speaker 1:I'm an old man but a new mayor. He's a year Right, a year and a half.
Speaker 2:Two years.
Speaker 3:So he's making a difference too after that short period of time. Oh yeah, he's a.
Speaker 2:Tyler in the lodge and he's actually was chairman of our lodge property committee, so he was doing a lot of the remodeling on the lodge and he got this podcast going and now he's talking to Mason's all over the world.
Speaker 1:All over the world, yeah in two years it's been.
Speaker 2:I tell people at Aint the Years it's the miles.
Speaker 3:Well, it's an idea that you get that you don't keep to yourself, and that's where a lot of the innovations in.
Speaker 1:That's good, very good when have we heard this before?
Speaker 3:It's an idea Most worship will foster the same thing Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exact words came out of his mouth. It's just an idea.
Speaker 3:And that's what the MLT is about. It's not about. Hey, you have to do it this way. And I've premised, and have always premised the classes with hey look, this is not grand lodge, cramming this down your throat. Let me just tell you what MLT is.
Speaker 2:Please, this is for the listeners. Nobody's going to say it better than you, so please.
Speaker 3:MLT is a 15-module syllabus to help a new brother or a old brother learn the intricacies of the operations of a Masonic lodge.
Speaker 2:And prepare them to lead it. One day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it's not a one gig thing. It's many gigs, it's many workshops through your whole Masonic career, even after you become a master, and get out of the East and go on to further office or not. It's a treasure trove, a trough. I like to say Grand Lodge is not cramming this down your throat. Grand Lodge is saying here look, we're having problems in the lodges.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the lodges don't seem to want to take control of their own destiny and fix it themselves, because a lot of them are rushed through the line to the. East.
Speaker 2:That's very true. Don't have the information.
Speaker 3:So here's Grand Lodge First. We'll addro put this program together. Oh, and I didn't know that created a book and Grand Lodge adopted it.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so he wrote this program. He wrote this program Wow.
Speaker 1:So that's. That's a big work, man. Big work yeah.
Speaker 3:So here it is, we're teaching this information or putting this information out there, and I tell them it's. It's not Grand Lodge, cramming it down your throat.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:It's. It's an idea. It's a lot of ideas on many different topics. Ritual how to do a lodge budget.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know the officer's duties committees.
Speaker 2:What are they? How should they?
Speaker 1:function how should they exactly?
Speaker 3:all this information and it's again. It goes right back to what I said before. It's the idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, what idea does Chris Burns take from one PowerPoint module that he takes back to Sarasota Lodge and becomes a good master because he implemented that one idea Right, if there's 20 guys in a class and each one of them take 20 ideas back.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the other beauty of this. This program is that it is involves people. So you do have a syllabus, like you said, and you have required content that you do cover, but I know a lot of the program winds up being conversations between people that are there. That's the beauty of it.
Speaker 3:It's the idea the idea of what you do in your lodge and you do in your lodge and what I do in my lodge that I bring to the table and we talk about it. And when we started doing these, the Zoom classes, which was new technology during the pandemic, not new, not new but we had to do it.
Speaker 2:It was new for Freemasonry. It was new for Freemasonry, of course.
Speaker 3:And so there was less interaction from the audience. Yeah, because of the way Zoom works.
Speaker 2:Right, but you can still get some, or doesn't work?
Speaker 3:No, we still do some, but the last two years we've been trying to get back into the lodges so that. Sarasota and. Manatee can get together and have a class together and things like that and exchange those ideas. The fellowship is not in a Zoom, you don't have that Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't even know who's there.
Speaker 3:You're shaking hands, you're seeing faces, but I recognize men from this fraternity at the Grand Lodge, like right now from having had discourse with them. But you're looking into a camera and you're not having that same discourse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it checks the box. You can reach more people, you know, because something, the real thing didn't happen. This isn't adequate, but it's something that's really all Zoom. It fulfills it, but you're not getting.
Speaker 3:I don't get anything from doing Zoom stuff, sitting down and having breakfast with each other staying late having lunch, going to the pub afterwards and talking about hey you know I really like that idea about giving coats to kids. Everybody going their closet and bringing your old winter coats and you're putting them back into society for those less fortunate than us. It was a great idea that came to me from that?
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome. We don't do that at our lodge, but a idea a singular idea can be put to use. Because somebody shared that. Somebody shared it in an MLT program, so this is what it's about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that it's not just about saying hey, you must do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You should do this.
Speaker 2:What they should right. They should, I mean they absolutely should.
Speaker 3:But there's a difference between must and should you know there are things in the MLT that are must and shall, but most of it is hey, if you want to have a lodge budget, here's a basic deal that you can start with and put it into play.
Speaker 2:It gives you a template, you know ritual.
Speaker 3:You're not going to get anything for ritual out of MLT except ideas of how to improve.
Speaker 2:Right ritual if you want to improve ritual.
Speaker 3:You have to do it yourself practice is yeah, right nobody can do it for me.
Speaker 1:No, that's right open books.
Speaker 3:I have to open my own book up.
Speaker 2:I have to study practice unless you're one of those freaks with the. There are, yeah one.
Speaker 3:I know a guy that got a gold card I do here.
Speaker 2:You know I got a card less than a year, but it's too hard to work hard work.
Speaker 3:Memorization nobody can do that for you. No, no one can do that. That's right, you have to do it.
Speaker 1:And, anyways, you wouldn't want anyone to do it for you. If you truly want to know the experience, Sure of what masonry is you?
Speaker 2:you want to do the work honestly, honestly, when I that is any doing, the work is Doing. The work is. That's what we're here to do is labor work.
Speaker 1:Esoteric, masonic, esoteric teaching is doing the work. We've gone through this before many times but for me, like in E8, when I first went through it, I'd never memorized anything in my life. Man, and honestly, going through that as an old man, going through that, I thought wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 3:An old man in this room maybe, but not in the fraternity. No, he's young man, I mean.
Speaker 1:That's why I joined masonry, so at 60 years old I could still be the. Yeah Saying you're not that old, I know, I know.
Speaker 3:But but and while you say that yeah, yeah. We have a new a in our, I mean a new master mason in our lodge and he's and what I? Just your large or an and large number, 117 or 170, go on and you know we had this conversation he's he's really excited about getting young guys, young guys, young guys in the lodge. And I said, well, wait a minute, I'm 57 years old and my is that. Is that old?
Speaker 1:I mean, is that old?
Speaker 3:it's old right right but into the fraternity is not, and do I have something to offer as a 57?
Speaker 2:year old fixation on young men. I don't know, I don't know that, but yeah, but it seems like we have to say that thing like yeah.
Speaker 3:I would be happy to have 10 57 year olds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who have a good job. I'm happy to totally agree.
Speaker 3:Here's, here's my point about young man Don't, don't, don't run yourself down. No, no, I don't mean to be an old man right, right, but yeah, fred.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Chris with you. Ah, I hate the buttons, it's my preoccupation with young men is that.
Speaker 1:Here we go. Is this? I'm ignoring that entire pun.
Speaker 3:Do you have a ice cream truck?
Speaker 1:Oh, they warned us about you, but I'm not gonna give up. If I found Freemasonry at 35 years old, my life would have been very different.
Speaker 3:So I can't meet.
Speaker 1:I can't go back in time, but what I can do is introduce these young men to something that I think could really really impact their lives in a very positive way. And, make no mistake, there's a lot of young men in this country.
Speaker 3:Yeah, seriously need this absolutely, and that's where that's my preoccupation.
Speaker 1:Honestly wanted to back to my other story. I've had coffee, so I'm not gonna forget anything here we go because I'm back on, uh-huh, when I when I was in EA. That memory was just. It was so hard for me. But the memorization of the catechism was so difficult.
Speaker 2:I remember you almost never. I almost quit, your instructor told me I thought I had some sort of cognitive difficulty.
Speaker 1:It was so hard. But then Kevin was just like stay with it, stay with me with it.
Speaker 2:We merged we merged with it. He told me hey, I'm gonna lose this guy. He's really not enjoying this. And I said what can we do? Look, we got another class at almost the same point. Let's join him together. He's gonna have to do less work and they'll work together. It'll be in the end.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be good for which was appreciated, but that's not what did it for me. What did it for me Was there's no audio.
Speaker 2:But he has angered. Bill is throwing things around.
Speaker 3:We knew it was gonna come to them, not even Italian. I talked with my hands. I wasn't even talking and I knocked the microphone over.
Speaker 1:Sorry, but having having just made a decision, you know what I'm not gonna give up on this. I'm not getting up on yeah, we're doing yeah, so I did it and you know, by the time, you know, by the time I got to fellowcraft, I had the entire catechism down by memory. You know, frontwards and backwards, and and and same with master Mason. And I've gone back one of our, one of the things that we've made, a decision, seven of us came up together and what?
Speaker 2:Two groups and we merged.
Speaker 1:When he merged the two groups together so that we could go forward, we made a decision because we had been been brought up so quickly. We have made a decision to go back and we went back to EA. We studied the mentors manual together.
Speaker 2:Nice fellowcraft. Look at it, master Mason. How many guys from your class, our mentors now?
Speaker 1:Oh, four of them, right four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and our mentorship, our actual, mentorship program is really robust. Yeah, you know, in our in our lodge, those guys saw something that we are missing. Yeah, that they realized was important and they they really like just ran with that.
Speaker 3:You know what's so funny about you stating that is that not all the lodges follow what the Grand Lodge requirements are yes, I don't know what chapter 38 is, things like that.
Speaker 2:You know they just don't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when I joined the fraternity I didn't. I didn't learn about that until I started teaching MLT, right when I was a senior deacon. You know, I came out of Grand Lodge as the zone what year was that? Chairman. It was 2000 and Roughly.
Speaker 2:you don't need to be exact, I'm just 11, Okay, so all right they didn't have a zone chairman. This is early, okay, you know.
Speaker 3:and the book was out but there weren't all. 15 modules were made. I made a lot of those as the zone chairman. Okay and put them in the system, and they've evolved over the years. Yeah, but I know what 38 was until I became the district and zone chairman.
Speaker 2:I.
Speaker 3:Also didn't know that you could ask a man to join our fraternity in Florida. Okay, yeah, so when I went and started teaching this as a senior deacon to 50 year masons and Current secretaries and treasures and masters? Yeah, and I'd ask that question.
Speaker 1:How'd that go? It went great.
Speaker 3:I was very shy and introverted when I was doing these classes.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah lying.
Speaker 3:So here's what, here's what I said, and this, this really has led into a great little thing here, but you know we, a lot of brothers didn't know the basic information. Yeah, until absolutely started taking the MLT's and getting that information From somebody just like them who didn't know. I didn't know the information until I started teaching it right.
Speaker 3:And so the biggest thing for me was the one about you know, can you ask a non, can a Mason ask a non-mason to join Mm-hmm? And I had it put in as a when I wrote the slide because you had the question yourself. I had the question myself and I put, I put it, put it in there as a pop quiz and and at that time it was 99 to 1 people thought the wrong thing.
Speaker 1:They thought the wrong thing. That's incredible. A masonry was yeah.
Speaker 3:They thought the wrong thing, yeah, and there was many men who stood up, this one guy lucky, who was a big-time secretary, past district deputy, and he's he's passed on now, god bless him. But we had a not an argument but a discussion about this and he was like look, you have to come of your own free will on a court. And I said, sure, and my argument has been since that day to today, as a matter of fact absolutely, you're right. So when a guy fills out his petition, that signs it and he.
Speaker 3:Right right to check to the lodge and then you go to his house and you visit his wife and his family. He lets you in and then he gets the ballot and he passes the ballot and then you come to lodging, you take him into the preparation, repair him and the senior deacon comes out and gives a senior deacon's lecture and he has to answer that question. Correct, Masonically you know, and then he goes to the door and that question is asked preparation he.
Speaker 3:Becomes blind and naked, you know whatever right and he's asked it at the door and yeah. Does. That same question is asked six times in the lodge right, nine times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we make sure, we make damn sure.
Speaker 3:I think, I think pretty much that he's there of his own free will on a court.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's right, that's right so but it's different now.
Speaker 2:Like how would anyone in today's world really like ever think about free masonry if they're not amazing, like when would it even come up in their life that like they would have an opportunity to be like? Oh yeah, I'm curious about that.
Speaker 1:Never ever.
Speaker 2:They're not making movies about it, they're not making documentaries about it, you're no one at work is talking about it. So how the hell are these people supposed to know we exist? The?
Speaker 3:number one recruitment tool is Brothers contact with their friends, their family and yeah, I question back man back to the same thing was In that same conversation and I still use it when I teach the class today, which I don't do enough of, but I don't teach it, but when I do and I'm on that topic it's like imagine how many fathers, brothers, sons okay, your boss, how many bosses have not been invited to join the dirty. How many?
Speaker 2:I know them so I'm gonna. I don't want to do that to the fraternity. What about cousins? You are brother-in-law and you're right and you're how many?
Speaker 3:how many People do you meet when you talk about free masonry and they say my dad was a mason right? How come you're not right, because nobody's ever asked me right.
Speaker 1:So so that's, and let's just clarify that real quick. So what you're, what you're saying, is Asking someone to become a mason? Is you overtly saying, hey, I can I ask you a question? Yeah, sure, I'm involved in an organization and I think it'd be really beneficial for you. Would you like to come to an open house with me? I'm a mason, that's what you talk about something, something like that I'm talking about.
Speaker 3:It is lawful for me to say to you, right, my boss, who's given me the keys to your building? You right the combination to your safe. You trust me enough With everything you have right. I trust you enough With everything I have my wife, my kids, my family, my brothers, my lodge Right. I want you to come with me and I want you to become a freemason and sit in lodge with me, because the level of trust she's given me, I can see that you're a man of integrity right.
Speaker 3:I want you to be a part of this organization and that's part of Masonic law in Florida. That's legal. That is legal. And how come nobody knows this? I think because they don't go to MLT no yeah you're right, because they don't go to MLT.
Speaker 2:It only became a thing in MLT because you added it. Well, but.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you right now, there are conversations out there where it's exactly the opposite. There's an actual ongoing conversation. We went, we, we spoke at the Hillsborough Symposium, mm-hmm, and we were talking about being the fact that you know that that conversation about technology being overtly Evangelistic in nature with regard to Masonry, people and there's people and there's people have a problem with it. Yes, they don't realize that it is Legal.
Speaker 2:Masonically. Well, grand lodge is paying for it. Grand lodge is not a good thing. They're okay with it.
Speaker 1:I just think that point, that point needs to be driven home to more and more brothers. They need to understand that it's okay. Yeah as a matter of fact, it's probably preferable that you sit down with people you trust. First thing in foremost, they have to be a good fit for us.
Speaker 3:There. There is Verbiage in the digest that tells you what the rules on that are. What you have one time and a reminder. That's it right but you know, it doesn't say how strong that that Overture is in the beginning sure, sure, chris, yeah, cuz it could be a man Look look, you already got the keys in my house.
Speaker 3:I was. I was at a golf tournament in Pensacola With some friends and went to Waffle House to have breakfast and I wear a Masonic pin on my, on my collar of my polo shirt like a square and compass, square compass, that's all it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, universally.
Speaker 3:No, guys hey that's all you're amazing and I said I am. He said you know, my next-door neighbor's a Mason. He gave me the keys to his house and and he said I can go in his garage and anything I want.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, and when he's out of town.
Speaker 3:And I said, and he said he's asked me to be a Mason a couple times and I said why haven't you goes? I don't know. And I said, well, look, if the guy's got, given you the keys to his house and you can use his tools anytime, and he's asking you to be a Mason.
Speaker 2:I think you should go to the lodge and sign up because you're the kind of man that we want in the fraternity that we can trust with our family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. That's a power and it's an absolutely true story.
Speaker 3:Yeah and I can see it just like. Like today was, can't oh my lodge it, you know, and one of the guys at table with me, I had just had just become an entered apprentice, so a friend of mine, but it happens all the time, just like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, yeah, why aren't you a Mason? Yeah, you live this life, exemplary life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I like what you said too. You're the kind of guy we want.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in our fraternity.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're the kind of guy that we want here, and whether you want this is I'm gonna take your 18, whether you're 18, you.
Speaker 2:Right 70 you still have. That's right, you have.
Speaker 3:You know, and so this about young guys I get it there. They can be in the fraternity for 50 years, but there's a guy who can maybe only be in the fraternity for another 24 he dies or yeah it doesn't matter. Right, integrity, right. It's less like, has no age limit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:The problem is when you want all those young guys. Here's what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:They got kids, they got a job, they got a wife. They got a bunch of stuff going on and You're gonna tell them that now they got to spend four days a week in this lodge.
Speaker 3:No, you know it ain't gonna have. You ain't got a spending can in can have days, man, that's what some lodges.
Speaker 2:No, that's what you want, want no, I don't give four days, I don't.
Speaker 3:I can't, I'm too, I'm too busy. Right, I can give you give me all the day when it's my time to give that right you'll get me 100% and that's invaluable to that lodge.
Speaker 2:Yes and all your history, all your experiences, all the life things that have happened to you are now available to all the men of that.
Speaker 3:But not everybody can do that.
Speaker 1:No, that's true. That's true, but really because of the scheduling yeah family especially younger guys, younger guys but.
Speaker 2:But the expectation needs to be appropriate to a younger guy.
Speaker 1:Look, you got, you got it, you got it. Yeah, you got a wife you really need a pregnant wife and two little ones at home. Yeah, you got a new job and you just bought a home and now you're here wanting to be a mason. Fine, but here's, here's, let me. Let me tell you about the cable tow, let me tell you about the 24-inch gauge man, because, because it's gonna come into play in a big way for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right, so we'll, hey, we'll.
Speaker 1:You know we'll be more than happy to welcome you in. You're the kind of guy we want here. However, you need to understand that there are men who give a lot of time in this lodge. You're not gonna be one of them.
Speaker 2:So if I'm right digress from this topic. You may not, don't.
Speaker 3:Okay, so not to be a continuous commercial please, continuous commercial MLT.
Speaker 2:We need it, but there are people we're working on lodge renewal and one of the things is, you know, when you say lodge renewal you mean like, like the Lodge renewal, just everything is a whole list, it's part of the syllabus.
Speaker 3:But yep, but there's, there's a lot of people. Our fraternity. As far as membership development goes, yeah, okay. So you know, the files in a masonic lodge and the secretaries are full of entered apprentices and fellow crafts that never finished. Never finished. Yeah because it's quite possible that those guys were young. Yes and had a family.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:I had a sick parent. They're taking care of her something. Mm-hmm and they're afraid to come back because they don't know how they'll be accepted. Yeah, okay. So yeah, let's, let's go cultivate that, and we're doing that in our lodge, right? Now Really secretary has names.
Speaker 2:Excellent. He's pulling them out just just and we're gonna send him a letter checking back in check. Hey, we know life yeah hard Sometimes.
Speaker 3:That's awesome and they're already entered apprentice. So yeah is some studying, and once they study and they pass our catechism in the lodge, we do an investigation and then we decide. The lodge decides if he should be passed a fellow craft right but they're already passed most of the hurdles right. Yeah, they're a brother for the rest of their lives. Why aren't we cultivating?
Speaker 2:that's great.
Speaker 1:I don't know I don't know, I didn't think of that. That's a great idea. I don't know, I didn't think of that.
Speaker 3:So it's in the MLT. It's in that class. But here's the deal, when you that's why you have to go continually, because you miss it you got up to go take a phone call and you miss that part of the. Mlt, so yeah, as the worst for master worship will burns when you have the MLT's in your lodge. Hey, pay attention.
Speaker 2:I would love to have them. I'll use my lodge first, you will second, and I had that Absolutely.
Speaker 1:We need that because I got.
Speaker 3:I gotta get it done. I've had that listen.
Speaker 1:I'll come personally and do it you know, come on, we'll have to do that. No, I want to it would be an honor. It'd be an honor, but no, you do not have to do that, so I know you have.
Speaker 3:We'll. I promise it's gonna get done. I that's 100% yeah we definitely.
Speaker 2:When he says it it's gonna happen. I want because I don't have forever with you. I want people outside of Florida to get to know who you are a little bit more, because I think everyone in the beach interview over I was born a woman.
Speaker 3:There's two of me. Okay, that's. That's pretty tough for some people. They say I'm like strong medicine, good and small doses.
Speaker 2:Great and small this.
Speaker 2:But you know, I want people because everyone in Florida knows who you are. You are the state chairman from Masonic. You've done a lot in Freemasonry, but that is what everyone probably knows you as, because they've touched in Some way in the last you know. Since you've been doing this, your names come up, so they know you as the state guy for this program. But you've done a hell of a lot more than that in Freemasonry and continue to do a lot more than that in Freemasonry and outside the fraternity. I want you to talk a little bit about how you got involved in what you're doing with the DC stuff with the Washington's gavel.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 2:I know that you were. You're integral in that. I see every year you're, you're, you're kind of like the guy who's organizing this.
Speaker 3:I'm sure there's a history here behind this and I really like to know. It's a great Masonic story.
Speaker 2:I would love to hear it absolutely is I'm.
Speaker 3:The past master of my lodge, Glenn Garner. Right where's for Glenn Garner? A lot of people know him as well okay, and which district is? That he's in in the 12th Masonic district.
Speaker 2:You said 12 be the 15th okay.
Speaker 3:So he says I'm. He said I'm going to Washington DC for a conference to do some work and Immediately I'm like not even Masonic, just go on there to do some work, Okay you know, immediately my brain's going hey, what logic going to yeah oh, I don't have time to go to lodge up there, I don't ever go. I said, man, you got to take your apron and you got to go to a lodge. I mean, how can you go to Washington DC, yeah, and not find someone?
Speaker 1:right, Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean those lodges up there 1790s right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been amazing.
Speaker 3:It's amazing. So you know, I travel the Washington Memorial for getting. I'm gonna give you a little. I have books and when I joined the fraternity I started writing a little, these little mold books every media.
Speaker 2:Fred does that to, I do that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've got four of them full. I've been over 700 Todd lodge meetings and wow. So I travel. If I'm working, I'm finding a large. Yeah, you know, do it. Why not? So I'm like man, you got to go to a lodge, glenn, how do you not do this? So I didn't think anything of it. About ten days later he calls me at midnight and I'm laying in bed. He's like hey.
Speaker 1:I gotta talk to you when I said oh man, oh the midnight call the morning, he said.
Speaker 3:I took my apron. I went to a lodge. I said just Glenn, call me in the morning 7 am. Oh my god what he didn't sleep. You know, sling blades on the phone, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I got a gavel in mustard.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and he's like man, you ain't gonna believe this. I said what he said. Well, I went to a lodge. I got in a phone book there's Japanese lodges and English lodges and French lodges, and he said so I settled on this one lodge and I Go down this alley and I come with this door and push a buzzer and they come, let me in. This is Potomac lodge number five in Georgetown number five Wow you know.
Speaker 3:So I'm like cool and he's like there's more. Then I'm like what he said they have George watching. This is gavel. And I said damn. He said, yeah, they have the gavel that he used to lay the cornerstone of the United States Capitol.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh my god right, you know, now I'm wide awake. Why didn't you call me earlier? Why don't you tell me that last night?
Speaker 3:What the hell man? I'm sitting there just like shaking and he says I said what, did you see it? And he goes no, it's in a bank vault across the street and this bank vault is so special that they put a glass front on it so you can see it when you go into the bank.
Speaker 2:Wow, and there's a little property of that lodge.
Speaker 3:It belongs to lodge and it's got an electric light in it so you can see it and I'm like Wow, you can see it from the outside he says any says there's more.
Speaker 2:Is this the? Is this the alabaster gavel? This is marble.
Speaker 1:It's the same marble.
Speaker 2:It's like white, it's white.
Speaker 3:Okay, you're right, at least five pounds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know there's no replicas of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah there is, I'll take that.
Speaker 2:I couldn't find one when I was trying to be master. I was looking for and no it didn't, it didn't know. This is called a rabbit hole, no.
Speaker 3:So okay, so they don't make full-size replicas.
Speaker 2:They're three orders Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because there's gonna be no mistake, and I'll tell you why in just a minute. So okay, so. Glenn's like there's more. It travels. They take it all over the country really and I'm like holy moly.
Speaker 3:I said well, what's it taking? He told me the security needs and things like that and I said I'll call you right back. Then I picked up the phone. I called my buddy, leo Smith, said Leo, I need a little help, I need some security For the George Washington gavel in Ocala. Hmm, but I went a little far. I asked Glenn, did you see it? And Glenn's words to me were no, I Want to bring it to Florida and show it to my brothers and I'll see it when they get to see it.
Speaker 1:Mmm. Oh wow, awesome right.
Speaker 3:Well, that's, that's free masonry right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how Masonic of you.
Speaker 2:So this guy has like it has like a set schedule of words, so it travels.
Speaker 3:So I'm like okay. So he tells me this, he tells me what it needs, how much it costs, Gets an appellate case locked to a guy's hand. It's like serious, it's a national treasure.
Speaker 2:Is it absolutely? Is it's random every year where it goes, or do they, like you, can apply to get it Okay? So that's how we have to put an application in and things like that lodge it's so he's like no, I'm not gonna look till.
Speaker 3:Everybody else gets to see it.
Speaker 2:How long did that take?
Speaker 3:so from that conversation, well, so from from the conversation that morning, I Once he told me that and told me the parameters. I said I'll call you right back, because he said I want to bring it to Ocala, wow, to show it to my brothers, and if I got a pay for it myself, I can afford to do that. And I said well, you want to do it alone? Nice so, but let's see what we can do, because we could do it, as I said, let me call you back. Let me call you back.
Speaker 1:Let me just you know.
Speaker 2:I'm shutting it down. I got a call my buddy.
Speaker 3:Leo Smith, he does security he does security. He's a retired lieutenant in the Marion County Sheriff's Department. Oh, and a lot of people know our sheriff now, billy Woods. All right, okay, he's been into some national news lately.
Speaker 2:I don't know anyways.
Speaker 3:So he says I Called Leo and wake him up and I said, look, I got this opportunity To bring this national treasure to Ocala. I don't know much about anything. Right what we're gonna do with it or how we're gonna do it right. But I need some security, and would you do that for me? Then he said absolutely nice.
Speaker 2:Can they bring it to the elves club Really?
Speaker 1:Yeah so I said, let's see what's going on, you know, okay. So he's all, I'm all jacked up and I, and so I called them back and I said make it happen.
Speaker 3:He said, well, we gotta do all this other stuff, and I was coming in as a district deputy at the time. Oh busy, so we called the Grand Master. Yeah and you know most worst will Hudson. At the time he was a deputy Grand Master and he was like, okay, make it happen, so we get all this stuff put together. You had Grand Lodge sanction it.
Speaker 3:No well, kind of Grand Lodge didn't have anything to do with it. Oh, it's strictly the district. And we came together and there was some issues and you know you're talking about something the first time, not everybody knowing what was right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of logistics. It's gotta be a lot of logistics, you know planes and no planes, just airplanes.
Speaker 3:Security TSA. Wow, it's the first time it had flown since 9-11.
Speaker 1:And it's a weapon.
Speaker 3:It's a weapon, you know. It's a hammer.
Speaker 2:I guess yeah.
Speaker 3:It's bigger than a bread box. Sure, you know you're traveling with this stuff and there's three guys that are with it, you know security-wise. So we started a dialogue with Potomac Lodge, number five official dialogue Through the Grand Lodge. Well, no, through the district and their lodge the.
Speaker 1:Lodge owns it not the DC Grand Lodge. So I don't have to go through Grand Lodge.
Speaker 3:So Potomac Five owns it, yeah, but I am assuring you that we did talk to Most Worshippers Lynn about the parameters of talking to people in DC yeah, we got all that stuff.
Speaker 2:You wanted to dot your I's and cross your T's and you don't want to get your pants down. No, that's right. That's right. That was a scabble in Florida.
Speaker 3:Most Richard Lynn he knows how to squelch things. So we started working, we got it done and we picked these guys up at the airport. We had a state trooper following us around and all this kind of stuff. It was really awesome. It was a wonderful thing. So the first time you did it was when you got it done 2016,. They brought it down, we brought it to and there was a big team of us that worked on this, and so we brought it to my office. Well, they came to my office first.
Speaker 2:At your work.
Speaker 3:At my work to change clothes to go to the high school. So we went straight from the airport to my office. They changed into suits. We went to the high school. The superintendent schools were there. We got permission to wear our aprons at the high school. No kidding we showed it to two auditoriums full 35-year-old kids.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 2:Whoa, when you were dressed down as Masons and we were in suits and ties with our aprons. He must have felt so proud. Oh my god, and that moment.
Speaker 3:And so here's these high school kids. It was 1,600 Masons, not 35. It was 1,600. We figured there was 3,500 pictures taken If each person took two pictures. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 3:The superintendent schools were there. They shut the high school down, basically, and it was all seniors and we had it on a table in the open, no glass over it, just sitting on this table with the wrapper, the cover, and the students followed by and got to be within a foot of it and see it, one girl was crying, she was wearing red white and blue dress and she was crying.
Speaker 3:And they told this story, how it happened and who told the story One of the worst for Michael Siebert, who was the worst for Master Potomac at the time.
Speaker 2:He's, he came down with.
Speaker 3:They came down with it Gotcha, so we told this story of like how they got it Well. I'll tell you how they got in a minute, but I want to tell you the story that he told when George Washington used the gavel on September 18, 1793 and wrapped in a Masonic ceremony as the president of the United States, as well as a Mason in his Masonic regalia.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:He wrapped that gavel, did the corn, wine and oil ceremony. The level and the trowel were there.
Speaker 2:I mean, we've seen paintings of that. That's right, you've seen paintings of that.
Speaker 3:Yes, and his words to the students were the sound of that gavel. Wrapping on that piece of marble was notification to King George that we were setting out on an experiment of self government and not government by birth. And he's telling these high school seniors that this artifact of American history was used. Herald it in this chain To make that noise, to say listen here, buddy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We're doing this on our terms. Take that, you know what I mean. So you think about how powerful that is that piece of stone right there.
Speaker 2:And you guys are all decked out as Masons.
Speaker 3:And we're Masons. So these kids, their minds are blown right now. Yeah, and they're like what? George?
Speaker 2:Washington was a Freemason.
Speaker 3:What? Then they all left and they brought in another 800 students into this room and then they did it again and we packed it up and went back to my office and we changed, had barbecue. You know it's sitting in a little case to handcuff the guys for risk, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, and it was just unbelievable.
Speaker 3:So we took it to the Elst Club the next day.
Speaker 2:You did the.
Speaker 3:Elst.
Speaker 1:Club. We did the Elst Club. I love it. They took it out.
Speaker 3:And they gave the story and there was a grown man he was probably 80 years old who was standing there two feet from it, crying, sobbing yeah, because he was in the presence of this artifact from the beginning of our country.
Speaker 2:That's powerful.
Speaker 3:And then we took it to the college and put it on the desk at the college and the president of the college came and the newspaper guy was there taking pictures and he must have 1,000 pictures of it and it was on the newspaper, on the front of the newspaper. And then the next, and that night we took it to the Shrine Club and we're showing it at the Shrine Club. Ok, have a little dinner and kind of really neat stuff. And a brother showed up who was raised in Potomac Lodge, number five on.
Speaker 3:Roosevelt Island by the brothers who brought it down here Russell Owens.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:And now he's in the room and he was there in the room and it was just a giant reunion of these guys who had all come to me Like it's. Masonic fate. I have this term I use and people get tired here. It was Masonic fate Things happen the way it's yeah.
Speaker 2:To us, it's like this is impossible. How does this happen? Because this is how it's supposed to happen, Because the Grand Doctor of the Tech University said OK, you're going to be here. You did your part, boom Exactly.
Speaker 3:And then the next day we did it. We had a tile meeting at Marion Dunn Lodge. And we received the brothers and then with the gavel and they set it up and we had a meeting.
Speaker 2:In a tile meeting In a tile meeting, and they explained it to everybody who was there, wow.
Speaker 3:And then it was open to the public and we left it on the table and the public was lined up outside to come in and walk through and see the gavel Wow, that is amazing. And then we took it back to Jacksonville and when we got back and everything was done and so we called the Grand Lodge, we had three hours extra time and we called with the gavel With the gavel, three hours before they had to get to. It was three hours.
Speaker 2:You're like what else?
Speaker 3:can.
Speaker 1:I do with this thing. What else can we do with this? Not me, right.
Speaker 3:What we could do called the Grand Lodge. Hey, you know most worship will end. You know we got the gavel, we're going back, but can anybody get us into the Grand Lodge building and give these guys a tour? And he said I'll do you one better. We're already giving a tour and there's about 40 people here, so if y'all can get here you can just show it again. So we called the buddy in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department. They sent this team of drug guys. Listen, they were no neck web gear guys in a pickup truck.
Speaker 1:They sent a SWAT team.
Speaker 3:They sent a SWAT team. We needed some security to get us from a gas station in Maxville to the. Grand Lodge building. So they sent this team and we showed up and they're like they got guns and all this kind of stuff and they're just like tattoos on their necks and their faces and SWAT gear.
Speaker 1:And they said the badass guys.
Speaker 3:And there was one guy in a little Buick and this old beater car and they were in a pickup truck and they said who we guarding, who we guarding and said well, it's the George Washington gavel.
Speaker 2:Never heard of him. Oh, my god.
Speaker 1:That's what never heard of him.
Speaker 3:So they said, OK, here's the plan. They're all huddled around and they said OK, look, y'all get. We're in a Tahoe. And he said look, y'all just follow that little Buick and try to keep up with it and we'll be behind you. And if anything bad happens, y'all just keep driving, we're going to take care of that Buick was with those guys.
Speaker 2:The Buick was with those guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was the head of training for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department driving this drug car.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the.
Speaker 3:Tahoe, the suburban we were in, couldn't keep up with it.
Speaker 1:We had it, we were floating on.
Speaker 3:I-10, like 89 miles an hour, gets us to Grand Lodge. We go in and the guys are there and their regular clothes to go get on the plane and all the stuff they had changed, other suits and most first of all, lynn was there and there's a couple other guys and a whole bunch of people and the drug guy, the guy who was driving the Buick, says, hey look, my grandson's a Cub Scout. Can I go get him?
Speaker 2:He left to go get his grandson.
Speaker 3:Hey, he left and went and got his grandson and brought his grandson back and they took the gavel out and did the presentation for everybody at the Grand Lodge.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:And there's this little boy scout I think it was a boy scout, a young boy scout with his grandfather, with a picture with the George Washington Gap.
Speaker 1:That's one man.
Speaker 3:And the grandfather, the drug guy was amazing, oh really.
Speaker 1:Oh, ok, yes, there you go.
Speaker 3:Wow. Yes, wow, so we had this extra time and we went to the airport and dropped them off, and everything by ourselves. That's so cool, and when it was all over, they said look, we've never shown, We've never even contemplated what y'all got done. In one day the enormity of what you did was three days.
Speaker 1:It was three days OK.
Speaker 3:Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 3:And they said look, we've never even thought about taking it to school, we never thought about the possibility.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Because it's been used to lay the cornerstone of the Smithsonian of all the British consulate, the Washington Monument.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:You know all these things. This thing has been used, yeah.
Speaker 2:Wow, and they used this Bible for the presidential.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but that was a different Bible in New York, but all this was done in Ocala in three days. Y'all just knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so then fast forward. Most worshipful Hoover was coming in and he looked at me and said, hey, can you get the gavel for the grand launch communication For my? And I said, if you ask me nicely, I'll see what I can do.
Speaker 2:Just kidding.
Speaker 3:And he said, would you? I said yes, sir, and we had to raise money for the first time, so the second time he said look, we'll take care of their rooms as special guests as dignitaries. He's going to ask the Worshpill Master of Potomac Lodge to do the keynote address. Wow, that grand launch. Wow, young new master of Potomac Lodge number five. And we'll comp the hotel rooms as special dignitaries, because this is a big deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I said, ok. So instead of going out and raising a bunch of money, I called 15 brothers and I said if I was to ask you to give me $100 for a great Masonic event, would you do it?
Speaker 2:You got 15. And listen.
Speaker 3:The first one I asked said all you want's 100. And 15 brothers gave me $100 bill.
Speaker 2:There you go and we got it done.
Speaker 3:They were here at Grand Lodge. We showed it to the entire craft in the tile communication of the Grand Lodge of Florida Wow. And he did the Worshpill Dandolin did the keynote address and we brought the gavel out in front of the masses and showed it and we brought it out into the lobby downstairs and there was mad rushes to see it Of course. And we started going to DC and paying them back and showing up to their installation and have a great relationship with them, and have since 2017.
Speaker 2:17.
Speaker 3:And we lay a wreath at the tomb of a known soldier, we go to their installation, we go to their holiday party.
Speaker 2:That all was born out of the gavel.
Speaker 3:All was born, it was all born. Masonic fate again. Masonic fate of a simple gesture Glenn. You busted somebody's balls you have to go to a lodge.
Speaker 1:It all started with a phone call at 12 midnight. It was a huge issue it did, and listen, that's the beauty of our fraternity.
Speaker 3:I was telling John where's he at he was here.
Speaker 2:He was just in here taking photos.
Speaker 1:He's doing this to us oh we got to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, production guy, you got to go.
Speaker 3:No, no, keep going, keep going so we were just talking outside, I was walking through the. So when we had it here at the hotel, we were on the elevator bringing it down for the banquet and these guys there's nine of us on the elevator and we were on tuxedos and we had the gavel in the elevator and the team was against the wall and the rest of us were in front of the garden.
Speaker 1:We were like freaking out. It's like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And the elevator stops and these three brothers just try to walk on and I'm like hey guys, they don't know what's going on.
Speaker 2:No good, no good. They don't know what's going on. There's plenty of room in there.
Speaker 3:So you really can't come on here. And he tried to make his way on it. I made sure that he couldn't come on and we went on about our business and got our stuff done and I called the grandmaster and said hey look, I had a little problem on the elevator. And just you know, no, we all will, just it. Just you didn't knock anybody out.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, nothing like that.
Speaker 1:But, it was. You know, it was a tense moment, Tense moment.
Speaker 3:Tense moment. It's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 2:A lot of pressure, a lot of pressure, a lot of artifacts. That means a lot to our country.
Speaker 3:So later on that night or the next night the same guy who was in front of that we were having dinner downstairs in the hotel and they were in the back corner and we were kind of Eating our dinner in front of them.
Speaker 2:These are the guys that try to get on, but we're with the gavel. The gavel was back in the corner.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh our team is eating in front of them, so they can be. It can be safe, you know right you know, there's been a lot of talk about this thing and yeah, somebody wanting it.
Speaker 1:You know, if somebody was gonna do something, that'd be the time to do it.
Speaker 3:You know what it on your watch, right. So the brother zero fail mission? There is no sorry, sir, but we lost it. Exactly so. The one of the brothers I Recognize and I went up to him. We had a great conversation. He understood now what we were doing. Yeah, you know, yeah, and today, after all that time, I'm walking down the lobby looking at stuff today and I walked up and said hey and I said his name.
Speaker 3:I'm not gonna say his name on here because it's a little embarrassing story for both of us, because we're both.
Speaker 2:Okay silly.
Speaker 3:But he says I Said, aren't you? And he's like, yeah, how are you doing? We just got into this conversation. He said hey look, I want to go to DC. We all yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, that's my question. This is this is my question. When are you doing this next? It's always. It's ever December, the first Saturday in December.
Speaker 3:We based it on the Potomac Lodge number fives installation Because we want to be there for that and we typically outnumber the the numbers of their lodge, because they're they're a big lodge but there's, you know, a lot of people around town on jobs and different things.
Speaker 2:That's a lot. You're bringing guys from 30 large. Yeah, we're great. Yeah, we're from a whole state right.
Speaker 3:We're known as the Florida mafia Let me show we all have mafia names and things like that.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's pretty cool, and so we started adding things to it and we we started laying a wreath at the tomb of unknown soldier and we let the Grandmaster be the guy Right. And then there's three other of this King.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's a random people yeah we.
Speaker 3:What we do is when we've kind of morphed it into Picking the names on Thursday night before we go and everybody gets a piece of paper and they write down the name they want. So if I want Chris Burns to do it because I never- put my name in that. I've never put my name in the hat. I don't want to do it. My joy comes from watching Chris Burns get the opportunity right, that's awesome and yeah one year.
Speaker 3:We actually the newest master Mason. On the trip he got it stood next to the Grandmaster Amasons and laid this reason. That was my song to that was my idea always to be yeah, wouldn't it be great. Yeah if we could show our fraternity in that light that it doesn't matter where you came from, what your religion is, your stature as a Mason, as a newly raised master Mason or the Grandmaster yourself. Yeah, you're representing Florida and all our masons to lay this wreath where it happened.
Speaker 1:Tell me an organization anywhere in the world where you're gonna find something like that. You're not.
Speaker 2:You won't find it.
Speaker 1:This is this is why we're Mason, it's, it's this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I want to go, Okay, I want to go Okay. So $2,000 a person.
Speaker 1:I mean, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I just want to see just like that.
Speaker 3:all is that I'm in listen, we try to keep the cost down. We have a good rate at the hotel. I'm in still, so okay and we add things to it. So one year we went to a speakeasy One year and we go. Everybody gets in on Thursday night and people fly from all over the state, so you make your own arrangements right, you just get there, just get there. We'll have a hotel, yeah, but we already got one pretty much, but for this year.
Speaker 1:Oh man we're waiting on the.
Speaker 3:You can't book the, the ceremony for the wreath, until six months out, so we've still got another two weeks right back, even booked that right and then we add things around it.
Speaker 3:We had dinner at the agent shrine One night last year we went to Mount Vernon and got the full tour at Mount Vernon and then had dinner, a big buffet At Mount Vernon, and, and in the past year since we've done this, the prices have been right around $200, 175, 200, 225. I there never been that high, you know, and we just add stuff in and try to keep the price low. For when you get there, how you get there, I don't care, we have a drive Miami, tampa, orlando, jacksonville, tallahassee, pensacola Fly up there on. Thursday to be there. Thursday night we have drinks and Whatever whatever, and then, and then we write the names down and draw, we introduce everybody.
Speaker 3:We have a prayer. Yeah in, in in the hotel lobby nice and people are like who are these guys?
Speaker 2:They're Freemasons, people with the bar watching us stand up on chairs and it's good for the world to see all these people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then?
Speaker 1:That's awesome, yeah, and then we come back on Sunday.
Speaker 3:So it's, it's a great trip. We house a temple. We Saturday morning is typically people go do whatever they want and then we all meet up Little sightseeing and we show up at the installation. Another tradition that we started, even the first time, was we. I was given a bottle crowned Royal by the guy that raised me and he said keep this for a special occasion.
Speaker 2:I was in Whiskey, thought that was something.
Speaker 3:It was a special bottle in California doing a big job. I flew back on the red eye with this bottle whiskey Mm-hmm and I said look, you know, because they can drink in their lodges up there, Not in the lounge room, but right you know so so I took this bottle and I brought it with me back and I said I want to make a toast.
Speaker 3:So after the installation we all crammed into this little secretary's office and we poured the whole bottle out and everybody had a sip. Yeah, a good sip, right? Maybe a shot toast toast.
Speaker 3:I said more than we made a toast and the toast was based on Masonic fate. We're all in this room together, yeah, because this man right here raised me Mm-hmm and told me to keep this for a special occasion. I can't think of a better occasion than the users bottle of crown right at this installation of Officers joining us together and we did this toast. So every year we do a toast. We drank a whole bottle in one shot of buffalo trace last year, mm-hmm. And after I did that one first one, somebody else gave me a bottle of crown and I used it, and then we bought another bottle and then somebody else said hey, you gave up your nice bottle of crown that Steve Silvers gave you, so I Want you to have this, so I use that one.
Speaker 2:So we it's a tradition now, so basically, like every year, you know this is gonna happen.
Speaker 3:The bottle of buffalo trace we did was a half a gallon. Oh, wow everybody who came to the installation. They got had a toast and we did this big toast but with between our two grand lodges and our our and the grandmasters there, and the grandmasters. Listen, the entire grand line. Another piece of Masonic awesomeness Is that our grand line of Florida has said we don't want our names in the hat Because we're gonna be grandmaster and we're gonna have the opportunity to do it. Let let that's good, let the guys do it so yeah people write in names.
Speaker 3:Rudy boat right got to do it, you know. I mean, there's the worst one, master of Ornan. His name got drawn and you write in the name that you want, hmm.
Speaker 2:Well, so five guys can help one guy get in there if they, if they like this guy, really needs it, or sure He'd benefit.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:You know now. Do you keep it like small on purpose? Is it an invitation only thing, or is this something you've now opened up.
Speaker 3:Listen anybody that thinks this is invitation only doesn't know what we're doing and. It's. It goes out in the monthly mail. Okay, so your lodges should be reading it from grand law You've opened this up to the whole state the whole anybody, any state, any state, any anywhere. Anybody that wants to go. If they're a Mason, bring them on. You know the ladies don't typically go because we're offering around and we're on a right.
Speaker 1:I pass a lot, of, a lot of Masonic stuff, yeah, yeah they don't want to deal with that, yeah but some men bring their wives and then their wives go do stuff.
Speaker 3:Hmm, but the Masonic things of Mount Vernon and all that kind of you know, that is for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's mason's, so that sounds like a great time.
Speaker 3:So there's, there's emails. I have an email list, I see, and they start going out right after grandma. They start rolling right out as soon as we get, as soon as we book the the ceremony, because you have time windows, we can't book anything else because we don't. If we get to a clock in the afternoon, we have to do something in the morning, right?
Speaker 2:so we wait.
Speaker 3:But the flowers will go out directly and if you want to bring somebody this year this year. No kidding, we'll go this year.
Speaker 2:We raise.
Speaker 1:Let's do it.
Speaker 3:We raised brother Evermont King. I mean we, we entered him as an apprentice on a Monday night. Okay, no, in November, the end of November it was the Monday night, and that we were going to DC on Thursday and and he's, he's amazing. And I said he's an apprentice. And I said Won't you go to DC with us? And he said when are you leaving?
Speaker 3:I said Thursday he said let me check my wife I. He was in Washington DC Thursday night and spent the next three days Getting fully immersed in free masonry as an enter apprentice with the Grandmaster. Most of the Grand Line.
Speaker 1:In the tuba. He actually got to guard the door with Tyler. That's an experience right there, Can you imagine. No, I'm a yeah, honestly, where do you go from there? Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, our newest master, Mason, and our youngest EA.
Speaker 2:They were the guys that lead the reason that. No, they didn't get picked, you know, okay, but they were in DC Like their heads exploding right, yeah, yeah, you know the grandma.
Speaker 3:He's sitting there talking to the Grandmaster.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's drinking from the fire hose man. I'm telling you I love that story.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine what that experience must be like, for that.
Speaker 1:All right, chris, you in you going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's been telling me about it. For are you going?
Speaker 1:Yes, or no, all right, we're there.
Speaker 3:Okay, good, good, yeah, maybe the podcast will come, I don't know what the heck right. I don't know. Yeah, bring the podcast, that would be great and do and do it with an audience. Yeah, you know I would love a thing and get some of the DC guys involved.
Speaker 2:I think it was good idea join us together, yeah you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what this podcast is all about. Yes, is bringing Mason's closer together and and and enjoying Masonry, because Masonry is optimally enjoyable. I can tell you that right now.
Speaker 1:It is enjoyable from front to back man. And as a new Mason, I can just tell you I was looking for a Group of men, you know, who could be friends and brothers and be part of something bigger than myself for 35 years of church service. And I never found it. And I'm still I say this all the time on the podcast, I'm still a member of my church in good standing, don't, I'm not down on that at all but I never found it. But in two years, in two years of being a Mason, I have found brothers and Lodges and activities and service like I never I I never knew, I've never, I've never known it.
Speaker 2:And men like you. You're just like you, chris, and I'm just getting started, but I haven't really touched the big stuff yet. You won't find this.
Speaker 3:No, you know, you won't find this anywhere else.
Speaker 1:Tell me another organization where a man can go and find this kind of fellowship, brotherly affection and and service. Yeah, you won't find it.
Speaker 3:I didn't have the opportunity to serve in the military. My father, was. I didn't either my grandfather was in the Navy, my stepdad was in the Navy. Lot of military background with me growing up and I didn't get to serve.
Speaker 3:Hmm you know, you make some mistakes when you're young and you really don't know what you're doing. And in my grand oration I said it's a leap of faith. Yeah, so I took the leap of faith, not knowing what I was getting into right. And now that I've done it, I've realized why I've enjoyed it so much is because I didn't have a fraternity. I didn't go to college, right, I have a fraternity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have the largest.
Speaker 3:I'm in the same fraternity as George Washington. That's right Franklin MacArthur, jimmy Doolittle. You know, true, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, goes on.
Speaker 3:And on, and on, and, on, and on and on all around the world, he's. Lee, you know, I'm a guitar player a little bit, you know. But Brad Paisley Mason, you know, yeah, and all these guys, and a lot of them, are heroes. Yeah, for our country. Sure, sam Houston, right. Jim Bowie, sam Crockett are these guitars?
Speaker 2:No, don't say that.
Speaker 1:Say that, andrew Jackson, you know you can go to the hermitage, all this kind of stuff. Yeah, all these guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that really made our country solid. Yeah, and laid this foundation, just like George Washington did in the trench in this hole. Yeah, with, with, with some marble. That's right, he's set us on this path the Masonic experiment. It turned into our experiment, so I'm a member of that we all are so my return to my country is To help my community, mm-hmm, and I know you love that.
Speaker 2:You know, I had a conversation once with Bill and he was telling me a story about a guy whose car broke down and and needed help out of nowhere. Glenn's old yeah, and I remember that this is where I got the philosophy that I was telling where most virtual foster about was from him and he was telling me this is an opportunity for me to show how much I love somebody.
Speaker 2:I'm not upset like, oh crap, I got a drive all the way over there. It's like, no, oh, I got the call. Right now's my time to step up. Thank you, yeah, right, like that's how we, as Mason, should look at.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I heard the story from him about his wife and his kids being stuck on the side of the road and this man stopped and, you know, did all this work and took her tires off and went and got her two brand new tires and brought them back and she said I don't have the money to repay you. She's crying, and this is I, just outside of Wiggins, mississippi. She's got two snot nose kids in the backseat crying. I mean literally. That's the way he told me the story. My good brother, gwen's old, doss it in Pensacola, florida, and he said the man told her, told his wife, he said you don't owe me anything, it's my honor to be able to do this, because you're my brother's wife.
Speaker 3:That emblem on the back of your car is where. I stopped, yeah, man and then I got a call from most worship of flades. One of his buddies was stranded and I went and did the same thing that I heard was such a great thing and I enjoyed the hell out of it. And my daughter just got a new truck and the first thing I bought for that truck was is this the equestrian daughter?
Speaker 2:The my question in all of her crushing it nice was a square-in-composite.
Speaker 3:Congratulations, you match your truck right and I put it on it and I said, on her truck, on her truck. And so my buddy, jeremy weeks, he, he drove me out to pick up her car, her truck, and he said, yeah, you could, just couldn't wait to get that square-in-compos on the back of her truck and I said that's right, that's right. You know why? She's taking care of she's taking care of I said.
Speaker 3:Jeremy, I said if she's in a parking lot a mason sees that it's hands off and if there's a problem it's hands-on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, solve that problem if she's on the side of the highway, you girl, alone and anywhere.
Speaker 3:If a policeman give pulls her over to give her a ticket, the likelihood of her getting a ticket and he's a mason is zero. But if there is an issue, the policeman is not going to be worried walking up to that truck because of the square-in-compos on it, because if anybody know anything about the fraternity and and Jeremy looked at me and he said that's awesome and I wish I could do that for my daughter.
Speaker 1:He said you can't it's it's easy.
Speaker 3:Right here, so he actually called Hannah and said your dad? Yeah, he called her and said look, that's on there for a very good reason, so don't don't mess with you dad, you didn't explain it to her.
Speaker 2:I did, you did, I did 16. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You can tell them 18 times and they're here for somebody else. That's right the first time they believe that's right, all right, all right, so so.
Speaker 1:I don't mean to cut you guys off, but we could sit here literally all night and do this and I would enjoy every minute of it. So we're an hour and eight minutes in.
Speaker 3:I think that was fast. It was really fast. It was so enjoyable. I was just getting warmed up.
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't talk about New Orleans.
Speaker 1:We didn't talk about we can, before the weekends over, do this again.
Speaker 2:You want to do it again.
Speaker 3:I mean I'm in, we can. I mean that is not a problem. Do you think the public could handle it?
Speaker 2:I well.
Speaker 1:Well, hey who cares about them?
Speaker 2:the public. We're having fun here.
Speaker 1:Public sure public.
Speaker 2:Bring sandwiches.
Speaker 3:You got good subs.
Speaker 1:It's delicious yeah man, it's a Florida thing, that's right, chris. Once again, my brother worshipful master. Hmm, it's just. It's just always an honor and a privilege to do this with you, man, thank you. We have we have absolutely just gone on this journey together and we get to meet stellar.
Speaker 1:I was so stellar guest, men of great stature, what I always say that the one thing about mason we have statesmen, our elder statesmen in our fraternity are serious men. Oh yeah, they're serious men and they don't play around with this. And, like you said, you know I'm a mason and I have brothers All over the world who would help my daughters, who would help my, my wife, who would take care of me, and, and for that I'm absolutely and eternally grateful. Chris, before we go out, anything you want to say on the way out.
Speaker 2:Mmm, I want to talk more to bill, okay, come back. Let's do this a little. Hey, let's not be sober next time.
Speaker 1:We'll talk, we'll talk, we can do that, we can do that. Not intemperate, okay, no, I would submit that.
Speaker 2:I'm being being un sober is not in. Oh, look at the damage he cost over All right sober or intoxicated.
Speaker 1:We will revisit this conversation. Yes okay, this has been. This has been on the level with Fred and Chris at the Grand Communication 2023 in beautiful Orlando, Florida. And next time I don't know who the guest is next time, but we will have a guest within the next.
Speaker 2:Maybe it'll be very wishful. Bill cats a little, it might be. Thank you for coming right. Thanks for having my brother. This has been.
Speaker 3:This has been Spectacular you know. I'm glad you enjoy it is great, I'm gonna promote the heck out of this, not necessarily mine, but do you know please the on the level thing is it's really good. I haven't listened to any of the podcast.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't have no idea.
Speaker 3:No idea, yes, well so neither did y'all, and that's fair enough.
Speaker 1:That's fair enough. I had an idea for Fred.
Speaker 2:Didn't know, but I had an idea. Apparently I didn't need to know, but it was a great experience and what I'm better for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, we're full, thank you.
Speaker 3:No, thank you, Thank you. I appreciate I learned something from Ben Schwartz. Just say thank you, so thank you and Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you and and to you guys you guys who stayed to the end hour and 11 minutes. If you're still here listening, you are our heroes. Man, we really appreciate it. Shoot us some emails.
Speaker 2:Email us if you want to go to DC and we'll get you on the list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's Fred at on the on the level with Fred and Chris calm and Chris it on the level, fred, chris calm and and until next time, guys, we love you, we'll talk to you again, see you.