Noah Lodge #357 Trestleboard

Greetings Brothers,

   May has slowly eased its way to an end, however we at Noah did grab a few different gatherings. One of these was our spaghetti dinner night, wonderfuly prepared by Brother Robert Sabo . This man hand makes every meatball and cooks them to perfection each and everytime. The sauce is a family secret recipe only known by true Sabos'.

   Another gathering we had was on May 23 2011, this was our family night, with a great turnout by many members and family members. Everyone brought their favorite covered dish and the food was plentiful as well as the fellowship. Plans were already in the making for another family night ,show up next meeting and find out when it might be or even help plan it.

    Brothers we have a BAR-B-QUE in June on the 11th and we need your support and your fellowship.This and all of our fund raisers go to good causes Brothers and isn't that why we and myself included joined Masonry was to help some cause. There's not a better way to help than by eating a nice BAR-B-QUE dinner prepared by Brother Jack Scott who has cooked many a chicken for Noah over the years, remember - BRING A FRIEND.

   By the time most of you read this we will be in Grand Lodge up in Orlando. We, the Officers of Noah Lodge, go to represent our Lodge and take on this duty proudly. We plan to vote on all the issues as the Lodge as a whole decided for the best interests of Masonry. Show up to Lodge on the 13th of June to see where we stand on the voting issues.

   One final entry our Worshipful Master Larry Newton has been a little down, give him a call, bug him a little he would call you. It was great to see him and his wife at family night. I don't know how he did it but he had the DDGM Jerry Timberlake there helping serve beans and everything. Once again it was a good time with Friends and Brothers.

Your Humble Senior Warden,
Lawrence A.Tomlinson.

Brothers,

Grand Lodge was quite an experience, The opening was nothing short of inspirational. The Color Guard from MacDill AFB led the procession followed by a sea of red, white and blue as members marched through the aisles, each carrying the flags from their home lodges. The entire body paid tribute to those who have served our country, in particular those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and the families thereof. The Grand Lodge Officers then turned to the business at hand and after the typical amount of self congratulations from the East, the work began. I have never seen the craft more united, our votes were cast as per the straw vote at our Lodge and the decisions followed that same pattern to the letter. All the "power grabbing" was stopped in it's tracks (at least for now), the discussions offered up by the Brethren were well thought out and echoed our own discussions in the home lodges.

The only "Yes" vote that we cast was for the Medical Research Lab to be our official charity. It seemed that every lodge we spoke with had voted the same. There were some unhappy faces on the stage and the only outbursts that bordered upon inappropriate came from the Brothers with the gold around their necks, who at times seemed perplexed at the crafts inability to recognize their genius or marvel at the sheer brilliance of their plans. I had the chance to meet some very interesting people and in particular the Brothers from Key West Lodge extended an invitation for us to visit them and promised to do their best to feed us more sea food than we can handle.

Thanks to all the Brothers who helped to make it possible for us to represent Noah Lodge this year , A lodge is only as good as the people who make up it's members and we were very proud to be able to say that We were from a lodge as fine as ours.

Thanks also to RWDDGM Jerry Timberlake for his guidance through the procedures and his unwavering support of Noah and its members.

(And thanks to WB Dana McGrath for printing yet another late article with minimal admonishment for the lateness of said article :) )

Had a great time but it's good to be home.

Thanks Brothers,

Br. James Hamilton,
Junior Warden

Our Secretary has been playing Doctor Pinball (he's the pinball) this month, so his article will be delayed a bit.)

My Brothers,

Living in Florida at this time of year, we miss the changing of the seasons. We miss seeing God's hand in the renewing of the earth. We do of course have the beautiful sunrises and sunsets of South West Florida and the flowering trees, beaches and rivers that surround us. If we would only take time to open our eyes and see, we would feel God's presents in our lives every day.

My Brothers let us be thankful for God's creations, the beauty that surrounds us and God's presence in our lives.

May God bless you every day in every way.

John McKinney
Chaplain