Last night, Kenton Masonic Lodge held its last stated meeting for the second quarter of the year before officially going “dark” for the summer.

The evening started with a fantastic dinner from Chef Eric Pease consisting of marinated chicken, mac and cheese, and brussel sprouts with garlic and bacon. While the usual family guests were not in attendance and were unfortunately missed, the dining hall was still packed with a lively group of members and a few brothers from other lodges.

The meeting proper went very smoothly as well. Thankfully, the lodge room was not too warm due to the recent rainfall that afternoon which made the entire meeting more pleasant than expected. Brother Entered Apprentice Nathan Ball was our unofficial organist for the evening due to WB Michael Benson assuming the duties of the Treasurer’s chair.

All of the lodge’s petitions (one for membership via initiation and two for affiliation) passed without any concerns. Unfortunately, the lodge didn’t entertain any new petitions–the first time it has not done so since the start of the year.

Perhaps the highlights of the evening were the traditional Master Mason gifts that were given to Brothers A.V. and Doug Auld for being raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, and the presentation of the Master’s Working Tools to WB Tom Pierce for his work in bringing WB Andrew Hammer to Portland.

The lodge also received a pleasant surprise from the kids at Astor Elementary School, thanking us for our small donation that allowed them to purchase Kindle Fires for their reading and math goals.

During the Masonic Education portion of the evening, Brother Doug Auld made a presentation on the subject of the importance of words, focusing on usage, intent and meaning. Honored Brother Adam Triplett, Chaplain of the lodge, also presented a short essay on the color blue and how it pertains to its usage in the blue lodge.