From the East
Greetings from the East,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Congratulations to our newest Master Mason Gregory Lane, who was raised November 16. Thank you to all the brethren that attended and supported our brother and thank you to the officers for their excellent ritual. Brother Pedro Sanchez provided a delicious Peruvian meal.
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We were also honored at Brother Lane's 3rd degree with a visit from Most Worshipful Michael Baker, Past Grand Master of Hawaii.
Moving into December, we have our last Lodge Breakfast for the year on December 2nd, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. All are invited, bring your friends and family. Brethren, we do need help with breakfast, please come to assist if you can.
Our biggest Stated Dinner of the year is our annual Christmas Dinner on December 7th at 6:30 p.m. We will have a visitor from the North Pole so bring the family.
Please be sure to attend our Annual Installation of Officers to show your support for the incoming Master and officers on Saturday, December 9, at 3:00 p.m.
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Worshipful Joe Nielsen with Most Worshipful Michael Baker, Past Grand Master of Hawaii. | |
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We are having a toy drive to collect toys to give back and put a smile on a child’s face this holiday season. Please bring new, unwrapped toys to the lodge. For your convenience, we have set up two opportunities for drop off: At the December lodge breakfast on Saturday, December 2, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and at the December Stated dinner, Thursday December 7, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Please spread the word, thank you!
Serving as Master of Natoma Lodge #64 this past year has been an honor, I am very thankful for having the opportunity. I would like to thank the officers for their support. They did some heavy lifting this past year, gave 100% effort for our events, and put in the hard work and extra effort to perform excellent ritual work.
A big thanks to Worshipful Joe Freidson, Officer’s and Candidate’s Coach, Worshipful David Lagala Officer’s Coach, our Hall Board members, Brother Rich Brooks, Building Manager, all the lodge breakfast crew, our Rainbow girls for their help with stated dinners, Eastern Star for participating and assisting in lodge events with us, and Terri Stackhouse, Ada Lukas, Nicole Williams, and Vickie Walasek for assisting with lodge events. Our Trestleboard has been a great success due to the work of Terri Stackhouse the editor of our monthly newsletter. Our Junior Past Master Kevin Williams was at my side all year, thank you Brother. I am very appreciative for the support and guidance of our Secretary, Worshipful Wes Minderman, and of course, a special thanks to all the brethren, ladies and your guests of Natoma Lodge #64 for your participation at our lodge breakfasts, stated dinners and special events. Our time together and fellowship is what makes the lodge feel like a home away from home.
It is an honor to be serving you and our lodge, thank you.
Stay safe and Happy Holidays!
Fraternally Parting Upon the Square,
Joseph R. Nielsen
2022-2023 Master
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Congratulations to Brother Gregory Lane who was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason on November 16. | |
From the West
Happy holidays from the West!
It is officially gratitude season and I would like to express my gratitude for your fellowship during my year as senior warden. I have enjoyed participating in our degrees, helping our brethren move forward in their masonic journeys and sharing some Masonic history with you in the Trestleboard. I'd also like to express my gratitude to Worshipful Joe Nielsen for the excellent year he's had and the example he's set in the East. I appreciate all the brethren who helped our lodge this year and look forward to 2024.
I am equally grateful for your trust in electing me to serve as Worshipful Master of your lodge Natoma 64 for the 2024 masonic year. I look forward to the opportunities of the coming year! Our theme for next year is, "Work to Be Better." As masons, we work to be better men, better masons, better husbands, better fathers, better friends, etc. Some of that pursuit is easy, some of it takes time, much of it takes patience, all of it takes perseverance. We practice this as we do our work for the craft.
What work do you hope to accomplish in 2024? Personally, I have always felt that one of the benefits of working to be a better man is to turn outward and help those around me and I am truly looking forward to supporting you next year. Along those lines, we have some things coming our way next year and I will need your support so that we can do the work to be better. I promise you the work will be fun, challenging, and rewarding! Please be at the January meeting when we pass the budget. There is lots to be done to make the lodge better, projects to start and our future to plan.
We are a family lodge and there will be lots of family activities in the lodge and in our community to look forward to next year. Please subscribe to the lodge calendar so you can see what is going on and when it’s happening so you don’t miss an event.
Save the date now for our first event, a Robbie Burns Supper on January 26, 2024. I am sure you are familiar with his work. He wrote “Auld Lang Syne," a tribute to the poet laureate of the Grand Lodge of Scotland that we sing (or try to!) every New Year's Eve. At this dinner, we will incorporate the Ladies Table Festive Board so that our ladies can enjoy the evening's festivities along with us. It will include a five course meal, toasts, history (only a little😊), poetry, dancing, stories, and fellowship. A night not to be missed!
Here are a few other exciting events to look forward to in the coming year. Of course, we will honor our ladies and widows with Sweethearts luncheon on February 10. Then, on May 4, Natoma Lodge will host a French lodge who will present the First Degree of Masonry. Later in May, we are planning a family deep sea fishing trip. And on the weekend of June 1, to celebrate Natoma Lodge's 170th anniversary, we are planning a family camping weekend in Coloma where we will have an outdoor degree and a visit from Grand Master Sean Metroka. Tenters and RVers welcome! That's just the first half of the year - lots more exciting meetings and events to come!
Each year of my membership in our fraternity has been an improvement and I look forward to traveling with you and having the opportunity to work to be better together. I will do my best to live up to the honor you have granted me, and one step at a time, to meet your expectations.
Fraternally and on the Level,
Stuart Stackhouse
Senior Warden
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From the South
Merry Christmas Brethren and Ladies,
It has been a great year filled with many fun events and a number of excellent degrees. We have welcomed new brothers, passed and raised some as well. It has been very enjoyable and humbling sharing in their journeys.
I am very grateful to all those who pulled together to help put on our events. From the Superbowl Party to the Luau, and over to the Halloween Festival, we have had a ton of fun. I encourage you all to look ahead at next years calendar to see some of the upcoming events. If interested in helping or even designing an event, let us know. It would be so fantastic to share ideas and collaborate on events.
This year, as Junior Warden, has taught me so much and I am grateful for my time in the South. It is a little sad to know that I will not be sitting in the South anymore. Just a little though, because those meals can be tough to plan and coordinate. However, we are all going to be in great hands as Brother Pedro Sanchez steps into his seat in the South. For those that have been fortunate enough to try his home-made food, we all know that we have some great meals to look forward to.
Event-wise, we start the month with our final breakfast of the year so come out and join us this Saturday. Please bring a new unwrapped toy to help those in need. We will be collecting toys at the breakfast and at the stated meeting holiday dinner on the 7th. This holiday meal will be catered by Hannibal’s, and I hope that you were wise enough to RSVP in time because you don’t want to miss out on this.
The final scheduled event for the month is the Annual Installation of Officers. Please RSVP and join us to help welcome Worshipful Elect Stuart Stackhouse to his seat in the East. This has been a long time coming and many of us are looking forward to his year in 2024.
As Worshipful Joe Nielson takes on the role of Junior Past Master, I ask you all to join me in saying thank you to Worshipful Joe for his hard work and dedication, not just for his year as master, but in all he has done to support the lodge. Worshipful Joe won’t be getting much rest though because he has taken on another role as well. He will be the officers coach in 2024. Thank you, Worshipful Joe, for taking on this role and helping to keep our officers line strong.
Wrapping up, I just want to say thank you to everyone that made this year such a fun time and continues to make Natoma Lodge #64 the best lodge in the area. I hope that you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year. I cannot believe 2023 is almost over!!!
Until next month, fraternally and forever, By the Plumb,
Noel Lukas
Junior Warden
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From the Northeast Corner
THE POWER OF FELLOWSHIP
Masonry lives because it is a moral and spiritual fellowship.
It is the keeper of great symbols and the teacher of Truths that never die.
Fellowship is the reason a lodge thrives.
What do we mean by Fellowship? The dictionary definition is “companionship, a mutual sharing, a group of people with the same interests.”
Fellowship includes a conscious effort to get to know others and establish strong ties so that you can encourage them, have them encourage you, and form the bonds which are the foundation of Masonry.
Every Mason is familiar with Psalm 133. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” These were the first words I saw on the Scottish Rite Temple in Los Angeles when I became an Entered Apprentice more than 50 years ago.
Masonry is unique in the world. No other group can boast 300 years of existence based upon the singular notion that equality and fraternity can and will prevail.
Before us, we have a brand new year to make our Lodge and ourselves better. Making our lodge better will help us become better men and isn’t that really the purpose of Freemasonry?
Fraternally Yours,
Joe Freidson P.M.
Head Candidates Coach
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From Natoma Rainbow Assembly #90
Hello Masons of Natoma Lodge! Here’s a little about what Natoma Assembly has been up to this past month! We have held our regular 1st and 3rd Monday meetings, with some super fun themes! On November 2nd our Hope, Isabelle W., held a fundraiser for our assembly. It was a Spaghetti potluck dinner, and we also played bingo! It was really well attended and we all had such an amazing time. Thank you to all of you who joined us!
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On Sunday, November 12th, our assembly hosted the Northern California Grand Cross of Color Ceremony. This is a ceremony that honors ‘Masters of the Grand Cross of Color’ which is the highest honor that can be received in Rainbow. We are super proud of our very own Emma and Sydney W. who were honored to participate in the ceremony. They did an awesome job! | |
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On the topic of service, this month California Rainbow hosted their 3rd-Annual Statewide Canned Food Drive, which was held from November 5th through the 19th. We are super excited to find out how many cans Natoma Assembly raised, as well as the total cans donated by the California Rainbow Girls.
As the Holiday season is upon us, the Natoma Rainbow Girls have been doing our own holiday preparations. On November 25th, we went to Folsom Zoo to decorate a tree to promote Rainbow in the community. If you are planning on attending the Wild Nights & Holiday Lights event at the zoo, keep your eye out for the tree covered in dress ornaments!
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Finally, we are looking forward to our annual holiday party at the lodge on December 18th at 7:00 p.m. Each year we choose a family in need to sponsor for the holiday season, and we go out as an assembly to buy gifts for them. Then at our holiday party, we wrap the gifts so that they can open them on Christmas Day! We would love to see all of you there! Thank you all again for all of your support. The girls of Natoma wish you all a Happy Holidays! | |
Congratulations, Brethren! | |
Last call for RSVPs - 2024 Officer Installation | |
Join us for breakfast on Saturday, December 2! | |
2023 Natoma Lodge No. 64 Officers | |
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