December 1, 2010

I have greatly enjoyed being the Master of Union Lodge No. 5 this past year.  It has been a busy, and I hope you agree, successful year.  That success is due, in no small part, to the labors and support of the officers, Past Masters and Brothers at Union Lodge No. 5, without whose help we would not have achieved what we did.  A special thank you goes to our Brothers in the South, lead by our Senior Warden Tom Burke, and their assistants, for all their hard work in making this year’s fellowship so enjoyable.

We raised fourteen good men to the most sublime degree of Master Mason this year.  Of those fourteen, eleven belonged to Union 5, one to Acacia 85, one to Harmony 67 and one to St. Johns 6.  We have held four Entered Apprentice, three Fellowcraft, and four Master Mason degrees.

The installation of Union Lodge No. 5’s officers was held at the Unitarian Universalists Society of Stamford with approximately 120 people in attendance at the first Stated Communication in January.  The blue Union Lodge No. 5 banner that now hangs in the Temple was purchased for this event.

Our first degree of the year was the Master Mason, held at the first stated communication after the Installation.  We raised five Brothers that night - two of our own and three from the other lodges listed above.  We were assisted by the sitting Worshipful Masters of five Lodges, their officers, the Assoc. Grand Marshal, and a number of Past Masters.  It was remarked that 44 Brothers were there that night, a modern record!

I attended a number of events including:

• The Installations of Mathew Morris as the WM of St. John’s No. 6 in Norwalk, Tony Foote at Corinthian Lodge in Fairfield and Chris Berry at Harmony 67 in New Canaan.
• The 50 year pin presentation to R.W. D.G.M. James at Temple 65 in Westport.
• The Corinthian Lodge No. 104 and Fidelity-St. Johns Lodge No. 3, joint table lodge, which was honored to have Grand Master Charles A. Buck, Jr., and Deputy Grand Master James T. McWain in attendance.
• Both sessions of the Grand Lodge.
• A number of Blue Lodge Council meetings, including hosting one at our building.

I also sat as the Senior and Junior Warden at two degrees at Harmony, and as the Senior Warden at a Master Mason Degree at Ivanhoe 107.

There have been a good number of fellowship events this year.  The first was a Robbie Burns Night where our Secretary Joe McBride prepared, toasted and served a haggis.  There was a Concert by Mixed Company, an “a capella” group from Yale. We had the Past Master's Dinner at Pellicci's Restaurant in Stamford.  There was a St. Patrick's Day dinner that featured the dueling traditional dinners, one a true Irish with no meat and the other American style with corned beef and cabbage.  Our Treasurer WB Dom Corbo ran a Pancake Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt.  There was a Cinco de Mayo dinner, a Hawaiian shirt night complete with ukulele accompaniment from Senior Warden Jon Ringle, and a St Johns Day Table Lodge. We had two picnics this year -- the Lodge Summer Picnic in late June and the Master's Picnic in mid August. And we transformed our wives and widows dinner into a much-applauded Ladies at the Table Program modeled after a Table Lodge, with formal toasts recognizing important women in history and in our lives. It was a stunning success, with all attendees insisting on this becoming an annual tradition.

Our acts of service were also a resounding success. There was a presentation by the Masonic Organ & Tissue Program.  Our new Brother Greg Axelrod coordinated a Blood Drive at St. Cecilia's Church which, we were told by the Red Cross, had one of the best turn outs they’ve seen.  We held our sixth CTCHIPS event at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center during their annual Harvest Festival – and despite being short handed we processed one hundred children.

We tested and adopted a new web based phone calling system for the Grand Lodge called “Call Em All”, and have been successfully using the system to notify Brothers of up coming meetings and events.

This has been the year that two long discussed programs came to fruition, a scholastic scholarship award and The Masons Secret Ball.

The Lodge voted to create an annual scholarship to be awarded to a high school senior who is graduating from a Stamford high school and who will be continuing their education.  A committee consisting of SW Jon Ringle, SS Adam Ellyson, and Marshal Greg Garland was formed to create the application and select the winner.  Mr. Matthew J. Ordway from Stamford High, who is now attending Duke University, was selected as the first scholarship winner. He received $1,000 to be used for educational expenses.

The Masons Secret Ball was envisioned as a black tie gala fund-raiser that, along with raising money for the scholarship, would also raise public awareness in Stamford and the surrounding areas of Union Lodge No.5 and Masonry in general.  The well-attended event was held at The Waters Edge at Giovanni’s. Music was provided by ROXXY PERRY.  More than $1,200 was raised for the scholarship program.  Special thanks to WB Doug Burchard and Bro. Sam Maurer for their extraordinary efforts in making this event happen. I’m looking forward to next year’s ball!

Finally, with Union Lodge No. 5's 250^th anniversary fast approaching in 2010, I wanted to get things rolling by having a cocktail party to celebrate the Lodges 247 anniversary which was on November 18^th.  It was open to family and friends and was a great success, bringing in seldom seen Bothers and their wives.

The Holiday Party and Annual Table Lodge were, as always a great deal of fun.

The Installation has been scheduled for the first Wednesday of January and will be held at our building at 47 Kirkham Place.

The Senior and Junior Wardens have both been certified to open and close a Lodge by the Grand Lodge of Connecticut A.F. & A.M., and have both given the degrees appropriate to their stations and are, in my opinion, both “duly and truly prepared” to advance toward the East.

Fraternally,

Stephen W. Petri
Worshipful Master
Union Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M.