From the Worshipful Master

I have been thinking a lot about family lately. Many of you know that a month ago, we laid my father to rest to be with G-d On High. I realized (and maybe always knew) that family was the most important thing in life, and my father was no exception. No, he was not a Mason, but there are those men in the world that are Masons without knowing it. My father did belong to a couple of different organizations and was familiar with the concept, and encouraged me to join. Originally, and jokingly, he thought it was a place to have a beer and play cards, but of course we know that’s not the case. I loved my father. I idolized him, and he was part of the reason I got into the officers’ line.

While my father’s loss is fresh, my family as a whole has always been the backbone of what it is I’ve done in life. My mother always encouraged me and fought for me. My brothers and I have always been competitive (in a good nurtured way) and it drove me to college and graduate school. My sister is the other “mom” in my life who has always been there for me. But there is also extended family. My Uncle Charlie (my father’s brother) who I saw as another grandfather, and there are many others. Without family we would be lost and we wouldn’t be who we are today.

I also don’t want to forget my extended-extended family. Those family members that aren’t blood related but I choose to call my family. They know exactly who they are. They were there for me when my father died. They were there for me when my children were born. And they have been there for me at every turn. Most people know that in Arizona I don’t have any family here. But really I do. And they’re wonderful.

And of course there is my amazing wife, who has stood by me through out this whole process. This takes much time away from my being at home, and yet she has been supportive the entire way. She may not understand it, but she is happy I’m happy doing what I love.

And through it all, each person I call family has been supportive about my Masonic career. They have pushed me to go far in the fraternity and I continue to want to make them proud. But most of all I need to know that my father is proud of me. I can never hope to be half the man he was, but I hopefully have fifty more years to try.

Dad, if you’re out there (and I know you are) looking down on me, I hope you are proud of the boy you raised.

Jason Michlowitz
Worshipful Master

From the Senior Warden

Masonry isn’t something I was ever exposed to, growing up. My father was a Freemason, but my mother didn’t understand the Craft, and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t be told everything she might want to know. To keep peace in his house, he demitted and quit attending lodge. His brothers remained Masons, but as a child I wasn’t around my uncles a great deal, and so, due to all this, I grew up knowing little to nothing about Freemasonry.

Years later, I became interested in Masonry. I couldn’t tell you why, but something about it caught my interest. I worked to learn what I could, without resorting to foolish sources of misinformation that are so prevalent, particularly on the Internet.

And one of my chief encouragements in this search was my wife. Contrary to proving an obstacle in my interest in the Masons, she pushed me to research and learn, to speak to Masons and discover what I could.
She did this because her father is a Mason, and her mother was happy to let him belong to the organization. She, herself, was a member of the Eastern Star, and my wife, whose father and grandfather were Masons, could have joined that Order long before I became a Mason.

And so, with her encouragement in my interests, with the help of a friend, with the friendship of my future brothers in Masonry, I pursued my interests, was initiated, passed, and raised as a Master Mason. I am a line officer, and hope to be a Master of my Lodge one day.

Family is essential to Masonry. In my father’s case, family brought his Masonic career to an end. In my father-in-law’s and my own, it encouraged and supported our Masonry.
Your blood family is, I would argue, even more essential to Freemasonry than your Masonic family: both are family, however.

Bryan Bullock
Senior Warden

From the Junior Warden

Masonry is lineage and I never knew.

Growing up I was never exposed to free masonry even as a teenager and in college I knew nothing about the Freemasons. I never know who or what the Freemasons were or did.

It wasn’t until I heard about Freemasons and started asking questions to family did I find out my grandpa and great grandpa and uncle were Freemasons. When I mentioned the idea of being a Freemason, I received zero negative pressure. I received phrases such as “Cool”, and “Great Ben”, and “That’s awesome”, I didn’t hear one negative response back from family.

Family is the biggest reason for being a Freemason, If it wasn’t for family, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Ben Kruse
Junior Warden