(If you are going to edit it, you might as well make it make more sense)

Masonary, yeah well... there is that :)

To say that my family is actively involved in Masonary is probably understating the involvement. My father was Master of his lodge (Meyersdale) when I was born and High Priest of his chapter (Monessen) when my brother was born. My mother wasn't sure that she wanted him to be Commander :)

My first real memories of Masonic stuff include watching them re-construct the UB Church into the Masonic Hall in Monessen (1982 ish) and Larry Breletic being elected "Grand Bottom" in Commandry and the party that was held (1980ish). Most of my memories revolve around Commandry and Blue Lodge. Part of the problem is the fact that you see the same people at just about everything, so many of the organizations blend together.

There was never any question about whether or not I would be joining International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. It was pretty much a forgone conclusion. The question was never "Are you going to join?", but rather "when are you turning 12 so that you can join?" When I finally turned 12, I petitioned and was accepted into Belle Vernon Assembly. I am sure that my parents were there, but what I most remember was that my paternal grandmother was able to be there. This is one of the last things that she was able to attend. Shortly after this she had a stroke which had her confined to a nursing home for the rest of her days.

I served my assembly in a variety of offices including Immortality, Nature, Chaplin, Drill Leader, Faith, Worthy Associate Advisor and Worthy Advisor. I received the Grand Cross of Color. I am not exactly sure when. I served as a Grand Representative twice (Japan and Nevada). I was also Grand Fidelty for Terri Lynn Castellan during her "Lasso a Rainbow" session. I remember my father, brother and Larry Breletic coming up to join my mother and I for my installation at Grand Assembly. I was very excited. That was a very enjoyable year. I had a lot of fun traveling to different Assemblies and meeting lots of people.

Of course, you eventually get to be too old to be a Rainbow Girl, so you must join one of the adult female organization. Because of the way that initiations fell (along with my breaks from Penn State) I was able to join the White Shrine of Jerusulum before I joined Eastern Star. Because W. Scott Stoner lifted the edict that PA Masons were not permitted to belong to any female organizations (1991. He announced it at one of the banquets at Grand Chapter for the Order of the Eastern Star) my father was able to join OES at the same time that I did. He was one of the first male members of the chapter (and if you are in APO, it is because of how General Grand dealt with some of the chapters that were reluctant to admit men that my stance on the all-male chapter issue is so strong. I saw chapters fold because they were not willing to change. I still do not see how this benifitted anyone.)

At some point, I decided to go through the chairs in both Star and Shrine. The way things worked out, I followed the correct progression for each. I did not skip any stations and I was Worthy High Priestess the year before I was Worthy Martron. My mother was my Watchman of Shepherds (for some reason, White Shrine was much more flexible about the whole integrating men back in. I am not sure if other jurisdictions have women Watchmen of Shephards, but PA still does. Some are now male, but there still are several females serving) I traveled a fair bit, but not over much. My father was my Worthy Patron, when I was Worthy Matron. I traveled a little more with Eastern Star than I did with White Shrine. Some of it might be the fact that there was more oppertunities to travel. I still belong to both bodies. I am currently active in Star, but not in Shrine. Some of that is because Shrine is now meeting in Duquesne rather than Donora. Since I've not really been all that active in Shrine, I don't get bugged about being either WHP or WOS. I still get bugged about being Worthy Matron again. My reponse is the same as it has been for the past several years, "I will be Worthy Matron again when Tom Strong agrees to be my Worthy Patron." For a long time, this gave me about 3 years after he agreed until I would/could be Worthy Matron. This is no longer the case. The buffer has gotten smaller. It's down to about a year or less...

PA Grand Lodge
About the Order of the Eastern Star

Send comments or suggestions to:

Kathleen L. Habel <kathy@dementia.org>