Foreign Journal podcast an audio presentation of the Scottish Rite Journal brought to you by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Southern jurisdiction mother Supreme Council of the world this week’s article is the Masonic Family Man by Brother Maynard Edwards 33rd degree and comes from the July August 2019 issue of
The Scottish Rite Journal many men have taken their first steps towards the altar of Freemasonry after having learned of a particular relative being a member of The Craft sometimes this happens at a funeral service when a lodge shows up to perform the last sacred Duty often it happens
When a man comes into possession of a Masonic ring or other heirloom that sets off his curiosity and causes him to dig deeper into his own Masonic Heritage a Heritage which had been kept somewhat Secret in many families yet as masonry in the United States pushes forward into its next Renaissance
Men are eager to share appropriate portions of their Masonic journey of self-development with their loved ones while many of the secrets of Freemasonry Remain the meme of the creepy old Lodge at the end of the street where the well-heeled men of town gather away from the prying eyes of their families is a
Vanishing Relic men and women attending Lodge Events is commonplace and the ideals that Freemasons hold dear are shared and valued by the entire family brother Dave martack 32nd degree is an extraordinary example of a man whose Masonic journey is taking this shape although he has only been a Master Mason
For a little more than a year Dave’s interest in his own Masonic lineage has changed his life and his family’s life for the better hailing from Mount Ararat lodge number 44 in Bel Air Maryland brother martek informs us his interest in masonry came from his maternal grandfather he had a
Ring and a cane with Masonic symbols on it we’d go to the shrine’s circus growing up my grandfather had a license plate but he would never talk about it I asked him about his Cane one time and said do you know what those symbols mean
And he said yes I said can you tell me he said no he just would never talk about it when his grandfather passed away brother Dave was so taken with the impressive Masonic Funeral Service that he was convinced one day he wanted to be a mason
Yet in those Dark Ages before Google and having no living connection to the craft at that time the idea for Dave to join a lodge was set aside Dave’s interest in becoming a Mason was rekindled when in 2017 he noticed a friend wearing a Masonic ring my buddy
Lenny had a Masonic ring and that ring started a conversation about masonry that is continuing to this day not only with Lenny but with all my new brothers within a few months Dave had joined a lodge and continued to explore his Masonic Heritage discovering it to be extensive
Once I became a Master Mason I contacted the Grand Lodge of Maryland and they were able to give me information on a lot more of my relatives who were Masons going back to my maternal great-great-grandfather with his lineage complete the Grand Lodge of Maryland helped him create a special Jewel to
Wear denoting his family history and The Craft while Dave is following in his beloved grandfather’s footsteps through blue Lodge Scottish Rite and the shrine one aspect that is very different is his desire to share the experience with his family I believe that it’s important for
Men to go into the lodge room and shut the door and find the harmony that can only be found among Brothers Dave explains that is extremely important but for me my family being a part of things has been one of the biggest blessings brother martek was raised by the Grand
Master of masons in Maryland in Spring of 2018. after the degree work was complete the Grand Master called off the lodge and opened the door Dave’s wife and son were invited into the lodge and presented him with his Masonic ring Dave recalls they waited on the other side of the
Building for about three hours my mom who was living in Nashville at the time was on the phone on FaceTime so she could be a part of it when the Grand Master saw and asked who was on the phone 50 guys in the lodge yelled hi Mom
That was a really special moment because I feel like through me she is now able to finally share and her father’s Masonic Journey as for his family’s role in his Masonic Pursuits brother martek says it has not ended with a ring presentation On Any Given weekend my wife and I can
Head out to a nice dinner or an event and know that we are going to be surrounded by good people my son and I share a bond now through D Malay that we have never had before the ritual the charity work and self-improvement that come from being in the Masonic family we
Have connected in a way that we had never been able to Dave is now an officer in his blue Lodge active in the Scottish Rite valleys of Susquehanna and Baltimore and participates in boomi Shrine the same Shrine as his late grandfather I was obligated with his Fez Dave declares proudly
He credits his ability to be so active to his wife of 27 years Chris martack I am so lucky to have her and without her support I couldn’t do any of the things that I do she encourages my passion and my desire to become a better man and Mason there
Is no way I could do any of this if it were not for her this past May Dave made his first visit to the house of the temple in Washington D.C where he took a tour and had a chance to discuss his story with grand Commander Ronald a seal I told him all
About my experience and how much it means to me and to my family it was amazing here I am kind of a new guy getting to sit and talk at length with the grand Commander because we are brothers when asked to give his thoughts on his Masonic Journey so far Dave says I’ve
Said this many times it just keeps getting better if I am one day blessed with grandkids I will be proud to tell them about their family history in the fraternity the secrets of Freemasonry will stay secret but the benefits of being a part of something so great
How could you not share that with family as an added feature to this Scottish Rite Journal podcast I had the privilege to speak with brother Dave regarding his article hope you enjoy it so you are quite the active Mason in your art in the article you talked about previous family members that you
Didn’t know their history until you became a Mason excuse me how active were your family members that were involved the only one I can speak of uh for sure is is my maternal grandfather and he’s the one that I pretty much follow in his footsteps both of my grandfathers both
Great-grandfathers and one great great grandfather were all Maryland Masons and I was able to trace that back through the records of the Grand Lodge I had a wonderful relationship with both of my grandfathers my paternal grandfather was not active as far as I know um although ironically he was next door
Neighbors with the Grand Master of masons in Maryland for you know he lived next to one of the grand masters of masonry for years but he was never very active but my maternal grandfather was very active without me knowing anything about it so he wore the Rings he had the
License plates he had the clocks and you know all of the memorabilia which I’m now blessed to have right um but he he never talked about it but I do know that he was active because he would be at meetings after work or he was also a
Very active Shriner he would take my mother and my father and me and my sister to the Shrine Circus every year he was one of the ushers so he was a very active Shriner as well but we never talked about it I just knew that he was
An active Mason but we we never talked about it and one story that I like to share is that um he had a surgery that required him to use a cane after his surgery I believe it was a knee surgery and the cane that he was using was a
Wooden cane with Masonic symbols and emblems carved into it and I said that’s a really nice cane Grandad I said do you know what all those symbols mean and he said yes and that was the end of the conversation he didn’t expand on it he left that that
Conversation alone and I wish that I would have asked a few more questions that may have led to me saying well how can I be a Mason because I would have loved to have the opportunity to have been active with him sure I didn’t I didn’t realize I wanted
To be a Mason until his memorial service when my grandfather passed away and we had a masonic memorial service for him and when I saw those Brothers walk in and memorialize my grandfather I knew at that moment I wanted to be a Mason it
Still took me six years to act on it but it’s the best thing that’s happened outside of my family it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me you made mention it wasn’t until a funeral that you finally made the decision and I think about when uh the the enormous
Memorial service that that was had for uh brother Pete Hicks and you know I would that made me wish I had joined sooner that that was amazing Austin I haven’t been a Mason for a very very long time but that’s as big as I’ve seen and many of our brothers have said
The same but it’s the last great thing that we can do for a brother yeah and it meant so much to me that these men came out from my grandfather and a good chance they didn’t even know him because my grandfather was an actor for the last
Parts of his life but they came out for him and and that made a lasting impression and then I finally uh I finally joined and it’s I’ve never looked back and I only wish that I would have joined sooner like you did yeah so I’ve been privileged to have have met
Your mom who’s spoken about in the article bit of a music fan what was her reaction to all this deep family involvement in the craft I know she’s very proud and my aunt as well my mom’s sister are both very proud that that I’ve carried on this passion
For masonry they they love their father as much as I love them he was truly a a good man in every sense of the word both of my grandfathers are role models of mine and I don’t and they’re both they’re they’re moral fabric is just so strong and some of that’s through their
Their spiritual beliefs but I don’t think there’s a mistake that both of them being Masons both have a moral fabric that I’ve tried to to follow along in yeah uh and so my father as well is very proud as a matter of fact he just called me just last night to
Tell me that he was proud of my activity within masonry and um it’s not something we talk about very much but that call just happened yesterday but as far as my mom she has such a special part of my journey because she was able to present me with my son my ring the
Night that I was raised only she was in Tennessee when it happened and I was in Maryland but that’s because uh my wife uh facetimed her right and they were they put the Lodge at ease and my wife came in with my son to present me my
Ring and my wife didn’t realize she was going to walk into the lodge and kept the Face Time on and I was actually raised by the grand line and Grand Master of warville said who’s on the phone and my heart sunk because I was like oh man the phone’s on and she said
That’s that’s Dave’s mom and 50 guys in unison said hi Mom that’s awesome so she’s got us she’s always going to have a special part of my my journey but she’s she’s very proud to know that that I’m following in her Father’s Footsteps and and speaking of being proud congratulations on your red
Cap well thank you that’s that’s a very humbling honor and I I can’t even put words together to express out honored I am but to know that that honor came from from my peers uh means means more that I could ever formulate it’s I I know the eligibility requirements as
Far as I’m concerned it should happen the day after you got your black cap but I know you got to earn it yeah yeah and it’s just um it’s like I said I to know the respect that I have for the men who honored me with that cap is is very
Touching yeah because I they thought something in me and I hope that they know what I what I think of them well and speaking of of earning it and this isn’t mentioned in the article this is something one would have to experience you are an exceptional ritualist
Especially in blue lodge because you and I are are members of the same blue Lodge and I see you more there than than anywhere but you you truly are and it’s not just a matter of oh he’s got it memorized it’s Dave’s got it memorized there’s there’s emotion there’s
Inflection there’s all the things to keep somebody glued just by listening you know even if the first time out especially you know dependent upon their degree and that you’re that you’re working in you know you know it’s like like brother Maynard always says it’s like what is it taking a drink of water
Out of a fire hose was that the expression yeah so what what is your advice for those looking to improve their skills in ritual work good it takes hours and hours and weeks and months and I’m not a fast learner I’m a long learner so once I finally get
It it’s mostly going to stick one of the jokes I like to say as well it was perfect in the shower or it was perfect on the car ride here right but you know it’s I’m always thinking of of some form of ritual and trying to practice it in
The car practice it at home sitting in my study or wherever always trying to practice when I have time and you just uh mentioned it about uh memorizing and work on it not until you’ve memorized it but until you know it because my experience has been my nerves can affect
What I’ve memorized but my nerves don’t affect me as much if I know it if I truly know it I’m able to get through it so if I need a prompt or if I get stuck it’s it’s right there I can recall it right away but if I’ve only worked on it
For a brief amount of time my memory can be affected by my nerves so work on it until you know it not just memorize it that practice practice practice and and work till you know it well then you have nerves of Steel because I can probably
Count the amounts the amount of times on one hand I’ve seen you work and yeah if you knew how how I felt my heart beating through my chest and my my breathing laboring and my knees knocking it I’m as nervous of a man up there as you’ve ever seen I’m glad it doesn’t
Show well that’s that’s the point it doesn’t show but but I’ll also say this we are blessed with great ritualists at Mount Ararat Lodge it’s a tradition that I’m following because we’ve been blessed with really great ritualists but if you really want to see great ritual travel
Travel to other lodges because we are good and mount ararat’s got great ritualists but our state has got we have some tremendous ritualists and I learn just by going to the the summer schools of instruction and hearing different officers from different lodges and learning from their Cadence or their
Inflection how they choose to deliver it and taking a piece from everybody that you hear you can you can learn you can learn whether it was good or bad but uh you can learn but there are some tremendous ritualists in in the state all around but from my
Experiences in the state of Maryland and if I named them all I would only be embarrassed that I forgot to name some but um I I try to learn from each each one of them you certainly would know more than I do that’s for sure [Laughter]
Well yeah you know I’m I’m I’ve been fortunate to have a family that lets me uh travel as much as I do and uh and and spend as much time doing this as as I do and tell you man when when you make the best friends that you’ve ever had in life
It makes it makes it easy to want to travel because that’s where they’re going to be well yeah and and you you you talk about your family being very much behind you in it and and how active you are so as activism as you are what keeps you
Motivated is it books is it moments of Brotherhood is it charitable work you know all the above it’s actually a great question because as with anything you know your motivations can go up and down you know your passions depending on where you’re at in life or what’s going
On in your life uh I do read I try to educate uh myself but I really get the best educations from just the conversations that I have with with my brothers I love ritual and I love the meetings and I I love you know how every
Part of it but when the gavel drops is when I’ve had some of uh my my best education from conversations that I’ve had or maybe it’s just going out to dinner with a couple of friends and and just talking about what we what we think
About a perfect emblem or a symbol or a part of the ritual um you and I are both admirers and consider a mentor to be babylonic I mean like I said I could mention 500 names but one example is when I was a brand new Mason and he started talking about
His interpretation of chalk and he gave me his interpretation and I was blown away by it and I said man I would I would really love to continue this and this was right after the meeting and I said I would really love to continue this conversation and he
Said what are you doing when we leave and we went out to a restaurant and that conversation hasn’t stopped yet we we that can that conversation in many different facets uh still goes on so I had the uh honor of being able to sit in the East and confer
The first degree a few weeks ago because I’m the junior Warden but I cheered up and when I got to the part of the lecture that referenced chalk I looked right at Bob and I could I there are pieces of every lecture that I could probably look at a different brother and
Say I learned about this from you where I learned about this from you um and so that’s that’s what keeps me active is The Passion of the relationships that I’ve developed in masonry I would never want them to be less than what they are so knowing that
I’m going to be in a room with the best friends that I’ve ever made is really what keeps my passion as strong as it is talk talking about special moments as as an officer in the lodge who’s just two seats away from the East which I’m looking forward to what moments in in
The lodge stand out to you and or in any of the seats that you’ve been in since you know you became part of a line anything that has to do with a family connection and not mine but whenever someone’s son or someone’s father or brother comes in to our fraternity it
Really hits me in a different way and it’s really special um we’ve had a lot of that lately we’ve had a lot of that lately and it’s been wonderful to watch brothers and and Sons and fathers and sitting Junior Warden um I would be the one to obligate a
Brother and um one of our Junior Deacon came up to me and said would would you mind and it wasn’t even my call it was our worshipful Masters but just out of respect he came to me and said uh would you mind if I sat as Junior Warden to
Obligate my father and I said mind I I can’t wait to see that yeah and that was that was a special moment and uh when our senior Deacon’s father came into Lodge and our musician’s brother I mean it’s it’s endless but those are some really really really special moments
Since I’ve been an officer no moment will ever top the night that I was raised and the Grand Master oh for sure without my my wife and my son and and Via FaceTime my mom not nothing will ever top that moment but as far as what
I’ve seen in the chairs when I had the opportunity to obligate the three young men who were also de Malay current active bee malaise just a few weeks ago without giving a lot of time to think about that’s that’s on my short list to know that I’m an advisor for demolay
Um they call me Papa D so I’ve got a good relationship with them a fun a fun relationship with them as their advisor and to be able to obligate those young men those Brothers um is is definitely a high point of my journey so far speaking of high points of Journeys and
To step aside what’s what size shoe do you wear because you had on a pair of boots last time I saw you that I’m trying to remember what size shoe size 11. size 11. okay your feet are smaller than mine but I totally set you up because one of the charitable things requires
You to wear high heels where on Earth do you find a men’s size 11 high heel shoes and Good Will and explain what it is and why you do that thank you thank you for letting me explain [Laughter] so we we are a very active Lodge and we
Have what we call Brotherhood nights where when whenever there’s a fifth Tuesday in a month uh we try to have a Brotherhood night where brothers from all around the region and it’s becoming from around the state uh get together and just share Brotherhood we’ll have a great meal we try to include an
Education in that but we always include a charity and one of the local charities is uh sarc and Anna’s house and they both deal with uh and it can be men as well but mostly women and children who come from unhealthy relationships yeah and sarc has a a charity event it’s
Called walk a mile in her shoes and you walk a mile in the town of Bel-Air in a pair of high heels and uh you have as many people as you can join you and uh that particular time I was a I was a party of one as far as the lodge was
Concerned but it’s expanded but um I had to go out and find a pair pair of size 11 high heels and Goodwill had a pair but my wife my wife called me out and said they’re not very high so the day that I got there they actually had a
Hundred pairs laying around and I said okay I’m gonna go big or go home wow and the hardest part was um being a Rel a big guy with a bit of a belly I learned that it’s not real easy to stand on high heels when the ground is sloped going forward
It was it was more of a balancing act than I expected it to be but it was a lot of fun and it was for a great charity and we raised uh within our lives twelve hundred dollars that particular time we raised twelve hundred dollars this time and I hope we can
Continue to have that sort of an impact in our community whether it be that particular charity or any charity we want to leave an impact in our community yeah absolutely well you you you are definitely an impact in our blue Lodge and now that I’ve you know you’re you
Have your red Red Cap I recently just got my black cap I’ll see you at least one more day out of the week but you know oh yeah yeah it’s uh like you said when you when you’re active in blue Lodge and you’re active in Scottish
Right Masonry it’s it’s going to be more time more meetings and it’s probably going to be the same faces but when those same faces when again I know I say a lot but when those same faces are some of the best men that you’ve ever known in your life
It’s easy to go back and and I know that I I I said this in a speech when when you received your 14th degree ring and I was asked why I’m an act of Mason and and I believe that so many of us are active because
When when you’re young and you live in a neighborhood your friends are chose free chosen for you depending on where your parents decided to buy a home right and your school friends are probably going to be the same reason because of where where you resideed right um and and that
Same cut that same thought process or Theory really follows you all the way through life uh because you’re going to get a job that not necessarily you didn’t necessarily choose the job but the job chose you and your your friends are going to be who you worked with
Um so a lot of times your friends are chosen for you because of where you lived or where you worked but when we become Masons we all joined a fraternity as like-minded men to to be a good man and make ourselves better or make men better and I really believe that that’s
Why the friends that I’ve made in masonry are the best friends that I’ve ever had like and share this article and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel if you wish to comment please leave one and as a reminder hit the notifications Bell any accompanying photographs or
Citations for this article can be found in the corresponding print edition the Scottish Rite Journal is published by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Southern jurisdiction mother Supreme Council of the World Mark dreisenstock 32nd degree kcch managing editor I’m your host Matt Bowers
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