The North Carolina Mason

Page 6 BENEATH THE OAKS Getting the right focus By Allen Hughes Administrator Masonic Home for Children at Oxford I don’t remember when I first heard it and don’t know who to credit for saying it, but when things tend to get chaotic, and it is hard to maintain proper focus, I often recall the phrase: “When you’re up to your neck in water with ‘gators snapping all around you, it is hard to remember that you’re there to drain the swamp.” In today’s fast-paced society, it is easy to lose focus. All too often the business and social changes have adversely affected the family unit, with many adults failing to properly focus on their children. Tere’s no way I’ll forget our purpose for being here, but having to negotiate around the roadblocks that thwart the efforts of the Masonic Home for Children to care for disadvantaged children occasionally diverts our attention. When we have to take a different approach to get things done, we may tend to generalize rather than cite specifics, and it is easy to be misinterpreted. It is critical that we understand each other if we are to maintain a bond of trust, and I want you to feel that you can trust me to act in the best interests of the children and our Home. Last month I sent a letter to the master of each Masonic Lodge in the state imploring the support of the lodge members to help find disadvantaged children MHCO can help. While I received positive response and offers for support, I also was chastised for a perceived castigation of the Social Services system and those who work in that system. Maligning Social Services certainly was not my intent, and Let me help Masonry's charities ❍ Te North Carolina Masonic Foundation ❍ WhiteStone (MESH) ❍ Te Masonic Home for Children ❍ Send information about wills and bequests. ❍ Please have someone contact me. My name Address City Phone In memory of (optional) Address To assure that your gift is properly credited to the fund of your choice, please make the check payable to that charity. Mail to Te Grand Lodge of North Carolina, PO Box 6506, Raleigh, NC 27628. if others of you also felt I misspoke then I offer sincere apology. Te Social Services system employs thousands of wonderful, caring peo- ple who work diligently, often in a thankless environment, to protect children from abuse and neglect. Unfortunately, in many of the cases DSS workers must act on a court order to remove the children from the parents or custodians, placing them in an adversarial position. A number of different factors, not the least of which is parental rights, frequently complicate their efforts to place children long-term in a more desirable setting. Sometimes the best efforts of all who strive to help the children are overcome by circumstances beyond our control. With budget cuts and consequent staff reductions, the task becomes even more challenging. My plea to the Craft is to offer struggling families an affordable State My lodge Zip alternative of help for their children in which they have more control, not to avert the system set up to protect the children. Often, children end up in neglectful situations when their parents are unemployed and focus more on finding the means to care for their family than on the care and supervision of the children. Pride and the desire for privacy sometimes drive adults to deny that help is needed or to re- fuse to seek help despite the need. I remember, as a child, long peri- ods in which my father was unemployed and my grandparents and other relatives had little or no visible means of support, yet all refused outside assistance. When Masons in Clay County who knew of our plight convinced my father that sending my younger sister and me to Oxford Orphanage was in our best interests, he reluctantly agreed. Tat was the best thing he could have done for us at the time, but he would never admit it. On occasions when I visited him after I gradu- ated college, an achievement that would not have been possible had I not lived at the Orphanage, my father was quick to boast that his son was an officer in the Army and a college graduate. Despite that, in the times I could get him into a personal conversation, he confided that he felt he had failed me by sending me away from home. I told him it was the best thing he could have done for me, but he would not accept it. My father was never a compassionate man, but he expressed his feelings about sending my siblings and me to the Orphanage by saying, “Parents should be able to take care of their children.” When I’m trying to find some rationale as to why parents will keep children in poor and unhealthy conditions rather than accept the help we can offer, I remember what my father said. Unless we can convince parents who can’t properly support their family it is in the best interests of their children to accept outside assistance, the number of abused and/ or neglected children may continue to grow. Love for the children should override family pride, but in far too many cases bad choices by parents deprive children of the care they need and deserve. With the continued high unemployment rates and the pessimis- tic outlook for new jobs, we hear reports that there are many strug- gling families who need help for their children. Major cuts in the state budget make it even harder for social services agencies to assist families in need. MHCO is able to help care for disadvantaged chil- dren without having to rely on the reduced public funds. One of the reasons often given for not placing children in residential homes is a higher cost to care for the children. MHCO provides quality care for the children with practically no cost to the taxpayers or the fami- lies. In these economically challenging times, our Home should be an attractive alternative for out-of-home placements for children. We Zion helps the Home OXFORD — On St. John’s Day, Zion 81 donated $500 to the Masonic Home for Children. Seen here at the presentation were, from left, Brent Meadows, Bobby Meadows, Grand Master William L. Dill, Home Administrator Allen Hughes, Johnny Surles, and Billy MacIntosh. — Bobby Meadows WELCOME OUR NEW BROTHERS 1 ..........................Charles David Baer 1 .....................Randall Lynn Munday 3 .........................Alan Ned Chapman 3 ..........................David Alex Daniels 3 .....................Mark Douglas Daniels 3 ..................Robert Elwood Derby Jr. 3 .............................Billy Jack Golden 3 .................William Henry Herndon 3 ................... Robert Michael Horner 3 .................Tomas Andrew Morgan 8 .......................Brent Edwin Crowell 8 ..........................Mark Danny Sands 19 ........................James Carl Rafferty 27 .........................Jack Glenn O’Neal 27 ...................Duane Richard Smyth 31 ................ Robert Timothy Aycock 31 .....................Martin Dewayne Ball 31 ....................William Arthur Clark 31 .................Stephen Michael Taylor 31 .......................Jeff Michael Walters 32 ...........................Ted NMN Cisine 53 ...................Otey Teodore Driggs 58 ..................Frank Elliott Etheridge 59 ......................Matthew Alan Noles 64 ................... Parker Colson Dunlap 75 .................Brian Keith McPherson 75 ...............Roger Needham Morgan 76 ......... Christopher William Malloy 76 ...................Barry Franklin Perdew 76 ..................Tomas Michael Saitta 76 ..................Timothy Ray Sizemore 76 ................ Jeremy Russell Williams 83 .................. Abrahm Stacey Polaski 83 .................Charles Tomas Ritchie 84 ...................Michael Lee McLamb 97 ......................Anthony David Deel 97 ..................Michael Eugene Dolan 97 ...................Joshua Robert Sanders 106 .........................Ersal Overton III 109 ...................John Stephon Gaskill 109 ......................James Glenn Willis 114 .....................Gregory Allen Lane 114 ............James Kristopher Toman 117 ..........Kenneth Wayne Strickland 118 ................ Michael Wayne Begley 118 ......................Mark-Ellis Bennett 118 ...................Stephen Ferris Camp 118 .............................Carey Harnash 118 ......... Martin Wirth Houghtaling 118 .....................Eric Edward Rainey 122 ........................ Dennis Ray Dilda 123 .................Andrew Allan Dudash 126 .....................Steven Ray Stallings 127 ...............Henry Joseph Antos III 132 ................Mark Allwin Donoway 134 ............Randy Dean McDaniel Jr. 136 ........Benjamin Stewart Hamilton 137 ................Andrew Joseph Chance 138 ................... Danny Richard Buck 138 ................Justin Tomas Freeman 138 ........Cornelius Bryan Whitehurst 143 ............... Charlie Michael Brown 145 ........................ Allen Paul Knopp 145 ................Andrew Parker Norton 146 ...William Anthony Vespasian III 149 ..................Jeremy William Vargo 167 .................... Michael Scott Fahey 167 .............Seth Alexander Haymore 167 ............. Matthew Wayne Shelton 172 ....................James Ralph Riddick 191 ................Tomas Scott Winslow 198 ........Myndret Charles Busack III 198 ...................Jeffrey Arnauld Colas 198 ..............Douglas Reid Dorney Jr. 198 .............Anthony Joseph Mercury 198 .....................Andrew Lee Rickett 198 ..................John Gregory Wallace 205 ....................... David Clark Blake 205 ................... David Lloyd Whalen 214 .......................Chad Jason Bryant 218 ..................Donald Travis Bryson 218 ....................David Bennett Glass 218 .....Damon Lawrence Williamson 230 ..................John Damian Whitley 230 .......... Michael Damien Wiegand 237 ..............John Mason Morrow III 237 ........................Jack Everette Reid 249 ................Melvin Lee Watkins Jr. 253 ............ Jonathan Paul Goodnight 257 ......................Joshua Paul Gibson 261 .......................Jamie Dean Curlee 261 .............. Ian Strickland DeMallie 261 .............Paul Louis Digiacomo Jr. 261 ................. John Michael Gregory 261 ........William Nicholas Iuliano Jr. 261 ............Lee Colter P. McDermott 261 ...................Derek Lee McKelvey 262 ..........Ryan Christopher Appleby 262 .................Michael Wesley Jacobs 262 .......................Travis Brett Turner 263 ...................Michael Lee Agerton 263 .........................Max Bryan Davis 263 ...................... Kevin Michael Lail 263 ................... Jason Matthew Long 263 .............. Mickey Charles Sanford 265 ................Michael Shane Hodges 283 .................Claude Darrell Dillard 289 ............Stephen Carter Anderson 289 ..................Nicholas Lee Broome 289 ....................Richard Mark Miller 292 ....................Alan Wayne Radcliff 296 ..................Russell Heath Harrell 296 ......................Donnie Lee Moore 304 .................William Michael Gray 304 ...................Mark McCrea Keene 304 .......... Daniel Elvin MCLawhorn 304 .......... Samuel Elton McLawhorn 306 ..............Matthew Aaron Hodges 306 .............. Tobin Anthony Johnson 306 .....................Paul Andrew Richie 314 ..........Harry Randall Anderson II 314 ...................... Mark Allen Hurley 317 ..............William Jeffrey Mitchell 319 .....................David Michael Russ 340 .............. Jeffrey Roger Brogneaux 356 ...............Nicholas Ryan Childers 363 ................. John Lawrence Moore 363 .................. Jerry Hugh Moretz II 363 ........................Toby Dean Ragan 375 .................James Robert Philbeck 375 ....................Bryon Colton White 377 .........................David John Force 377 .........................John Alden Force 377 ....................Ronald Casey Pearce 379 ......................Clint Austin Boney 379 ........... Richard Franklin Bryan Jr. 379 ............. Kimbrell Clark Williams 391 .......................Fred Reese Adkins 391 ............... Matthew Emil Fairfield 391 ............... Michael Frank Gardner 391 ................ David Sean VonHagen 395 ..................... Jason Byerly Jeffries 395 ..............................Eugene Ridley 397 .....Frederick Ernest Ellis Loomis 405 ........Charles Hubert Armentrout 405 ....................Jeffrey Wayne Shultz 405 ........Chase Alexander Templeton 408 ...................Blake Austen Burklin 409 ................Joseph Michiel Burgess 409 ...................Timothy Wayne Isley 409 ....................Gregory Lynn Stutts 420 .Christopher Lee Eugene Triplett 429 .......................Scott Alan Merritt 446 ...................Walter Flave Hart III 446 .........Christopher Devon Liedtke 446 .........................Chad Lee Presley 446 ........................John Arthur Ward 453 ...........Travis Charles Williamson 454 ..................Richard Carrol Harris 454 .......................... Jason Lee Stokes 459 .......................Justin Rahn Brown 459 ..................... Michael Lee Brown 461 .......................Grant Lee Holmes 461 ................William Blake Holmes 461 ......................Sonnie Boy McRae 461 ............ Ricky Marvin Rosenbalm 461 ..Cameron Mitchell Schrecengost 482 ........................David Evan Guice 482 ............Norman Benjamin Moore 482 ................Richard James Wade Jr. 484 .................Gino William Lamolli 484 ...Newton Farragut McCurdey Jr. 492 ................Timothy Brad Johnson 492 ..................... Marcus Samuel Orr 497 ...................... Mark Brian Forrest 498 .......................Robert Lee Creech 498 ...........Nicholas Michael Kalapos 498 ......................Bradley Earl White 499 ...............David Brandon Haskins 499 ......................Sean Reid McNally 499 .......................Eric Bruce Royster 500 ........ Eric Michael Wilson Boone 500 ................Anthony Justin Eldreth 502 .................. Benjamin Scott Black 502 .............Joshua Michael Schronce 502 ................... Jeremi David Stamey 515 ............. Joseph Edmond Brackett 515 ....................David Andrew Crow 515 .............Martin Shawn Lingerfelt 515 ...................Jason Berlin Simonds 519 ................... John Michael Bishop 521 .....................Robert Duane Korb 521 ..............Allen Ryan Scarborough 521 .............. Peter Christopher Turek 528 ..................Justin Dolphus Parker 532 .................. Richard Wesley Blake 532 ...............James Edward Boone Jr. 534 ..................Donald Gene Church 534 .................Ronald James Mauney 534 ...............Adam Steven Whisnant 535 .....................Roger Ward Hellard 542 ............ Taylor Ryan MacPherson 543 .................... Kenneth Mark Bean 543 ............Andrew Tomas Head III 544 ...........William Dolph Barton III 556 ................. James Edward Reagan 565 ............Timothy DeWayne Reese 576 ................Donald Gary Kaufman 576 ......................Justin Curtis Steger 584 ......................Roy Edwin Medlin 594 ........................Andrew Seth May 596 .............Nicholas Wright Roberts 624 ............Matthew Wayne Grissom 624 ........... Philip Tomas Grissom Jr. 626 .............. Michael Eugene Gainey 626 .................James Staphens Jordan 629 .............Norman Tomas Scott II 629 ......Tommy Mitchell Simmons Jr. 629 ................. Edward Andrew Sipes 654 ....................... Larry Alan Hogan 656 ....................Jetze Gerben Bouma 656 ...................Marcus Dale Kindley 657 ......................David Ryan Morris 657 ......................Wilbur Todd Peeler 657 .....................Jason Michael Shive 657 .....................Matt Preston Staton 663 ............. Timothy Glenn Buckner 663 ...............Tomas Aron Sammons 667 ...................David Vincent Alicea 667 ................Jonathan Dean West Jr. 670 ........................ Alan Fowler Jacks 670 .....................Chadd Allen Powell 672 .......... Matthew Cullin Buchanan 675 .................Norman Eugene Hiatt 676 ................ Alfred Charles Holden 679 ................David Alan Hammond 679 ...................Kyle Fredrick Jentink 679 .............. Patrick Matthew Mynes 679 .......................Bradley Dow Zaha 680 ..................Ethan James Johnston 688 ..............Christopher Brian Fuller 688 ......................Travis Lee Gilmore 690 .....................Walter Lind Conine 690 ...............Dow Blaylock Hawkins 692 ...................Larry Stephen Nester 694 .............Myron Stanley Herron Jr. 694 ..................... Payton Ryan Lingle 694 ...........William Alteria Napper Jr. 694 ..................Jacob Tomas Nichols 694 .............William Charles Rush Jr. 695 ............William Martin Glick III 699 ............Matthew Frank Altamura 699 ...............William Taylor Browne 699 ................Taylor Brooks Callicutt 701 ...................Tomas Elliott Gantt 702 .................. Charles Ray Bradford 703 .........................Adam Jose Torres 703 .................John George Valentine 703 ..........Mario Francisco Zepeda Jr. 704 .......Joshua Scott Wade Chandler 706 .................... Jose Nicolas Aispuro 706 ............... Robert Lee Stephenson 707 ..................Jason Bryan Krecklow 707 ...................John Jackson Shipton 712 .............William Fredrick Boykin 712 ....................Adam Baird Tomas 722 .................... Kem Graymon Byrd 722 ................... James Edward Miller 722 ....Joshua William Edward Miller 723 ..............William Michael Askew 723 ........Christopher Alan Blackburn 724 ............ Stephen Nicholas Burkell 724 .....................James Brian Lupton 724 .......................Rudy Austin Riggs 725 .................... Samuel Allen Heath 730 ................ George Wallace Frazee 732 ...............David Randall Kennedy 732 ........Christopher William Morris 732 ........................William Morris Jr. 732 ....................Todd Allen Schmaus 736 ..................Nathan Dale O’Maley 737 ............Charles Bennett Ratliff Jr. 737 .............. Michael George Tsoulos 738 .................Jeffrey Wayne Murphy 738 .............Stephen Christian Tilson 739 ......................Steven Lee Wallace 746 ....................... David Wade Cook 746 ...........Robert Miller McGuire Jr. 750 ................... Jonathan Brian Duke 750 ...................David Ward Mitchell 751 ........Brian Christopher Boyenger 751 ..........Dwaine Andrew Hutchens 751 ..........James Tomas Matthews II 751 ........Tomas Kenneth Noetzel Jr. 751 ......................Robert Gray Reavis 753 ..................Justin William Lanasa 754 .................Robert Curtis Coombs 756 ...................Larry Jackson Trotter 757 ...................Shane Tomas Curtis 757 .................Mark Douglas Kincaid 757 ....................Derek Brenden Pfaff 759 .....................Melvin Jesus Correa 762 ......................... Richard Paul Lee will care for the children and work with their families, with the goal that they can be reunified when a safe family environment has been restored. It is a hard decision for parents to let their children go, even for a little while, but knowing the difference it made for me and so many other children, we should encourage struggling parents to seek help in caring for their children while they resolve their problems and get the family refocused. Our children’s home was established during one of the lowest eco- nomic periods in our nation’s history when there were thousands of orphans needing safe haven. It became a reality only after much de- bate of who had the responsibility to care for the orphans. Occasion- ally, we still hear reluctance to help care for someone else’s children. In 1872 the Masons of North Carolina made a commitment to help provide needy children with a home and training so they might have a better chance to succeed in life. Trough the years, Masons across the state have been true to that commitment, and thousands of youth have benefited. For most of the first century of existence of our Home for Children, the number of families seeking help exceeded the space available. Our Masons have continued to provide financial support to help the children and protect the future of the Home because it is the right thing to do. Today, as our nation struggles in the aftermath of the most severe economic recession in decades, we read and hear of many families losing their jobs and homes and facing economic ruin. Yet, the number of children in our care is the lowest it has been in recent history. At the Masonic Home for Children, we want to help and are ready to help for as long as it takes to give the children the care they need. If you will assist us in finding the families we can help, we’ll do our best to work with them in caring for their children. It would be wonderful if all children could live safely in their own homes, but until that time comes our children’s home will provide a caring alternative. If you know of a disadvantaged family with children we may be able to help, please call, or have them call us at (888) 505-4357. Please know that all your efforts, great or small, to help the chil- dren can be life-changing. If we focus on that, we can indeed make a difference. Tank you for caring. The North Carolina Mason July/August 2010 

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