North Carolina Mason
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/5196
The Mason
NORTH CAROLINA
Official Publication of e Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina
Volume 134 Number 6 Oxford, North Carolina November/December 2009
see BOTTOM LINE, page 4
see CATHEY, page 2
The BoTTom Line
By Dan C. Rice
Grand Master
The holidays — Orphanage style
Ric Carter informed me last week that
this would be my last article for e North
Carolina Mason as grand master. He also
told me that it would probably be mailed just about the time that
Brother Billy Dill is installed as grand master. is year has been
a wonderful experience for me. I want to thank the brothers all
across the state who have gone out of their way to make sure that
my visits in their lodges have been both fun and exciting. I was
treated as if I were something special everywhere by everyone. e
food that was served at the meetings was great and the respect
that was always shown the office of grand master was amazing.
e Brothers across the state made every meeting special. We
got to laugh at every meeting, and we dealt with the hard issues
without any contention or division. I am grateful for the way the
brothers handled the tough things in 2009. Two brothers drove
me all over the state. Steve Lynch and Don Kehler spent many
a late night driving us home from a meeting. ese were special
times, and a unique lasting bond of deep friendship was formed
between the three of us.
I need to thank Walt Clapp and all the staff at the Grand
Lodge. ey have made my year as grand master extremely easy
and have always been there when I needed help which was on a
regular basis. Ric Carter has been so gracious and willing to edit
my simple scribbles about life into something that can actually
be printed. e ladies at the Grand Lodge were amazing helping
Debbie and me with all the preparations for the Grand Lodge
Annual Communication and the GL ladies luncheon. We know
that events do not just happen and that it takes a bunch of work,
and we are very grateful for their help.
A thank you is in order for all the DDGMs and DDGLs who
served and helped me during this year. I also wanted to thank all
the brothers who served on the Grand Lodge boards and com-
missions. A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes at
the Grand Lodge with brothers committing huge amounts of
time on behalf of our beloved fraternity. I also wanted to publicly
thank my wife, Debbie, for all the help she has given me this year.
She has kept me on track and has supported me completely. She
took on my installation and the Annual Communication social
events as a personal project, and it allowed me to be able to focus
just on Grand Lodge business.
Last but certainly foremost; I wanted to thank God for all his
blessings. I have had a good peaceful year as grand master. At the
Annual Communication, I heard several brothers mention that
there was a great peaceful spirit among the brothers present. I
don't believe that it was an accident. God certainly has a keen
sense of humor when he allowed a boy from Oxford Orphanage,
to 50 years later, serve as grand master.
One of the great honors and privileges that I have had this
year is to be able to share stories about my life at Oxford Or-
phanage with you in e North Carolina Mason. I certainly used
the I word too much, but it was not because I had any visions of
personal grandeur of any kind. Instead, it was because I am not
smart enough to write anything in third person. I hope you have
enjoyed hearing stories about real children at the Masonic Home
for Children who you have helped survive in this very tough
world. Most of them have left Oxford Orphanage better off than
when they arrived. e Masons and the Orphanage did not save
them all, but it certainly tried, and it did save most of them. Your
efforts at Oxford would have been a success had you only saved
one child from the tragedy of a bad life. To me and to all the
children of Oxford Orphanage, the Masons will always be bigger
than life. If you are tired of Orphanage stories, stop here and move
on to another article in the paper. Otherwise, here are some of my
memories of anksgiving and Christmas under the oaks.
My first anksgiving at the orphanage was one of mixed emo-
tions. We got the day off from work on our regular jobs, but we
still had our daily chores to do before breakfast. After breakfast we
had to put on our Sunday clothes and get ready for the anks-
giving service in the Orphanage chapel. Our Sunday clothes were
usually rough spun wool that itched something terrible but would
not wear out. All the local preachers, regardless of their denomi-
nation, came together and put on the Community anksgiving
service. I was never quite sure why it was done at orphanage cha-
pel, but every year the community came together at the Orphan-
age and worshipped as a group. On anksgiving, there was no
division based on a particular creed. Instead, the day was set aside
to thank God for the blessings of the year.
Oxford is located in Granville County, and the area has always
been a farming community. Farmers know better than anyone else
that their lives and livelihoods depend on God's blessings. No rain
means no crops, and no crops means no money. Every year, the
farmers gambled and put their seeds and fertilizer in the ground,
and then they depended on God to make it grow. Some years
things went well, and other years the crops failed.
All of us Orphanage children were required to attend the
anksgiving worship service in our itchy wool clothes. e
service was usually divided up and done by different preachers.
One preacher would pray, another would read the scripture, an-
other would preach a sermon, and yet another would finally say
the benediction. ere were usually some anksgiving hymns
thrown in to make us all stand up and prevent us Orphanage boys
from dozing off. All in all, it was usually a great service, and there
was no walk back to the Orphanage. You see, in those days Sun-
day school was held at the Orphanage Chapel and then we had to
line up in two lines and we marched downtown to the church of
the denomination that our family said we were from. at was a
mile walk to church for most of us children and then a mile back
after church. On anksgiving, we were blessed to worship at our
own chapel. I was thankful for the shorter than usual anksgiv-
ing service and no walk back.
anksgiving lunch at the Orphanage was usually really good.
Sometimes we had turkey and dressing. Other times we had ham.
I remember ham most of the time because that was something
that the Orphanage produced. We always had string beans, sweet
potatoes, and a couple of other vegetables and pecan pie. For us
orphans, it was a meal from heaven and we devoured all we could.
We were usually free on the afternoon of anksgiving Day,
and we would loaf. Many of us would play basketball, chase girls,
or simply wander around the woods at the back of the Orphanage.
When you had 320 brothers and sisters there was always enough
boys to play ball with or plenty of girls to chase. Life was certainly
not boring, and when you had free time, you made it count doing
what you enjoyed most.
anksgiving was one of those magical free days with no work
and no school. I have always been grateful for anksgiving and
the opportunity to say thanks to our Maker for his blessings. Even
as a nine-year-old scared little boy whose life had completely
blown up, I knew that things could be a lot worse for me. All I
had to do was listen to the life stories of my Orphanage broth-
ers and sisters. eir tragic lives were filled with heart wrenching
stories of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Several of them had
even seen their fathers kill their mothers. Several had witnessed
tragedies that would make anyone cry just to hear about. ese
stories were not ever told to the general population of the home,
but were shared one-on-one, when a friend could no longer car-
ry his/her burden alone. Usually, this was done in a quiet place
and with both the teller and the listener quietly sobbing with the
gradual release of gigantic emotional burdens. I have seen the
toughest Orphanage boys cry over the life tragedy of an Orphan-
age brother or sister. ere was never shame in those tears, just
the washing away of some great pain inflicted on a child. Some
of those children were able to unhook from the emotional pain
they brought with them to the Orphanage and just walk away
from it. Other children could never get over what had happened
and had to drag that emotional baggage with them all the way to
their graves. My life was simpler because I was at the Orphanage
due to the death of my mother. Death is a natural occurrence and
can be understood by a child. e children that were at Oxford
Since September 2006, the Department of De-
fense has highlighted the military men and women
who have gone above and beyond the call of duty
in our current conflicts. ey publicize them as "our
American Heroes' stories."
On October 7, omas Cathey, a member of
Sonoma 472 and son of Past Grand Master Charles
Cathey, was named one of those Heroes. You may
read more and hear inter-
views at