“We can only know the fullest joys of Masonry when we truly walk the paths of service and of hard work in the quarries.” – George E. Burow 33°
After being raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, there is no honor more significant than being asked to serve as the Worshipful Master of a Blue Lodge. With great humility, the honor was bestowed to me in the summer of 2019. As the Senior Warden, my biggest fear was my inexperience as a Mason might lead to failure as the Lodge leader, and the Brothers might be disappointed with their choice. Quickly it became evident that while experience as a Mason is essential, it was the professional experiences that were critical in my year. Time will be the judge of the legacy that was forged during the twelve months of service to the lodge. Chances are you have contemplated the legacy that you want to leave behind. Hopefully, this blog and my upcoming book will be a valuable resource on your journey of leading and improving your lodge.
It is difficult to recall when the Freemasons were first introduced to me. It may have been some blockbuster movie or a conspiracy TV show. Even though I did not know it at the time, my memory of when I met my first Freemason is clear.
When I was eleven years old, we moved to my step dad’s hometown in Illinois. There I met his father, Frank Galloway. Unfortunately, Frank had a stroke ten years before we met. He was paralyzed on the left side of his body and could not speak. There were two things that I noticed about him; he loved his St. Louis Cardinals, and he had a cool “Galloway” ring that he never took off. By now, you most likely have already realized that his ring was a Square and Compasses ring with the letter “G” in the center. In my young mind, the G stood for “Galloway.”
Fast forward eight years, sitting at his funeral; I observed several men in attendance. Towards the end of the service, our neighbor who spent countless hours with my grandfather stood up and announced that Brother Frank Galloway was a Freemason. He asked us to step outside of the service briefly. When we returned, several of the men were wearing aprons. There was a brief presentation and a Masonic Burial Service for my grandfather. The respect that the Mason’s had for my grandfather had a profound impression on me.
As a twenty-year-old man, I was then living in Texas and definitely not mature enough to knock upon a lodge door. Life happened. I got married and had two beautiful children. A decade passed, and I separated from my first wife. One evening while I was in my one-bedroom apartment feeling like I had hit rock bottom, I began to think about my life and the connection that my grandfather had to those men, even in death. A simple Google search led me to the websites for two lodges that were close to my apartment. That night I emailed both lodges the following email:
On Aug 29, 2013, at 12:00 am, Chris Galloway wrote:
Subject: Membership Information?
Hello,
My name is Chris Galloway. I would like some information about becoming a member of your lodge. My grandfather, Frank Galloway, was a Mason in Illinois. He has passed away, so I don’t know of any Masons. I’m not sure what steps I need to take. I would strongly appreciate your guidance. I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you for your time.
Respectfully,
Chris Galloway
Two days later, the secretary from Valley-Hi Lodge where I eventually served as the Worshipful Master responded to my email. The other lodge never responded. I am relatively confident that there would have been a good chance that I would have joined the other lodge because it was geographically closer to my apartment. Having a sound communication system and following up in a timely manner was the first lesson that I would carry with me on my way to the East.
In February of 2014, I was initiated into the fraternity, assigned a mentor, and began my work as an Entered Apprentice. After eleven months, I completed the requirements of the first two degrees and was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason in January of 2015. When lodge officer elections came up in June, as a very green Master Mason, I officially began my journey to the East by being elected to Junior Deacon.
Some readers may be entirely “shocked” that a newly raised Brother would be elected to an officer position, while the majority of you may have seen this time and time again in your lodge. Our lodge is no different from most. There are approximately 115 members on our books. Despite these numbers, at the time of my raising, there were less than 20 Master Masons that attend lodge regularly, and the Worshipful Master was serving his second consecutive year in the East. The members of our lodge worked hard to fill positions to ensure that I did not skip any chairs on my journey. To do this, the lodge members elected two members from one of our sister lodges to a plural membership and then to Senior Warden. Both also served our lodge as Worshipful Master. Additionally, our Worshipful Master the year I was Junior Deacon served a second year in the East when I was the lodge's Junior Warden. My year as the lodge’s Senior Warden, the Worshipful Master was a Past Master from before my initiation into the lodge.
The purpose of sharing the preceding details is to give some insight into my journey and the difficulties that our lodge faced. The contents of this blog and my book (Spring 2021) will hopefully provide current, future, and Past Masters with some sound advice, tools, and resources to help them on their Masonic journey while sitting in the East or inspire an idea to improve their lodge. If this blog or my book provides readers with at least one thing they can use, or dare I say one thing not to do, then it has served its purpose.