Historian - June 2007

It doesn’t seem possible that it has been twenty-one years since our Lodge celebrated its 250th Anniversary in 1986. Many of us will recall how our Master, Wor. Jack D. Hartman, expertly lead us through a week of activities befitting of that truly historic event.

Wor. Hartman’s officer corps included Peter Newbury (SW), Fred O’Connor (JW), Wor. Curt Ford (Treasurer), Wor. Ray Bemis (Secretary), Rt. Wor. Fred Lightell (Chaplain), Wor. Rodney Robinson (Assoc. Chaplain, Rep. to the Grand Lodge, and Chairman of the 250th Anniversary Committee), Rt. Wor. Gerry Foss (Historian), Wor. Fred Currier (Marshall), Alan Robinson (SD), Martin Curtis (JD), George Flanders (SS), Davis Robinson (JS), Nelson Ramsdell (Organist), Wor. Roland Ripley (Ritual Advisor), and Arthur Tibbetts (Tyler).

The 250th Anniversary was formally kicked off on Sunday, June 22, 1986 when the Lodge was opened for the celebration of the 231st Annual Observance of the Feast of St. John the Baptist at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth. Our Lodge and our Masonic community began collating at the Masonic Temple at 8:00 that Sunday morning for pastries and coffee. Wor. Hartman opened the Lodge at 9:00 A.M. in the Lodge Room and immediately proceeded outside to the Temple grounds where a procession was being formed. At 9:30 sharp, under the watchful escort of the uniformed members of DeWitt Clinton Commandery, Knights Templar, our Masonic community stepped off and proceeded up Middle Street to State Street and then up Chapel Street to St. John’s Church, arriving in plenty of time for the start of the 10:00 A.M. service.

The parade of Masons, escorted by the Commandery, included two full bands – The John Yeaton Band and the Royal Guard of Kora Shrine Temple in Lewiston, Maine. Joining the line of march were Masons from 23 New Hampshire Lodges, 11 Maine Lodges, and Lodges from seven other states including Massachusetts (1), Vermont (1), New York (2), Kentucky (1), Ohio (1) and Texas (1). The total number of Masons participating was 179 with 54 of them from our Lodge.

Included in the total were 12 officers of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of New Hampshire including our Grand Master, Most Wor. Bro. Paul N. Ricker. Also in attendance was Most Wor. Bro. Cedric Smith, Grand Master of Vermont.

As the parade neared the top of Chapel Street, the lines separated and came to a halt. With the John Yeaton Band posted at the top of the hill playing Onward Christian Soldiers, and with the Church bells ringing out their triumphant welcome, our Tyler, Arthur Tibbets, lead Wor. Hartman, (escorted by his Marshall, Wor. Fred Currier) and Most Wor. Ricker (escorted by the Wor. Grand Marshall, Wor. Wilfred Cunningham) up the hill and through the lines to the Church door where they were graciously welcomed by The Reverend Gordon R. Allen, Rector, into the historic Sanctuary. The rest of the Masons then proceeded into the Church and filled the center section.

The Rev. Brother Robert W. Golledge, D.D., Vicar of Christ Church in Boston – The Old North Church, member of Columbia Lodge AF&AM in Boston, and Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts delivered the sermon.

Following the service, the lines reformed and the Masons proceeded back to the Temple on Middle Street by way of Market Square.

On that day in June 1986, as we have for centuries before and every year since, we celebrated our Masonic heritage and ideals in Portsmouth. This year we will once again come together on St. John’s Sunday to mark the birth of John the Baptist, the Patron Saint of Masonry, for whom our Lodge is named; I hope that you will be able to join us when we do! And as we approach that day, I hope that you will keep in mind these poetic words penned by Sabine Baring Gould, “Like a mighty army, moves the Church of God! Brothers we are treading where the saints have trod; we are not divided, all one Body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.”

Music from The Cyber Hymnal

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