On August 15th, I boarded a flight from San Jose to Dallas, excited to begin my first trip to our Sovereign Grand Lodge Sessions.
I arrived at the hotel too early to check into my room, but one of the first people I saw was none other than Rodney Metoyer. Among other things, Rodney was serving as our Sovereign Grand Chaplain. He was all too happy to let me use his hotel room to store my bags until I could check in at 3. As I soon discovered, Rodney and I were in good company, as I counted 33 people from California among the convention attendees (I made a list, but not sure if I missed any). By my admittedly rough estimate, that meant about one out of every 10 attendees was from our jurisdiction. So while I had plenty of new people to meet, it was nice seeing so many familiar faces.
The first event Saturday night was the welcome banquet. While I was there, I learned that Past Sovereign Grand Master John Cupp (who I’d previously met when he came to the California sessions in 2024), had written and was planning to hold a “Holiday Degree” later that week. He was still looking for a few more people to help him confer it, and since I love degree work, I volunteered. As for the banquet itself, the food was good, and the conversation uplifting, but I still left early because I was scheduled for a second event that same evening – the fez party, sponsored by Golden Rule Encampment #44 of Dallas.
The fez party was at a nearby restaurant, the Blue Mesa Grill so I had to take the Embassy Suites shuttle to reach it. In theory I could’ve walked, but with temperatures around 100 degrees (and little relief at night), I tried to keep my time exposed to the outdoors minimal. At the fez party, I met a number of people who were invested in the different side orders, including AMOS, LOTO, and the Muscovites. I myself was sporting my encampment fez. One of the unexpected highlights of the evening was meeting Meredith Moore, who I learned was one of the organizers running the Odd Fellows Emporium at the Hyatt House across the street from the convention center. And I also got to re-meet Ray Jackson, who I’d first met last year at the Supreme Amos convention in San Antonio. Brother Ray, I would learn that evening, was running for Sovereign Grand Warden, a position he won a few days later.
The following day was the official opening, which included a whole flag raising ceremony that I had been looking forward to seeing. I attended a practice ceremony in the ballroom and got a nice picture of Rita Cooper, Tom Kopping, Larry Guenther, Fred Dolling, and Ernie Albice – all impressively attired in their uniforms. But when everyone headed to the Cyprus Cafe at the same time (the restaurant inside the hotel), they got completely backed up. The PM generals I was trying to dine with all had to leave before they got their food in order to do the flag raising. When I had to choose between going with them to watch the flag ceremony or eating lunch, I picked my lunch, so if someone has a video of the event, I’d love to watch it.
But one of the coolest things to happen to me Sunday was meeting Brother Jeff Kiefer of Pacheco Lodge #117 in Concord. I’d been making an effort to see how many people I knew already from California, so when I realized he was from our jurisdiction, I made a point of introducing myself and trying to find out more about him. It turns out, Jeff is a guru of online technology, and personally built much of the new Sovereign Grand Lodge website, plus the entire IOOF online lodge directory. Given the level of overlap with my own interests, I knew he was someone I’d like to know better, so we arranged to be part of the same dinner group that night. From talking to him, I got the sense that he had possibly over-extended himself, and might appreciate having a hand, so I volunteered to handle some of the data entry for the lodge directory. He politely turned me down, saying that it was his personal project and he didn’t want to share it. But I guess he thought about it some more because he came back later and asked if the offer was still open. I said yes, and I’ve now started processing the update forms that come in periodically.
What I didn’t realize when I made the offer, was that I would be placed onto the communications committee. And I’m honestly flattered to be part of it, but I was slightly annoyed to hear about the appointment after the fact through Toby Hanson, who’s also a member of the committee, rather than be informed by the chair.
On Monday afternoon, Toby, Ainslie Heilich, and Meredith Moore recorded their live podcast for their show, the Three Links Odd Cast. Debbie Shuler and I were both in the audience. They asked one question, and tried to encourage as many people from the live audience to answer it as were willing: Is the Order growing or dying? That one question spurred nearly an hour of discussion. Some of the comments were a little sad, but most of them were hopeful. A lot of people had stories to share from their jurisdictions where really great things are happening. For my own part, I think the answer is still a little unclear, but I do think there’s reasons to be hopeful. The parts of the order that are growing are growing loudly, and are eager to share the stories of what’s working in their lodges. But the parts of the order that are dying are doing so quietly, as the last member turns out the light on the lodge they no longer have enough people to hold the charter for. I don’t know whether the growing or the dying is happening faster right now, but I think that the parts that are growing are likely going to keep on growing. If that’s true, then Odd Fellowship’s best days could still be ahead.
Monday night we had another banquet. This one included an original play, A Place to Call Home celebrating the IOOF Widows and Orphans Home of Corsicana Texas. The Navarro College Theater department put on the performance. It was a series of short scenes about life at the home, going forward one decade at a time. The play was based on actual stories collected from its archives, though names had been changed to protect the identities of the former residents and their families.
The actual session workdays were sort of a blur. Obviously the elections were interesting. Congratulations to Ray Jackson on becoming our new Sovereign Grand Warden. Though I’m a little concerned about how the election for Sovereign Grand Secretary turned out.
Everyone I spoke to before the election was expecting Mike Duminiak of West Virginia to be our new secretary. He’d been preparing for the job, by his own account, for about six years. He was also the only person to submit qualifications paperwork before sessions. The eventual winner, David Wiggers, was nominated from the floor (which is something you can do at Sovereign). And I’m not sure he’d really given much thought to the position before he put his hat in the ring. He’s a Canadian, and has said he’ll move to Winston-Salem and be in the office full-time. And I guess one of the first things he had to do once he got home was put in his notice at work. I don’t doubt his sincerity for a moment, but moving internationally and starting a new job (and not an especially high-paying job at that) isn’t an easy thing to do. I wish him luck though.
Tuesday night I ate very well – Hutchins Barbecue has some of the best meat anywhere in the world. With me were Toby Hanson, John Sonnek, and Amanda Robinson. Toby suggested it, and he knew what he was talking about. I had brisket so tender it didn’t even need a knife, and it melted like butter on my tongue. And they had a collection of different sauces to try – spicy, smoky, sweet, or tangy, all of them complemented the meat in a unique and enjoyable way. After a while, Ryon Frink and Teppi Zuppo, a pair of younger odds from Vermont, joined us. Teppi was also how I ended up getting invited to a party later that evening.
The party was the first and only time during the session that I found myself as the oldest member of any room. We checked. It turned out I was just a few months senior to Erik Fearing, PGM of Massachusetts, and years older than everyone else. Actually, almost everyone in the room was a current or past grand something of their respective jurisdictions’ grand lodges. I may have been the oldest in the room, but these were people who’d shown a serious commitment to the Order that I couldn’t help but be impressed by. We played some games (Flip 7 and That’s Not a Hat), and had some really good conversations about Odd Fellowship.
On Wednesday I held up my commitment to John Cupp and performed my role for the Holiday Degree. I was Saint Patrick, who stands in as the chaplain. About 40 people took the degree, making the room quite crowded. Michael Greenzeiger was Tom Turkey, the inside guardian, and Toby Hanson was the Arbor Day Tree, our warden. Mike Duminiak was Father Time, our past grand, while John Cupp himself was Santa Claus, the noble grand, and his wife Emily was the Easter Bunny, our vice grand. The entire degree is overseen by the Conductor, Guy Fawkes, who was ably played by David Young of Pennsylvania. It was all very silly, and I think it would make good entertainment to perform it again sometime, possibly at a lodge Christmas party. As a token of his appreciation, John let all of the cast members keep their scripts, and it’s his hope that the degree continues getting conferred.
Watching Ron Hanson installed as Sovereign Grand Master Wednesday night at the final banquet was interesting. Here is the oath the Sovereign Grand Master takes:
In the presence of the members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows here assembled / and by all obligations I have heretofor taken / the degrees I have received / and the privileges and benefits to which I am entitled / I do solemnly and sincerely promise / and declare that I will perform / to the best of my ability / the duties I will assume / in accordance with the charge / I have just received / and the laws of the Order / and will so act without favor or partiality / in any instance / to all which / I pledge my sacred honor.
Much of the installation is similar to a Noble Grand being installed into their lodge, but instead of “the lodge is now placed in your charge,” the installing officer hands the new SGM a gavel and says, “the Order is now placed in your charge.” It was a heavy moment, and we all wish him well. As he succeeds, so does our Order.
Thursday was the last day of the session. I was told to expect a lot of discussion and even arguing over the budget. There was none.
The communications committee was very pleased that their budget request was finally approved (not exactly everything they’d asked for, but most of it). For years, they’d been told to work for nothing, and this last year they’d managed to create a really impressive website (if you haven’t seen it, you should check it out). To make their case, they held a joint meeting between finance, state of the order, and communications. At that meeting, they asked everyone in attendance (and in addition to the committee members, there were a lot of spectators, including myself) to raise their hands if they’d used it. Most hands went up. But the communications committee made it clear that they’d pretty much reached the limits of what they could do for free. They needed to be able to hire someone to run the site and manage the social media, or else it would become stale and degrade in usefulness with time. The amounts they were seeking were just what it would take to have someone work on it part-time. I don’t know what happened in the finance committee meeting, because it seemed like the committee members were unmoved when the communications chair made his case, but they ended up getting their budget. For the first time, they won’t be trying to do everything entirely on volunteer labor.
As a final acknowledgement, I want to thank Robert Seibel for generously driving me, Michael and Toby to the airport for our flights home. I met a lot of very interesting people that I intend to stay connected with, and hopefully I’ll see them again at future sessions.
— by Mason Wolf