A Meritorious Service Jewel is considered the highest award in Odd Fellowship. By Sovereign Grand Lodge code, they can only be awarded by a Grand Lodge, Grand Encampment, or Department Council. And grand bodies are limited in the number they can award based on their number of members. It is reserved for those who render service above and beyond the scope of ordinary Odd Fellowship, and beyond the scope of their own unit.
The Meritorious Service Jewel can be earned once only, in a person’s entire lifetime, and so it is remarkable that, this year, three members of our district achieved that incredibly rare honor. To help explain why these awards were bestowed, here are the summaries of the resolutions in which the Grand Lodge and Grand Encampment were encouraged to grant them:
Ron Myers
Recommended by:
Cupertino Lodge #70
Cupertino Lodge #70, District #107, and the wider world of Odd Fellowship in California have benefited tremendously from the service of Brother Ron Myres, and we propose that he receive the Meritorious Service Jewel.
Deborah Shuler
Recommended by:
Barnes Encampment #77
Sister Debbie Shuler has shown up time and again, for many years, to advance the interests of the Order. She’s served with distinction as an officer in the Rebekah Assembly, the Grand LEA, the Grand Encampment, the LAPM and the Patriarchs Militant, as well as continuing to hold the duties of a desk officer in her Odd Fellows and Rebekah home lodges.
Michael Greenzeiger
Recommended by:
Emerald Bay Lodge #50 Morning Star Lodge #20
Emerald Bay Lodge #50 and Morning Star Lodge #20, of California Odd Fellows District 12, are in accord in their desire to award our 2021-2022 Past Grand Master Michael Greenzeiger the Odd Fellows Meritorious Service Jewel for his show of outstanding leadership, his skills in enlightening and enlivening members to the practice of Odd Fellowship, and his dedication to animated service toward the good of the order in his nearly 20 years holding multiple offices in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Brother Ron Myres, Sister Debbie Shuler and Brother Michael Greenzeiger, your district commends you for this achievement and we are incredibly grateful you for your extraordinary service.
— By Mason Wolf