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News and Notes from around |
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This was a quick but very enjoyable weekend in
Cleveland, OH. Aunt Denise
and her friend Bonnie picked me up at the airport and soon we met up with
the group. It was great to
see Uncle Tom and Aunt Carol. Dinner
that evening was at Applebee’s. I
sat with Jessica and Faye Schollenberger and Karen.
Next we went to a remarkable scrap booking place.
It was huge!
The Grand Bethel of Ohio invited me to eat
lunch with them at Golden Corral and I met some more of the Daughters from
Ohio. Following lunch we
headed over to get dressed for the meeting.
At the statewide initiation there were Daughters from several
different Bethels in Ohio and some from Huntington, West Virginia that
became the newest members of our Order.
The Grand Bethel Honored Queen and her Officers did an exceptional
job with the ceremony; it was a solid first impression to the new
Daughters and their parents who were in attendance. I was able to chat with the Bethel from Niles, OH
during the pasta bar dinner. The
reception for the Grand family and Supreme Officers and Representatives
started as soon as everyone was finished.
Each of them were honored by their Bethels with a fun skit, poem,
slide show, song and even a mini Deal or No Deal show, - each was very
creative and it was fun to be a part of that.
We were presented with personalized scarves that were being sold
for HIKE and a packet of scrap book pages to remember our trip to Ohio. I would like to send a special thank you to the Schollenberger family for their hospitality. I enjoyed meeting your family and appreciate the food and taxi service! Thanks J It was nice to attend a visit that was so close to home. I was met in the hotel lobby by the Grand Guardian and her husband the Associate Grand Guardian as well as the Supreme family. We waited there until the some friends from Wyoming and Grand Officers and dignitaries of Colorado arrived so we could go to dinner. The hotel catered a great meal and the company made it all the better. It was good to see a close relationship forming between the Vices of Wyoming and Colorado- although it looks like some ornery trouble could be in store. (Just a side note: If Mr. Wells or Mrs. McClendon say anything about me, it is surely a falsehood!)
Erin and I roomed with Roxy, the GG and AGG’s daughter. The three of us stayed up pretty late and we had a good time getting to know Roxy. The official visit started the next morning at a temple about fifteen minutes from our hotel. Well, somehow I managed to get us lost; in my defense please recall that I am not accustomed to city driving. Lone behold, Aunt Denise didn’t have her cell phone on, but fear not we eventually made it. We even had time to grab a doughnut before the Grand Guardian Council meeting began. In Colorado, their GGC meets once a month, and everyone is invited to attend. I was very impressed with this custom. At their meetings the Daughters have a chance to actively hear the decisions are being made and have an opportunity to discuss ideas brought to the floor. It is an ideal time to promote upcoming state events and iron out any last minute installation or initiation date changes. Wonderful! At this particular meeting, the HIKE Choir and Sound Waves performed. Both are talented groups that signed to music- it was beautiful. We were presented with t-shirts, pillowcases, and Uncle Tom and Aunt Denise received Honorary Memberships from each Bethel in Colorado. I felt at home during the meeting because so many Wyoming people were in attendance: Shirley Bryngelson, PSG, Dave Robblee, SOG, his wife Karen Robblee, PGG, Glenna Broadaway, VGG and her husband Tom Broadaway, PBG, Bill Smith, PAGG and Charlie Moore, Past Grand Master. All of them are dear friends to me and it was special to share the afternoon with them. Following the meeting, we enjoyed a potluck lunch and dessert. I met quite a few of the Daughters from Colorado and visited with the Misses and GBHQ. A Bethel was having their installation that afternoon, but I left early to see my family who was in Cheyenne preparing for my reception the following day. Special thanks go out to the Romero’s for covering our hotel room and providing the meals during our stay, I am sorry I couldn’t stay longer. I would also like to thank the group from Colorado who was able to come for my reception- I am glad you made it J The official visit to Oregon was an encouraging trip.
The by-law that passed which allows a reinstitution of a Bethel to
take place with eight girls allowed Bethel #19 UD in Gresham, Oregon to be
reopened J.
During the official visit, we shared a hotel room with Rachel
Porter, GBHQ and Rachel Soule, MOJD.
Can you imagine a room with just Rachel’s and Erin’s?
We often stayed up late talking and becoming great friends. We had a little down time before dinner with the GGC of Oregon, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. James Conner, International Master Councilor, works there and took some time to visit us. Dinner at the temple was a home cooked Chinese meal provided by Dr. Robin Henderson, GG. I attempted to make an origami penguin and enjoyed hearing everyone’s fortune read aloud- some of them were all too fitting. We were presented with buckets o’ food, juices and goodies as well as a nice tote bag to keep us occupied during our stay.
The next day was a big one. Erin Nicole and I attended practice and I was able to protem as Fifth Messenger for initiation. Before practice was completed, there were guests lined up at the door. Some dignitaries included the Supreme family, Mike Hoglund, VASG, Bobbi Hoglund, Supreme Fifth Messenger, Marilyn Olson, PGG and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Also in attendance were Rex and Patty Reardon, AGG and PGG of Washington, along with Michelle Anderson, Past Miss Washington Job’s Daughter and Chelsea Galbraith, Past Miss BC Job’s Daughter. The sidelines were packed and it was a sight to have 12 girls initiated. The Grand Bethel Honored Queen and her officers did exemplary work. The break between initiation and installation included a buffet and skating at a near by rink. Some of the Daughters took pledges for HIKE, including pledges for hours skated and how many times they fell in the rink! I attempted to play Red Light Green Light, but just revealed my lack of ability to follow verbal directions. Installation started that evening and there was
another large turnout. All of
the Daughters were installed into office following the installation of
council members. The Guide
and Marshal from Bethel 19 were installed, but the top three offices were
filled by PHQs from Oregon. We
were presented with ornaments made from Myrtle wood, a GB t-shirt and
basket of Oregon gifts from the new Bethel Guardian of #19 UD.
Following the installation, the State Officers of Oregon Demolay
presented the Flower Talk. It
was the first time I had seen the ceremony and was impressed with the
meaning as well as the delivery- it was beautiful. I would like to thank Dr. Henderson for ensuring that our expenses were covered and for taking care of us while we were in Oregon. Also thank you to Dr. Emmons for the pictures taken during our visit. International
Master Councilor’s Reception James Dale Conner, II had his reception on February
18th in downtown Portland.
There were many distinguished guests in attendance and John Nathan
Stallings, International Congress Secretary was the Master of Ceremonies. As soon as everyone was seated, the dignitaries were escorted
into the room. The colors
were presented and an invocation was given.
Remarks and presentations were made by the members of the Masonic
youth groups, friends and family. We
chose to recite a poem, since James did that for us during Supreme Session
in Vancouver. Some of the
remarks were hilarious and others were quite serious, but each was a
tribute to James. Entertainment
was provided by a talented mixed quartet who even wrote a song about James
and their take on Demolay. James
concluded with remarks that coincided with a slide show and a presentation
to his dear friend and fellow Demolay, Craig.
Everyone met upstairs to mingle and peruse a delightful dessert
bar. That evening Erin Nicole and I were able to spend some down time seeing some of the sights of Portland. We started off at dinner with the Demolay and then headed to a fancy dessert place. I had Cherries Jubilee and all of us were stuffed by the time we ate our own dessert and sampled the desserts of everyone else! We arrived a little early to the movie and had time to play some arcade games before the show started (I was horrible at the hunting game). The movie was entertaining and we were disappointed that the evening had gone so quickly. I would like to send a special thanks to Josh and Monica for making sure that we were enjoying ourselves and for treating us to dessert and a movie. You two are awesome! I was very excited to attend the Conference of Grand
Masters in Portland and especially looked forward to speaking Monday
morning. Along with the
Supreme family some members of the Board of Trustees were present for the
conference including Mike and Bobbi Hoglund, VASG and Supreme Fifth
Messenger respectively, Marilyn Olson, Chairman of the Board, Bill Walker,
PSG and Shelly Cole, PGG. Lineup
that morning started at 8:30 and we were introduced to the delegation.
Shortly after we were introduced I was able to address the
audience. It was one of my
favorite occasions to speak so far this year because I was so honored to
speak to so many Grand Masters, Sovereign Grand Inspector Generals and
other dignitaries. The speech
was based on the Masonic family working together, the requirement of our
members to have direct Masonic relationship, and how that means to each
one of us. Throughout the conference we worked at the
promotional booth and answered any questions that came our way.
Some of the questions revolved around the Youth Protection Program
that is underway and getting Job’s Daughters in new areas. We had interest from Grand Masters in some of the New England
states, Russia and even Iran. It
was also a pleasure to have them stop by and tell us how glad they are to
have Job’s Daughters in their jurisdictions.
I hope to see all of us continuing to make an effort to thank the
Masons for their support and building a strong rapport with them. I included a picture of Erin Nicole and myself at the promotional booth. We updated the pictures to ones that were larger and that depicted the different facets of what Job’s Daughters has to offer. We have new reading material for the board and are looking to continue improving the layout and design of informational blurbs about Job’s Daughters International.
While in Portland, we had an opportunity to tour the Shriner’s Hospital. Kay Weber, MIJD 1994-95 was our tour guide. The hospital was much like the one in Salt Lake City with a more elaborate physical therapy wing and a little smaller recreational room. I was very impressed with the research laboratory which is very competitive and state-of-the-art. The hospital also had a small school for long term patients and we watched an impressive video about two girls who were inspiring patients at the hospital. In between the Conference of Grand Masters and the Alberta visit, we stayed with the McManamon family. Donna Jean picked me up on Wednesday morning and took Erin Nicole and myself out to a local breakfast place. I was thankful that I tried the Marion berry syrup that is a local favorite. Soon we met up with James, IMC and Eli, Deputy State Master Councilor of Oregon for a day at the beach. We drove to Tillamok and toured the cheese factory and we all took a liking to the cheese curds, aka squeaky cheese. Donna Jean took us to Flamingo Gems to shop where we got a kite to fly at the beach. The weather was a little overcast but unfortunately there was hardly a breeze in the sky and our kite flying was proved to be futile. I accidentally broke the first kite when it nose dived straight into the sand but even after we got a new one we didn’t have much luck. We did give it a valiant effort and I suppose got some running exercise out of it. The day before we flew out to Alberta, Donna Jean and her daughters Monica and Veronica, Erin Nicole and I went shopping. Donna Jean gave us gift certificates and each one of us changed into a new shirt before going to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. That evening we attended an Official Visit of the AGG and VGG since Dr. Henderson, GG couldn’t make it over the mountain because of snow accumulation. I was able to protem as Second Messenger and was excited to see Megan Cook, MIJD 2003-04. She is going to school in Oregon and we had a brief time to chat during the reception following the meeting. The next morning was a rough one as we caught our international flight early in the morning. I would like to send a special thanks to Donna Jean, Monica and Veronica for letting us stay at her home in between trips- you have no idea how much that helped us out. I appreciate your willingness to drive us around and take such good care of us! Another big thank you goes to Mrs. Aanderud for hemming my formal, and the Demolay for taking so much time to hang out with me and show me the sights of Oregon. I’m glad I got to spend so much time in Oregon! I haven’t had a greeting quite like the one we received in Alberta. There was an entourage of people to meet us including Amy, GBHQ, Kassandra, GBSP and Natasha, Miss Alberta Congeniality who were all decked out in tiaras and sashes. The Grand Guardian, Mrs. Brewer and her husband were there, as well as Mrs. T the Grand Bethel Guardian and our chaperone for our time in Calgary. The rest of the entourage included airport employees who made Aunt Denise, Erin Nicole and I honorary Calgarians. We had to take solemn pledge and do a “YEHAW!” to receive our white hats. It was wonderful! That evening the girls treated Erin Nicole and I to a girl’s night out Alberta style. Back at the house we unloaded the vehicles, met the rest of Amy’s family and enjoyed watching Amy and her sister Karen show us moves that they learned in dance class. We ordered in Chinese and took some time primping to go out on the town. It was refreshing to hang out with the girls; all of us made a connection from our first moments together. There certainly was a lot of laughter during that night!
The next day before we ate lunch, we toured the Calgary tower which looks over the entire city. A newly installed section gave me the willies though- in a part of the tower that just out over the city, there is thick glass that you can stand on. I felt like I was in the clouds and the pictures look like we are either floating or falling! For lunch we stopped at famous Peters’ for a fascinating dinning experience. The drive thru line was snaked around the block and slowly but surely we crawled up to order. There were more shake flavors imaginable- I opted for mango peach. Turns out the single burger I got had one and a half patties and all six of us split one order of fries and one order of onion rings. I quickly found out why so many people ate there! That afternoon we met more of the Alberta Job’s Daughters at a bowling alley, coincidentally named Shamrock Lanes. Funny thing about Canadian bowling though is that it is five pin. They bowl with a ball roughly the size of a coconut (with no finger holes I might add) down to five skinny, short pins. It took some getting used to and I never did get the hang of it. The Grand Guardian had games to play, including Snakes and Ladders and a geographic game of Alberta. For example, to go to the next town one team member had to bowl a strike, spare, or get 5 points- we only made it two towns away! The reception for us was at a Masonic temple close by. Everyone met there for a western dinner of barbeque beef and baked beans. Erin Nicole and I ended up singing a song to the Jobies and then vice versa. For dessert we cut and served cake and ice cream. Someone organized a Chinese auction; a person could buy a sheet of tickets to split between multiple prize buckets. I had my heart on some candles and foot spa lotions, but didn’t have any luck at all. Our remarks included stories about our travels and Brazil. During question and answer, we were asked about our view of the status of Job’s Daughters and what our feelings were regarding changing Masonic heritage to Masonic sponsorship. Following dinner we enjoyed a true Canadian past time and experienced a NHL game J. The Flames took on the Sharks. We missed the first period but had a fabulous time in the nose bleed section. Just being at the game was an adventure, all I could see when I walked in was a sea of red colored shirts and jerseys. Our group had two cheering sections- Erin Nicole and the people from Edmonton cheered for the Sharks, but the rest of us cheered our way to a 7-4 victory! That night Amy, Karen, Kassandra, Natasha, Sam, Erin Nicole and I had girl talk until I couldn’t stay awake any longer. Before we left we had a brunch that was close to the airport. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many different foods were available: cakes, pastries, fruit, chocolate fountain, a whole crepe station, salads, and even seafood! I was glad that it was considered two meals, because I certainly ate my share of both breakfast and lunch. It was sad to leave at the airport- we all had so much fun together! I have no doubt that we’ll keep in touch, and wish the girls the best of luck on their upcoming Grand Session. I would like to thank the Kostenuk family for allowing me to stay at their house and to Mrs. T for chaperoning all of us- we were surely a crazy bunch! I would also like to thank Mrs. Johnston for arranging the hockey game and covering my brunch. To Amy, Karen, Kassandra, Natasha and Sam- Thanks for showing me a wicked sweet time in Alberta- I love you guys! Jobie Love, Published as received
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