R..·. W.·. District Deputy Grand Master, R.·..W..·.s, V.·.W.·.s, W.’.s, Brethren All,
This is an exiting night for me. I dreamed of arriving at the East and now here I am. First, I want to thank the installing team for a job well done. Without them the lodge would be without a Master! R.·.W.·. James Holden, W.·. Matt Palazola and V.·.W.·. Raphael Wong. As always, they have done an impeccable job. Second, I want to thank you all for attending this evening, giving me and the other lodge officers your support with your presence. This is an exciting night for me. My road to the East started in Nov 2005 In Eureka California and took me to Scotland literally, joining the Antient Grand Lodge Scotland at one of its outposts in the Far East for 5 years. In 2011, upon my return to the US, I joined our beloved White Plains Lodge #473, which brings us to tonight, and my arrival to the EAST. Arriving in the East is a momentous occasion. Very soon, as a traveler, I will have to decide if this is a pit stop, or the conclusion of the upward journey. Third, I want to thank Past Master Raphael Wong for his two years of service to our lodge. V.·.W.·. Raphael has achieved many firsts as the master of the lodge including visits to district sister lodges and has consolidated our officer line-up to mention just a few. V.·.W.·. Raphael has joined the Grand Lodge of New York district lineup starting this year as Assistant Grand Lecturer. Brother Wong, I thank you for your service to our lodge and your personal support and care in preparing me for the coming year. I want us to be the first to honor you with GRAND Honors. This is a wonderful event full of emotions and reminiscence. Those of you who have been in the East understand the mixture of feelings and emotions present tonight. The rest of you and especially the newly minted brothers, I hope and wish that this evening becomes an inspiration for you for your own road to the East, a fulfillment of your masonic journey, and more importantly as a stepping stone to more grand adventures and roles in our brotherhood. Tonight, is the last communication of our masonic year. The lodge will go dark for the summer until our next regular communication the third Wednesday of September. The only events scheduled is our Parking lot BBQ for June 6th at 6:30 pm, and our Summer Picnic scheduled for August 19, in one of the Marinas in Stamford CT. Hopefully the picnic will include a boat tour of the Stamford Harbor. Stay tuned as we are working out the details Our theme for the coming year is to ensure the viability of our lodge. Our mission is to keep the lodge going to eternity and as such our objectives are to keep the lodge financially solvent, endure a healthy level of the membership by bringing in new brothers, and ensure that we have a vibrant community where our members are engaged, participate and contribute to the well-being of our community. During the summer I will work with the wardens and deacons, the past masters and district representatives to detail out the full calendar for next year as well as detail the various initiatives and support activities for the year. I aspire to have a well thought out calendar and Trestle board ready for publication by our first communication of the year in September. In the spirit making our meetings interesting and engaging, I would like us to introduce the 10-minute talk at each of our communications. There is a plethora of talks available for us to choose from and I will be asking one of you brothers to deliver it. The talks will have historical, philosophical, ethical and inspirational themes, and will come from many masonic sources. In closing, I would like to challenge all of you to think of ways to make our communications meetings more interesting and better attended. Bring your ideas and suggestions to me or the wardens for consideration. My Brothers on behalf of myself and the rest of the lodge officers, thank you for your support. I look forward with confidence and enthusiasm to a bright future for our lodge. W.·. Andy Papademetriou Master, White Plains Lodge No. 473 F. & A. M. Greetings Brethren All,
Our first bit of news right off the bat: Congratulations to Bro. Brian Latorre and Bro. Ramon Viruete on being raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason! Please be sure to offer your congratulations when you see them. These two brothers have demonstrated an enthusiasm for the Craft that has been refreshing and promising for our future as a lodge and I hope you will encourage them in their ongoing journey in Masonry. Bro. Andy Papademetriou, Bro. Miguel Acuna, and Bro. Jermaine Smith joined me in supporting and welcoming our new Master Masons. A special shout out to Bro. Jermaine Smith for helping me personally raise our brothers later that evening. Ideally, I would have like to raise our brothers at White Plains -- the weather threw a wrench into our best laid plains. It was nevertheless a remarkable evening, being with brothers from four lodges, raising brothers from four lodges: Huguenot Lodge No. 46, Mount Masada-Galaxy Lodge No. 902, and ourselves, hosted, with our sincerest gratitude, by Kisco Lodge No. 708. Our thanks to W.'. M.'. Scott Davidson for having us and to V.'. W.'. John McAloon, who brilliantly lead the degree from the East, for affording us this singular opportunity. White Plains also made a good showing at the Grand Lecturer's Convention held at the Tarrytown Masonic Temple. Again, due to the vicissitudes of weather during the last few months, this became a joint effort hosted by both the First and Second Westchester-Putnam Districts. R.'. W.'. Kessler was in fine form as he introduced us to the newly proposed ritual for opening and closing on the first and second degrees. In fact, we will be opening our next meeting on the first degree! It was a great evening of fellowship and learning. It was also the first Masonic experience, other than a degree, for our newly minted Entered Apprentices. I want to recognize the brothers who attended -- I believe we were the largest lodge there after Dunwoodie: Bro. Andy Papademetriou Bro. Peter Genovese Bro. Andrew Lovato Bro. Andrew Haight Bro. David Furcayg Bro. Miguel Acuna Bro. Brian Latorre Bro. Anthony Fella Bro. Ben Razinovsky Bro. Jose Trinidad Many of the brothers who attended expressed to me their pride in our lodge and how invaluable the experience: "It was a great turnout for us. BUT we need to figure out how to spread this excitement and involvement in our own lodge..." "I think people missed out on an excellent evening.. very different [from] a regular meeting, and... an opportunity to meet new Brothers..." "I absolutely enjoyed being there as a newly entered apprentice... it was awesome that my first meeting was with the brothers at [a] GL Convention..." White Plains Nation is back. Check out the gallery for some photos of the evening. R.'. W.'. Quesada and Bro. Acuna were also able to represent us at the 250th anniversary of Masters Lodge No. 5. and the Ineffable and Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection up in Albany, New York. I invite you to check out some of the pictures in the gallery. White Plains is indeed a well-travelled lodge. This is one of the points of pride I take during my tenure as master these past two years. As a lodge, we have visited every lodge in the district and then some. It is with some sadness that I leave the East, but I will confess that I am looking forward to some rest and a transition to new ties in the Fraternity. It has been a pleasure, sometimes a stressful pleasure, but always overcome by brotherly love and friendship, and a singular honor to serve all of you these past two terms. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, but I know that there is much more to do. You can rest assured that you have some amazing leadership and ritual talent in the line and we can look forward to even greater years of service and fraternity. As of this writing, I am anticipating our participation at the District Dinner Dance where we will be celebrating our Mason of the Year, Bro. Peter Genovese, and our Distinguished Service Award recipient, W.'. Les Horrell. Again, join me in congratulating both these worthy brothers! Our Masonic season will then be going out with a bang. Please come out to welcome new brothers at the Degree of Entered Apprentice. Bro. Peter Genovese will be in the East. May 2, 2018 Stated Communication: Degree of Entered Apprentice 6 pm Collation, RSVP pcgenovese@gmail.com 7 pm Gavel Officers formal attire; brethren, suit and tie. Grand Lodge will then convene on Monday, May 7 and May 8. If you have the time, it is an experience, especially the day one ceremonies, I recommend seeing at least once. All Master Masons are welcome to attend. 9 am gavel. We can then proceed to elect and install our own officers: May 16, 2018 Summoned Communication: Election and Installation of Officers 6:30 pm Collation, RSVP pcgenovese@gmail.com 7:30 pm Gavel Officers formal attire; brethren, suit and tie. I'm anticipating that our parking lot BBQ will be the first Wednesday in June, but I will leave those details to our incoming Master. Again, thank you for the opportunity to serve. I look forward to seeing you in lodge. Sincerely & Fraternally, Raphael Wong Master, White Plains Lodge No. 473 F & A M |
W∴M∴ Andrew C. Haight
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