HOULTON, Maine – Monument Lodge No. 96 in Houlton entertained six widows of deceased lodge members Thursday evening, Aug. 4, with a supper at the Hidden Springs Winery in East Hodgdon.
Also joining the widows were officers and their wives. W. Master Bryan Shaw has made a commitment this year to reach out to Masonic Widows and be involved with them. He has sought encouragement and guidance from “The Masonic Widows Program,” established by Ralph J. Pollard, Lodge No. 217 and introduced in Grand Lodge in 1980.
Shaw said that there is no need to reinvent a program when such a good one is there just waiting to be used. He said that Masonic Widows very often do not know one another as very often their husbands were all Masons and associated at lodge, but not otherwise.
Shaw observed that gatherings such as this will allow women who otherwise would remain at a perpetual distance from one another to be able to make new acquaintances and renew old friendships based upon a Masonic foundation.
