MESSAGE FROM W.M. ELECT GLENN CUPIT
My Brethren,
THANKS! I am truly humbly honored for y’all
to have elected me Master of our lodge! I have anticipated and
wanted this office since I joined Germania #46 over 5 years
ago. I assure all of you, that I will treat the office with
respect and will discharge my duties so as to benefit the lodge
and ALL members to the best of my ability.
Our open installation on Sat January 10 at 3 PM will be a great
time for all and a fun dinner and party afterward. I
want all officers to wear a coat & tie. All members
of Germania and their adult family and friends are invited.
IMPORTANT! We must have as accurate a head count as
possible by Dec 31! Please RSVP to me or WB Joe Kueck ASAP.
My plans for 2009 are to continue the restoration of the lodge
as initiated and so aptly managed by our Past Masters Wilson
Revelle and Ian Cairns. Worshipful Brothers Andy and Melvin
Mims are to be especially singled out for their long and continued
personal devotion and labors, which produced the current state
of our lodge.
My goal is to conclude ALL restoration and repairs well before
the end of 2009.
I will have MULTIPLE fund raiser events in
2009 to replenish our treasury and building fund, which has
been depleted by the beautiful and necessary restoration.
I will cause good & wholesome instruction to be given to
the brethren at every meeting possible. Each officer will be
assigned various topics for SHORT discussion
at most meetings.
My term as Worshipful Master will stress participation both
in degrees and at meetings by ALL brethren,
especially newly made Master Masons. We will schedule regular
practices both in ritual and floor work throughout the year,
not just before a degree.
I will govern our lodge as much by consensus as possible. My
term as Master WILL NOT be a “benevolent
dictatorship”! We will have special officers meetings,
to review all our duties and to have a forum to offer suggestions
as to the direction our lodge should take. We will have “brainstorming
sessions” where any and every suggestion will be heard.
I have e-mailed a contact list to all officers. Please keep
this in your wallet and use it to keep in touch. Don’t
wait for the next meeting to call or e-mail your brothers!
It is important for all of us, new and old members alike, to
really TRY to be present at all 24 meetings
next year. As all of us have noticed, our lodge experience pleasure
increases as more members are present.
We officers must make the lodge experience special every 2 weeks,
so that ALL members will make that extra effort
to attend . . . because they will come to expect something of
value from our tyled time together.
More to come soon . . . Warm Fraternal Regards, Glenn
MASONIC POETRY
Of the Masonic cable tow which can never be broken, consider
the following by Brother W. A. Spalding of Los Angeles:
"How long is your cable-tow, brother?
Does it span across the street?
Can it stretch the length of a hand-throw,
Or perhaps a thousand feet?
"Is there any definite measure
That cold mathematics may teach
To give the scope of your cable,
And limit its ultimate reach?
"For who shall count in units
Of foot, or yard or mile,
The length of a hearty handshake,
The breadth of a cheery smile;
"Or estimate the distance
A human heart may go,
When a brother reaches a brother
With the length of his cable-tow?
"Every one has his troubles;
Reverses and sorrows must come;
And the hour of sorest trial
Is when they are striking home;
"And sickness and death are the portion
That fate allots to all—
Our brother is sitting in sackcloth,
And his face is to the wall.
"Ah, then is the time propitious—
Occasion waits sublime—
For the cable reaches farther
Than at any other time.
"For the pull is very little,
And it giveth strength to the strong.
How long is your cable-tow, brother?
How long—how long?"
A LETTER FROM BROTHER AARON RONSKLEY
Aloha, Seasons greetings from the Pacific Ocean. I apologize
that I have not gotten a chance to write an e-mail yet since
I have been on deployment, so I realized I needed to make up
for it.
Going back to September, our ship left Pearl Harbor on September
25th. We have been all around the Pacific Ocean since then,
stopping in Guam (3 times); Legazpi, Philippines; Yokosuka,
Japan; Saipan; and Okinawa. The best port visit so far was definitely
Legazpi. We were in the Philippine operational area to conduct
patrol operations conduction information on the MILF (yes, true
name for the insurgent group in the Philippines). We were the
first U.S. Navy ship to pull in to Legazpi for a liberty port
(USS Comstock had been there for flood relief). The people there
were extremely welcoming to us and very accommodating. The U.S.
Dollar goes a long way in the Philippines also, so they were
also very amazed at how much we were spending. While there,
people from our ship painted schools, donated medical supplies,
and participated in a large banquet with the Philippine forces.
I also went on a caving trip on a remote island as well. Mount
Mayon, a giant active volcano, loomed over the city and provided
the main landmark of the city. The people here always loved
to talk about it and tell stories about it as if it was a real
person.
Yokosuka followed up Legazpi sequentially and in preference,
coming in as the second best port visit. From Yokosuka we were
able to take a train into Tokyo. Originally, our ship was supposed
to pull into port on Friday and leave on Monday. I had duty
on Friday, therefore I had Saturday and Sunday off and would
be able to spend Saturday night in Tokyo and come back to the
ship on Sunday. However, the squadron commander for our group
of ships felt that the weather might be bad on Monday, and wanted
all the ships to get underway on Sunday instead. This meant
we all had to be back to the ship on Saturday evening, to ensure
everyone would be onboard to get underway Sunday. So, even though
our overnight liberty in Tokyo was cancelled, we were still
able to spend all day Saturday seeing Tokyo. We were able to
go up to the Tokyo Tower and see out over the city, go to the
oldest temple in the city, and have a few authentic meals in
Tokyo. It was a little rainy, it reminded me of Pittsburgh somewhat.
Saipan followed up Yokosuka sequentially and in preference,
coming in as the third best port visit. We headed to Saipan
following AnnualEx, a large exercise between U.S. and Japanese
ships that focused on practicing High Value Unit protection
and Anti-Submarine Warfare exercises. Surprisingly, we also
had a Russian visitor during AnnualEx, a ship loitering around
trying to collect intelligence on all the ships in the exercise.
We modified events quite frequently to try and get away from
the Russian surveyor. Following AnnualEx, we headed to Saipan
to spend the week of Thanksgiving in port. It was nice to go
to Saipan since it is a U.S. territory, English is prevalent,
and the U.S. Dollar is used. Being a small island though, there
were not a lot of things to do. Most of the activities included
either the beach or the bar. It was still nice to get a break
though.
Our stops to Guam and Okinawa have only been short breaks. We
pulled into these ports for a day at a time to refuel and to
stock up on food. Right now, we are all looking forward to being
back to Pearl Harbor in a couple weeks. It does look like we
have some heavy seas coming up though, there are quite a few
storms out in the Pacific Ocean right now. Right now, we all
joke that we are stuck on an endless roller coaster.
As for Christmas, I will back in Pittsburgh over Christmas and
look forward catching up with as many people as possible. I
hope everyone else’s holiday seasons are going well.
Happy Holidays, Aaron
Very Respectfully, ENS Aaron Ronksley, USN.
Electrical Officer/ Educational Services Officer
USS Reuben James (FFG-57)
A True Story …….OR NOT
The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max,
invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner.
On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees.
The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and
sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen
were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry
since the electric starter.
Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused
and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their
car.
They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130
degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off
immediately.
The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office,
where he offered them $3 million for the patent.
The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million,
but they wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg
Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was
installed.
Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and
there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on
two million Fords.
They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally
agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be
shown.
And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm,
Hi, and Max on the controls.
