For t M yer s Be ach Lodge #362 F r ee & Ac cep t ed M asons

17671 Pine Ridge Road

Phone: (239) 466-6363 Email: info@fmb362.com

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Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge #362Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge #362Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge #362Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge #362

Free & Accepted MasonsFree & Accepted MasonsFree & Accepted MasonsFree & Accepted Masons 17671 Pine Ridge Road17671 Pine Ridge Road17671 Pine Ridge Road17671 Pine Ridge Road

Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931

Chartered April 27, 1967Chartered April 27, 1967Chartered April 27, 1967Chartered April 27, 1967 Meets First & Third ThursdaysMeets First & Third ThursdaysMeets First & Third ThursdaysMeets First & Third Thursdays

6:30 Refreshment 6:30 Refreshment 6:30 Refreshment 6:30 Refreshment ---- 7:30 Meeting7:30 Meeting7:30 Meeting7:30 Meeting

Visitors Welcome Visitors Welcome Visitors Welcome Visitors Welcome ---- Members ExpectedMembers ExpectedMembers ExpectedMembers Expected WWW.FMB362.COMWWW.FMB362.COMWWW.FMB362.COMWWW.FMB362.COM

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The Trestle Board

May May May May 2015201520152015

Left to right: Steven Andersen Junior Steward, Greg Anderson Treasurer, Scott Wilder Sr. Deacon, Josh Calero Sr. Warden, Ken Compton Worshipful Master, Mark Kenny Junior Warden, Phil Leever Jr. Deacon, Ed Lanham Chaplain, Derek Vaneske Sr. Steward, Fred Wright Secretary, Josiah Mendez Tyler

Worshipful Master: Senior Warden: Junior Warden: Treasurer: Secretary: Chaplain: R.W:. Senior Deacon: Junior Deacon: Senior Steward: Junior Steward: Tyler:

Past MastersPast MastersPast MastersPast Masters

Ken Compton Joshua Calero Mark Kenny Greg Anderson Fred Wright Ed Lanham Scott Wilder Phil Leever Derek Vaneske Steve Anderson Josiah Mendez

239-564-5539 239-770-4233 239-246-1216 863-797-4264 239-675-6503 239-872-9211 239-898-7816 239-633-0839 913-731-2597 239-322-9082 239-692-1518

*Deceased

2015Officers2015Officers2015Officers2015Officers

*W:.Marshall E. Wilkins…..1966-67UD

*W:. Hugh Holligan ……...……..1968 *RW:. Louis A. Myers…………......1969

*W:. Raymond A. Howerton…....1970 *W:. Paul O. Hoffman……………..1971

*W:. Earnest C. Brown …...……..1972 *W:. Thomas S. Reahard .…......1973

*W:. William J. Nelson……..........1974 *W:. Douglass M. Midgley….......1975

*W:. Ronald E. Bare .………........1976 *W:. Ralph E. Shaffer………........1977

*W:. Elbert E. Smith………..........1978 *W:. Jacob F. Woods ………….....1979

*W:. David A. Wedig ……………...1980 *W:. Chester A. Townsend.........1981

*W:. Reginald C. Stark ………....1982 W:. Peter H. Hopwood Jr.........1983

*W:. William F. Mazur................1984 RW:. James W. Hogg.................1985

*W:. Richard D. Upham..............1986

*W:. James Toby ......................1987 W:. Robert J. Berczik.................1988

*W:. Robert j. Gibbons..............1989

*W:. Frank C. Modafari..............1990 *W:. William F. Mazur Jr............1991

*W:. Daniel H. Nichols Sr...........1992 *W:. James L. Michael...............1993

W:. Kurt M. Reichenbecher…...1994 W:. Beaufort R. Bierce.............1995

*W:. E. James Toby..................1996 W:. Matthew L. Hall.................1997

RW:. Dick Tafel.......................1998 W:. Charles Pack.....................1999

W:. Donald Smith....................2000 *W:. Clyde Curry ....................2001

W:. Beaufort R. Bierce ............2002 W:. Robert DeVeny .................2003

RW:. Dick Tafel ......................2004 W:. Dan Lumley .....................2005

W:. Jerry Ralston ...................2006 RW:. Bobby Mimmo..….…2007-2008

R.W:. Ed Lanham …...……2009-2010

W:. Bart Howard……………………2011 W:. Jim Phillips ………………..…..2012

W:. John MacDonald …………….2013 W:. Isidro Lopez …………………..2014

”FORGET ME NOT” PIN

In early 1934, soon after Hitler's rise to power, it became evident that Freemasonry was in danger. In that same year, the "Grand Lodge of the Sun" (one of the pre-war German Grand Lodges, located in Bayreuth) realizing the grave dangers involved, adopted the little blue Forget-Me-Not flower as a substitute for the traditional square and compasses. It was felt the flower would provide brethren with an outward means of identification while lessening the risk of possible recognition in public by the Nazis, who were engaged in wholesale confiscation of all Masonic Lodge properties. Freemasonry went undercover, and this delicate flower assumed its role as a symbol of Masonry surviving throughout the reign of darkness. During the ensuing decade of Nazi power a little blue Forget-Me-Not flower worn in a Brother's lapel served as one method whereby brethren could identify each other in public, and in cities and concentration camps throughout Europe. The Forget-Me-Not distinguished the lapels of countless brethren who staunchly refused to allow the symbolic Light of Masonry to be completely extinguished. When the 'Grand Lodge of the Sun' was reopened in Bayreuth in 1947, by Past Grand Master Beyer, a little pin in the shape of a Forget-Me-Not was officially adopted as the emblem of that first annual convention of the brethren who had survived the bitter years of semi-darkness to rekindle the Masonic Light. At the first Annual Convent of the new United Grand Lodge of Germany AF&AM (VGLvD), in 1948, the pin was adopted as an official Masonic emblem in honor of the thousands of valiant Brethren who carried on their Masonic work under adverse conditions. The following year, each delegate to the Conference of Grand Masters in Washington, D.C., received one from Dr. Theodor Vogel, Grand Master of the VGLvD. Thus did a simple flower blossom forth into a symbol of the fraternity, and become perhaps the most widely worn emblem among Freemasons in Germany; a pin presented ceremoniously to newly-made Masons in most of the Lodges of the American-Canadian Grand Lodge, AF&AM within the United Grand Lodges of Germany. In the years since adoption, its significance world-wide has been attested to by the tens of thousands of brethren who now display it with meaningful pride.

MASTER MASON DEGREE

FORT MYERS BEACH LODGE #362

SATURDAY MAY 23rd 2015

BREAKFAST AT 7 :00 AM

THE LODGE WILL OPEN AT 8 :00 AM

BE THERE AND BE SQUARE!

MONTHLY CHARITY FOR APRIL 2015

$100.00 $100.00 $100.00 $100.00 ---- ARABA SHRINE CIRCUS DAD FUNDARABA SHRINE CIRCUS DAD FUNDARABA SHRINE CIRCUS DAD FUNDARABA SHRINE CIRCUS DAD FUND

MEMBERS ARE URGED TO

SUPPORT THE MONTHLY CHARITY

District 29 Lodges & Meeting Days Cape Coral #367 - 2nd & 4th Thursdays - 7:30pm

Cypress #295 - 2nd & 4th Thursdays - 7:00pm Fort Myers Beach #362 - 1st & 3rd Thursdays - 7:30pm

LaBelle #379 - 2nd & 4th Tuesdays - 7:30pm Lehigh Acres #344 - 2nd & 4th Mondays - 7:30pm Tamiami Trail #262 - 1st & 3rd Mondays - 7:30pm

Veritas #396 - 1st & 3rd Tuesdays - 7:30pm See www.fmb362.com for maps & directions to all local lodges

New Candidates to be voted on:

Charles Nunez - Fort Myers

Yusel Cardentey - Naples

From the East Greetings Brothers, I hope all had a great April and as we move into May we remember to take care of our mothers for mothers day. In May we will have a Master Mason degree on Saturday May 23

rd we will have a light breakfast starting at

7am and will open the lodge at 8 am to start our degree. I hope to see a good turn out to support our newly raised brothers that day. May is also our Grand Lodge communication and I am honored to be representing our lodge along with Fred, Izzy, and Ed. I will go over the Grand Lodge legislation at our first meeting this month and give a report after I get back to let you know what happened. Have a great month brothers. Fraternally, Ken Compton Worshipful Master

From the EastFrom the EastFrom the EastFrom the East

From the WestFrom the WestFrom the WestFrom the West Greetings from the West, Your Senior Warden is elatedly wrapping up another semester in Arizona State University’s online English program. One of my final assignments dealt with none other than the writer Jules Verne. While undoubtedly one the world’s most accomplished and talented writers as a forefather to modern science fiction and fantasy literature, he was also rumored to be a Freemason among many other interesting things. So, in researching these accusations of one of my favorite authors, I stumbled upon an interesting article that supported my point of view, which I will now share with you. (Worshipful Jim Hogg is really going to go Mirabeaunoxic when he sees that this article is borrowed from none other than a Brother from Internet Lodge No. 9659 in England!)

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Bro. John Green I would like to present to you this very short talk on my

discovery of the hidden world of Jules Verne and his relationship with Freemasonry and other groups. Recently, I decided to re-read one of my many books. By chance the book I came upon was Jules Verne’s ‘Journey to the centre of the Earth’, a book I had last read as a schoolboy and this is where my journey began.

Up to this point I had no idea of the connections between Jules Verne and Freemasonry and his links, real or otherwise, to groups such as ‘Golden Dawn’, ‘Angelic Socie-ty’, ‘Rosicrucians’ and Rennes-le-Château mystery, I only knew him as an accomplished writer of fiction. On reading ‘Journey to the centre of the Earth’, I noticed there were terms and words being used which had significant meaning to Freemasons. The terms square, level and plumb rule are used in the same sentence, reference is made to the Great Architect of the Universe; and a when a dagger is found is referred to as a poniard. These are just a few of the many references in the book which at first I had assumed were down to common language of the day.

On completing the book and seeing our heroes back home safe and sound, I took to wondering about the potential Masonic references in the book, and I idly wondered if there was something more to this tale than I had first though. Were there parallels in this book with the initiation of a candidate into Freemasonry, as the plot requires someone to enter a world of darkness from the North West and be restored to light via the East?

I set out to find out if Jules Verne was a Freemason; this is where I was overwhelmed by what I found. Being of the computer generation I did what any one of us would do, I ‘googled’ the phrase ‘Was Jules Verne a Freemason’ and was taken back by the response. Much of the response was books and articles that say not only was Jules Verne a Freemason, he encoded many secrets into his books. Whilst it is a current trend with books such as the Da Vinci Code to allude to solving ancient mysteries, I do subscribe to this for Jules Verne never made any claims whilst alive to have done this or left any evidence of this in his estate to this effect. Jules Verne was a master of his craft of writing many hundreds of highly enjoyable books which have entertained many thousands of people, he was a Freemason and may have used words he knew from his ritual, but I believe that’s where it ends, Jules Verne was not trying to pass on secrets he was just writing excellent fiction for a hungry audience.

With this being said, I must say I completely agree with Bro. Green. There is evidence enough that he was indeed a fellow Mason in France, but not enough proof of his being an initiate into occult groups like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or the Rosicrucians. I’ll leave that to conspiracy theories or conjecture. Jules Verne was a prolific author, publishing about sixty novels, dozens of short stories, and even plays, all of which required an exhausting amount of research to complete. It is doubtful that he would have the time to dabble in all, or even any, of the more esoteric societies mentioned above. Nonetheless, through reading his famous titles, such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or Around the World in Eighty Days, it is easy (and fun) to spot Masonic terminology and allusion to the Craft. Happy reading!

From the West Continued From the West Continued From the West Continued From the West Continued