‘I Believe...In YOU’

By KURT WEHRMEISTER

> It was perhaps a curious choice by Director General William B. Airey, to open his keynote address to the 2007 International Convention with what was, for the most part, a 13-year-old videotape.

At the 1994 Convention in Las Vegas, Airey, then the fraternity’s Membership Director, had closed his introduction of that year’s new membership campaign--“Nobody Does It Better”--with a personal eight-minute essay on why he had joined the Moose years before. Each phrase of it began with the words “I believe,” but it ended with the phrase, “...and nobody does it better--nobody.”

It had been so well received in ’94 that Airey had been persuaded to make a video out of the recitation, which sold moderately well for a year or so throughout the Order--but within a few years was forgotten by most. Except Airey.

This spring, a year after he was appointed Director General in March 2006, it struck him that, despite the fact that Moose membership numbers had declined in the years since ’94, what the fraternity had nonetheless accomplished during those 13 years was extraordinary. Among the examples he cited:

• Creation of the Moose Family Center name and concept, now embraced by a majority of Moose facilities from coast to coast;
  
  
• More than $1 billion worth of Moose Community Service during those 13 years, including the creation of the image-building, widely popular Tommy Moose program;
  
  
• At Mooseheart, an on-time fulfillment of the late Director General Paul O’Hollaren’s 1991 goal to build new or renovated living quarters for every student within 15 years;
  
  
• And at Moosehaven, construction or complete renovation of four major residences, plus the new $16 million, 130,000-sq.-ft. LifeCare Center.

Airey reiterated the ’94 campaign theme: “Nobody Does It Better! Over the last 13 years, you have proven those four words to be the absolute rock-solid truth!”

On top of all that, Airey noted that Moose member-sponsors were able to generate solid 2006-07 membership increases in the Women of the Moose, the Moose Legion, and the Loyal Order of Moose, for the first time since 1991.

“People who aren’t familiar with the Moose often have a hard time understanding what we do, and how much we do,” Airey said. He said that the uninitiated, hearing our accomplishments, often assume that Moose members are people of wealth. “The answer you and I know, of course, is that the Moose fraternity has always been fortunate to have thousands of men and women who truly believe; who are dedicated, and who give with astonishing generosity...We don’t make these people up; they really exist!”

And Airey highlighted his address with the stories of three members--only two of whom could be in the hall that morning--who believe--not only in the Moose program, but in the power of hard work and positive attitude:

• Elmer Seidel, who took on responsibility for the New York State Moose Association bowling tournament in 1946 and is still involved in its operation today at age 89, more than 60 years later;
  
  
  

• Anh-Tuan Bui, better known to the world as “Cao Boi” from the fall-2006 season of Survivor on CBS-TV. As Airey related at length, the show’s title couldn’t be more apt for this irrepressible 43-year-old Vietnamese native, who had to leave his home in Saigon for the U.S., at age 11 with his parents in April 1975, on just four hours notice. Airey told the saga of a free spirit who has taken full advantage of the freedom offered by his adopted homeland--and who returned to the land of his birth for an extended visit in 2003 to help feed children and old people. Now an officer at Montgomery County, VA Lodge 1470, he was welcomed with prolonged cheers before he exuberantly addressed the Convention audience, bellowing “Moose, let’s rock this house!” He noted how he had insisted that CBS refer to him on its website last fall as “Prelate, Loyal Order of Moose,” and he urged his audience to join him in spreading the positive news of the fraternity.
  
  

• Walter Peters is a member of Savannah, GA Lodge 1550, whom Airey met for the first time by chance, on a January visit to that Lodge after seeing his grandson graduate from Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, SC. “We ended up talking for more than an hour,” Airey said, “or more accurately, Walt did most of the talking; I pretty much just sat there, growing more and more amazed.”
  
  Peters’ story, Airey said, “might seem an improbable mix of Norman Vincent Peale by way of Forrest Gump, if it weren’t all real.” He enlisted in the Army at 19, and was almost killed in the crash of a transport plane just a year later. During three tours in Vietnam between 1964-70, he was caught three times beneath aircraft dropping Agent Orange. His last dozen years in uniform were a big improvement, as the Army discovered his talent with an electric guitar and enabled him to form a traveling band, “Ramblin’ Country.” (One of the young privates he brought into the band during the early ’70s was a rhythm guitarist from Texas named George Strait!) After his discharge in 1983, Peters was able to parlay his military-band experience into a career as a studio musician and music producer, working closely through the ’80s and ’90s with the likes of Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, Merle Haggard, Eddie Rabbitt, the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, Three Dog Night, and more.” But by 2000, his exposure to Agent Orange caught up with him--causing severe chemical diabetes, which in just the last three years has almost completely taken his eyesight. He moved to Savannah to be near the best possible VA ophthalmologist--and realized he was just a ten-minute drive from Hunter Army Airfield, where thousands of soldiers have been shipped off to combat in Iraq. And so he began “what is at least his third career”--working with the Red Cross and representing the Moose in sending off departing soldiers, and welcoming them home. “I’ve met a lot of very special people over my 43 years in this fraternity,” Airey said. “But I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who feels less sorry for himself--despite having more reason to--than this man.” He brought Peters onto the stage to a roaring ovation.
  

Today, Peters dedicates himself to in-person support of soldiers heading off to Iraq from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.

“This morning we have seen, in the examples of members who believe--like Elmer Seidel...Cao Boi...and Walt Peters, that the fire of fraternalism is NOT dying,” Airey said. “What better theme for this next year, than... “I Believe”?”

“I believe...because I have seen the caliber of these people, in their dedication, and their magnificent attitudes in the face of challenge and adversity--and I realize they are just three of the tens of thousands of remarkable people, who, thank God, are drawn to become members of the Moose, the greatest fraternal order ever known...I believe all of this because--I believe in YOU!”

For transcripts of the Director General’s Convention address (and many others), visit www.mooseintl.org/portal/Convention/ 2007Orlando/2007_Orlando-reports.asp. For audio CDs, videos or DVDs of all Convention sessions, visit www.softconference.com/270629.