Let’s Remember Our Duties to the Sick and Departed
> I’m receiving more and more letters in the last couple of years that really disturb me: They’re from widows and families of recently deceased members of the Moose. Here are excerpts from a typical one: “My husband passed away last week . . . a three-time Governor and a Fellow . . . when he was working a full-time job, in the evenings and every free moment he was a loyal Moose. He would be at the Lodge greeting people, showing love to all . . . he cooked in the kitchen; he would take duty when others would not.
“When his health became bad and he wasn’t able to do as much, this is where that Lodge should have done what he did for years: Whenever a person was sick, as a loyal Moose, he would visit them, take a plant.
“The last ten years he has been in and out of hospitals . . . and not once did he ever get a visit or a phone call from his so-called Brothers. It is now almost four months (since his death) and I have still heard nothing from the Loyal Order of Moose—no card, no letter, no flowers.”
If reading that bothers you, it should. If not, here’s more: I also heard recently from the family of a member whose widow took the initiative to telephone the Lodge on her husband’s death to politely ask if the officers or Ritual staff might possibly come to the funeral home to conduct a Service of Tribute. The response she got? “We really don’t do that sort of thing anymore.”
Brothers, this is just not right—and it’s not acceptable. Take a look at the very latest editions both of the officers’ handbook Forward in the Good, Onward in the Right, and of our Ritual Handbook. Examine the first, and you’ll find that it remains the duty of the Lodge Prelate to visit convalescing or homebound members. (At the very least, this should involve appropriate cards or telephone calls.) Examine just the cover of the Ritual Handbook, and you’ll see that it includes scripts and instructions for both a Service of Tribute and a Special Graveside Service.
Yes, we do “do that sort of thing anymore”—or we should. Obviously, it’s easier for a Prelate and the other eight Officers (or Ritual staff) to attend to these simple, caring, fraternal obligations in a small-membership Lodge—where they’re not called upon as often.
But—we’re also reminded of one of our five 19-year Lodge Merit Award-winning operations. With a combined men’s and women’s enrollment of almost 3,300, they nonetheless still maintain a policy of sending a group, in Moose regalia, to the wake or visitation of any member, or his or her immediate family. This often means the officers get a call to visit a funeral home more than once a week. But they do it, because it’s the decent, fraternal thing to do.
Visiting the sick and deceased is not a requirement for winning the Lodge Merit Award. But perhaps it’s one reason why Greeneville, TN Lodge 692 and Chapter 1598 do indeed win it, year after year—because they remember what their fraternal responsibilities are.
Our Moosehaven campus in northeast Florida weathered the first three big storms of the state’s brutal 2004 hurricane season fairly well. Charley, Frances and Ivan all dumped their share of heavy rain, and Frances felled some big trees—one right on top of Director Faye Stevens’ garage. But all in all, things weren’t as bad at Moosehaven as they were at a few of our South Florida Lodges.
Then—Hurricane Jeanne hit Moosehaven on Sept. 26 with wind gusts up to 75 mph and waves of up to 30 feet crashing onto the St. John’s River seawall. This time there was significant water damage from roof and window leaks, plus erosion of the shoreline, damage to the fishing pier, and more.
So Moosehaven is going to need our help—in the form of dollars. For more info, please contact Moose Charities at 630/966-2200, or visit www.MooseCharities.org. Thanks!
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Please click on any photograph below to view a larger image.
Director General
Donald Ross
‘Whenever a person was sick, as a loyal Moose, he would visit them . . . (but) the last ten years, not once did he get a visit or a phone call.’
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November/December/January 2004-2005
