CHIPS Program in Caribou

CHIPS on August 11th from 10:am to 2:pm

Caribou Lodge will miss our Limestone Brother.

MAHLON C. "BUD" HARVEY LIMESTONE - Mahlon C. "Bud" Harvey, 91, beloved husband of the late Sarah M. (Butler) Harvey, passed away Sunday morning, July 15, 2012, surrounded by his loving family at a Caribou nursing facility, after an extended period of declining health. He was born March 16, 1921, in Patten, son of Boardman P. and Cassie M. (Tompkins) Harvey. Bud was a graduate of the Patten Academy, class of 1939, and moved to Aroostook County in the fall of 1945 working as a Maine state potato inspector. He was married to Sarah M. Butler, March 16, 1946, and had been employed in the construction of the former Loring Air Force Base, working for Jim Buck Construction and Ward's Construction, and also served as a grade foreman for the construction of the runways and later worked as foremen at Limestone Potato Growers for many years. An extremely civic minded man, Bud had been involved in several Limestone organizations, including Limestone Volunteer Fire Department for 29 years, serving as fire chief upon his retirement. Mr. Harvey was also a charter member of Limestone Lions Club for a number of years, where he served as president; and member of Order of the Eastern Star, Fort Fairfield Chapter, where he served as worthy patron for 14 years, and Knights of Pythias for several years. One of Bud's greatest pleasures was attending Masonic functions, being a master Mason at Limestone Lodge No. 214 AF & AM since April 27, 1976, where he served in many positions including worshipful Master in 1981-82, secretary from 1985-2007, and served as assistant secretary from 2010 until the time of his death. Bud had been awarded the Limestone Lodge 25-year service pin and Simon Greenleaf Medal. Bud was also a dedicated member of Limestone United Methodist Church for more than 50 years. In addition to his parents, Bud was predeceased by his wife of more than 60 years, Sarah, Aug. 1, 2006; one son, Stanley Harvey; one grandson, Matthew J. Harvey; five brothers, Wendell, Boardman Jr., Gordon, Richard and Leonard Harvey; and three sisters, Thelma Harvey, Greta Elizabeth Boynton and Joan Harvey. He is survived by three sons and daughters-in-law, Stanford "Buddy" and Pauline Harvey of Macclenny, Fla., Jeffrey and Carol Harvey of Cross Lake, Bruce and Jane Harvey of East Waterboro; two daughters and sons-in-law, Jackie and John Irovando, Joyce and James Rolph, all of Limestone; four brothers and sisters-in-law, Robert and Joyce Harvey, Wallace and Jeanette Harvey, Waldo and Janet Harvey, Keith and Ester Harvey, all of Patten; two sisters and brother-in-law, Alice Sanford of Harwich, Mass., and Pauline and Richard Manus of Patten; 13 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. Friends may call 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, July 18, at Giberson-Dorsey Funeral Home, 144 Main St., Fort Fairfield, where a Masonic memorial service will be conducted 7:30 p.m. by the officers and members of Limestone Lodge No. 214 AF & AM. The funeral service will be conducted 11 a.m. Thursday, July 19, at Limestone United Methodist Church, Main Street, Limestone, with Pastor Ellen Cleaves officiating. A time of continued fellowship with refreshments will be held in the church fellowship area after the service. Bud will be laid to rest with his wife, Sarah at Advent Cemetery, Limestone, at a later date. Those who wish may contribute in memory of Mr. Harvey to Limestone United Methodist Church Memorial Fund, 2 Burleigh St., Limestone, ME 04750. Envelopes will be available at both the funeral home and church.

A Handbook for all Masons

This was taken from the Grand lodge of Maine's website at http://www.mainemason.org/resources/fminmaine/fminmaine002.asp   This handbook has lots of good information.

A Vision of Freemasonry in Maine

The mission of Masons, Masonic Lodges, and Masonry, is to enable men to associate freely and improve themselves in an environment characterized by equality, community, opportunity, charity and security.

To that end we share the vision of a Masonic Lodge which offers a Mason an opportunity to participate in an environment where every man is treated as an equal and with respect. Masonry regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors. He is judged only on the principles he lives by. Equality is the first principle of Masonry, and our Founding Fathers, many of whom were Masons, made this principle a cornerstone of the new Republic.

We share the vision of a Masonic Lodge characterized by community. Masons have long held that we bring together on common ground men from every country, sect and opinion, men who would otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance: older Masons, younger Masons, long time Masons, brand new Masons. A Lodge is s place where all mix freely with each other. Maine is the least ethnically diverse state in the Nation, but true to this principle, it should set an example of diversity in this state.

We share the vision of a Masonic Lodge which offers a Mason an opportunity to improve himself and to grow in wisdom. Indeed, the opportunity for self-improvement was the source and original purpose of speculative Masonry. We do this, perhaps most importantly, by making an effort to provide good examples to each other and by exemplifying for each new candidate and for each other, the great allegory of Free Masonry - the story of the stone mason as he progresses in life from youth, through manhood to old age. We learn by coming to know the explanatory lectures in our hearts because we know them by heart.

We share the vision of a Masonic Lodge which enables a Mason to join other good men in doing acts of charity. Charity, a term from our Ritual is taken from the King James version of the Bible which today is often translated as "love", carrying the connotation of a generous-spirited and giving relationship. Lodges are not service clubs, but they do provide a structure where good men can join together and accomplish good things, and Masons do good works far out of proportion to their numbers and at every level, from the monumental achievements of the hospitals built by Shrine Masons over the years to small acts of caring and sensitivity shown to older Masons and their wives.

We share the vision of a Masonic Lodge that offers an environment where men can be safe from stress and petty contention. In the words of the closing charge a Lodge is a "Sacred retreat of friendship and virtue". A Lodge is an environment where everyone knows that we will meet on the level, in equality, and where we will part on the square, having been dealt with fairly and where they are secure in the knowledge that we will be dealt with fairly the next time we meet. A lodge characterized by equality, community, opportunity, charity and security is the vision we share.

Thank you!!!

This the the Ad that we placed in the Newspaper.

District #1 - Mason of the Year 2012

On May 18th Caribou Lodge was fortunate to host this years Mason of the Year program for the District.  Attendance was amazing with over 75 Brethren and their guests in attendance.

The evenings program was preceded by a potluck supper, which as always was a wonderful display of some of the best cooks in the county.  Our dining hall couldn't hold them all so several lucky folk sat out in the foyer, much closer to the food.

After dinner our new District Deputy Grand Master, RW Robert Hancock of Limestone had a nice  program with each of the Masters from District one presenting their Masons of the Year with their certificate of recognition.  The evening went off without a hitch.

It was very nice to have such a crowd in Caribou Lodge again and we look forward to doing something like this again.

Bikes for Books - 2012

The Bikes for Books program has been a long time in coming.  We have worked hard at raising funds and now it has come to fruition.  Here is a picture of all 32 bikes while still in the box.  SFE Manufacturing of Caribou was kind enough to allow us to use their facility to assemble the bikes and store them there until they can be delivered.

So the next step is to get the bikes out of the boxes and put them together.  I was very happy to have  

Duane Walton & Paul Harmon

 ten brethren show up on a Wednesday evening to help with the assembly.  It took us two hours and I think we all had a good time.

 Duane and Paul, two true bike enthusiasts worked very hard on the 20 inch bikes.  We had to keep Paul on task because he seemed to want to make some alterations like on American Choppers.

There were some surprises to the evening, we hadn't considered that the larger bikes would have

Ralph Conroy and John Deveau

gears that would have to be adjusted.  Fortunately in a former place of employment, W. Ralph Conroy had worked on fixing and assembling bikes so he and John Deveau tackled the larger more challenging bikes and left the smaller bikes to the rest of us.   I think Ralph and John took pity on the rest of us and wanted to get done before Midnight.


Having not put a bike together in a while we all had to do some remembering and a little trial and

Jerry Drake , Joe Cheney, and Greg Anderson

 error.  I think Greg had a part left over and it looks like he is really giving it some consideration,

The evening ended with around 8:30 pm and I sincerely want to thank all of the guys for their help.  Not pictured here were Mack Haines, Wendell Spooner and David Spooner.  Afterwards a few of the guys went to Tim Hortons for a cup of coffee.  The night was a complete success.

We began awarding the bikes on Friday the 25th of May in New Sweden, then Hilltop Elementary in Caribou on the 29th, Woodland on the 30th and concluded at Teague Park in Caribou on May 31st. 

Teague Park Students in Caribou

 Attending one or more of the awarding ceremonies of the bikes were Erich Margeson, Wendell Spooner, Duane Walton, Greg Anderson, Jody Smith, and David Spooner.

The kids were all great sports cheering for all of the winners no matter who won.  One young lady in Woodland read 41 books to increase her chances of winning one of these bikes.  In every case the kids were most appreciative to us for their new bikes.  I think this is an absolutely great program for any lodge to participate in and hope that Caribou Lodge continues with in for years to come.

We also received some good media coverage in the Aroostook Republican, WAGM TV, and on Channel X Radio as you can here by clicking below.


https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bx5iKLPeGpXcdktkSkRXaUp3Y0E/edit


The businesses that donated with the program were:

Felch & Company, The Caribou Trading Post, The Bank of Maine, Car Quest, Sports Inn & Bowladrom, Wardwell's Service Inc., Eric J & Mary Ann Scott, Aroostook County Electric, Jim's Auto Care, Pines Health Services, Solman & Hunter P.A., NorState Federal Credit Union, County Federal Credit Union, Clukey's Parts & Equipment, Powers Roofing, Gallagher Ins. Agency, Alphies Barbershop, Ken Hensler, Channel X Radio, Paradis Shop & Save, Robert Irving, Jepson Financial Advisors, Cary Medical Center, Aroostook County Federal Savings & Loan, Northern Maine Ins. Services, Paterson Manter Properties, Barresi Financial Inc, Key Bank, ReEnergy, C.S. Management, Albear Resturant, Russetto's, Plourde & Plourde Inc., Family Chiropractic, Caribou Inn & Convention Center, Presque Isle Inn & Convention Center, and Sleepers.

We will be putting a thank you in the paper, however if you get the chance to thank and support these businesses please do so.

Here are just a few of the thirty two kids who won bikes this year as a result of our Bikes for Books program.  I think you can see the joy and pride in their faces.

Here is a response from just one of the Principals from the four schools we worked with.

Good Afternoon,

I just want to say thank you again for providing the bikes for our kids.   The children are so very excited, as are their parents.  What a great incentive to get children to READ!! :-)  Thank you for supporting the education of the students at Teague Park School.

Tanya

 Tanya Belanger, Principal

Teague Park School

59 Glenn St.

Caribou, ME 04736

Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Maine

The Officers and Members of Caribou Lodge No. 170  are pleased and proud to present :

Right Worshipful Brother 

John T. Irovando
  Senior Grand Warden
of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Maine 

R.W. Brother John T. Irovando was raised in Jupiter Light Lodge# 340, Jupiter, Florida on August 10, 1999.  He progressed through the chairs until such time as his retirement when he and his wife, Jackie, moved back to the State of Maine.  He affiliated with Caribou Lodge# 170 serving with honor as its Worshipful Master, and presently is Lodge Secretary.  He also affiliated with Limestone Lodge #214 serving first as Historian where he was recognized by the Grand Historian for his Lodge Histories on two different occasions and then Lodge Secretary which is his current position.  He also is a Past President of the Aroostook County Master and Wardens Association, and Past Mason of the Year for Limestone Lodge # 214.  During his service in the State of Florida he served  as an Educational Instructor earning Grand Lodge F.& A.M. Certificates of Qualification in several areas.
Bro. Irovando was appointed Assistant Grand Chaplain of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Maine by M.W. Robert R. Landry serving until being appointed Grand Marshal of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Maine by M.W. W. Louis Greenier II . 

Bro. Irovando is presently a member of both the Scottish Rite and the York Rite bodies.  He is a Chartered Member of the Valley of Aroostook, Polaris Lodge of Perfection;  a member of the Valley of Bangor, Eastern Star Lodge of Perfection, Palestine Council, Princes of Jerusalem, and Bangor Chapter of Rose Croix, all in Bangor, Maine; and a member of the Maine Consistory in Portland, Maine.  He is presently a member of Garfield Chapter No. 48 Royal Arch Masons in Caribou, Maine,  and past member of Palm Beach Chapter No. 24 R.A.M,  Zabud Council No. 17 R. & S.M.,  and Palm Beach Commandery No. 18 K.T. in West Palm Beach, Florida.  He is also a member of Anah Shrine in Bangor, Maine, and a Life Member of the Aroostook County Shrine Club in Presque Isle, Maine.
Bro. Irovando is a 1966 graduate of Scotch Plains High School in New Jersey and has attended Trenton State College, and Union Collage, in New Jersey and Palm Beach College in Florida. He graduated the New Jersey State Police Academy and served with distinction  in Law
Enforcement  in both New Jersey and Florida for a total 34 continuous  years where he received numerous commendations and awards retiring from service in 2003.
Bro. Irovando resides in Limestone, Maine with his wife Jackie (Harvey). They have five grown children and  ten grandchildren.

Masonic Ring Saves Captain and Crew.

Searsport sea captain hero not forgotten, thanks to town historian

By Tom Groening, BDN Staff

Posted May 09, 2012, at 6:06 p.m

SEARSPORT, Maine — History is best told through people, Charlene Farris believes. And the story of one of Searsport’s legendary sea captains, one she knew when she was a child, relates a part of history in dramatic, heroic terms.

Named official historian at town meeting in 2010, Farris has a way of making those people come to life in simple, vivid terms. That skill may have come from 35 years teaching fifth grade at Searsport Elementary School, a job from which she retired last year.

Her passion for local history is well-known but her approach has changed. Instead of trying to tell Searsport’s story in chronological form, Farris now immerses herself in the town’s interesting characters and relates their stories, usually at her annual talks before the Searsport Historical Society.

 One of the more compelling stories is that of Edwin Earle Greenlaw, which includes bravery, leadership and a ring that may have saved lives.

Farris knew Greenlaw as the father of neighbor children with whom she played as a child, growing up on Steamboat Avenue. She remembers the captain speaking to her sixth-grade class.

“I can’t remember a thing he said, but I remember he was handsome,” dressed in his captain’s uniform, Farris recalled.

So last summer, as she was considering the subject of her next historical biography, she was reminded of him.

“I walked down Steamboat Avenue right by Capt. Greenlaw’s house,” she recalled, and her task was clear.

Born in Rockport in 1901, Greenlaw learned the ways of the sea sailing Friendship sloops. As a man, he began working on coal and oil ships, and during a stop in Searsport, a local man, Harrison “Bunny” Jackson invited Greenlaw home to meet the family.

Jackson’s sister, Hazel, was a beauty, Farris said. A victim of polio, she couldn’t walk, yet refused to use crutches, relying on canes and sheer determination. Greenlaw and she married and began living near where Mosman Park is today.

Greenlaw didn’t like staying ashore, though, and began working for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company.

When World War II began, the U.S. government took control of merchant ships. Late in 1943, Greenlaw was captain of the S.S. Alaskan, a 5,369-ton vessel hauling a cargo of 800 tons of chrome ore from South Africa to Dutch Guiana in South America. The ship did not have a military escort, but did have deck guns.

At 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 28, during a pouring rainstorm, a look-out saw the wakes of two torpedoes approaching the ship. One missed, but the other struck the middle of the ship, destroying the engine and two lifeboats, the work of a German submarine.

“The deck buckled, it listed to port, but didn’t sink,” Farris said. The German U-boat surfaced and its officers ordered the men to abandon the ship. More than 50 crew members, officers and armed guards jumped into lifeboats.

The sub then shelled the ship until it sank at 8:10 a.m.

One of the lifeboats swamped, drowning four men. Another, with 29 men, eventually landed in Angola, in Africa. Thirteen more men climbed aboard a raft, and later were picked up by a Spanish vessel and taken to the Canary Islands.

As captain, Greenlaw was the last to leave the vessel, taking time to destroy documents he deemed security threats. After Greenlaw boarded a raft with eight other survivors, the U-boat captain brought the sub alongside and ordered Greenlaw to board the sub. The sub captain questioned Greenlaw, who gave only basic information. He was then returned to the raft.

Later, Greenlaw would tell his sons he noticed the U-boat captain wore a ring signifying his membership in the Masons, a fraternal organization. Greenlaw wore a similar ring. That link saved his life, Greenlaw believed.

The German captain told Greenlaw he was sorry the sub sank his ship, “but this is war. Why don’t you tell America to get out of the war?”

Four hundred miles from land in a leaking raft, Greenlaw summoned his leadership and maritime skills, Farris said. He ordered the men to keep a lookout for one of the unoccupied lifeboats. Three days later, they found it and raised and bailed it out. The men fashioned a sail and mast, using their only tool, Greenlaw’s pocket knife.

The lifeboat had emergency supplies including 53 tins of pemmican, which Farris said “were molded cakes of fat, flavored with meat and berries.” There also were 106 bottles of malted milk tablets, 65 chocolate bars and 15 gallons of water.

Greenlaw ordered the armed guard commander to ration the food and water.

After being becalmed in the equatorial waters, the trade winds picked up, rains came replenishing drinking water, and the men were able to catch fish and snare birds to eat — raw.

Thirty-nine days after being torpedoed, the men sighted land and went ashore on French Guiana on Jan. 5, 1944. The locals thought they were prisoners escaped from Devil’s Island, but the men were able to convince them otherwise.

 Farris said Greenlaw kept the men focused, disciplined and hopeful, which helped them survive. His twin sons, Edwin — known as Bing who lives in Thorndike — and Eugene — known as Biff who lives in Stockton Springs — remember their father as a kind man who loved to laugh. That demeanor probably helped him keep spirits up during those 39 days of deprivation.

Greenlaw worked another 18 years for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. Sadly, he decided in 1962 to take one more voyage as captain before retiring, picking up oil in Iran. While there, he contracted hepatitis and lingered in a hospital for weeks before dying in early 1963. He is buried in the town’s Gordon Cemetery.

Residents should be proud of Greenlaw, Farris said: “He was handsome, charming, professional and kind. In short, Hollywood’s version of the perfect sea captain.”

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/09/news/midcoast/searsport-sea-captain-hero-not-forgotten-thanks-to-town-historian/