The 63rd Biennial Movable Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana

 

The 63rd Biennial Movable Conference was a memorable experience for all inattendance this year. The scene: The Astor on Canal Street, the heart of New Orleans. The mood: intense yet warming  The mantra: Moving forward with integrity and love…

It was among the most august of events with the sisters and brothers from all over the United States as well as our family from the Islands in attendance.  Me being able to attend was a blessing although I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to address everyone. I found myself quite content just to make small talk with individuals whom I had only seen in pictures.   The mayor and current president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Gave us warm wishes and thanks for hosting our event in their city. 

MNGS Sis. Martin @ the grand opening

There is much to be gained from the wisdom our predecessors possess if we only take the time to look listen and learn.  Current advice taken, I learned when to be fierce and when to be humble. I also learned that there is a plethora of knowledge about the order I have yet to attain.  To be a good teacher one must also be a good student.  The brethren of Wayman Lodge should be proud as one of their own received an award, in recognition of the work done for the preservation of the History of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows .  It is a must for next BMC to have more from the carolinas in attendance ! #squadgoals

My takeaway prize from attending the BMC was that my family was able to travel with me. My wife, my mother, my daughter and my big sister got to see me in action ! The looks on their faces ! How proud they were to see me dressed up in a suit n tie, which is not my daily attire !!!   Priceless !

As a business owner and tattoo enthusiast I may not look like many of the others, but I’m proud that they  accept me as I am, tattoos and all ! They recognize they taken the same oath as I, some before I was born…. I only see a bright future ahead for my lodge, my district,  my area, and the entire jurisdiction if only I can bring more light to the mysterious three that aren’t that mysterious, lol….

 

 

I would like to further my writings about the future of the Order and I will absolutely be trying to contact as many who attended for their wisdom and insight. But for now, I  will drop some pictures for your viewing pleasure!  I leave as came in the bond of friendship love and truth…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brother Supreme Emanuel Page Jr. NG, Wayman Lodge 1339, District 13 Gr. Historian. National Historian GUOOF America and Jurisdiction

 

 

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Bidding Farewell to Grand Master Emeritus, Brother Labon Malachi Lundy

On June 4th, The Grand United Order of Oddfellows in America and Jurisdiction said their final farewells to Most Honorable Grand Master Emeritus, Brother Labon Malachi Lundy of Nassau, Bahamas.

Aged 70 years Bro. Lundy was born Oct. 25th 1947, and departed this life on May 23 2018. He leaves behind a host of family as well as Brothers and Sisters from Various levels of the Order.

The memorial service and rites were delivered by Most Honorable Grand Master John W. Green @ Aurora Lodge #810.

There were innumerable members in attendance as well as the District Grand Masters of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

 

 

 

 

 

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Washington Lodge 1513 needs US!

Washington Lodge continues to write its history, future

By Tammy Shaw
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at 12:43 am(Updated: February 21, 1:02 am)

New Castle’s Grand United Order of Odd Fellows Washington Lodge #1513 purchased a Main Street building in the late 1880s that stands as an historic reminder of Henry County’s past, and the strength and sacrifices of former slaves who founded the fraternal lodge in 1872, a mere seven years after the Civil War ended.
The last few years have been rough – fundraising to cover major roof and foundation repairs caused by several inches of heavy, wet snow.
To make matters worse, contributions to revitalize the Washington Lodge fell due to confusion with the Eminence Odd Fellows, a totally separate and distinct group where the former secretary-treasurer allegedly embezzled over $100,000, according to GUOOF member Ron Wright. “The theft at the other Odd Fellows hampered our funding – people got us confused with that lodge,” he said.
Main Street Manager Jeff Thoke helped round up community and preservation grants and the fellows held fundraisers and collected donations to help pay for the first phase of renovation.
“Really, this is a historic structure — I mean, as I find out more about it, as far as African American history in the state of Kentucky, not just New Castle, this is really integral,” Thoke has said about the lodge building. “Think about it — they’ve been in that building since 1886, 138-plus years now, so I said we ought to have a historical marker.”
Lodge and community members successfully petitioned the state for the marker and raised the $2,500 necessary to pay for it separately from the donations meant to repair the building, and then supporters gathered together to celebrate its unveiling last August.
A new roof supported by a better engineered structure and repairs to correct bowing outward were completed in 2017, but the lodge still needs about $60,000 more to tackle the interior renovation, including electrical, plumbing, walls, floors and a general facelift, according to Frank Goodloe, lodge secretary-treasurer, who followed his grandfather and father into the organization more than 25 years ago.
The building sat empty for many years before the roof collapse — members meet at First Baptist Church in New Castle — but the loss affected them deeply. “Many thought that was the end of the lodge,” Wright said. “It wasn’t worth much. “It would be much easier and cheaper to build a whole new building, but that’s the only thing we own.”
“Right now, the roof is on and the back wall up. It still needs water and electric. The back door is in and there are no leaks. The brick is up,” Goodloe said.
However, new challenges hover on the horizon – getting younger men to join the order and to boost the numbers in the lodge.
Lodge members are aging and need young people to join. Older brothers like former Noble Grand William “Bill” Smith still remember the hard times and he wants young African Americans to understand the past to inform their present and future.
“We grew up with segregation. Back then, blacks only had a couple places they could go – church and the lodge.”
At one point, the lodge counted 100 members, but is down to around 30 or 40, according to Wright. “A lot of people want to forget the past,” he said. “It’s our heritage.
“Black history is about educating and teaching young people the struggle that came before. Our ancestors endured that so we wouldn’t have to go through what they did,” Wright said. “There’s no future if you don’t know the past, how different it was during the sixties.”
But some African-Americans of his generation want to forget. “We need to be mindful where we come from. Where I came from is my strength right now.”
“The lodge is a gathering place for blacks,” Goodloe said. “We come together and celebrate.”
Two new members – one from Shelbyville and another from Louisville — joined recently.
This lodge is the only remaining active Grand United Order of Odd Fellows lodge in Kentucky and is possibly the oldest African American fraternal organization in the state, according to the PreservationFunder website.
“It’s part of our heritage as I know it,” Wright said. “Our lodge is keeping our heritage going. The elders and leaders of the lodge have carried it this far. It’s up to the younger generations to keep it going.”
On the organization’s to-do list is building a gate for the Odd Fellows cemetery they own where Wright’s grandfather, a lodge member, and grandmother, member of the women’s auxiliary called the Ruth Sisters, are buried. “I hope to be buried there one day,” he said.
Brighter days may lie ahead for the lodge. Two organizations are ready to rent space once interior repairs are completed – an African American veteran’s association and the Merriweather-King Street Scholarship Fund.

From : http://www.hclocal.com/content/washington-lodge-continues-write-its-history-future

Now that you have read the article and seen the pictures, dig a little deeper,  a Google search will suffice!  What should come to mind now is what WE are going to do to aid and assist in this righteous endeavor?  I know I have plans to contribute!  I am hopeful that everyone who reads this feels a sense of duty to do the same…..

If you would like to help but you don’t know how  , email me at supremelyodd@gmail.com

Let’s extend our hearts in our hands in the eternal bond of Friendship Love and Truth !

Bro. Supreme Emanuel Page jr

NG Wayman lodge 1339, Dist.13 Gr. Historian and National Gr. Historian for America and Jurisdiction

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One of Bay State Lodge #814’s Founders

 

Honorable Bro. John J. Smith was born a free man in Richmond, Virginia, on November 2, 1820. As youth he heard stories about Boston, and made up his mind to settle there. By the time he was 20, he had saved enough money to move. In the 1840s, he opened a barbershop at the corner of Howard and Bulfinch Streets on Beacon Hill. To further his education, he went to night school.

In the 1840s, Smith campaigned for the desegregation of Boston’s public schools. He was a supporter of Benjamin F. Roberts, who unsuccessfully sued the city in 1850 for the right to enroll his daughter in a white school.

Smith’s barbershop became a gathering place for local abolitionists, including Lewis Hayden and Charles Sumner. He was active in the New England Freedom Association, an organization that assisted refugees from slavery. After the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, Smith sheltered refugees and helped with their escape plans. Notably, he sheltered Ellen and William Craft during their stay in Boston.

On February 15, 1851, Smith was one of the activists who helped free Shadrach Minkins from the court house in Boston, where he was being held under the Fugitive Slave Act. Two days later, he drove Minkins by buggy from a safe house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to another in Concord. Smith was one of several people arrested in connection with the rescue, but could not be positively identified and was released. He was also involved in the failed attempt to rescue our worthy brother  George Latimer in 1842.

During the Civil War, he was appointed by Governor John Albion Andrew to recruit officers for the Massachusetts “colored regiments.” Later he served as a provost marshal in Washington, D.C.

Smith was one of the earliest Republicans in Massachusetts, and attended their first state party convention in Worcester. In 1868, he became the third African American to sit on the Massachusetts legislature when he was elected to represent Ward 6 in the state house of representatives. He was reelected in 1869 and 1872.

In 1878, Smith was elected to the Boston Common Council, where he served for “a number of years” as one of its first African-American members. During his first year on the council, Smith was responsible for the hiring of Horatio J. Homer, the Boston Police Department’s first black officer.

Smith met his wife Georgianna, a multiracial woman from Nova Scotia, in the 1840s. The couple’s first home was on Wilson’s Lane in Boston.  They raised six children. Their daughter Elizabeth graduated from the Boston Normal School and began teaching at the Phillips School in the early 1870s; she was likely the first black teacher in an integrated Boston public school.

In 1844, Smith co-founded the Bay State lodge #814 of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows. He was also a Prince Hall Mason. At the time of his death, he was reportedly the oldest Odd Fellow in the world, and the oldest past grand master of the Prince Hall Masons. He was also a trustee of the A M. E. Zion Church.

Smith reportedly spent time in California during the Gold Rush of 1849. In 1878, he moved to 86 Pinckney Street, where he lived until 1893. From there, he moved to Jamaica Plain, and around 1900 moved in with his two daughters at 45 Wellesley Park in Dorchester.

He died at his home in Dorchester on November 4, 1906, aged 86. His funeral was held in the A. M. E. Zion Church on Columbus Avenue, with Masonic services. He was buried in the Forest Hills Cemetery.

The John J. Smith House at 86 Pinckney Street is a Boston African American National Historic Site and is on the Black Heritage Trail.

We owe it to ourselves to apply this story to our lives concerning Oddfellowship! The former slave he tried to liberate became his Brother in Oddfellowship and it could be assumed that it was George Latimer’s choice because of Bro. Smith living his oath……In Friendship Love and Truth

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South Carolina District 13 Just Got A Little Safer

Newly appointed District 13 Grand Director of Security , Emanuel Page Sr.

Greetings in the bond of Friendship Love and Truth!  I am honored to be able to write this piece in particular as great things are happening in District No. 13 ! I would like to introduce you to Bro. Emanuel Page Sr. of Wayman lodge 1339. Bro. Page has been appointed to the District Gr. Lodge, as Grand Director of Security.  A DC native, Bro. Page has also served in the U.S. Military as well as the D.C. Metro Police Department.   Now retired from the Post Office, Bro. Page has dedicated his life to the principles of Friendship Love and Truth. He brings to the table his skill set as a private investigator of which he was for 20+yrs.   With those skills Our District will continue to produce only those of the highest caliber into Our Mysterious Three !  Congrats are in order !!!

 

I leave as I came in the bond of Friendship Love and Truth  !

Bro. Supreme Emanuel Page jr

NG, Wayman lodge 1339, Dist 13 Gr. Historian and National Gr. Historian for America and Jurisdiction

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Looking back at 175 years of excellence, then looking forward…

I greet you all quite early this morning in the bond of Friendship Love and Truth!

-Many historians note the #GrandUnitedOrderofOddFellows as one of the most significant black mutual aid societies even at its beginning stages in the 1840’s. By the 1880’s, the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows underwent a remarkable expansion period and went far beyond the local pockets of membership of its early days.  The development occurred in a time of increased racial consciousness and institutionalized self-help for blacks.
I reflect on the fact that today marks our 175th anniversary of existence in this country !!!! Hmmm….. I am not even sure where to go with my thoughts on the subject matter being that we have done so much with so little light shined upon us that we have nearly secreted ourselves to death ! I am grateful for the brethren I meet as I travel this path carrying the torch of #Oddfellowship into the next 175 years.

As far back as history will allow, we have had countless individuals whom we can hold up on our shoulders as exemplary guides as to what our purpose…..was……Visit the sick,Bury the dead,Relieve the distressed, and Educate the Orphan…..While the Government has all but relieved us of those necessities in our community through their own programs, we must find another way to now fulfill a need which most don’t even realize is an issue! The Fellowship !!!! Our bond as brothers and sisters working together under one banner is what our people need to see!  This Order is multi-generational and we need to show this more now than ever before. It’s on US to prove we still deserve to exist in a country chock full of unnecessary distractions !

Our children are growing up in a world where the black community collectively raising them is a thing of the past. A world where they are turning to the streets or organizations who bear fruit from our trees while we sit idly by and allow it !  If we are to survive and one day thrive again even, it starts with today! On this day March 1st 2018,  we can pledge our lives to aid in the re-lighting of the torch by telling someone you know, and more importantly, someone who knows you, that today is our anniversary…..Peter Ogden Day….Tell them why for so long you have dedicated your efforts to the cause of FL&T…..Our bonds of Friendship,Love,and Truth being displayed on a regular basis in itself could serve as an example for the rest of the world to admire and reciprocate…..It’s not the only way…..but it is OUR WAY ! I leave as I came, extra proudly today, in the bond of Friendship Love and Truth !

 

From the desk of:  Bro. Supreme Page NG Wayman lodge 1339, Dist. 13 Gr. Historian and National Gr. Historian for America and Jurisdiction

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South Carolina District 13 is on the Move!

District 13’s #threewisemen were at it again, traveling to #Virginia this time to visit with the #PastGrandmastersCouncil ! The brothers went to learn and attain their wisdom as we move forward in our goal to become the Hub District for the #GrandUnitedOrderofOddFellows in #America and Jurisdiction and then the #World!

 

Through positive examples of #Friendship #Love and #Truth We shall meet and exceed all barriers and expectations. To whom much is given, much is expected so we are enduring our share of the work. It is almost our 175th #anniversary of existence in this country so it’s our duty to make sure we last another 175 years. It can be done by sticking to the script, yet enhancing the narrative! Special thanks to Bro. Bobby Stone and the brethren of #HayesChapelLodge #8123 for their gracious #hospitality and outright #discipline in teaching us how to carry the light of #Oddfellowship….

Our founders would be proud !
#oddfellows #oddfellow #guoof #guoofof #blackhistorymonth #americanhistory #flt #threelinks #District13 #DistrictGrandLodge #AreaII

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More Pics from the 2018 Officers Installation

In the bond of Friendship Love and Truth the Brethren of the Mighty District 13 greet you all !!!! Provided below are more pictures for your viewing pleasure from this year’s Grand Officers Installation for the Grand United Order of Oddfellows in America and Jurisdiction. …

 

DGM Bro. Cannon speaks to the group after presenting Most Honorable Grand Master Green with a PNF Collar as a token of appreciation for his noble assistance.

Most Noble Sisters of the Grand Household of Ruth !

Brothers of SC’s own District 13 with the Committee of Management wearing the collars and aprons gifted to them…

Hon.GM Green delivered an inspiring oratory after the installation and presentations


We are blessed to come amongst a group of individuals dedicated to the preservation of the Order !  If District 13 continues on this path, there will be nothing that can stand in the way of our righteous endeavors.

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Officers Installation 2018 in Philadelphia

I greet you in the bond of Friendship Love and Truth!  Salutations are in order for Our brethren who traveled this past weekend, to Philly to be duly Installed in their seats on the District Grand Lodge.  It was a wondrous occasion as Oddfellows and Ruthites from across our jurisdiction were again blessed with the presence of eachother!  Too often we receive news of a brother or sister passing so every opportunity for fellowship should be cherished as a blessing. The GUOOF who attended Friday were entertained with a trip to the casinos and boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ. Saturday was chock full of networking and workshops before the installation.  This was followed up with a banquet, accolades, and announcements.

The Grand United Order of Oddfellows in America and Jurisdiction’s HGH John Green and the Committee of Management bestowed upon South Carolina a few notable distinctions : We were given the honor of, District of the Year as well as Area of the Year in recognition of our establishment and growth ! It feels great to be recognized for all of our hard work!   It was definitely unexpected!

Speaking of unexpected…… District 13 can be proud of Bro. Supreme Emanuel Page jr from Wayman lodge 1339. Bro. Page has been promoted to National Grand Historian for America and Jurisdiction!  This is a major role which I am elated about!  Words cannot and will not express my gratitude for the honor of that responsibility!  I would prefer to show the world what we are about!  Many thanks for District 13 and the brethren who have guided me on the path to illumination, not chasing the light but instead I will become it’s beacon….

In the bond of Friendship Love and Truth I leave as I came……

 

Bro.Page, NG Wayman lodge. Hon. Grand Historian

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Spartanburg’s Finest

This is Brother John Woodward #GUOOF… From his accolades you wouldn’t have thought for a minute that this man had never in his life had a day of formal education. If you know anything about Spartanburg,SC history…..you’ll surely recognize his name as one of the wealthiest and most prominent African American businessmen in all of the Upstate ! Our brother was born August 28th 1872 in Fairfield County. Raised on a farm and sharecropping most of his childhood he wasn’t afforded an opportunity for going to school, however, he was taught to read and write by the family who owned the land. He took a job at a #ginnery where he learned to conduct his own business. At 16 he moved to Spartanburg and operated a farm of his own and dabbled in small real estate ventures. He leased a parcel of his farm to the #Government and soon after he established the first African American #undertaking service in Spartanburg. Woodward, built his first facility on #ShortWofford Street, which ran between Church and Magnolia streets near where the #PalmettoBank now stands. In 1946, the funeral home moved to its current location, 594 Howard St., inside the large, white home-like structure that previously served as a hospital for #African-Americans.
After J. W. Woodward’s death in 1947, his son, John Stinson Woodward (1908-2002), took over the funeral home.Today, J. W. Woodward Funeral Home is owned and operated by Kay E. Woodward, granddaughter of our Brother…..“We were more than just a mortuary back then. It was a savings and #loan place, it had laundry services and seemed to be a go-to place for all sorts of things.” she explained to a local paper.
J.W. Woodward #Funeral Home, Inc. celebrates its 100-year anniversary during 2016. The mortuary is the oldest African-American business in Spartanburg. #Oddfellowship #service #oddfellows #fraternal #threelinks #FriendshipLoveandTruth

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