Motivated Motion

And He Sat There In Shock!
Was it a joke?....No.....this gracious surprise is real!


While we were away we got some fantabulous news.

Last week was the vote for the Grand Lodge of Ontario Canada.
This is a vote held yearly by the fraternal order of Free And Accepted Masons, here in Ontario.
For years, Dad has gone down for "The Vote". Put in his ballots for the guys he has come to know over the last...oh...almost 30 years.

Dad and my Husband Carl are Past Masters of Toronto district 4 lodge of Eastgate.
Dad and Mom are in the Senior Warden's Group The Builders, and Carl and I are in The Mystics.
In the early '80's Dad and Carl moved up through the chairs.
They were masters in subsequent years, following Carl's Dad's second time at the Master Chair.

That is how Carl and I met, and how they were connected, and how I subsequently married my Dad's best friend.

So....as I was saying "The Vote" was last week.
All the Past Masters and such gathering at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto for the elections to Grand Lodge.

Dad is not into Politicin' if he can help it. It was just this attitude that saw him retire from the Metro Toronto Police Department after 30years service, instead of make a bee-line for Chief Of Police.

He has never been a model of the "Good Ole Boys Club", and he likes to do his work based on principle. He likes to dedicate his time. He is not out for recognition. His summers are dedicated to Golf, and his winters are dedicated to Lodge.....and dreaming of golf.

Over the years he has been the secretary of the lodge and I think he may have even been a Chaplain, and he does a lot of investigations and visits. He is always on a committee list of some sort. He is also ready and willin' to to "the work" for Police Degree Teams, and for Past Masters Nights and Official Visits at all of his brethren lodges. When Carl moved up to the country lodge of Sharon after we lived up here in the countryside for quite a few years, Dad just looked at it as a new lodge he'd get to go to.
He loved helping his buddies if they ran for Grand Lodge, he liked keeping official lists for the lodge and he really enjoyed the camaraderie with his buddies, and their endless phone calls for planning one thing or another.

But he was a detective.
If something was in the works he would have known!

But he didn't.
Jim Hughes, his and Carl's buddy for close to 30 years.....Past Master of their lodge, and Grand Lodge officer, and past Grand Lodge Officer had done the unthinkable.
He connived.

Yep....Jim had taken a secret petition around to everyone voting at the Royal York Hotel. By secret petition vote, my Dad, Richard, William Charles Lundy has been voted the Grand Stewart of the Grand Lodge of Ontario Canada. This is a real public relations position. He represents the presence of the Grand Lodge at Official Visits, and accompanies the Grand Master to lodge visits. And Public Relations is what Dad is all about. He is the Support Network for Everyone!

I am going to assume he is supposed to go across Ontario to do this.
He is really excited and surprised by the appointment.
He would never have run for a position. So if they wanted him in the Grand Lodge, this certainly is the way to do it!
And I know he is very humbled by this amazing thing.
So this fall will see him dawn new Regalia. I think Gold and Purple, apron and sash/collar. And he will stand proud and Very Worshipful.

I know that quite a few Masons do read this blog. I would really appreciate it if you could write your name and your lodge and what city it is in in comments so Dad can see "The World" of you.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2007/07/and-he-sat-there-in-shock-was-it-joke.html