Trestleboard | star-in-the-east-59

MARCH 2026 trestleboard

Star in the East Lodge #59

Exeter, New Hampshire

Wor. Dwane Staples, Master

TRESTLEBOARD

Stated Meeting of Star in the East Lodge #59, F. & A. M.

Thursday March 12, 2026 at 7:00 P.M. (Dinner at 6:P. M. and Collation after meeting)

- To conduct all business that may regularly come before the Lodge

- Program: Generational Masonry by SW Mike Frost

Thursday March 5: Rehearsal for EA Degree 7pm for our inspection April 2, 2026

Thursday March 12 Stated Communication; Open on the EA Degree

!! Sunday March 15: Breakfast at Star in the East. 9:AM!!

Thursday March 19: Fellowship Night!! Friends & Family Invited 6pm

Thursday March 26: Masters and Wardens Association meeting Exeter Lodge Dinner 6:30pm, meeting 7:00pm

Thursday April 2 EA Degree inspection 7pm, no meal

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FROM THE EAST

Greetings Brethren!

I hope you are all doing well with all of the winter weather we have had in February. I enjoyed our meeting in February and received a lot of positive feedback on the discussion we had on the opening charge. It was great to hear all the input!

The JW and I have had several conversations about the meal pricing. I have received some feedback on this and just to give you an example, we have our meals prepared for us and last month the meal cost $16.00 per meal we booked and we charge $15.00 per meal so we subsidized $1.00 for each meal we ordered. We are going to try to have a few months with what we are calling scale back meal pricing and meals to fit that idea. We have had good turn outs for our meals and I hope this will encourage a few more members to come out. Any ideas or feedback is welcome.

I receive Trestleboards from other Lodges and I want to include this paragraph from the Master’s message from St John’s Lodge in Portsmouth, NH. It is on the closing charge and I thought it would be good to share:

I recently read somewhere that the Oxford Dictionary declared the word of the year

for 2025 to have been “rage bait”. I found that deeply depressing. Surely humans

exist for more nobler purposes than deliberately making other people angry. The

world could use some more civility. There are certainly legitimate events in our

world for which strong emotions are warranted but it seems that the world is

sometimes too quick to be critical and angry. All that is to say, I am encouraged by

the words of our closing charge, something we hear at every communication, but

may not take in as we look for the door at the end of a long night. We have

promised our Brother to “remind him in the most tender manner of his failings” and

crucially “aid in his reformation”. Anybody can criticize, but aiding in their

reformation takes more effort, as does reminding them of their failings in a tender

manner. Finally, as the charge closes the section on holding Brothers accountable,

we are encouraged to “let the world observe how Masons love one another”.

Imagine for a moment, if these principles were adopted more widely in our society.

There is a way to do that, and we are the answer.

This is from the WM of St John’s Lodge. I agree this is what we need at this time.

I am still looking for a volunteer to be our candidate for our EA inspection degree on April 5. If you are interested in taking part in this degree again please let me know.

As always, I look forward to seeing you in Lodge!

Fraternally,

Dwane Staples, WM (DDSL@comcast.net) 603.682.5205

Final Thought:

“The secret of making progress is to get started.” - Walt Disney

Special Notes:

- There is no warmth more comforting than surrounding yourself with good people who care.

- Star in the East is committed to being a Lodge that practices inclusion. Please, Brethren, if you would like to present a program, take part in Ritual, serve on a committee, or help with our dinners, we’d love to hear from you.

- Remember, our Lodge room is a sanctuary, free from the worries and tribulations of the outside world, where we all meet on the Level.

- You are someone’s impression of the Fraternity. Please dress appropriately for our meetings.

From the West

Greetings from the West!!!

Happy almost Spring Brethren!

I am sure you are as sick of Winter as I am…hold on, Spring is around the corner.

I had the pleasure of visiting St. James Lodge, with Worshipful Staples and Hussey. It was a great night of Masonic fellowship. I am very supportive of Worshipful Staples’ plan to visit all of the lodges that assisted with of recent Master Mason Degree.

I will be presenting a short program on “Generational Masonry,” at our March stated meeting. We will look at the times in which we all became members of the Craft. To this end I have asked our youngest Master Masons to ponder these four questions:

1.). Why did you join the craft?

2.). What have you learned about the craft thus far?

3.). How would/do you explain Masonry to others?

4.). Is there a need for Masonry among your generation? Is yes, why? If no, why not?

I would ask all generations Star in the East, to ponder these questions as well.

I hope we can share what was happening in our lives at the time that we gave three distinct knocks on the door.

Fraternally,

Michael W. Frost, SW

“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”

Tennyson

FROM THE SOUTH

Fraternal greetings Brethren

We are looking forward to our March Stated Meeting with Dinner starting at 6PM.

As many of you may know, the Essex Tech School (in Danvers, MA) Students help us with most of the meals we provide before meetings. This is a great partnership as it gives the students more opportunity to further their craft. The school charges us per person, and through your help (responding to text-em-all), we have been much more dialed in with headcount projections.

We are excited to announce a cost of living helper – we are increasing our supplementation to the meals, and dropping the cost to members to $10.00 for the foreseeable future.

The menu for March Stated:

MAIN COURSE:

Three Soup
- New England Clam Chowder
- Beef Chili
  - All the fixins, sour cream, cheese & tortilla chips
- Corn Chowder (back by popular demand!)
- Salad
- Rolls

DESSERT:

I asked the dessert culinary team to surprise us!
- They will pick the best dessert to go with the meal the team is preparing.

COLLATION:

Assorted Cookies and Pastries

NOTE: RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST FOR THIS MEAL.

The cost of this meal will be $10.00
If you will be joining us for dinner, you are requested to REPLY directly back to the Text-Em All that goes out the Friday preceding our Meeting. If you do not receive our Text-Em All please call/text/email; Brother Joe Elliott, Junior Warden; cell: (603) 702-3480 – joe@atlanticautotruck.com
. “Active Candidates & “Special Ladies” are not charged for the meals

Fraternally,

Joe Elliott, JW

SUNDAY IS FUNDAY!!

Just a reminder – our next breakfast will be March15, at 9:00 am and go until we run out of food or conversation. Bring your family and friends for breakfast. There is no charge. All we ask is that you bring some food item to contribute to the meal. If you could please let the Junior Warden or me know if you’re attending it would be appreciated.

– Wor. Mike Daley, Jr.

FROM THE HISTORIAN

I have been asked several times by Brethren - both members and visitors - if Star in the East Lodge always met on the second Thursday of the month. My response has always been no, but I could not be much more specific than that. I always knew I had the specific answer someplace, but could not remember where. Being continuously frustrated was frustrating, so I decided my office clutter was such that I had three options: live with it, throw it all out, or downsize. (Jim Ryan and I have something in common - being given Masonic “stuff”.)

In the process of downsizing (the logical choice), I found I have copies of what are probably the original and next two revisions of the Lodge by-laws from 1857, 1875 and 1895. They were in a box with a collection of myriad other small booklets on various and sundry Masonic topics. I had the answer to both meeting nights and the Annual Communication:

From 1857 to 1875, Lodge was held “on the Wednesday of each week on which the moon fulls.” The Annual Communication was on the regular lodge night in April.
From 1875 to 1895, Lodge was held “ on the Thursday of each week in which the moon fulls.” The Annual Communication was held on the first stated communication of the year.
The 1895 by-laws permitted the Lodge to omit meetings in July and August by vote of the Lodge, but the Lodge was still a moon lodge.

Moon lodges generally allowed for better light traveling home from Lodge meetings. There were probably a significant number of Moon Lodges in the early days of Masonry, but I do not have anything that gives me that information. There are several well-written books with Lodge histories, but none that I have in my library include that information. There are/were still two moon lodges in New Hampshire in the recent past - Evening Star in Colebrook and King Solomon’s in Elkins. With all the recent Lodge mergers, I’ve lost track.

My apologies for my Trestleboard absence the past few months, but it has been a complex period in the Cole family, and I found myself pulled in many directions. I want to thank our Worshipful Master and Senior Warden for helping me maintain a semblance of normalcy, balance and functionality.

Richard F. Cole, Jr., PDDGM, Historian