FROM THE EAST - Ionic Composite Lodge, No....

Ionic Composite Lodge No. 520

IonicComposite.com

March 2017

Brethren, ladies and friends;

I am very concerned about the hostility that has become so prevalent in this country. People’s pas-sions have taken hold so deeply that friends and families are arguing to such a degree that they can no longer talk to each other without it somehow leading to anger. Our political parties have gone to such philosophical extremes that, rather than trying to search for what is the best for this country, they only want to damage the members or programs of the other party.

My dear brothers and friends, this is one of the most important reasons why Freemasonry is so important, especially in these turbulent times.

Freemasonry gives us a place to practice positive values, and teaches us, that we meet with our fellowman “on the level” and treat him “by the square”. These principals are not just how we should treat another brother. This is how we should be acting towards all mankind. If we only act this way with another brother or in the lodge room than our fraternity is of no value and it should have died long ago.

We need only look to our past to see that the principles and values we espouse in our rituals and teachings can be practiced in the real world. As an example, these principals were essential in the discussions of our founding fathers when they wrote the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. When we point out to a cashier that they gave us too much change, we are practicing Masonic values.

I am not saying that we should not be true to our personal beliefs, because a good man needs to be true to G-D and the principals he holds true. Yes, we can have differing opinions from one an-other. But we should always try to control our passions and persuade an erring brother to change his ways.

But whether we live in a community, or are a member of a fraternity, we must temper our pas-sions and modify our actions to conform to those of societies norms. If we don’t, then we have anarchy.

See you in Lodge! Michael Bear, P.M., – Master

FROM THE EAST

IONICCOMPOSITE.COM MARCH 2017 TRESTLEBOARD2

March 6th Stated Meeting 47th Annual Reception of

the Grand MasterDoors: 5:30 p.m. | Dinner: 6:00 p.m.

Meeting: 7:15 p.m.

W.M. Michael Bear presiding

RSVP before March 1st (310-657-2628) or from our website

Dinner is $30.00

Reservations are Mandatory Extra meals will not be available. Brothers with If you make a reservation and don’t cancel by the state specified, you will be billed.

* Guests of the Master, and widows of Ionic Composite Lodge, who have not remarried, are free. Menu is Subject to Change.

ENTREES

Short Ribs, Salmon, or Vegitarian

DESSERT

Traditional ice cream bar

MARCH EVENTSMar.

1

March Stated meeting reservations dueReservations must be received by secretary (310) 657-2628, or online

Mar. 4

UCLA International Conference “The Origins of Freemasonry”. 9:00a.m.-3:00p.m. at UCLA Covell Commons. By pre-registration only at freemason.org.

Mar. 5

LAMSB Grand Master’s Breakfast, 8:00-11:30a.m. LAX Hilton. See Secretary for tickets

Mar. 6

Stated Meeting DinnerSee insert to left for times and more details

Mar. 8

Officers Practice 7:15p.m., First Degree in full. Officers required to attend. Dress casual.

Mar. 13

O.S.I.7:15p.m. at Ionic Composite. First Degree in full. Dress: Casual. All officers re-quired to attend.

Mar. 20

M.W. Russ Charvonia, “Civil Dialogue” 7:15p.m. Open to Ionic Composite Lodge all Ma-sons, all degrees. No coaching available.

Mar. 24

“Spirit of Hiram” presentation, FREE. Dinner: 6:30pm Program, 7:30pm. Master Masons only. Bring dues card. Pasadena Scottish Rite, 150 N. Madison Av., Pasadena, 91101. RSVP to [email protected]

Mar. 27

Building Association 6:00pm.

Executive Board Meeting.7:15pm

Note: Additional Events can be found on our website or Lodge App.


UPCOMING EVENTS

March 29, Reservations for Stated Meeting din-ner must be received by Lodge Secretary. See notice below.

March 31, Reservations due for the Grand Sword Bearer’s Reception and dinner dance must be received by the Secretary. See insert.

April 3, Stated Meeting, Youth Orders Night. Open Lodge: 5:30pm, Dinner: 6:00pm, open program to follow. Dinner by reservation only. $20.00. Invite a friend.

April 8, Reception and Dinner Dance for the Grand Sword Bearer, Jeffrey Bear, P.M., See insert.

April 10 and 17, LODGE DARK FOR PASSOVER AND EASTER MONDAY.

April 25, 7:15pm, OSI at Beverly Hills Lodge. Second Degree in full plus 1* proficiency and calling down and back up. Demonstrating 2* lecture. Dress: Business casual. Open to all Master Masons.

June 4, 3:00-6:00pm. Tour and serve dinner at The Midnight Mission. Contact: Kerin Surents, P.M. (818) 335-8223 or [email protected]

Sunday, July 23, Laguna Beach “Pageant of the Masters”, limited tickets. Bernie Morse, P.M. in-charge. It’s a “must see” event. See insert.

FROM THE WEST

As a Senior Warden, one of my functions is to be in charge of coaching, not necessarily

do the actual coaching but to see that all the En-tered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts continue progressing with their degrees. So, this is a call for all of you EAs and FCs out there who have not been able to continue through the degrees in a while. Please contact me and let me know how I can help you continue your journey. You can find my email in this trestle board.

In another note, in March we are having the official visit of our Grand Master; this is an event I recommend to everyone interested to know more about Freemasonry and California Freemasonry in particular. Our Grand Masters are an invaluable source of inspiration. Infor-mation is also in this trestle board.

Lastly; do you have anyone interested in Freemasonry? Let them know about our Ma-sonic Discussion Night on February 27th; we will cover all the basics on how one can start their way on this great journey.

Regards, Mauricio León –Senior Warden

OFFICAL NOTICEStated Meeting dinners are by reservation only and must be received no later than the Wednesday before the stated meeting. If a reservation is made but not used, you will be billed for the amount due unless canceled no later than Friday, 4:00pm before the Stated Meeting. Reservations must be made on the sign-up sheet, by calling (310) 657-2628, by emailing [email protected], and may be made and paid for on the lodge website: http://ion-iccomposite520.com


FROM THE SOUTHMY VISIT TO ARAW LODGE #18 – MANILA PHILIPPINES

During my Masonic journey, I had often heard that you could find and visit Mason-

ic Lodges pretty much anywhere in the world. I especially enjoyed listening to Wor Roy Stein-feld’s stories about his travels to various exotic Lodges.

As most of you know, Sheelah and I were mar-ried in Los Angeles on September 4, 2015. As the November 19, 2016 date of our Filipino wedding re-ception was approaching, I was totally juiced about attending a stated meeting in Manila.

During our first trip to the Philippines in 2013 I had met Sheelah’s best friend Lucy, a friendship going back to elementary school, and her husband Nicky. At that time, I was not yet a Mason and had no idea that Nicky was a Mason either. Now that our return was approaching, I had Sheelah contact Lucy to get Nicky to find us a stated meeting to attend dur-ing our vacation. Even though, we were planning on arriving in Manila Saturday morning, Nicky was still under the impression that we should attend a stated meeting starting at 2:00 that afternoon. Although, Nicky was the Master at his own Lodge, the timing of their Stated Meeting was not appropriate to my visit.

Our flight to Manila departed on time at 10:00PM on Friday and I tried to sleep as much as possible be-fore we landed at 4:00 AM. After a brief nap, Nicky picked me up at 1:00PM for the drive to the Lodge. Despite being sleep deprived and severely jet lagged, I suddenly found new energy as we approached the Grand Lodge of Manila, in which ARAW Lodge #18 was located.

After enjoying some pancit malabon, a popular dish to be served during celebrations and fiestas, the meeting began pretty much on time at 2. There was a lot on the agenda that day – reading the minutes from the last meeting, old business, new business, a third-degree proficiency and then a third-degree conferral. The applicant failed portions of his proficiency, was given some time to practice and then ultimately re-turned to complete his ordeal. Then on to the 3rd degree conferral.

The Filipino Monitor is based on that of Cali-fornia, so it was very easy for me to follow along and enjoy the ritual. The whole day didn’t seem that different from being in a California Lodge. Well of course, a little different because it was the Philippines after all.

Continued on Next Page

It is the order of the Master of Ionic Composite Lodge that all brothers, from EA to MM, of Ionic Composite Lodge residing in the greater Los Angeles area attend the following program:

M.W. Russ Charvonia presentation on “Civil Dialogue”Monday, March 20, 2017 at 7:15pm

Dress: Business casual

This program is not open to non-Masons or brothers of other lodges.

Fraternally, Michael Bear, P.M., Master.


Have you joined the digital Lodge community

yet?Find out what you’ve been missing by download it to your smartphone here: http://ourapp.link/ionic-composite-520

**if you have any problems, please call me at (310) 497-4408 and I can walk you through or meet

up with you!

Throughout the day at the Lodge, more and more Brothers began to approach me and strike up a conversation. At the close of the meeting I addressed the Master and told him and the fraternity what a pleasure it was to attend their Lodge. When I requested a picture to be taken with the whole Lodge, they immediately lined up, placed me in the middle and snapped off a picture that I will long cherish.

By the time the Stated Meeting was finally adjourned the clock read 9:00PM. The whole meeting spanning seven hours, not even in-cluding the fellowship. Speaking of fellowship, we next moved to the Officers’ club at a nearby military base. The buffet was awe inspiring and was headed up by lechon (a whole roasted pig) that was quite delicious. To top this off, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black was on every table.

It had been a long time since I embarked on an evening of drinking, where the sole beverage consumed is Scotch. While I never got sloppy, I was definitely feeling no pain. Finally, around midnight, even though the party was still go-ing strong and my hosts were sorry to see me go, I convinced them that as this was my first very long day in the Philippines, it was time to reluctantly go.

So yes, it is true that there are Masonic Lodg-es to visit and that will welcome you with open arms throughout the world. I had not spoken to Wor Micky that extensively on my first trip to the Manila, when I was not yet a Mason. However, through the bond of brotherly love, these two Masons from different parts of the world found themselves forever bound to the Fraternity and each other.

Steve Resnick – Junior Warden

IONIC COMPOSITE LODGE NO. 520

We have purchased 22 tickets for the Amazing

Laguna Art Festival Pageant of the Masters

Where Art Comes to Life“The Grand Tour”Sunday, July 23

8:30PM-10:30PM$52/person

For information and reservations lease contact Bernie Morse PM by email at [email protected].


IONIC COMPOSITE LODGE No. 520

1122 South La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035

The Master, Officers and BrethrenInvite You To Attend Our Lodge’s

47th Consecutive Reception For The Grand Master of Masons.John R. Heisner, Grand Master of Ma-

sons

March 6, 2017

Social Hour: 5:00pm - Dinner 6:00pm

Reception 7:00pm

Dark Suit Preferred

$30.00 per person

Reservations Required - RSVP by February 24, 2017

Choice of Short Ribs, Salmon, or Vegetarian

Howard Steinore, Secretary 310-657-2628

DO YOU NEED A RIDE

TO LODGE?No brother should be unable to come to lodge because he can’t get a ride! If you’d like to attend lodge on any night and need transpor-tation, please inform the lodge office and we will make arrangements for you to be there!

IONIC COMPOSITE LODGE No. 520

1122 South La Cienega Bou-levard. Los Angeles, CA

90035

The Master, Officers and Brethren

Invite You To Attend a Recep-tion For

Jeffrey L. BearGrand Sword Bearer

Free & Accepted Masons of California

Saturday, April 8, 2017Social Hour: 6:30 pm – Pro-

gram: 7:00 pm Dinner, Entertainment & Danc-

ing 8:00pmBlack Tie

$35.00 per personReservations Required - RSVP by

March 31, 2017Choice of Tri-Tip or Sea Bass

Howard Steinore, Secretary 310-657-2628


John Rae Anderson IV 01Jay Richards PM 01Steven Lynn Shapiro 02Yefim David Ben 03Robert Faries 03Sam Ananyan 04Leonard J. Kanner 04Karen Mermaryan 05Harold Louis Block 10Sanford Ross Climan 10Michael Allen Silverman 10

MARCH BIRTHDAYSJoseph Frank Epstein 11Paul Firestone PM 11Marvin L. Marshall 11Irving Norman Simon 13Nir Hanien 14Kirtland Ash 16Irvin Bernard Puskin PM 16William Hartley Miller PM 17Kevin Frank Silver 18Robert Michael Thomas 19Jean Claude Aghadjanian 20

Betsy Lavin is a woman who lives in Wil-liamsburg Virginia with her husband Ryan

and three children (Elizabeth, Gracie, and Liam). She was involved in athletics for virtual-ly her entire life, swimming and running in par-ticular. She swam competitively in college until she was sidelined with injuries, after which she remained active by still pursuing these sports on a personal basis and by coaching others.

Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 7-8 years ago. The diagnosis initially scared her, as it would likely do for any of us. One of the reasons for her fear was that her identity with sports was going to be lost. However, rather than just learn to accept the in-evitable, she decided to make her identity more prominent in her life, so she continued to swim and run. However, in late 2015, her son Liam told his father that he was afraid his mother was going to die because she was lethargic and that it was becoming more difficult for her to walk and she even fell at times. Betsy’s response to Liam was to ask him if he would still think that she was going to die if she swam a million yards over a year’s time. Liam agreed that, if she did that, an imminent mortality would be unlikely. Thus, Betsy set that goal for herself, namely to swim those million yards (approximately 570

THINK ABOUT ITmiles) during 2016. For the next 12 months, she averaged about 85,000 yards per month, and, in late December and in front of a crowd of friends and well-wishers, many of them swimming with her, she completed that task. Furthermore, after finishing, she went back into the water to ac-company the last child still swimming because, in her words, “nobody want to finish alone”.

Her husband Ryan, describing Betsy as headstrong, perhaps even stubborn, was re-lieved when the promise was fulfilled. How-ever, he was then confronted with an obvious question, namely what would they do next? Of course, he already knew, because Betsy is now in the midst of a challenge to swim 250 miles in open water; in fact, she is about halfway through with this and plans to complete it in the next three months.

Heroism and strength come in all shapes and sizes. We easily recognize it when we see firemen rushing into burning buildings to save people. It is less obvious when these values sim-ply prevent a person from letting a bad break redefine who they are. Betsy defined herself as an athlete before the multiple sclerosis and, in spite of it, that is what she still is today.

Think about it. Ron Koretz, P.M.

James William Petersen PM 20Myron Kalman Roberts 21Richard William Sharpe PM 21Earl Rogest Hellum 22Irwin Parker 22Arthur William Levy 23Ronald Melvin Lawrence 24Daniel Jakob Seidner 24Eric Seif 25Spence Brandon Bilkiss 29Oscar Siegel 31


2017 OFFIC

ERS

BRETHREN AND FAMILY MEMBERS Sick and Visitation Committee Report

We Wish Everyone a Full and Complete Recovery

Brethren Please, a Telephone call from you could brighten their day

If you know of a Brother or a member of a Brother’s family who is ill, please contact the Lodge Office: Tel: 310. 657.2628

Funeral Telephone list: Any brother who would like to be placed on the funeral notification call list, your presence would be deeply appreciated. Please contact the Lodge Office

Geri Edelman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Home with a variety of medical problems

Leonard Hess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Confined mostly to home because of stroke

Robert Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Home with medical problem

Jay Richards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At home with multiple problems

Howard Steinore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the hospital.

Millie Torf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Home recovering from broken leg

Master – Michael Bear PM (Debbie)

Senior Warden – Mauricio Leon (Renata)

Junior Warden – Steve Resnick (Sheelah)

Treasurer – Bernie Morse, P.M. (Carolyn)

Secretary – Howard Steinore

Chaplain – Mike Leiaghat

Assistant Secretary – Daniel Ferszt (Shannon)

Senior Deacon – Open

Junior Deacon – Yuriy Kotlyar (Azadeh)

Marshal – Kevin Silver (Katherine)

Senior Steward – Luis Tananta (Maria)

Junior Steward – Varun Dadabhoy

Tiler – Evan Weiss, P.M.

Officers’ Coach – Bernie Morse, P.M. (Carolyn)

Inspector for the 709th Masonic District O. Gary Pealer PM (Lelah)

Trestleboard Editor – Evan Weiss, P.M.

Trestleboard Layout – JohnRobert Wilson (Sanae)

FROM THE EAST - Ionic Composite Lodge, No....

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