PAST MASTERS CORNER

When I joined Kona Lodge ins 1992 the lodge was located in Captain Cook across from Napa Auto Parts in an old coffee farm house. It was adequate for the times and required a lot of maintenance due to termites and other critters who called it home. I remember many trips to do repairs on a Saturday with the many brothers who then lived in Ocean View.

I was raised to master mason on April 29, 1992. When January rolled around our Junior Deacon at the time, Jim Rath had been elected to county council and could not attend lodge. Worshipful Bill Lathers asked me to fill in Protem as Junior Deacon. The then Senior deacon left in the spring and I moved up to Senior Deacon. I began my journey through the chairs by learning the middle chamber lecture. By early fall I acted as Senior deacon for a candidate and gave the middle chamber lecture. The lodge asked me to continue on thru the chairs and learned the fisrt degree lecture and did a first degree conferral as master including the lecture in November.

I was then elected Junior Warden and installed in December. So you can see that with hard work and dedication you can achieve your goals. I was then elected senior Warden in December of 1994. I became master of Kona lodge in December or 1995 and served thru 1996. I was called upon many times to sit as Junior and Senior wardens due to a lack of qualified masons to fill those chairs.

In 1998 the current worshipful master Carl Sheer decided that the building we occupied was in such disrepair that he moved us down to the Kona Elks Lodge. In December 1999 I was again elected Worshipful Master for the year 2000. It was during this time that we acquired our current space and started renovation.

I was again called on to serve as Master in 2021. I was having back issues and we were enduring Covid during this time. I had to have back surgery in July 2021, but continued to serve as Master.

Fraternally Yours,


Worshipful Brother Bob Self, PM