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March Elections
By Steve Cronkhite
At the Stated Meeting on
January 3rd the Venerable Master, Gene Gilbert, 32° KCCH
appointed a nominating committee.
The chairman is John Stafford, 32° and the members are Ron Fine,
32°KCCH and John Sleeth, 32°.
They are charged with a
difficult job. They must recommend
leaders who can take the Valley
of Bellingham forward
in a strong positive fashion. More
than ever before, the Valley needs leaders willing to enact programs that
will meet the needs of our members.
Always, in elections, we
must remember that this isn’t a popularity contest or an “It’s My Turn”
contest. That kind of lack of
thinking can spell the death of an organization. We are going to elect the men who will
chart the future of the Valley
of Bellingham in
March and those who we elect must be willing to accept the challenge.
If you are willing to
accept the challenge or would like to recommend someone, let the members of
the committee know your thoughts.
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Building
– Continued from page 1
At some time there was a
fire in the dining room that did considerable damage to the kitchen, dining
room, and roof. According to what I have
been told, there was talk of razing the building but it was determined that
it was salvageable. It was at that
time that the lodge room on the second floor was expanded to cover the
whole width of the building and the dining room was moved to the basement.
Until that time the
basement had been a livery stable and I was told that Morse Hardware kept
their delivery horses stabled there.
A cement floor was poured in the basement and the kitchen and
restrooms were built to accommodate lodge functions. Since concrete floors are lousy dance
floors, an oak dance floor was installed on the concrete floor.
During the late 1950’s
and 1960’s that dance floor was highly used. I can remember attending Rainbow and Jobs
Daughters dances, held after installations, and dancing on that floor.
Some time between then
and when I joined the Lodge in 1995 the wood floor rotted out and was
removed and for the last few years we have had a painted concrete floor in
the basement dining room.
The building was
originally built by Bellingham Bay Lodge No. 44 and operated under their
ownership until the 1960’s when the Valley of Bellingham
purchased the building from the Temple Corporation.
Continued on Page 5
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