Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine Feb 2020 Vol 5 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

My Grandfather's ring and the secrets of Masonry By Randy Cornelius

I was a freshman in High School in 1974 the year that Grandpa Cornelius died. He and grandma did not live that far away, and we were there quite often. My grandpa and I were close; we spent a lot of time together, fishing and working on all kinds of projects at his farm. I missed him a lot and still do. One day I was visiting grandma shortly after I turned 18. She brought out a ring and told me that grandpa wanted me to have his ring when I turned 18. It was a Mason's ring, Square and Compass's with York, Scottish and Shrine emblems too. I took it and put it up and did not give it much thought at the time. Several years later it did get me to thinking of all the times grandpa and I spent together, and he never once mentioned that he was a Mason. I wondered why that was, if he went to meetings, I never knew of it. I did not know what lodge he belonged to and my search to find out has led me down a rabbit hole of his lost Masonic history. Grandma died before I could ask her about it. My dad did not know. Grandpa was in WW1, maybe he joined a lodge somewhere during his training or somewhere he was stationed? Maybe overseas? I just do not know.

of school and working a job. A man who I knew most of my life, Bob Harrington, worked for a company that worked closely with the company I worked for. We would talk about different things all the time and one day I said something about my Grandfather's ring. That one statement opened up a whole new topic of conversation between that man and me. I found out that he too was a Mason. I told him about my Grandfather's ring and asked him if he thought I could wear it, simply because it was my Grandfather's. He then explained, the best he could, what that ring must have represented to grandpa and that I could not wear it until I had made a journey into the life of Masonry. I asked him how I could become a Mason and from that moment on, my life changed forever. I petitioned Paola Lodge #37, became a Master Mason, all because of a ring. I have thought about that ring often, it is one of my most prized possessions. After I was raised, I took it to a jeweler and had it sized so that I could wear it, and wear it I did, for many years. Several times while working I would run into several men who would ask a simple question, "I SEE YOU ARE A TRAVELING MAN”, that simple question would mean that stranger would instantly become a brother. I can't help but think Grandpa saw something in me that he thought would make a

good Mason. I had two older brothers, why did he not leave it to one of them? I will never know for sure. I think that his leaving me this ring would start me on a path that he knew he would not be around to see. That leaving me that ring, I would turn into the man he hoped I would become. I often wonder why he never said anything to me. Why he felt that he could not have a conversation with a teenager about Masonry. These are the things I call the Secrets of Masonry. Things that should be talked about but rarely are. Now, I feel that I can talk about Masonry to anyone who will listen. I can talk about Masonry without giving away any of our real secrets. But what are our real secrets? We talk about our secrets, it's in our obligation. We are told that we shall keep our secrets, not reveal them to anyone except a Brother, or if we do, we will suffer the penalty of our obligation. But what are the real secrets? Are they simply the Pass, Grip and Word of a Mason? Or are they more? I sometimes feel the secrets are more and then again sometimes much less. How can that be you say? I feel the secrets of Masonry sometimes deal with things that we do not tell each other as Masons. They are little things that we take for

Many years later, I was out

Everything Horses and Livestock® | February 2020 | EHALmagazine.com 36