Dear Members,

It is always sad to announce on the website about a brother or sister who has left us.  This week has been troublesome for our lodge.  I am sad to announce that a long time member William Mark “Bill” Glacken died on August 31, 2010.  I know many of you were good friends to Bill.  I hope you keep him and his family in your prayers in their time of need.  Below is a copy of Bills obituary.

"Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear."

William Mark "Bill" Glacken, of Fairfax, VA, passed away suddenly on August 31, 2010.  Beloved husband of 24 years to Cynthia Glacken. Dear brother of Denny Glacken and his wife Sherri. Cherished uncle of Christin Taylor, Shelby Wilson, and Everett Wilson. Adored son-in-law of Judith Wilson and brother-in-law of Jeff Wilson. He also leaves behind his precious dogs; Ringo, Peaches, Ginger and Mandy. The family will receive friends at the EVERLY FUNERAL HOME, 10565 Main Street, Fairfax, VA 22030 on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 from 6-8 PM. Funeral service, Wednesday, September 8 at 11 AM in Fairfax United Methodist Church, 10300 Stratford Avenue, Fairfax, VA. Interment will follow in Fairfax City Cemetery.

Honored Moose Members,

There is so much to talk about this month.  I just returned from Moose International’s convention.  I was so honored for our lodge and our fellow brother Mark Smith.  Mark was given one of the Moose’s highest honors.  Mark received the Fellowship degree of honor.  Congratulations to Mark Smith and his family for this huge achievement.  While at the convention we attended so many different conferences.  It was nice to see all the different faces from around the United States.  It was also good to see the city of Nashville bouncing back from the worst flooding in decades.

The good work continued here at the lodge too!  I want to thank the committee chairmen for their commitment to this lodge.  Showing up to meetings during the month is important to getting out the word of what is going on within your committees.  It also gives you a chance to find help for your committees’ activities.  Thank you to the Moose Legion, Membership, Website and publications, Family Activities, and the Entertainment committees for their reports.  Keep up the great work!

At the last meeting, we had a great discussion on the pros and cons of purchasing the Direct TV Sunday Ticket.  I think both sides made very good points.  The vote was very close.  A majority of members voted to approve the purchase.  So, we will be getting the Sunday Ticket for this season of Football.  This is a perfect chance to bring a friend or neighbor down to the lodge for a fun filled Sunday of Football.  I am sure having the Sunday Ticket will help the lodge bring in more members too.  Oh, and don’t worry about getting your sports fix in HD.  We are having all televisions in the lodge hooked up to a High Definition signal on August 29, 2010.  Thanks to Dan Sullivan for making this happen.

There are thanks for many of our members who have selflessly given to this lodge over the last two months.  I want to thank Hannah Hoover and Dave Burns for their work on the lodge grounds.  Hannah, the mulch looks great in the front of the lodge.  To Joseph “Slick” Craun and Ernie Phillips, thank you for your donation of a POW-MIA flag and a replacement Virginia state flag.  I know the POW-MIA flag is still not up.  We will have it up very soon!  A special thanks to Bob Starkweather for his tireless pursuit to keep our kitchen’s fryers clean.  I wish to thank two people who don’t get enough praise around here Steve and Nancy Petty for putting on our Free Texas Hold’em tournaments.  Now, I am sure I have missed someone!  To all that do so much around here and get overlooked, Thank you for all you do!

As the summer comes to an end and Football season starts, our work in our community continues to move forward.  We have more to do within our Community Service and Family Activities committees.  Please take a moment and think of ways you can help these committees.  It doesn’t have to be a big commitment.  A large task broken down among many is very easy!

Fraternally,
Denny Leathers (Governor)

Congratulations go out to Mark Smith, our newest Fellowship degree member.  Most members know Mark Smith as a hardworking, generous, and giving person around the lodge.  So, it comes as no surprise when he was recently given a great honor by Moose International.  Mark Smith at this year’s national convention was inducted into the third degree of service, the Fellowship degree.  During a once a year meeting, our own Fellowship committee comes together to show its admiration and respect for other Moose members within our ranks.  This process highlights the generous nature of our members.  This is quite an honor for Mark Smith and our lodge.

As members, you may not realize the degrees of service that the Moose fraternity follows.  The first degree is your membership in our fraternity.  Upon your joining our lodge as a member, you become eligible for the second degree of service.  The second degree of service is the Moose Legion.  The third degree of service is the Fellowship degree of honor.  There is even a fourth degree.  The fourth degree is the Pilgrim Degree of Merit.  All of our higher degrees of service are given as rewards for exceptional devotion to the principles and ideas of caring for children and seniors, and is generally earned by members who have given years of service to the Loyal Order of Moose and its primary benevolent endeavors of Mooseheart and Moosehaven.

Your eligibility for conferral in the higher order of the Fellowship is based on rules that are set by Moose International.  To become part of the Fellowship, you must have five years continuous service in the Loyal Order of Moose and one in the Moose Legion.  You need to have sponsored at least one Moose Legionnaire and is working towards membership in the Moose 25 club within our lodge.  The current fellowship committee members, around the October - November time frame, convene an invitation only meeting to determine who is worthy of the next degree of service.  They review the member’s "Moose Record of Service" and other documents.  Upon the decision of the Fellowship committee, they forward all documents to the Virginia Moose regional manager.  The Fellowship committee’s process and selection is done in secret.  The chosen member is unaware of his selection in the higher degree.  In January, the regional manager continues the process and forwards the local selections to Moose International.  This process concludes with the final decision by Moose International.  Moose International mails invitations to the Fellowship candidates for acceptance.

So, as you can see, there is a lot that goes into becoming part of the Fellowship degree in our fraternity.  To become part of the Fellowship, it means you have earned the respect of your fellow Moose members, not just by having drinks with them in the Social Quarters, but by the sweat of your hard work and perseverance in the promotion of our fraternity.  So, Mark, it honors us to see you receive this award.  Congratulations on becoming part of the Fellowship degree of honor!

We are on track to attain our goals for the Website committee this year.  The last two months we have been averaging more and more unique hits to our site.  We have gotten past the oversight of the Moose International website awards committee.  We congratulate the winners.  We may not have won, but we will continue to give our readers and our lodge members the best website that we are capable of.  We don’t need a committee telling us we have the best site.  Our lodge members tell us that every day!

Dan Sullivan (Website Committee Chairperson)