Consecrated March 3, 1973
Meeting Date and Time: 3rd Wednesday of the month, 7:30 PM Eli W. Rogers, PDSGW, Founding Master
On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Lodge on
March 20th, 1993
At a meeting of the District Board of General Purposes held at the residence of W Bro. Cyril V. LeMessurier late in 1971, our late District Grand Master, RW Bro. Arthur Garrett Dewling, turned to me a
nd said, “Eli, I would like to see two new lodges formed, one out of Avalon Lodge and one out of Saint John’s Lodge”. The information was communicated to my Worshipful Master, W Bro. Edgar Thistle, of Avalon Lodge No. 776 E.C., who at a subsequent meeting of Avalon Lodge, appointed me to look into the feasibility and interest of the brethren in forming this new lodge. On the 31st of May 1972, a meeting was convened at Bro. James R. Duffett’s home on Topsail Road, St. John’s. Twenty-two members attended. Of that number there were six brethren who could not become chartered members because they had not been a Master Mason for the required period of three years. Of the six, four are no longer members of the Order, and the remaining two have gone on to be appointed to District Grand Lodge rank. That evening a new Lodge was founded and I was elected as Worshipful Master Designate, W Bro. William R. Squires, the Immediate Past Master of Avalon Lodge, was elected Senior Warden, and Bro. Duffett was elected Junior Warden. An application for the formation of the new lodge was requested and upon completion, sent to the District Grand Secretary, W Bro. Wilfred G. Moore, who presented it to the District Grand Lodge and thence to the Grand Secretary, W Bro. Stubbs in London, England. We had 12 founding members and 12 other members who showed a great deal of interest, and contributed a lot of hard work during the time from the 31st of May 1972, to the date on which the lodge was consecrated on 3rd of March 1973. The question arose as to what the name of the new lodge should be? In my notes there are 38 names listed such as, Terra Nova, Beothic, Old Colony, etc., which although appropriate, did not seem to be what we were looking for. One day looking through the menu at the Holiday Inn at Clarenville, the word ‘From Neptune’s Depths’ seemed to leap out at me and when presented to the brethren, they readily accepted it. With that, Grand Lodge accepted our application and gave us the number 8465. Now, there was regalia to purchase, by-laws to establish, we agreed to meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, and Bro. George Cull agreed to act as Secretary and there was correspondence galore. I wrote an opening and closing, Bro. Wayne Rogers was appointed Organist and he sat with me and together developed the Odes in use today. The 3rd of March … Consecration Day … at 10:00 a.m., the assembly took place at the Cathedral Parish Hall, Queen’s Road, and the brethren from all over the Island were there. Our RW Bro. Arthur G. Dewling had suddenly passed to the Grand Lodge Above and his successor RW Bro. Gordon Barnes our new District Grand Master, conducted the Consecration Ceremony. Gifts were presented to the new lodge. The Volume of the Sacred Law was presented from Mrs. Ruby Dewling in memory of her husband, our late RW District Grand Master; the Altar Cloth was donated by Bro. George Hill, Illinois, USA, the Tyler’s Sword by Saint John’s Lodge No. 579, the Columns by Cabot Lodge No. 6177, the Attendance Book by W Bro. John C. Ford of Cabot Lodge, Avalon Lodge No. 776 donated $500, Bro. Winston Gates $100, and W Bro. Ralph J. Noel, District Grand Director of Ceremonies presented the Director of Ceremonies Baton. The gavels were made by myself and presented in memory of my Dad Bro. Chesley Francis Rogers of Avalon Lodge.
