Bro Lawson with WB Tsujii and members of Far East Lodge No. 1
Visitor Bro Sumida second left, front row.
April 12, 2013May 6, 2013September 7, 2013
Although he lives in the United States and can visit Japan only once in every few years, when the opportunity does present itself, Far East Lodge No. 1 life member Bro Ed Lawson makes a point of visiting what he considers his Masonic home in Japan.
His visits are one of the high points of our Masonic year, but this year was special. In 2013 Bro Ed celebrated his fiftieth year as a Mason and, to mark the occasion, WB Tsujii, WM, presented him with a 50-year pin and a specially engraved plaque.
In response, Bro Ed looked back over his early days as a Mason and his affiliation with Far East Lodge No. 1. Although Far East Lodge No. 1 is not Bro Ed's mother lodge, it will forever remain dear to him as the lodge in which he was made a Mason. His close relationship with Japan has been further strengthened by his appointment as the Grand Lodge of Connecticut's representative to the Grand Lodge of Japan.
Bro Lawson with WB Tsujii and members of Far East Lodge No. 1
Visitor Bro Sumida second left, front row.
Bro Ed then talked about the Brotherly Love with which Masonry bridges nations and continents. In conclusion he read out a poem he had written to celebrate his Fiftieth Anniversary Visit.
In addition to the usual regular business of the lodge, newly raised Master Mason Bro Tatsuro Hayashi took his Third Degree Proficiency test and was declared fully proficient by WB Tsujii.
WB Tsujii present Bro Ed Lawson with a commemorative plaque
The Stated Meeting for May was attended by sixteen members of Far East Lodge No. 1 and one visitor: Bro David Sumida of Granada Hills Lodge No. 378, Grand Lodge of California.