Latest / Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries / Episode 39. Masonic Family Tree (ft. Charley Beekman)

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Episode 39. Masonic Family Tree (ft. Charley Beekman) · Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries

• 0:20
  Hello again, everyone.
• 0:21
  Welcome back to Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries.
• 0:25
  If you've been listening over the past few months, you've likely noticed that our focus has been on getting to know our members and stakeholders better.
• 0:34
  Dr.
• 0:34
  Yee, the director of the Masonic Cancer Center shared some fascinating insight into medical research and the strides being made at our Masonic Cancer Center.
• 0:44
  Our friend and brother, worshipable brother, Paul Hodnafield, author, We also spoke with staff members from the Masonic home in Bloomington who are recognized as champions of care Three of the most selfless caregivers who are really among a larger staff of committed incredible people at the Masonic home This recap of various guests is to add perspective to our collective effort to remind ourselves That we as Freemasons are in the relationship business Relationships are the true foundation of our brotherhood and commitment to serving others.
• 1:23
  Our guest list, that said, is always evolving.
• 1:26
  We are going to pivot all over the place, now and in the future.
• 1:29
  And really, with there being so many Masonic podcasts out there focused on heavier, insider topics, well, for us, we want to always bring it back to getting to know our people better.
• 1:41
  Building a foundation for meaningful friendship.
• 1:45
  That brotherly love that you hear Masons talk about and ideally motivating each other to reach higher in life and in Lodge.
• 1:54
  So that said today's focus is going to be a fun journey into history.
• 1:59
  I have been excited to welcome today's guest who is a busy, busy friend and brother.
• 2:05
  He is the most recent past master of Arcana Lodge number 187.
• 2:09
  He was raised in 2016.
• 2:12
  He's the current senior warden of Education Lodge 1002.
• 2:16
  He is a regular, a fixture, if not a bulwark of the Scottish Rite Minneapolis Valley Education Committee.
• 2:23
  He has been standing in front of classes for five years or more and was one of the guys in that group that helped come up with the current education program.
• 2:32
  He also lays claim to be a fifth generation Freemason in Minnesota.
• 2:38
  Our guest today was described by his Lodge brother as being a true gem, maybe one of the most underutilized brothers in the craft.
• 2:47
  How do you feel about that?
• 2:48
  Welcome, Charlie Beekman.
• 2:49
  Who's spreading lies about me like that?
• 2:53
  Amazing.
• 2:54
  I will not divulge.
• 2:54
  I know exactly.
• 2:55
  Welcome.
• 2:56
  It's great.
• 2:56
  Great to have you here.
• 2:57
  By the way, last week, we chatted with most worshipable brother, Donald Severson.
• 3:02
  when he stops by.
• 3:04
  Let's record a conversation and chat.
• 3:06
  I've got to say that after speaking with him again, the pride, the friendship, the positive vibes coming out of Arcana, truly special.
• 3:15
  Yeah, Arcana is, uh, it's a very special group of guys.
• 3:21
  And, and Severson, Donald Severson is a, is a big, big part of that.
• 3:26
  He's, uh, He's just an amazing individual.
• 3:31
  Completely strip away all of, all of the Masonic titles and all of that.
• 3:35
  He, uh, just a quick little side.
• 3:38
  He, when I first joined and I was looking for a lodge, I reached out.
• 3:44
  Um, this is prior to the wonderful system we have now of going on the internet and finding the Grand Lodge and then coming and finding you.
• 3:52
  Um, When I joined it was just kind of stab in the dark and hope that lodge is still open.
• 3:57
  So I went with Arcana and Justin was the first one to reach out But the first guy I met outside of Justin was Donald and I had the second time I met him he remembered my name Wow and that That really impressed me.
• 4:13
  I mean just the I don't know.
• 4:16
  The guy just, he just feels like a grandpa and that, and that, and honestly that it's because of him that drew me into the group, which then having met the rest of the group, I, I realized that these are my guys.
• 4:29
  So Arcana 187.
• 4:31
  Great place in Arcana being close to home for you.
• 4:34
  You're born in Minneapolis.
• 4:35
  Tell us about you.
• 4:36
  Where'd you grow up?
• 4:37
  Where'd you go to school?
• 4:39
  Born and raised south side of Minneapolis.
• 4:42
  I went to a million schools because I'm the generation of, uh, them trying to figure out how to run schools.
• 4:47
  And they would open and close them and move them.
• 4:49
  And, um, I'm not quite every year of my school life, but pretty close to switching schools.
• 4:56
  So I went to a lot of places.
• 4:57
  Um, ultimately ended up going to North Hennepin Technical College right out of, right out of high school and became a carpenter.
• 5:06
  And the rest is history.
• 5:08
  You owned your own company, correct?
• 5:10
  Uh, hard beaks, hardwood floors.
• 5:11
  I do.
• 5:12
  I, uh, I am what I affectionately refer to as the last of the hippie carpenters.
• 5:17
  I am a, a hardwood floor specialist.
• 5:20
  I do a lot of restoration work, um, build a lot of stairs, things like that.
• 5:25
  The, the name of my company is actually the, the family nickname.
• 5:30
  We've, we've all been beaks.
• 5:32
  And my grandfather, um, he started a restaurant called Beak's Pizza.
• 5:39
  And when he died in 1975, there were seven of these restaurants.
• 5:44
  They were real, real popular in the city.
• 5:46
  I, I roll around with that name on the side of my van, and I still have people come out of Menards and tell me stories of my grandfather, so.
• 5:54
  Yeah, I named my company with pride.
• 5:58
  That's really cool.
• 5:59
  I did not know about the restaurant.
• 6:01
  And you are married, dad, grandfather?
• 6:05
  I am, uh, married to a wonderful woman who puts up with all my nonsense.
• 6:11
  And I have, uh, one child of my own and she has two of her own.
• 6:16
  And we come together and, uh, I don't know, all the kids are adults so it's, it's pretty funny to say I'm stepdad or anything like that.
• 6:24
  But I, I try to be a positive role model for everybody and we got grandkids and it's great.
• 6:30
  See that, as, as a fellow Gen Xer, it's, I still feel like I'm, I don't know, early 30s in my heart or in my mind.
• 6:39
  I am.
• 6:40
  And to be, and so many friends and peers around are, Multiple grandparent now there's there's multiple grandkids and you're soon to have number four.
• 6:49
  Yeah, right.
• 6:50
  Yeah.
• 6:50
  Yeah, my My actual daughter's having a daughter and my my stepdaughter is having a daughter and they are going to be born Um, minutes apart, well, literally months apart, September, October, that type of thing.
• 7:04
  Uh, so yeah, we're really looking forward to Christmas this year with a bunch of babies.
• 7:11
  That will be an exciting production on, on multiple levels and I appreciate you being here.
• 7:17
  I know you do keep a massively busy, busy schedule with work and family and your Masonic commitments.
• 7:23
  And you and I share an affinity for history.
• 7:28
  And not long ago, I visited Monticello Lodge and was admiring a portrait on the wall, one of our past grandmasters of the state of Minnesota.
• 7:38
  It's a true story.
• 7:39
  As I was taking a photo, as I like to take photos all the time, a lodge brother walked by and said, Hey, do you know that Charlie Beekman is related to that guy on the wall?
• 7:50
  And I did not know that.
• 7:52
  At first I thought he was joking, but I would please tell Our listeners more about your great great grandfather Henry who dates back to what 1850 in Minnesota This lineage and fifth generation is fascinating.
• 8:06
  Yeah Grandpa Henry Henry Rice Adams.
• 8:10
  He is He's actually the son of the real supermason.
• 8:17
  Um, I have five generations, or we go back five generations in this state, which is the beginning of the state.
• 8:25
  Um, and his dad is one of the guys that's here in Minnesota at the very beginning.
• 8:33
  Um, he's here when masonry first arrives.
• 8:38
  He, he's here in 1855.
• 8:41
  So, Henry's born here.
• 8:43
  Um, and Henry's fascinating because he's, he's a bit of trivia.
• 8:47
  He's, uh, they're from Monticello.
• 8:50
  Um, Henry is raised in Monticello, but the interesting part is that, uh, that's actually where grandma and grandpa, Sam.
• 8:58
  Really, that's their house.
• 9:00
  Uh, they, they, Sam's one of the founders, founding men of Monticello.
• 9:06
  So, um, Henry is born and raised in that area.
• 9:10
  That building.
• 9:10
  So they literally as a child, you're saying he's he's literally born in that lodge room.
• 9:15
  The story is, is that, uh, Grandma Augusta is in labor.
• 9:19
  Um, Monticello Lodge is renting the back room.
• 9:25
  They are dark for the summer, but the room has just been carpeted, so it's cooler and cooler.
• 9:31
  More comfortable than the rest of the residents.
• 9:34
  So, um, the doctor, who was actually the junior warden of Monticello at the time, convinces everybody that grandma's gotta go into the lodger room.
• 9:43
  And Henry is literally born in the room that they still meet in today.
• 9:49
  That is unbelievable.
• 9:50
  It's wild.
• 9:51
  So is it safe to say then you have a family connection to, Your family were working closely with, what, Alfred Ames and other founding members in the 1850s?
• 10:03
  Yeah, so, uh, Henry's dad, Colonel Samuel, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Emery Adams.
• 10:10
  Um, he is, uh, he's from Vermont.
• 10:14
  He's, he's convinced to come out here.
• 10:17
  He's suffering from a bronchial condition, and I find this fascinating that people did this to people back then.
• 10:24
  Come to Minnesota.
• 10:25
  It'll be good for your, good for what ails ya.
• 10:29
  I read the same thing, a quick interruption, about Alfred Ames.
• 10:32
  When he came, it was, it was encouraged that somehow the climate here was allegedly going to help.
• 10:38
  By people who have never been here.
• 10:39
  That had to be it.
• 10:40
  Yes, that was it.
• 10:42
  So yeah, Sam's here at the very beginnings of Minnesota.
• 10:46
  He is, uh, he's already a Mason.
• 10:51
  So when he comes here, I, I just assume, just like today, when you travel and you go to another city, you can ring up the lodge that, that you're going to be staying closest to.
• 11:02
  People do this all the time with Arcana.
• 11:04
  Um, hey, I'm going to be in town.
• 11:06
  I want to come, come to lodge and have dinner and hang out and, The beautiful thing about being a mason is that that that guy's already our buddy, we just haven't met yet So you really get welcomed with open open arms.
• 11:19
  So I assume he comes into town in 1815 and they just You know, they welcome him and then they find out that this guy is one of the guys that that wants to do things So then they Quickly suck up every few minute he has and they make him committee of this and chair of that and he's in the Grand Lodge Ames taps him and he's Ames is Grand Marshal really and that's Sam.
• 11:45
  This is Sam.
• 11:46
  This is Sam.
• 11:46
  Okay.
• 11:47
  This is Sam.
• 11:47
  Sorry.
• 11:48
  This is This is going to get a little funny because, because everybody in my family has been a mason.
• 11:53
  Well, we'll try to, I've got stories about, oh, this is incredible.
• 11:57
  So Sam was working very closely with Ames.
• 12:00
  Yeah.
• 12:00
  Yeah.
• 12:00
  And Ames, uh, ATC Pearson, guys like that.
• 12:05
  Um, ultimately when Albert Pike starts coming around, he is.
• 12:11
  Albert Pike gives him his 33rd degree.
• 12:16
  In the flesh, you know, so one of the times he traveled here via Mississippi River.
• 12:20
  Yeah.
• 12:21
  Yeah, so he's in town doing his thing and my my Third whatever grandfather gets his 33rd degree directly from Elbert Pike Yeah, I believe it was a TC Pearson that gave him the previous degrees Wow.
• 12:36
  Yeah We could talk about that for hours and hours, but in the interest of, of I'll try not to do too many pivots on you and then Henry was born when?
• 12:50
  Oh, Henry is, uh, well, look at this.
• 12:53
  I got my notes.
• 12:54
  Henry is, uh, he's born in 1861, September 15, 1861 in Monticello.
• 13:00
  Um, And follows the family tradition and footsteps.
• 13:03
  I've thought about Henry a lot.
• 13:05
  Um, Henry is born to a guy that he's hanging out with Albert Pike and A.
• 13:11
  T.
• 13:11
  C.
• 13:11
  Pearson.
• 13:12
  And, like, even before Henry's born, you know, Sam is a, is a formidable man.
• 13:21
  We're talking about a man that has three presidential commissions.
• 13:25
  We're talking about a man that, after the Civil War, Helps found the Grange and the Grange is responsible with stitching the country back together using agriculture.
• 13:39
  That's honestly one of the, one of the things that kind of pushed me towards pursuing masonry.
• 13:45
  When I did was because I, I was really trying to figure out who my family was.
• 13:51
  You know, I'm being handed this, this idea that I am now going to be the patriarch of the family.
• 13:56
  I mean, I'm in my 40s.
• 13:58
  Um.
• 13:59
  And, and so in 2015, we are contacted by a genealogist working with the Grange and they're looking for the descendants of the founders of the Grange.
• 14:12
  Wow.
• 14:12
  This is a 150 year anniversary or something.
• 14:15
  Did your family know about this?
• 14:17
  No clue.
• 14:18
  Prior?
• 14:18
  2015, you get a call from the genealogy specialist saying, Oh, by the way, you know, And, and I just, at that point, I'd already known about his, his Civil War contribution a little bit, which, so here again, Presidential Commission, uh, Abraham Lincoln, he is the paymaster of Missouri, and he volunteers to go there, and that's just, that's pure insanity to me.
• 14:43
  You know, he's the guy that's probably riding around on a horse with a few guards, and he's bringing money to the, to the generals, so that they can keep the, the war effort going.
• 14:55
  And he volunteers for this, you know, it's a monster of a man.
• 14:59
  When you were made aware of this, did it, how did you feel reading this?
• 15:05
  I would imagine there's a, a, maybe a component of that thinking, this is my family mem, I'm related to this.
• 15:13
  Yeah, and, and honestly, it's, it's, uh, it's being a Mason and, you know, Pursuing some of the same activities that that my ancestors did because it's not just Sam It's not just Henry, you know, my grandpa Chuck was a Mason my dad did DMA prior to Sam being in the in Minnesota in 1850 you go back previous to him His father was a Mason his father was a Mason and it goes back to the Revolutionary War so The masonic, the philosophy that comes with masonry can really help shape your character.
• 15:50
  And we're talking about men that were very passionate about masonry and, and uh, It, it really puts you in a place where you, you, you're trying to figure out how to be serviceable to mankind.
• 16:06
  Um, and that's a lot of what pushes these guys and, and I didn't know that about their character at first until I started becoming a Mason and, and finding it for myself and I really found it in the Scottish Rite, which is, um, that's where Sam finds it.
• 16:22
  You know, he, he gets his 33rd degree from ATC Pearson and it, and it, you can just see it.
• 16:29
  He, he gravitates to that, to, to being a part of the Scottish Rite and promoting the Scottish Rite.
• 16:35
  Um, and that it's really where I think he, uh, he really sees the value in, in the lessons that it teaches and the, and the philosophy that promotes.
• 16:46
  And so he, he just really spent all of his time toward the end of his life, um, in the Scottish Rite.
• 16:53
  So as you pursued becoming a Mason and following in those footsteps, as the value teachings, the core values, as certain things were.
• 17:04
  you were made aware of within the lodge and within the degree.
• 17:08
  Did you have that moment of reflection where this particular value teaching or attribute really is what I think of with my, my ancestors, whether it was Sam or Henry or whomever, did, did, did you start having that almost checklist?
• 17:24
  Yeah.
• 17:24
  Yeah.
• 17:25
  Immediately upon joining the Scottish Rite.
• 17:27
  That's where it really, yeah.
• 17:29
  With the, you know, it, uh, Sorry to people who are not Masons that might be listening, but, uh Well, we can, just for anyone who is not a Mason, so the, the, we're initially discussing that the Blue Lodge of Freemasonry confers the first, second, and third degree, and the Scottish Rite is a, well, basically continuation of, of some of the It's a retelling.
• 17:50
  Yeah, retelling.
• 17:51
  It's nothing new.
• 17:52
  It's just a different way of telling the story.
• 17:55
  The allegory.
• 17:56
  The allegory.
• 17:57
  There it is.
• 17:57
  And that confers, Scottish Rite confers degrees four through 32.
• 18:01
  And, uh, you had mentioned the 33rd degree, an honorary degree that is pretty rare, very special and bestowed by some very huge players within the, do you think, I don't want to forget to ask you this, did, maybe it's, it's different for us looking back in the historical context, but do you think these guys at the time.
• 18:24
  I don't know what the word is.
• 18:25
  Appreciated or, They were spending personal time with Albert Pike and, and others that were, is that, is some day, is the history book that they're going to look back on for us in today's world that we get to hang out with guys like Art De Hoyos or James Cole?
• 18:45
  But yeah, that at Arcana, I get to hang out with.
• 18:50
  Guys like Justin and Billy, two of the, two of the nicest guys you'd ever meet who are so willing to help you.
• 19:02
  I had a horrible snowmobile accident and Justin came and shoved my sidewalk.
• 19:06
  Um, the conversations I have with those guys are brilliant.
• 19:09
  I have the opportunity to hang out with, with, uh, some of you may know Hans and Hans is just this brilliant mind.
• 19:16
  And I don't know any other place I would.
• 19:19
  I would never ever come in contact with that guy unless he was like sitting on a jury somewhere that I had to face, maybe.
• 19:27
  No, it, uh, yeah, I do think that people will, you know, I look back on having had the opportunity to speak and be friends with some of the people I've been friends with, and that's just how masonry is.
• 19:43
  Um, You know, and in the moment, I don't think we really recognize the fact that we're talking to the next Albert Pike.
• 19:51
  He's just a guy in my lodge that I'm having dinner with and he's a part of my family and he's my friend.
• 19:56
  And I, you know, it isn't about, all of that stuff drifts away pretty quick when we're, when we're meeting in lodge and, or, or anytime we get together, you know, it's really about the friendship and the camaraderie and, and, uh, You know, it feels silly even being invited to like, speak on this podcast and being singled out for who I am because that's not, it's not what this is about.
• 20:21
  You know, we're not, we're not looking for accolades where, you know, it's about service.
• 20:25
  It's about, you know, for me and my lodge life being past master, it's really look at it now as, as, uh, you know, it's my job to help with the new masters that are coming in and, and help them.
• 20:39
  With the experience I have when nobody tells you, you know, Hey, you're going to be master.
• 20:44
  Oh, that's great.
• 20:45
  Well, what it really means is I'm in charge of an organization that has about 100, 200 guys in it.
• 20:50
  About 75 really active guys in your lodge in my lodge.
• 20:54
  Um, it's a nonprofit charity that, you know, I think when I was in lodge, we had something like half a million dollars in the bank, you know, it's it.
• 21:03
  It's experienced that.
• 21:06
  If you would have asked me 15 years ago if I'd be heading up a group like that, I would have laughed at you.
• 21:11
  And, and it's, it's real weird, real word, world, excuse me, experience that, that they don't really tell you you're going to get.
• 21:18
  So having the guys in the, in the background help you with that.
• 21:21
  So that I feel like that's my part of my role.
• 21:24
  And then, and then the other part is, is.
• 21:26
  Making sure that we're having really successful and entertaining nights when we get together.
• 21:31
  You know, giving a guy a reason to put down his phone and come in and hang out with his buddies and have dinner.
• 21:36
  Exactly.
• 21:37
  It's the uniquely analog experience that is Freemasonry.
• 21:42
  That is an opportunity to put down your device and go meet and hang out with other people.
• 21:52
  like minded men, uh, quality people that are focused on Just having friends.
• 21:58
  Core values, yeah.
• 21:59
  Quality friends, yes.
• 22:00
  And that's, uh, you touched on something earlier that I get asked a lot in my role with working for Grand Lodge, and when someone comes and asks, uh, maybe they're thinking about joining or pursuing, and I'll get asked frequently, well, What, what do you, what do you like or what's, what's kept you involved so long?
• 22:19
  And the thing that comes back to mind so frequently is I can't imagine life without all of these friends and brothers that I've met over the years.
• 22:29
  It's very difficult to think about what life would look like minus void those people, those personalities than in having been through the roller coaster of life together, the celebration of a wedding or of other good things that happen or.
• 22:45
  Those same brothers that attend a funeral or of a loved one of of someone that they may not even, probably didn't even know, but they're there to support, they were there to support me and my family.
• 22:57
  And, it's it's very impactful looking at that through that lens and and also as you and I fellow GenXers and being in our 50s now, it's a strange transition, but it's a reality knowing that.
• 23:14
  Our age now is the mentor mentee relationship that it was just yesterday that it feels like when I was in my 30s and sharing the challenges of life with some of the what I perceived as older in air quotes guys at lodge that were probably our age now and the real joy of that intentional or unintentional mentoring just through life of just being a good friend and being a good listener and You Our ritual we've talked about a lot is a rule and guide to life.
• 23:49
  How do you think we better focus on the meaning behind the words as opposed to simply looking at the degree process or even the proficiency as merely an exercise in rote memorization?
• 24:07
  That's a good question.
• 24:08
  Um, I can hear my buddy screaming at you right now that you're not talking to a ritualist, and they were very quick to remind me of that.
• 24:18
  I study the ritual.
• 24:20
  I like, I study the words.
• 24:22
  The idea of getting up and performing it is a little scary to me, but I do understand that every single word in that whole process is there for a reason.
• 24:34
  And when you dig into those words, You find a pathway to a philosophy that can, can do nothing but bring happiness to your life.
• 24:45
  It's amazing.
• 24:46
  So, the ritual is, is really, really, really important to remember, you know, what, what are those, those words we're saying.
• 24:53
  You know, we've, we're taking, we're, we're, basically, we're making these oaths to, to be each other's, you know, brother and, and guide and help.
• 25:06
  And there are all of these beautiful, beautiful notions that you just don't get anywhere else in this world.
• 25:11
  You know, the idea that you and I have committed to each other to take care of each other as we age.
• 25:17
  You know, as we're, as we're sitting in Bloomington next to the Masonic home.
• 25:21
  Um, you know, we've, we've taken vows to each other that if, if something were to happen to me, that, you know, you would help take care of my family in my absence.
• 25:32
  it's very powerful, very meaningful, and it's ritual work and philosophy that has absolutely changed and benefited my life in so many ways.
• 25:43
  And some of them are very, very simple, where I now have, I have more friends than I can hang out with.
• 25:49
  My wife and I, we throw this big 4th of July party, and I had 50, 60 guys show up.
• 25:55
  And all but maybe two or three of them were masons.
• 26:00
  I've got more friends than I can put in my house.
• 26:02
  It's silly.
• 26:04
  But that's one of the, one of the beautiful things about masonry and that, that whole thing is cooked into the ritual work.
• 26:10
  And if you're paying attention and you're studying it and you're actually trying to apply it to your life, you know, you get these, these weird little benefits.
• 26:17
  Like now all of a sudden, you're not lonely in a society of people that live in apartments and don't know their neighbors.
• 26:23
  That's so true.
• 26:24
  And in those friends you mentioned are, Like you had alluded to, we're, we're here to help and support one another when maybe life becomes a bit more challenging, but also here and together in life's journey to celebrate the good times and to, to be a united front as we, as we traverse life.
• 26:46
  And our organization is built upon principles of.
• 26:51
  religious tolerance and being apolitical, non sectarian.
• 26:56
  And sometimes I wonder, am I too close to it?
• 26:59
  This or am I too close to what we do and what we stand for?
• 27:03
  Or does what I just described sound like something the world has been seeking and especially the last couple of years is the most.
• 27:14
  Yeah, that, well, here we go back to the history thing.
• 27:18
  Um, and Masons have Uh, an allegory, a story that we use to teach ourselves these things, and that thing says we, we date back to antiquity, to the, to the darkest recesses of, of man's memory.
• 27:34
  Um, we don't necessarily, not to spoil this for everybody, we as masons don't necessarily date back to that, but we ascribe to philosophies that came from that time.
• 27:45
  And when what we really are is we're a We're a group of guys that are trying to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be.
• 27:56
  And we are encouraged in this by a philosophy that is in the imagination.
• 28:03
  It's not visual.
• 28:05
  I can't tell you what this is.
• 28:08
  But I know that there are tools here for you to figure out.
• 28:13
  You know, we're not, we're not teaching you how to be a good man.
• 28:15
  We're giving you tools so that you can figure it out on your own.
• 28:19
  And on that path, you discover that you're, you're connected to the, to a greater thing than yourself.
• 28:27
  And Masonry encourages you to, Let that be your guide, this, this spark that we have inside of us, the soul, whatever, whatever flavor of thing you want to call it.
• 28:40
  There's the tolerance coming out because I, I can't tell you what that is.
• 28:44
  Right.
• 28:45
  I can't tell you.
• 28:46
  It's hard to articulate.
• 28:47
  I can't tell you that.
• 28:48
  I can tell you what it means to me and I can go on for hours about that, sir.
• 28:54
  Um, yes, we, we could.
• 28:56
  And that's, they had a conversation earlier with it.
• 28:59
  A gentleman who was seeking some more information and we talked to very similar Word tracks to what you just said in that we are as freemasons Seeking to become a better version of ourselves every day knowing will never be perfect.
• 29:14
  The game of perfection is not attainable but Having that awareness each day of sure.
• 29:21
  What did I do?
• 29:22
  Well, what went favorably today?
• 29:24
  but what could I be better at tomorrow as far as You A husband, a father, a neighbor, a colleague.
• 29:33
  Sometimes we underestimate the power of a small act of kindness to someone in the world, a pure stranger.
• 29:40
  Oh, yeah.
• 29:41
  And man, we need more of that right now, and, and our organization providing that opportunity to have meaningful community engagement, to give back in a certain, whatever capacity that might be.
• 29:55
  It is such a powerful thing and we, we really coalesce around that.
• 29:59
  Yeah, that, that's, that's my Lodge life.
• 30:01
  My Lodge life at Arcana is, we're a group of guys that we really, really, truly do enjoy each other's company.
• 30:09
  So we really want to hang out as, as much as we can.
• 30:12
  Um, and when we get together as a Lodge, as an organization, we want to, we want to reach out, we want to do something, we want to give back to the community.
• 30:22
  Um, and so we actively seek to go out and do charity together.
• 30:28
  Um, we don't write checks, we're not that large, we actually, we're all tradesmen.
• 30:32
  I, I'm, I'm a carpenter, I go to, go to lodge with a bunch of electricians and HVAC guys and things like that.
• 30:38
  And the thing that we do for our charity is we help maintain a kids camp for inner city youth.
• 30:44
  And we go up there and it's in the woods in Wisconsin, Camp Bovee.
• 30:49
  Oh yeah.
• 30:49
  Yeah, Camp Bovee is a great program.
• 30:52
  But we're the guys that show up in the spring and in the fall and, you know, we'll fix decks and we'll, you know, patch walls and things like that.
• 31:00
  We do all the heavy lifting and, and, but what it is, it's, it's the idea that we are physically giving of our time and our energies and, and our spirits and, and, and we're doing it together.
• 31:14
  And it's, we always walk away from that with just this amazing Um, and you can, you can see there's a lot of, of like camaraderie and feeling with each other where all of a sudden going out and doing charity doesn't feel like you're, you're giving.
• 31:25
  You're actually getting something out of it in return.
• 31:28
  So you, you know, you're really driven to go out and do it more.
• 31:31
  And that's one of the things I love about my larger arcana is because that's, that's my outlet for that.
• 31:37
  You hit on something that's a pretty regular topic of conversation in just how when we really take a step back and look at how.
• 31:48
  wide ranging, a wide variety of backgrounds amongst our members.
• 31:52
  There's a place for everyone within Freemasonry.
• 31:56
  We have, uh, white collar, Fortune 500 guys through the full ranks of, of craftsmen and laborers.
• 32:05
  And, uh, I don't know if you ever met my good friend of mine, David Epling.
• 32:09
  He, uh, he passed away a few years ago in a battle with cancer.
• 32:12
  And then, he, uh, grew up in Detroit.
• 32:16
  And was a, didn't finish high school, had a rough, rough background, but worked for the Ford plant in St.
• 32:22
  Paul for years.
• 32:23
  And was such a I drove a Ranger for years.
• 32:27
  Very proud There you go.
• 32:29
  This guy was just an oracle for life experience and another that plays into our prior, what we talked about with the conversations, the, the mentor mentee, the life perspective that is shared, that's.
• 32:44
  It's a special thing within our ranks that there, there's everyone, everything, every background is represented both career wise, maybe a religious background, but to be able to come together the way we do with a focus on being apolitical and nonsectarian and open minded to one another.
• 33:06
  It really is a special, special place to be in and we talked a few minutes ago about the looking backwards and looking at some of the giants, the names of both big names nationally, globally, like Albert Pike and within our state, your, your family members along with Ames and, and Pearson.
• 33:29
  But as you and I have talked about, these were normal dudes.
• 33:33
  These were regular guys who had a civic commitment and really was it safe to say didn't weren't looking for anything in return The effort and the time that they gave of themselves.
• 33:46
  They just wanted to make a difference.
• 33:47
  These were these were brother masons who Put those value teachings from their heart into action.
• 33:56
  I Think about my Sam grandpa Sam when you talk about these things the idea of Trying to be a positive force in civil society Sam's a guy that He's living as the United States is, is expanding and he moves out into the frontier.
• 34:13
  And he does this because he's, i I, I believe these are, these are my thoughts about him.
• 34:18
  I believe he understands that civil society is the only way this is gonna work.
• 34:24
  You know, it doesn't work as a free for all.
• 34:27
  It doesn't work as the Wild West.
• 34:29
  Sam, that's why he becomes a territorial legislator and then when the state becomes a state, he's in the first state legislation.
• 34:38
  Like he really truly believes that you need, you need honest, true, fair dealing people in positions of power that will promote the idea of a civil society.
• 34:53
  So that's why he's, he's a postal root.
• 34:57
  Agent in, you know, his very first job in, in 1850, no, eight, he's, he's 25 years old, so 8, 18, 30 something.
• 35:07
  He, he gets his first presidential, presidential commission from Pierce.
• 35:11
  He's the, he's the postal route agent between Massachusetts and, and Burlington, Vermont.
• 35:17
  Vermont.
• 35:18
  Okay.
• 35:18
  So he's basically, he's going from the Bay, Massachusetts Bay to, Lake Champlain?
• 35:24
  Am I saying that correctly?
• 35:25
  Um, it's the border of Canada and New York with Vermont.
• 35:29
  And he's the postal worker, the postal route agent.
• 35:32
  So, back then the postal route agent wasn't like we think of today.
• 35:35
  This is a guy that functions at the bank.
• 35:37
  He functions, you know, he very well could be, you know, adjudicating over issues for the community.
• 35:43
  Wow.
• 35:43
  And, and he, he's doing this because it's his duty, you know.
• 35:47
  He, he wants to promote.
• 35:50
  The idea of a civil society and, and the benefits that come with that and, and back then the only way a lot of times that you knew there was a civil society is because your town had a post office.
• 36:01
  Wow.
• 36:02
  So, you know, it's, it's, it's that type of thing.
• 36:04
  He's, I truly feel he just feels like it's his duty.
• 36:08
  You know, it's the same reason why my grandpa Chuck died.
• 36:11
  joined the National Guard when he was 21, not even considering what was going on in world politics.
• 36:16
  And Is that about, what, late 1930s?
• 36:18
  Yeah, he joins in 39, the war breaks out, and he ends up in, you know, a couple years later, he's coolin in a prison camp.
• 36:24
  Like, I bet he wasn't thinkin about that at all.
• 36:27
  This wasn't in the plan.
• 36:28
  Yeah, but, but he, but he did it because of a sense of duty.
• 36:32
  When things started to happen in the late, late 1930s, he said, I have to go do this.
• 36:38
  I have to serve.
• 36:39
  Yeah.
• 36:39
  And then that, that's just over and over again.
• 36:43
  And that's not, that's not the men in my line.
• 36:47
  That's that, that's a Mason, right?
• 36:50
  That's what Masonry teaches us is to be the kind of guy that's going to step up when nobody else will.
• 36:55
  And.
• 36:56
  And try to figure things out in a way that best benefits everybody to be a giver and expecting nothing in return, but but the focus on those core values that are timeless.
• 37:09
  We talk about regularly kindness, integrity, honor and respect the trustworthy factor.
• 37:16
  It's uh, I hope that at some point.
• 37:19
  You pursue writing a book, putting all of this together with that family lineage, because this has been really insightful, wildly interesting.
• 37:29
  I can't even imagine getting that call in 2015 that, Open this door so that the bigger one for me actually was I was at the Scottish right?
• 37:40
  I was going through the whole program.
• 37:41
  We got about just to the end I think it was probably the that maybe the 30th of the 31st degree We're we're walking from the from the theater where we see the degree back to the candidates room where we get the education And I look up and I see grandpa Sam's photo hanging on the wall really and that was the first time it clicked in my head who that guy was and And David Kampf shot over real quick and went, Who are you?
• 38:07
  You have to remember that, uh, as, as far as local masonry goes, Sam is credited with the growth of the Scottish Rite.
• 38:15
  Um, when he passes away, the, uh, the Supreme Council writes a, a memoriam for him in, in, in there.
• 38:23
  He published it, published this.
• 38:24
  Yeah, yeah, this is, this is sent out to everybody.
• 38:27
  I'm looking at it right now, it's incredible.
• 38:28
  Um, I'm looking at it right now.
• 38:29
  I'm paraphrasing in here, but they basically say that he's responsible for taking Minneapolis Scottish Rite and the bodies from being, um, 60, 160 members and 60 various lodges to being somewhere in the neighborhood of 2, 500 members.
• 38:48
  And he, he does that in a matter of a few years.
• 38:52
  You know, the guys up in Duluth, he helps, helps them establish that Scottish Rite up there.
• 38:57
  And, you know, they write a beautiful thing about him, how he just, like, let them do their thing, and he was really easy to work with.
• 39:05
  Everybody called him Uncle Sam, you know.
• 39:08
  In his outside life of masonry, he, uh, he comes to Minneapolis.
• 39:12
  He goes to Monticello because he thinks that's where the big, everything's going to happen in Monticello.
• 39:18
  And then it doesn't, and so he moves back to, he moves down to Minneapolis.
• 39:22
  Um, and he's actually in your lodge.
• 39:25
  Really?
• 39:25
  Henry is past master of 19.
• 39:28
  That's right.
• 39:28
  Yeah.
• 39:29
  Yeah.
• 39:29
  Um, but, in the end, he, at the end of Sam's life, he's, he's got a homestead on Cedar Lake.
• 39:36
  He's got several acres on Cedar Lake and it is affectionately known as Adam's Woods.
• 39:41
  And he allows the public to picnic in his woods along the lake, and he's known for his library.
• 39:49
  Seriously, this would be so, oh my goodness, so much just fascinating.
• 39:55
  All these anecdotes put together in the sequence.
• 39:58
  I'm going to encourage anyone listening who wants to speak about, All of this in a more detailed way with you, would you be open to a Lodge education presentation at any various Lodge in our state?
• 40:09
  Yeah, I'd come talk about this stuff.
• 40:11
  I already did it for Monticello because you know that, that was their home.
• 40:16
  You know, Sam is one of the reasons why Monticello has a Lodge.
• 40:21
  Not to mention, born in the Lodge room.
• 40:23
  Well, and then there's Henry, but it's not just him.
• 40:26
  Uh, there's another guy there, uh, when Sam is there, and he ends up becoming, ultimately, Henry marries this guy's daughter, Cora.
• 40:38
  This guy's truly the, the, the real mason here.
• 40:42
  So his name's Henry Christ.
• 40:44
  He's born in 1821, comes from Maryland, and he's a tobacconist, originally in his youth, but he becomes a carpenter, this, we're talking about a grandpa of mine now, um, and he builds railroad bridges, and ends up in Monticello, um, he is in the lodge when the lodge is finally established, Sam's the, the senior warden, and then becomes the first elected master, and then shortly after him, Henry Christ sits in the master's chair for five years.
• 41:17
  And he only steps aside in that time so that, that Henry Rice can be master of Monticello.
• 41:25
  And then he goes back to, to being in it.
• 41:27
  So if you want to talk about a super Mason and a guy really that, that held it down for a community that, that would be Henry, yeah.
• 41:35
  This has been a real privilege to chat with you today and to learn more about some of the details in this family lineage that goes back multiple generations in Minnesota and beyond.
• 41:48
  And, uh, Charlie Beekman, you are a Mason's Mason and the giver's heart, and it's just been so fun to Just a regular guy.
• 41:58
  That's all it is.
• 41:58
  And that's what we love about you.
• 41:59
  This has been Masonic histories and mysteries.
• 42:02
  And thank you so much, Charlie Beekman for being our guest.
• 42:04
  We'd love to have you back sometime.
• 42:05
  Happy to come.