By Mike Fletcher
A protractor and a square with the letter G in the middle is much more than a symbol — it’s a way of life for many.
“It’s really about friendship — being around guys you don’t mind being around and the friendship,” Dave Trobaugh said of the Freemasons.
While its emblem symbolizes construction and geometry, the organization is much like an industry, the treasurer of the Howard Masonic Lodge No. 93 explained.
“The masons are all about the numbers,” he said. “There are three degrees of masons: apprentice, fellowship craft and master craft.”
He describes it as “similar to an industry where you have the apprentice, the worker and the supervisor.”
“There are five orders of architecture, five senses of human nature, and seven liberal arts and sciences.”
Trobaugh, who has been involved in the Masons since 1963, became a member to follow in his family’s footsteps.
“It isn’t a cult or anything, and we don’t have any secrets,” he said of the rumors and tales of the Masons being a secret society.
“The only secrets of the Masons are like other organizations whether it’s a secret handshake or grip — there just aren’t any secrets to it.”
He added that anybody who knows a Freemason can petition to be a member. A three-man committee then reviews your petition and background before deciding on membership.
Some of the sacred rules of the Freemasons include no alcohol in a Mason lodge, no gambling and you have to believe in God or a supreme being, he said.
Whether Freemasonry originated from Megalithic times, King Solomon, Athelstan, the Knights Templars, Medieval Stone Masons, Schaw, Box charities, the Invisible College or the Rosicrucians, one thing is for sure — they are everywhere.
For more than three centuries, the
Masons have inspired millions of people across the world and have attracted famous personalities from Europe, the United States and other continents.
“From George Washington to Franklin Roosevelt to [Winston] Churchill, many famous people have been a Freemason,” Trobaugh said.
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