Organizations dying out

[5thDragoons]

One block closer to Main St is an Odd Fellows lodge. Used to be quite a crowd there on monthly meeting night. Once a month they used to put out a sign advertising a free pancake breakfast which I assumed was to attract new blood. I always meant to stop in for a pancake but never managed it with my work hours being so irregular.

Last time I drove by when they were doing that, I noticed several of the regulars using walkers. Around the holidays, they had a larger than usual crowd with license plates from surrounding states. Given there aren't that many Odd Fellow clubs going, I figured a number of them have made this one their base but may have abandoned the idea.

Today there were exactly 2 cars there. I figure the building will be up for sale one of these days. Sad in a way, but I think society is evolving away from organizations like that. I mean, Odd Fellows were originally a WW1 thing as I recall. "Loyal order of Cooties" was an award based on the common louse. Other organizations also seem to be dwindling. Like Lions, Eagles and Mooses. Elk Clubs are still a thing in this part of the world... Masons are still going - I think. They pretty much keep to themselves.

When I was in HS, there was a Spanish-American War club in my small hometown. It didn't last long. If I'd had my head out of my butt, I'd have had a teacher help me organize an interview. Draw a line through that idea.

When I got out of the service, I thought about joining the VFW, but it was run by WW2 vets then & they had little use for Viet Nam vets. "It wasn't a real war!" I was told. So to heck with them - never went back. Actually, the VFW is next block over around the corner from the Odd Fellows'.

Nebr Viet Nam Vets had their annual state wide meeting there a few years back. A bunch of do-gooders wanted people to relate their experiences for a possible book. Wasn't a member - didn't bother to stop. Firstly because I didn't do anything worth remembering, and secondly, I had visions of guys lining up for a free beer and the chance to tell how they single-handedly defeated Uncle Ho's boyz and was the sole survivor. No thank you, please.

I had no real point in posting this - the dying Odd Fellows club just caught my attention for some reason. SW

[Allen]

People are changing. Wars are changing. America is losing it's nationality---too many people moving here that don't support our ways and would not fight for us if need be. Troops being sent to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Falkland Islands and many other places don't seem to be in America's best interest compared to being physically attacked as in WWII. Due to NATO we are fighting everyone else's wars.

My 2 cents worth.

[lyman]

my friend Wpnsman joined or went to his local VFW a few years back, said it was mostly old coots and hew as the youngest there,
but then again, all the younger guys were busy living a life, kids, job, etc, and may not have time for the groups

I as kinda recruited by the Masons once, but another customer I had at the time told me not to bother if I did not have the time to go thru the motions, and at that time I did not,


I have a good friend that is a Ruritan member, and used to work with a guy that is a member at another 'branch' or lodge, both 'clubs?" do Brunswick Stews a couple times a year, and I buy from both
(similar recipes, but one is a bit bland , supposedly due to it being older men cooking, so a dash or 2 of Tabasco makes it just right)


at one store I ran we had a drop box for used eyeglasses, maintained by the Lions Club, but it has been many years since I was in that business, not sure if they are still around



FWIW, I am a member of the SAR, (Sons of the American Revolution) and there are a good handful of similar groups, (SR, 1812 society, Cincinnatus etc etc) that have a presence, but are mostly old guys , looking for newer younger members

[Allen]

My Dad was a Mason as were a lot of his friends. I thought of becoming a member but just didn't know enough about it and you practically have to be invited. I don't know of anyone from my generation (here) that's a member. Since so many of these organizations are so secretive and selective on who can join and how you can join they can pretty much rule out getting new members.

I realize they want only members that fit the bill. People who they will get along with and etc. but they may be taking things too far.

When I looked into becoming a Mason they sent me some info. I needed to send them $300 to apply. At their next meeting they would bring up the names of those who wanted to join. If anyone didn't know you or blackballed you for any reason you were rejected but could apply again after a while, each time submitting $300. Like I said, I don't know of any current members or someone who would vouch for me. I wouldn't go to the meetings anyway so I didn't think any more about it.

When I was very young my Grandfather would take me to the local bar. Back then our community was small and everyone knew one another. All the bar served was beer. Everyone that went there was a local farmer and had to work so no one hung around all day--you came in, drank one or two beers, did a little fellowship, and left. No problems ever from that place. It is long gone now and so are the farmers.

[Johnny P]

In our town we have several churches that are on the verge of going out of existence. A mixture of factions in the church, and young people just don't join churches like they use to.

[blackhawknj]

I have read a number of stories of Vietnam Vets being rebuffed by VFW posts, years ago when I spoke to the commander of the local American Legion post he said 'we didn't get the Korea and Vietnam guys." Read there was someting of an upsurge in social and fraternal organizations in the 20s, the Depression took a heavy toll of them, then WWII, then changing lifestyles in the 50s and 60s-TV, e.g. resulted in people staying home more, didn't feel the need to go "out". Today how many of all generations do their socializing on the Internet ? Churches ? Given the disintegration of family life, not surprising.

[Art]

As has been well said already, these fraternal organizations have been in decline since the mid 1960s.

I have a cousin (mid 70s) who's husband (mid 60s) is a Master Mason, she's very active in Eastern Star and they are both extremely active in Shrine activities, especially hospitals. A while back we were invited to one of their balls. It was in a mid size city, had a very good live band and was very well attended, but, and its a big but, there were very few people there under 50 and I figure the median age was mid to late 60s. So I think we can safely say that everything said above about social changes is factual.

Churches are bit of a different story. Church attendance, (all religions and denominations) those who go at least a couple of times a month is down under 40% of the general population. This has really hit small to mid size houses of worship in the shorts. Mega churches still do well because they provide services, especially youth services, smaller churches can't provide. It's not for long with any church that can't provide a really good program for kids and adolescents.

[Vern Humphrey]

I'm happy to report the Knights of Columbus (Catholic organization) are thriving. We have posts all over the world, not just in the US.

When I got back from my first tour in Viet Nam, I applied to the VFW, but they told me it wasn't a declared war.

[blackhawknj]

One town not far from me just disbanded its first aid/rescue squad due to lack of members, volunteer fire departments hard hit. Part of the problem is younger workers having service economy jobs that require working nights, weekends, erstwhile middle class office workers working for companies that "own" their employees, they don't have the time for these things. IIRC many organizations had women's auxiliaries, men often brought sons and grandsons into the organization. How often does that happen today ?

[5thDragoons]

Forgot about optimists - there might still be a few of those around. SW
52426

[Art]

I'm happy to report the Knights of Columbus (Catholic organization) are thriving. We have posts all over the world, not just in the US.

When I got back from my first tour in Viet Nam, I applied to the VFW, but they told me it wasn't a declared war.

My old daddy was a member of the Knights of Columbus and his brother was the head guy in charge (Grand Knight) of the Knights of Columbus in Louisiana. As a kid my brother and I hung out in the KC hall a lot when daddy was there which was several times a week. It had a bar and I mostly remember it as a private beer joint because I was never there when official business was taking place. They had a really nice pool table and we kids spent a lot of time playing eight ball and rotation on it. When I'm back there I still have a twinge of nostalgia if i drive past it.

I recently heard Ted Cruz rake AG Garland over the coals over active FBI investigations into the Knights of Columbus and traditional Catholic parishes, especially Latin Mass parishes. Yep, a real bunch of subversives there. Garland denied knowledge of the investigations.....of course.

[blackhawknj]

Back when life was more "local", more "hometown" social and fraternal organizations also allowed for networking, making contacts. In 1937 it was revealed that Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black had been a member of the KKK, he acknowledged his membership, said he had resigned and had no further contact with it. But he did not repudiate its platform. Before being nominated by FDR Black had been a senator, he later said "I would have joined any group if it helped me get votes."

[Vern Humphrey]

My old daddy was a member of the Knights of Columbus and his brother was the head guy in charge (Grand Knight) of the Knights of Columbus in Louisiana. As a kid my brother and I hung out in the KC hall a lot when daddy was there which was several times a week. It had a bar and I mostly remember it as a private beer joint because I was never there when official business was taking place. They had a really nice pool table and we kids spent a lot of time playing eight ball and rotation on it. When I'm back there I still have a twinge of nostalgia if i drive past it.

I recently heard Ted Cruz rake AG Garland over the coals over active FBI investigations into the Knights of Columbus and traditional Catholic parishes, especially Latin Mass parishes. Yep, a real bunch of subversives there. Garland denied knowledge of the investigations.....of course.

But did he say he was going to look into it?

[Vern Humphrey]

Back when life was more "local", more "hometown" social and fraternal organizations also allowed for networking, making contacts. In 1937 it was revealed that Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black had been a member of the KKK, he acknowledged his membership, said he had resigned and had no further contact with it. But he did not repudiate its platform. Before being nominated by FDR Black had been a senator, he later said "I would have joined any group if it helped me get votes."

Black was hired by the Ku Klux Klan to defend a Klansman who had murdered a Catholic priest. The Judge and Foreman of the jury were both Klansmen, and he won. He then joined the Klan and used his membership to form a political base and got elected to the Senate.

[WpnsMan]

As Lyman said earlier,

I joined my VFW in '06 after returning from my first tour in Iraq. There were a couple of WWII vets as well as a couple from the Korean War. The post was mainly Vietnam Vets and they ran it. I was in my early 40's and about the youngest member at the time. My post didn't have a bar as they had closed it to distance them from the crowd that hung out at the local American Legion (drunks).

I was active for a few years. In addition to our monthly meetings and dinner we sent care packages to deployed service members, had breakfast fund raisers once a month, the ladies auxiliary ran Bingo once a month. Really a nice low key place to hang out occasionally. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the older Vets. Then the older crew started to die off and I got busy with other things, such is life. Now my post is probably going to close because lack of membership as most of these organizations are facing.

I think it stems from the modern times. When these fraternal organizations were in their heydays they offered social activities for the family, etc. in their communities. Now it's hard to get the younger generation of Veteran's interested because there are too many other options out there for entertainment for singles and family. Sad but, an inevitable situation in the modern world.

just my .02

[Allen]

The internet doesn't help either. A lot of people stay on line a lot chatting on FaceBook, Twitter, email and other chat sites plus they phone text.

Covid obviously didn't help either. People had to get away from each other physically and made up for it with the phone and internet contacts.

My .01 worth.

[Merc]

PA passed a non smoking law for public establishments several years ago. Unfortunately, private establishments like the American Legion, VFW, Eagles, etc. are exempt from the state non smoking law. So, declining interest in joining these organizations is only part of the story in PA. I’ve been in a local VFW for a meeting in Carnegie, PA a few years ago and this non-smoker was not happy. Totally different situation in Ohio. Their non smoking law does not permit smoking in any public or private establishment. I belong to the Eagles in a small rural town in OH and it has a large membership and is well attended. But - most of the people who go there are over 60.

[Vern Humphrey]

Smoking is a turn-off for me. I see people in their 60s and 70s smoking and I think, "There's no fool like an old fool."

Then I see some kid covered with tattoos and with every possible part of his anatomy pierced and I think, "Hmmmmm."

[Allen]

Smoking is a turn-off for me. I see people in their 60s and 70s smoking and I think, "There's no fool like an old fool."

Then I see some kid covered with tattoos and with every possible part of his anatomy pierced and I think, "Hmmmmm."

I only believe in smoking if you're on fire.

If vaping had come about before all the smoking bans it would be normal to smell that crap everywhere you went. Going into a typical restaurant, smelling the vanilla, banana, coconut and cherry vaps would remind you that you are smelling and breathing everything others are exhaling and distributed by the vapor.

[Merc]

Lung cancer has taken 8 of our family members over the years. All were heavy smokers and all were dead by their 50s or early 60s except my grandfather was the youngest at 49. I have 8 very good reasons to hate tobacco.

Then there’s the cost to consider. A pack a day is nearly equal to a monthly car payment.

[JimF]

. . . . .Then there’s the cost to consider. A pack a day is nearly equal to a monthly car payment.

yup! . . . . .I quit smoking when the price went to 70 cents per pack!

I bought a lot of loading components with the money I saved since then!!

Saving even more now . . . .what does a pack sell for now?

[Allen]

what does a pack sell for now?

Ditto, I'd like to know too.

Lost my Father to lung cancer @ 57.

Lost my Grandfather to lung cancer @ 64.

Both smoked, though not heavy. Both grew up in times where smoking was encouraged and taught to be the normal way of life. During this time, as all of you remember, all cars had cigarette lighters and ash trays, all motels and restaurants had ash trays and complementary matches usually.

[Vern Humphrey]

I only believe in smoking if you're on fire.

If vaping had come about before all the smoking bans it would be normal to smell that crap everywhere you went. Going into a typical restaurant, smelling the vanilla, banana, coconut and cherry vaps would remind you that you are smelling and breathing everything others are exhaling and distributed by the vapor.

I've got great nephews who "vape." They say, "It's only vapor" and I point out that right on the package it says nicotine is addictive.

My mother smoked and died at the age of 51.

[Vern Humphrey]

yup! . . . . .I quit smoking when the price went to 70 cents per pack!

I bought a lot of loading components with the money I saved since then!!

Saving even more now . . . .what does a pack sell for now?

When my wife had Home Health Care, we had a student nurse who also had other clients. She took care of a family of people on disability -- husband, wife and mother-in-law. One of the things she did for them was to make out and handle their monthly budget. Their combined disability payments amounted to $2,700 a month. The FIRST item on the budget -- at their insistence -- was $900 for tobacco!

Hell, if they had saved and invested $900 a month, in a few years they wouldn't have needed disability payments!

[Merc]

https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/cigarette-prices-by-state/#:~:text=Cigarette%20Prices%20and%20Taxes%20by%20S tate%20%20,%20%20%244.25%20%2047%20more%20rows%20

The price of a pack of cigs varies from state to state with New York leading the way with $10.53/pack.

[Vern Humphrey]

https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/cigarette-prices-by-state/#:~:text=Cigarette%20Prices%20and%20Taxes%20by%20S tate%20%20,%20%20%244.25%20%2047%20more%20rows%20

The price of a pack of cigs varies from state to state with New York leading the way with $10.53/pack.

Of course, what New York has done is to create a Black Market in cigarettes.

[dryheat]

Smoking. It's an interesting subject. Remember when everyone smoked? When the soldgier was dying in a movie, he'd ask for a cigarette. I actually saw an old time ad of Santa taking a break with a cigarette. "Doctors" recommended certain brands. I smoked with the guys when I was younger but never got the point of it. A good friend that I grew up with got on board with smoking right off. He swiped them from his mom. Salems. They were menthol. Come up to Kool. He was from people, who when they ran out of cigs they got worried. Don't forget the cigarettes. He mentioned one time; I don't know why we buy these things when we know it's bad for us. I haven't heard from him in a couple of years. My brother started when he was about fourteen. But when they got to $8 a pack (in Alaska) he got mad and quit. Just like that. That was twenty five years ago. He's never smoked since. I like that about my brother. None of that, I wish I could quit these things.
Vap. Once in a while when stopped at the light I'll see a six by six foot cloud of smoke come out of a car window. At the gun show you'd see someone holding on to one of those things like it was their dick. About every thirty seconds they hit it. Ametures.

[Vern Humphrey]

In 1969, when I was a company commander in Viet Nam, my company was issued C-Rations dated 1944. They included cigarettes. Some of the guys tried them -- they burned like gunpowder!!:evil6:

[Merc]

I quit in 1964. I was in the USN in Morocco and cigarettes cost 11 cents a pack at the Navy Exchange. We got ration chits that allowed us to buy up to a carton a week. My fear of the health consequences far outweighed the craving of that next cigarette. The Surgeon General said smoking caused heart disease and lung cancer. That was enough to convince me to quit. I gave the ration chits to my buddies until I discovered they were selling the extra cartons they bought on the local black market which was highly illegal. They never got caught as far as I knew. Luckies and menthols were the favorite.

These days, we compare the cost of everything unnecessary or bad for us that we could avoid buying (it used to be cigarettes) to the really important things in life like a case of German NA beer for me, a nice bottle of wine for the wife or a gallon of gas. How many cases, bottles and gallons could we buy with the money we saved?

[fguffey]

Smoking is a turn-off for me. I see people in their 60s and 70s smoking and I think, "There's no fool like an old fool."

I quit in 78, I thought quitting was the nicest thing I could do for the people I love. Before I quit I decided cigarettes' were killing me.

F. Guffey

[Doc Sharptail]

Back when we were kids, there were a few stories around.
Sea Cadets were supposed to have irregular access to m/g's.
My brother and I went down and checked out open night, and nary a m/g in sight.

I did join Air Cadets independently of my brother.
I did some pretty interesting things there- some of them involving DC-3's and the odd Piper Cub or two.
We had a handful of L/E Mark III trainers converted to .22 LR, all with broken or missing extractors.
There was one equipped with a Lyman peep that I could actually hit with~ back then, getting on the black at 25 yards was still a big fat hairy deal.
The jeweller's screw driver extractor got old pretty fast.
Our Squadron was actually an off-shoot of the Optimist's organization. They funded the whole works.

I have not seen the boy/girl scouts ads on T.V. for quite a while now.
Sea Cadets ran a T.V. ad campaign about 15 years ago that was fairly short lived, for just less than a year.

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

[dryheat]

Organizations. My dad joined the Elks. He even had an Elks tooth tie clasp. Moose, Lions Club. Was there ever and outfit called the Beavers? Or was that a joke? We went to picnics in the summer which was fun for a kid. Hot dogs and sodas. I remember one night in the winter we went to a get together and they were serving spaghetti and meatballs. I thought it was about the worst thing I'd ever eaten. Still remember that. A few years back I was in a small town I'd never been to and noticed a VFW (? I can't keep them straight) club. I walked in and it was basically a bar. One old guy was asleep on the bar and another guy asked me, what do you want? I said, I'd never been in and thought I'd check it out. I signed in had a beer and left.

[Allen]

Was there ever and outfit called the Beavers? Or was that a joke?

Maybe that was for women only?

[Vern Humphrey]

One thing I pick up on here is most of these organizations are where people go to drink or hang around.

The secret to the Knights of Columbus' success is that we DO things. We raise money for disaster relief, we send assistance where needed, we provide Crisis Pregnancy Centers with Ultrasound machines and so on.

One thing that always impressed me is a young girl who suspects she's pregnant coming to a Crisis Pregnancy Center and actually SEEING her baby's heart beat.

[Doc Sharptail]

Quote Originally Posted by dryheat View Post
Was there ever and outfit called the Beavers? Or was that a joke?

It was the earliest-age form of boy scouts here.

IIRC, ages 6-8 were Beavers

8-10 were Cubs

10-16 were Boy Scouts.

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

[blackhawknj]

The urbanization/suburbanization/motorization of the country in the 1920s made getting to social organizations and events easier. Didn't have to hitch up the horse to the buggy, plod into town at 3-4 miles an hour. Church services used to be "Sunday Meeting", if getting into town was such a chore you made a day of it.
Alumni associations in higher education seem to be fading away-many schools don't even publish yearbooks anymore. Students who have to rely too heavily on student loans, are day students have little or no loyalty to their "alma mater". Corporate alumni associations have also disappeared, one retiree from a company that for years had a good alumni association-news ,letter events, etc. said the bean counters took over . eliminated them, nowadays retirement consists of signing your papers, turning your ID card and parking sticker and closing the door behind you. Read accounts by NYPD retirees who noted no solidarity/camaraderie by those currently "On The Job", heard the same from military retirees, several had said they go on base, show their retirees ID, the attitude is "Eh!".

[kj47]

Our Masonic Lodge had 135 members 10 yrs ago, now we are down to 84 now. Some new members but not keeping up the numbers.

[Merc]

https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/about/

The Veterans Breakfast Club.

How many have heard of this organization? I’ve attended 2 meetings so far as a guest and was impressed. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will probably join. The latest meeting was this morning. The venue is a church hall that seats several hundred and the place was packed. The veterans range from Afghanistan to WW2, both men and women with the majority being Vietnam era vets that includes me. It’s mostly about story telling because, after all, everyone has a story to tell about their time in the service. As you would guess, the WW2 vets are close to 100 and even the Korean vets are in their 90s. They won’t be around too much longer.

If listening to an old vet talk about the D Day landing or flying a B29 over Korea isn’t riveting enough, the guest speaker they had today was Rocky Bleier. Yes, that Rocky Bleier - the running back for the Steelers during their 4 Super Bowl years in the 1970s. The story he tells makes you laugh and cry at the same time. He was drafted twice. Once by the Steelers and once by Uncle Sam to fight in Vietnam. He overcame losing part of a foot to an exploding grenade to become a star in the NFL. Just when it looked like he might bleed to death, a huge black soldier picked him up, placed him over his shoulder and carried him several hundred feet through the rice paddies to a chopper and the medical attention he needed. Rocky didn’t know the soldier’s name and never saw him again. He undoubtedly makes a pretty good living these days as a motivational speaker. He may have been a star in the NFL, but today he was one of us.

[Allen]

Good post Merc.

[Vern Humphrey]

Well, I guess I have to tell a story. I'm a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. One of the guys in my chapter (since deceased) was a member of the 503 Parachute Infantry. They jumped onto The Rock, Corregidor. The drop zones, he said, would take an 8-man stick -- 8 paratroops chest to back, and when the light turned green, everyone out as quick as possible. If everything went right, the first man would land on one end of the drop zone, and the last man on the other.

But things don't always go right in combat, and when that happened someone was going into the water. The troopers were carrying about 150 lbs of equipment apiece -- flamethrowers, mortars, machineguns and so on. When a man saw himself headed for the water, he would cut away everything he could -- it was a matter of survival.

The Navy had PT boats circling the Rock, and when they saw a trooper headed for the water, they'd dash over and try to snag his parachute and pull him to the surface. When the drop ended, the PT boats were crammed with retching, gagging paratroopers. They were supposed to be taken to an aid station ashore.

But there is a beach at the foot of the Rock. The paratroops saw it and began yelling, "Land us there! Land us there!" The PT boats went in as close as they could, and the troopers wend over the side and waded ashore. As they approached the beach, they were wheeling and dealing -- many of them had no weapons, having cut away everything they had. As they came out of the water, the men still without weapons gathered up armloads of rocks. They fought their way into the fortress and cleared the first level in hand-to-hand fighting, then started up the stairs to the second level -- and met the rest of the regiment coming down.

A few years ago, there was a debate on some internet forum, "What is a man?"

When you meet a man who has made a parachute assault and an amphibious assault on the same morning, and fought his way into a Japanese fortress armed only with rocks -- you've met a REAL man.