It’s been 100 years since that fateful day, when Olin S. Wright called a meeting at the home of Mary Dormany to institute a new chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Since then, Plant City area members have kept the order’s traditions alive.
The order held a banquet Sunday, May 19, at the Olin S. Wright Masonic Lodge, complete with a birthday cake.
“It is a real milestone,” Grand Matron Geraldine Madsen said. “I have never been in a chapter where there’s been a 100 year anniversary. Fifty, yes. It’s a big thing. It should be celebrated.”
The Order of the Eastern Star is a national organization that includes community service and fellowship. It was founded by Master Mason Dr. Rob Morris in the late 1800s, with the idea that it would be nice to have a way for female relatives of Master Masons to share the benefits of knowledge and self-improvement that Freemasonry made available to men. It also would create a place in the Masonic family that would allow men and women to participate together, according the order.
“You get close to people, as if they were your own family,” Madsen said.
There were 25 charter members in the Plant City chapter. Members started out their community service visiting the sick in their homes.
Now, the current order has a variety of projects it oversees that target education and health needs. The Student Higher Education Award fund is a scholarship. The order also has a similar fund for those seeking training and education in religious leadership. Other funds include heart and cancer. To garner funds, the order hosts a variety of events and dinners.
To be a member of the order, applicants have to know a Mason and fill out a petition.
Madsen has been a member since 1965. She was inspired to join after seeing her parents work with the order.
“I saw the relationship they had with each other and the other members,” Madsen said. “I liked it and wanted to be a part of it.”
Throughout the years, she has seen membership decline statewide. She suspects that is because younger generations have other distractions, such as technology.
But, many things still have stayed the same. That includes a Bible the first Grand Matron signed upon installation. Every year since then, each new Grand Matron has signed it.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
