Remember that one?
“Look !!! Up in the sky !! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! “It’s Superman !!!”
Nah, never mind, It’s not Superman, it’s a whole bunch of super people–The Fraternal Order of Eagles, to be exact. And what set me off on this tack was the sign out front of the local aerie ( That’s ornithologist talk for the nest of a bird of prey, such as a hawk or an eagle, built in a high place.) which is numbered 2705, and having the number 75 prominently displayed –next to the notice of Tuesday night wings, such a deal !
Don’t know if that refers to the length of time that the group has been in Garrettsville, but it seems likely, seeing as how the organization itself was begun in Seattle in 1898, by a group of theater owners wishing to settle a musicians’ strike, coming up with the name The Order of Good Things, later changed to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, with the bald eagle chosen as the mascot. The group was originally composed mostly of people in the performing arts and related businesses, which aided in the spread of the organization by traveling theater troupes and vaudevillians (No TV back then, remember?). The original password was kind of “show biz-y” too–”Skin ‘em”–but it was later, more appropriately, modified to a statement of purpose, namely, to “make human life more desirable by lessening its ills and promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.” The motto is now, “Liberty, Truth, Justice and Equality.” Good stuff.
Thanks largely to the traveling entertainers, within 10 years, the group had grown to some 1800 aeries across the U.S. and Canada, even Mexico. Even from the beginning, the Eagles focussed on benefits for members, such as medical care, income support and burial expenses. Itinerant entertainers seldom had large incomes, so these were of considerable concern for them. The Eagles were in the forefront of popular support for Social Security, Medicare, even the adoption of Mother’s Day as a national holiday. Did not stop there, either. They have contributed to Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Town in Nebraska, High Girls’ Ranch in Texas, St. Jude’s Hospital. In 1954 they spearheaded a drive to distribute plaques of the Ten Commandments around the country in every courtroom. They have opposed job discrimination on the basis of age and the F.O.E. donates some $10 million per year to local communities, charities, fundraisers and more; not just through the Memorial Foundation (est. 1946) but in individual communities (local projects, scholarships and more–JAG benefits every year). In 2008, the F.O.E. Diabetes Research Center was established at the University of Iowa. They also joined environmentalists in the fight to save the bald eagle –and the golden eagle from extinction. The ladies, once affiliated largely through the Eagles Auxiliary, beginning in 1914, are now full-fledged members and can attend the convention of the Grand Aerie, or governing convention. They hold to the points highlighted in their web page : Civic Pride, Fraternalism, Leadership and Charity–pretty tightly too.
That the F.O.E. maintains such an active part in the community, offering scholarships, supporting projects and causes, working with other groups to achieve worthy goals is a tribute to their interpretation of the statement posted outside the local aerie : “People Helping People”.
Looks like 75 years well-spent here in Garrettsville.
They seem to have held out better than the Independent Order of Odd Fellows or I.O.O.F., whose sign may still be seen on Main Street, but with nary an Odd Fellow in sight. (Well, technically, there are plenty of those, but no members.) This group was founded in England in 1819, then came to America and spread across the land promoting Judeo-Christian values of Friendship, Love and Truth, symbolized by the three interlocked rings which constituted their logo and led to their being known by some as the Triple Link Fraternity. They, and their sister organization, the Rebekah Lodge, kind of faded during the Great Depression because folks in the middle-to-lower socio-economic class really did not feel that they could afford the dues.
They are, apparently, still operational in some parts of the country. Government programs–Social Security, Medicare, etc.–have taken over many of the group’s enterprises and though they claim to have worldwide membership, little about them is local. I saw a pic on FB the other day that purported to aver that a little-known fact about the OddFellowswas that all of their governing groups were required to have an even number of members. Does that strike anybody else as odd?
