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eastside of the jurisdiction, to join our Committees and Board. Faith, earlier Mayor Hansen had shut down Seattle with slightly more
Hope and Charity – the most important is Charity. stringent orders. Even closing church gatherings, Hansen is
Go Big my brethren and celebrate. reputed to have said something like he thought God was more
interested in their praying for Him on earth than meeting Him
Thank you Grand Master & brethren. in Heaven.
VWB Larry D Foley, President-Board of Trustees, Washington Lister’s statewide quarantine seemed to help and was
Masonic Charities beginning to show results. But just as today, partisan politics
stepped in and lawsuits were filed. About six weeks later the
order was cancelled, and the State reopened. Then the
RWB Coe Tug Morgan – 1918 Flu Pandemic Spanish Flu returned with vengeance. In the 1919 Grand
Some interesting historical facts about Washington Lodge Proceedings there is a statement in Grand Master
Alonzo Emerson’s Message that he ordered that a $5.00 fine
& the 1918 Flu Pandemic and two successive levied against 35 lodges be returned. Because of the flu
Masonic Governors who died in office. quarantine ban on meetings, they could not meet to elect
officers at the time the WMC set. The Grand Master said it
An historical fact, Washington has had two lieutenant was not their fault.
governors succeed to the Executive Office after the death of Lister was the first Democrat elected to the Governor’s office
the governor; both were members of the Craft. In fact they and the youngest man so elected up to that time. At that
appear to be the only lieutenant governors to ever become election, all the other State offices were filled by Republicans.
governor. 1909 Samuel Cosgrove (the one-day governor – He was born in Yorkshire England and when he was fourteen
see below) followed by Marion Hay and Ernest Lister followed years old his family moved to Tacoma in the early 1890s. At
by Louis Hart. All four were Masons.
the young age of twenty-three he was elected to the Tacoma
Washington’s Governor from 1913 until 1919 was Brother City Council. He decided to run for governor just three weeks
Ernest Lister, a member of Lebanon Lodge No. 104 in before the 1912 election, won and was sworn in as Governor
Tacoma. on January 11, 1913. He took his oath as Governor a second
On the advice of the State’s Health time on January 8, 1917; the first person to be elected to a
Commissioner Dr. T. D. Tuttle and following second term. Lister was raised as a Master Mason in Lebanon
the lead of Seattle’s Mayor Ole Hansen, in the
late fall of 1918 to control the spread of the Lodge on September 24, 1906.
Spanish Flu, he banned all public events, Lister became ill in early 1919, took a leave of absence, was
ordered everyone to wear masks with only admitted to Seattle’s Swedish Hospital for treatment but on
Brother
Ernest Lister essential businesses to remain open. Even June 14, 1919 died from heart problems. Grand Master
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