H. Alan "Al" Wilson, 32°
6212 Davidson, Sand Springs, Oklahoma 74063–3604

Civil War and contemporary anecdotes underline the strength of Masonic bonds.

Brother Graber was a member of the Terry Texas Rangers, one of the Civil War's most famous and active units. An incident occurred late in the Civil War that influenced Brother Graber for the rest of his life. General William Tecumseh Sherman had captured Atlanta and was beginning to make his famous March to the Sea. Kilpatrick's Cavalry was leading Sherman's Army. Terry's Rangers were having daily engagements with Kilpatrick's Cavalry. I believe that Brother Graber's own words best describe the incident.

"I was at a blacksmith's shop with a comrade by the name of [Jim] Freeman, who was about seven years my senior in age. While waiting to get our horses shod we heard artillery, supported by small arms, open at our works, about a mile across the river. We immediately mounted our horses and dashed over there and just as we got in sight of the roadway through the breastworks we witnessed a lone trooper of Kilpatrick's cavalry coming up the road through the works, having his horse shot just as he reached inside. His horse fell on his leg, from which position he was trying to extricate himself and was about to be shot by an excited militia of young and old men, who had never been under fire before, when Jim put spurs to his horse and with his pistol raised, dashed up to where this man lay under his horse, and drove off the excited militia. I, of course, followed him. He called up a lieutenant, asked his name, company, and regiment; told him to take charge of that prisoner and see that he was well treated, that he would hold him personally responsible for his safety, and immediately wheeled his horse, I following him, and returned to town without giving the lieutenant a chance to ask questions. On our return I asked Jim Freeman his reasons for doing as he did, risking his own life, by being shot by the excited militia, in order to save this Federal. He answered, 'He is a brother Mason.' I asked him if he had ever met him before. He said, 'No, but I saw him give the grand hailing sign of distress, which obligates a Mason to save the life of a brother, at the risk of his own.' Here was a beautiful illustration of the work of Masonry, and I told Jim Freeman the first opportunity I had of joining the Masons, if I lived through the war, I intended to be one, which resolution I carried out, joining the Masons at Rusk, Texas."

Brother Jim Freeman followed his Masonic obligations and, in doing so, impressed a non-Mason so much that the man became a Brother Mason. Brother Graber assisted in forming the Rusk Masonic Institute in Rusk, Texas, to school the boys of the area. He served as chairman of the building committee and served on the Board of Trustees. This school produced two Texas State Governors. There is no way that Jim Freeman could imagine that following his oath would affect so many people.

Recently, I sat on the committee that reviewed the petition of Bro. Bob Johnson, a fellow Tulsa Police Officer, who had petitioned our Lodge. I asked Bob why he wanted to become a Mason. Bob told me that he had grown up around the Charles Page Home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Most of the directors of the home have been Masons. Charles Page was the home's founder, and, although he was not a Mason, Page asked the Grand Master of the State of Oklahoma to appoint the directors of the home. This is a tradition that has carried through today. Bob was not a resident of the home, but his mother worked at the home. Bob's answer to my question made me understand that it is as important today that we be men of principle as it was in Jim Freeman's day. Bob told me that the Charles Page directors had always impressed him as men of character and that he wanted to associate himself with such men.

These two incidents are very different in time and place and yet quite similar. These men followed their Masonic oaths. They were not trying to impress anyone yet impressed everyone they met in their daily lives. We were admonished to act as just and upright men when we first become Master Masons. We will help insure the survival of our beloved Fraternity if we will always remember those words in our dealings with our fellowmen.

H. Alan "Al" Wilson was raised in 1994, in Sand Springs Lodge No. 475, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. He is an active member of the Tulsa Scottish Rite where he is an Assistant Class Director and a member of the 8th, 22nd, and 30th Degree teams. He is also a member of the Royal Order of the Ducks, the Knights of St. Andrew, the Supernumerary Club, the Service Knights, and the Scottish Rite Research Society. He was appointed a Fellow for the year 2000 Supreme Council Leadership Conference in Tulsa. A member of Akdar Shrine, Brother Wilson is a 28-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department where be has worked K-9, Vice/Narcotics, Gangs, and is currently assigned as a patrol supervisor.