Philip J. “Jack” Buta, 32°

An Arizona Freemason founded a “Bikes for Books”
reading program now popular in seven states.

Bro. Fred Stewart, KCCH (pictured right), Valley of Phoenix, Ariz., and a member (1985-2001) of what is now Paradise Valley Silver Trowel Lodge #29 in Phoenix, was a great talker to everyone—and I mean everyone—about Free-masonry, what it stands for, and the good it does in the community. Although you may not be familiar with his name, you can still see his work being done today in Lodges all over the nation.

In 1995, Fred was down in Mexico helping to build houses for the needy in one of the small villages close to Rocky Point. He was 65 years old, had already survived two heart attacks, and owned a company with annual sales in excess of two million dollars, but there he was, swinging a hammer in the middle of nowhere and happy to do it. As he looked around, he noticed that many of the children in the village were also working, even though it was mid-morning on a school day. During a break in construction, he walked down to the local school to talk to the teacher.

“ It is hard to keep the children in school,” the teacher told Fred. “They are very poor and will end up working in the fields. They have no interest in reading books, books that can change their lives. They just need the right incentive to read.”

Back in Phoenix a week later, Fred happened to catch a television story about an upcoming auction at the Phoenix Police Department. The camera panned over a huge array of children’s bikes that were going up for auction. Ten seconds later, Fred was on the phone to the police department. He just figured out how to get truant kids back in school! He went down to the police department, bought 30 bikes, and then button-holed a few of his Masonic Brothers to help make them serviceable. Bro. Fred was a very hard man to say no to!

Brothers Amixtocle Cocco (left) and John B. “Jack” Melin, 32° (right), Valley of Phoenix, carry on, along with other Phoenix Brethren, the “Bikes for Books Reading Program” sponsored by Paradise Valley Silver Trowel Lodge #29.

A week later, Fred was back in Mexico with the bikes. “Here’s what I’d like you to try,” Fred explained to the teacher. “Put a couple of these bikes on display where the kids can see them. Tell them that you will give each student a ticket for a drawing for every book he or she reads. Then, at the end of the school semester, hold a drawing and award the bikes.”

Six months later when Fred returned to the village, he was barely out of his truck when the teacher rushed up to him and, pumping Fred’s hand, excitedly said, “My students read more books this year than they have ever done. How can I ever thank you?”

“ You already have,” Fred said grinning. “To feel any better I would need to be two men.”

Fred’s Lodge, Paradise Valley Silver Trowel, sits in the middle of a predominantly Mexican working-class barrio in northeast Phoenix. Many of the parents of children attending the schools are day laborers and migrant workers. Fresh from his success in Mexico, Fred saw that these children had the same problems. Only the location was different. He had already proven bicycles could be a great incentive to get children to read books. He also knew firsthand about the power books had to excite the mind and fire the imagination.

The next day Fred bought two beautiful new bicycles and placed them in the library at Campo-Bello Elementary School. He arranged with the school that a child would be required to read 25 books in a school semester to be eligible for a drawing. The first bike was won by a boy living in a shelter. The next semester, Bro. Fred donated new bicycles to four more schools. “The Bikes for Books Program” was off and running. Today his program has been adopted throughout Arizona as well as in California, Washington, Wyoming, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania. In none of these jurisdictions is Fred Stewart’s name mentioned in conjunction with the program he started. Bro. Fred never cared about credit; he cared about children.

No one at our Lodge ever fully realized just how much work Brother Fred did until after his funeral. It took 23 Broth-ers to handle all the jobs he had done for so many years. It would have been an incredible feat for a 35-year-old man in the prime of his life; for a 70- year-old man, it staggers the imagination.

Fred Stewart was active in Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite, York Rite, and Shrine. Laboring hard for the Craft until his last breath, Brother Stewart collapsed on stage at the El Zaribah Shrine while talking about membership. It is a mark of his character as a Mason that the eulogy at both his Masonic and religious services was performed by the Grand Master of Masons in Arizona, the Reverend MW Donald W. Munson, 33°.

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints that perhaps another
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwreck’ brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Philip J. “Jack” Buta performs the role of Junior Warden in the 18°, Valley of Phoenix, Ariz. His varied career has included radar operator, DEW (Distant Early Warning); Air Traffic Controller, Chicago Center; real estate broker and manager, Phoenix; and leather jacket entrepreneur. Contacts: 20 W. Yearling Road, Phoenix, AZ 85027; jackets@jrstone.com