Philip Douglas A. Field, 32°, K.C.C.H.
1681 Halama Street, Kihei, Hawaii 96753-8023

On this year's 100th birthday of pioneer aviator Bro. Charles A. Lindbergh and the 75th anniversary of his historic 1927 flight, it is appropriate to remember and honor this outstanding American Mason.

On Sunday, May 26, 2002, at 4:00 pm at the Palapala Ho'omau Congregational Church (below left) at Kipahulu, Island of Maui, Hawaiian Islands, 16 parishioners, friends, and Masonic Brothers gathered in the fading sunlight. In the dimly lighted church built 145 years ago of coral, lava stone, and mortar, those attending were led by Kahu Richard Wylie in singing "America the Beautiful." The event was a memorial service for our Masonic Brother, Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974).

Brother Lindbergh had bought five acres of coastal land on Maui and had built two rustic dwellings. When he grew short of days due to terminal cancer, he was in New York, but wanted to die at his Maui home. In the outer courtyard of the church's tiny cemetery, a gray Vermont granite stone lying flat on the ground marks his grave. It bears the inscription "…If I take the wings of morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea…" a passage from Psalms 139:9. Familiar to many, but not inscribed on the stone, is verse 10: "…even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."

That afternoon, someone had placed six tiny American flags and one small Swedish flag about the edges of the stone. Inside the faintly damp church, light faded as the pastor led those joining him at a table where a single goblet held ceremonial grape juice. Those who wished dipped a tiny square of white bread into the cup and ate. A shy local lady led the congregation in singing a cappella the haunting "Ka Haku Aloha E," "Break Thou the Bread of Life." Kahu Wylie gave the benediction.

Bro. Lindbergh took "the wings of morning" out of this world at 7:00 am on Monday, August 26, 1974. He was 72. Perhaps from his five-term Minnesota U.S. Congressman father or his schoolteacher mother, Bro. Lindbergh had learned to plan carefully. Thus, he had every detail of his burial in place, including a heavy eucalyptus wood coffin. With similarly precise planning, he had left his island A-frame cottage and another building, along with the land surrounding these structures, to the U.S. National Park Service, had arranged to have them included in Haleakala National Park, and had set up a fund to maintain these bequests.

Ill. Roger M. Firestone, 33°, has already published (Scottish Rite Journal, November 1992) an excellent synopsis of Bro. Lindbergh's Masonic and professional life. Also, author A. Scott Berg has published a lengthy biography of Lindbergh (Lindbergh, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1998, ISBN 0-399-14449-8). This study does not allude to Lindbergh as a Mason, yet Lindbergh himself in his 1953 autobiographical book Spirit of St. Louis listed Masonic awards from the Brethren of Long Beach, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as Lodge No. 356, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Masons of Puerto Rico, Panama, Santo Domingo, and Costa Rica. The latter are countries Bro. Lindbergh flew to following his epic flight from New York to Paris in 1927. Seventy-eight medals given to him by governments and other bodies of the United States and foreign entities are now on display at the Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis.

Headstone of the grave of Bro. Charles A. Lindbergh (1902-1974) in the churchyard of the Palapala Ho'omau Congregational Church on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean at Kipahulu, island of Maui, Hawaii Photo: Bro. Philip Douglas A. Field, 32°, K.C.C.H.

Further, William R. Denslow, in his four-volume work titled 10,000 Famous Freemasons, records the following: "Lindbergh received his degrees in Keystone Lodge No. 243, St. Louis, Mo., June 9, Oct. 20, and Dec. 15, 1926, and is a life member of that lodge. He is also a member of St. Louis Chapter No. 33, National Sojourners, and the Sciots of San Diego, Calif." (Transactions of the Missouri Lodge of Research, 1959, Vol. III, pp. 87-88). On his history-making flight, Lindbergh is said to have worn a patch with a Square and Compasses on his flying jacket. In the year 2002, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Brother Lindbergh's famous flight, Erik Lindbergh, Lindbergh's grandson, flew alone nonstop over the same route his grandfather took from New York to Paris. We salute Brother Charles Augustus Lindbergh as a great American and Freemason.

Aloha pumehana.

Philip Douglas A. Field is a retired instructor in European Languages (French Spanish, Portuguese) at Maui Community College of the University of Hawaii (1967-1986). In 1947, he flew for 10 1/2 hours from San Francisco to Honolulu in United's DC 6-B, having been hired by Webley Edwards of "Hawaii Calls" fame. He worked at KHON, Honolulu, which originated programs for an island chain of radio stations. Bro. Field was raised in Lodge Maui No. 472, island of Maui, in 1972 and served as its Master in 1978. He is a Noble of the Shrine's Aloha Temple, Commander of the Maui Council of Kadosh, Secretary-Treasurer of the Maui Scottish Rite Coordinate Bodies and of the Maui Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Scholarship Foundation, presently funding $12,000 each year to qualified college students.