Fraternal AV groups, VFW, Masons mark grand opening

By ALEXA VAUGHN
Valley Press Staff Writer

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7283, whose members had met for more than 60 years in a post hall on Sierra Highway, has moved in with Joseph A. Meekins Masonic Lodge 103 in the Division Street hall that has been the lodge's home since 1993.

Also using the hall at 43843 Division St. will be Desert Princess Eastern Stars Chapter 92, plus the VFW Post 7283 Ladies Auxiliary.

"This is better than a twofer - this is a twofer squared," said Larry Grooms, district director for Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, at the opening ceremony. Drew Mercy, representing State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, also congratulated the lodge and post, saying that service organizations like these working together make the Antelope Valley a great place to live.

Bishop Henry Hearns, Lancaster's former mayor, was also present to bless the new facility and offer congratulations from the city.

"This is the end product, but two things have to come before that product is finished and that's leadership and persistence," Hearns said.

Each organization will remain separate, sharing a common facility while maintaining their own identities and purpose, members noted.

Plans for sharing the same meeting hall started two years ago when Glen Campbell, now the lodge secretary, saw the post was being forced out of its meeting place because the city was buying it, the same reason the lodge lost its former downtown Lancaster meeting place.

Campbell said he thought the VFW might want to consider sharing the lodge's meeting hall. So he and lodge members like Daniel Gray, who happens to be an officer for both organizations now, approached the VFW, which was told last year they had to be out of their hall by the end of April 2008.

"I asked them to consider the feasibility, and I think all of us appreciated it," Campbell said. "The nice thing is that the lodge owns this place free and clear. So they lease this place from us and all the money goes into making this place look better."

Renovating the kitchen, connecting the old building to a sewer system, redoing the roof and putting in a new fenced patio has cost $160,000 so far. Campbell said the next goals are paving the parking lot, buying awnings for the patio and, eventually, building a completely new 6,000 square-foot facility behind the existing building.

The VFW post had existed since 1948 at its post on Sierra Highway north of Avenue I, Gray said. The city has been acquiring properties in the area as part of its rehabilitation efforts.

"You tear up a little bit listing all your memories," Gray said of the old post hall.

The Masonic lodge started at Edwards AFB in 1963 as a military chapter. The lodge is a part of the Prince Hall Masonic Order, which is named for a former slave who in Revolutionary War Boston formed the first Masonic lodge for blacks. Hall led the effort to allow black men to enlist in the Continental Army, pushed for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts and created the first school organized by black citizens for black children, according to the Grand Lodge.

avaughn@avpress.com