My Friend Died

Reflections About A Mason

Yesterday found MW Woods and me driving from Southwest Washington to North Central Washington and back so that we could attend the memorial service of a great Mason.

Photo by Les Anderson on Unsplash

I first met my friend when then Deputy Grand Master Coffman was in search of a District Deputy for North Central Washington. Like me, Bro. Coffman is from the southwest of the State, and we haven’t had anyone from the northeast or northcentral area serve in the Grand East for a very, very long time. So, he didn’t really have a good feel for whom he should appoint. I joined him as he very discretely interviewed some Brothers for the position.

We did so in Okanogan, out the back door of the Lodge building. And the moment we met the Mason who would become my friend, we knew that we had found the right man for the job. MW Coffman appointed him DDGM, and I reappointed him the following year.

But where I really got to know my friend was in a hotel suite in Wenatchee, the weekend I became Grand Master. I don’t know how it happened, and I’ve thought about it quite a lot over the last couple of days, but it was kind of a unique thing.

You see, at Washington’s Annual Communications, the Elected Grand Lodge Officers take all the suites on the top floor of the hotel, and kind of open them up each evening, so that people can have a good place to go and chat, without disturbing the non Masonic guests of the hotel.

So, I was up there, in a big suite that year, and I have lots of memories of that suite being crammed full of people. As I recall it had a couple of bathrooms, two bedrooms, and a big living room/kitchen thing/TV room combo thing. And we crammed it full of people throughout the event.

But somehow, and I don’t know how, there was a time that it was just me and my friend. Sitting at a little dining table and talking. For hours and hours. The only thing I can think of is that it must have grown very late and everyone else had left for bed. But he and I sat there, talking.

I really got to know him that night. And his excitement for our Craft, and for my own plans, was extremely encouraging to me. Just listening to him made me know that everything was going to be great.

During my time in the East, I planned a great road trip. Me, my officers, and friends left Southwest Washington and visited Doric Lodge in Seattle for their Stated Meeting. We stayed just north of Seattle that night, and the next morning drove over the spectacularly beautiful North Cascades Pass to the tourist town of Winthrop.

I have tremendous childhood memories of Winthrop. We would camp and fish in Pearrygin Lake each summer, camp and fish at Cougar Lake each fall, and then dive into deer hunting up Beaver Creek and throughout the methow wildlife area. All of this necessitated a lot of trips to Sam’s Place back in the day.

So, up to Winthrop we went.

And there we met my friend, and DDGM. And what a welcoming and wonderful trip he made it for all of us!

We reconstituted Methow Valley Lodge in Twisp. We attended a Stated Meeting at Okanogan Lodge, which I had the honor of closing. And, I remember while closing it, thinking to myself about what a superb job I was doing with the ritual. (Till this day I still catch grief for closing Omak Lodge while we were actually at Okanogan Lodge!)

But we did so much more than that. My friend arranged for us to tour a superb local winery and learn from the winemaker. He arranged for us to meet every Mason in the area over food and drinks, more than once. He loved his town, he loved his Brothers, and he made certain that we saw everything and everyone.

It was a truly wonderful few days. A trip with friends and Brothers that I will never forget. A trip made wonderful by my friend and his amazing hospitality.

It was also when I discovered that my friend considered a large red solo cup full of Crown Royal to be a mere shot of whiskey. I could have tried to keep up with him in the evenings, but surely I would have died.

I’ve often thought that I’d like to recreate that trip someday, but recapturing magic is nearly impossible, indeed truly impossible now that my friend has passed.

District meetings in my term were done over Zoom, and that proved to be the last time I ever had the opportunity to spend time with my friend.

I was notified when he passed away this winter, and I am glad that his memorial didn’t take place until now, so that I could attend and say goodbye to him one final time.

Very Worshipful Buster Carter. One of the finest, most generous Masons I’ve had the honor of knowing.

He did what we all aim to do. He lived respected, and he died regretted.

Goodbye my friend.