In April 1986, Sam McLendon, Ray Wiggins, and Bob Hearon discussed a possibility. Many permanent retirees in Lillian had been active Masons before moving to the area. Could those men establish a Lodge closer to home?
They began by asking friends and neighbors about their interest. Early gatherings took place at Wiggins’s home and at the Lillian Community Club. A successful community meeting brought momentum to the effort. Because a new Lodge needed another Lodge’s sponsorship, the organizers approached Foley Masonic Lodge #766. Its Brothers voted to support the Lillian group.
On April 29, 1986, McLendon wrote to the Grand Lodge of Alabama about the interest in forming a Lodge. At the Grand Lodge’s recommendation, the prospective members met with District Lecturer Brother Jim Casey, Assistant Director Brother Bill Richardson, and officers and Brothers from Foley Lodge to review the requirements for a charter.
Preparing a new Lodge
The group needed to submit a petition and demits from Master Masons joining the new Lodge. It also needed to demonstrate proficiency in opening and closing a Lodge and in conferring the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason degrees. The men voted unanimously to proceed.
Charter member James Baker offered the Lillian KOA Recreation Hall as a meeting place. At the first meeting there on May 7, 1986, the group selected its initial officers:
At a May 20 meeting, the men chose the name “Lillian Lodge.” Regular meetings began June 3, 1986. During this formative period, the Brothers collected membership paperwork, acquired furnishings and Masonic equipment, and practiced the work required of a Lodge.
Bylaws prepared by William T. Hall, Willard L. Krueger, Donald M. French, and William E. Thrift were submitted and approved without changes.
Acting Secretary Frederick W. Duckworth reported that P.O. Box 455 had been obtained. Acting Treasurer Edmund K. Tryba reported a bank account at Elberta Bank.
The first meeting at the Lillian Community Club was reported. The KOA hall had become too small for the well-attended meetings and the equipment members had made or donated. At the Community Club, Brothers moved furnishings from storage before each meeting and returned them afterward.
Recognition and a permanent home
After the group satisfied the necessary requirements, the Grand Lodge of Alabama instituted Lillian Lodge No. 925 Under Dispensation at an open ceremony in the Lillian Community Club on February 20, 1987. The first four candidates raised by the new Lodge were Douglas R. Creighton Jr., Dale G. Reed, Myles M. Standish, and James H. Arnold Jr.
In April 1987, the Lodge formed the Lillian Masonic Temple Association, Inc., to take responsibility for financing, constructing, and later maintaining a permanent Temple. That November, the Grand Lodge voted at its annual meeting to issue a charter to Lillian Lodge No. 925. The Lodge also began serving a monthly Sunday dinner at the Community Club, a significant source of building funds.
Families were part of the story. In September 1990, the “925 Support Group,” made up primarily of members’ wives, organized to support the Brothers morally and financially. Ground was broken for the new building that same month. Although Brothers used the building while work continued, the new Temple was officially recognized on April 21, 1992—about six years after the first conversation about a Lodge in Lillian.
Newspaper coverage and Lodge records preserve moments along the way, including a report on the dedication of the cornerstone and building that quoted Vernon Lowe in 1995. Lowe had served as Worshipful Master during the Lodge’s charter period. The contributions of the early Brothers, families, and neighbors remain part of Lillian Lodge’s foundation.
Today, the Lodge continues to gather on the first and third Tuesdays. Its history is more than dates and a building: it is the record of people who created a place for fellowship and service, then made sure the next generation could carry it forward.