Charles E. Martin, 32°
2201 Sunnyview Oval
Keasbey, New Jersey 08832

A Masonic ring spans three generations of communication and family tradition.

I wear an ordinary Masonic ring, but it has a story all its own. It's my grampaw's ring, and he was born in Corinth, Kentucky, in 1900, the son of a section hand on the railroad. Corinth was a brief stop on the railroad line, and, like many small towns in Kentucky at that time, Corinth had a Masonic Lodge. Grampaw, Bro. Edward H. Martin, was hoping to advance, and he was fortunate to learn the Morse code. This talent allowed him to secure employment as a station clerk and telegrapher for the railroad. When he was of the age of majority in 1921, he petitioned and joined Corinth's Masonic Lodge, which no longer exists, and remained a Mason right up to his death in 1976.

Grampaw worked in several assignments along the railroad, always banging out the messages with the familiar "clickety-clack" of the Morse code. One of the tricks telegraphers used to change and amplify the tone of the clicks was to fasten an empty tobacco tin to the armature of the clicker. Grampaw was able to work throughout the depression of the 1930s at various stops on the railroad, up and down through the state of Kentucky. He would often visit Lodges along the line. After he was made a Mason, he bought a Masonic ring and wore it all over the state while on his temporary assignments for the railroad.

It's made of 24k gold with a pair of machine-cut diamonds on the side and a Masonic Square and Compasses in the center (photo above). He also had a second career, in politics serving in the state legislature of Kentucky. He died in his sleep, after watching a political convention on television.

I petitioned a Lodge in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the summer of my 28th year and was raised a Master Mason by my father on Sept 28, 1982. Later in that year, I found out that Grampaw's ring had lain in my aunt Martha's jewelry box since his death. I thought my father would like to have Grampaw's ring, so I asked Aunt Martha if perhaps he could have it. She agreed and sent it along. It was worn and in need of repair, but you could still see the diamonds sparkle, and the Square and Compasses symbol was readable, barely.

This 1948 photo shows the author's grandfather, Bro. Edward H. Martin, sitting by the back porch of his Ludlow, Kentucky, home with his wife, Katherine, and family dog, Dinah.

Dad wore the ring for a while, but he found it a little uncomfortable, so he passed it on to me. I was delighted to have it, but I could tell it needed some rehabilitation. I put it away and wore another ring, purchased in a pawnshop, as my everyday ring and wore Grampaw's ring only on special occasions. I wore it when taking the Scottish Rite Degrees in Alexandria, Virginia, and when I petitioned the Shrine in Fairfax, Virginia. While surfing the Internet one day, I found a place that specialized in antique jewelry repair, so I sent the ring in, got it polished, the diamonds reset, and a new Square and Compasses mounted on it. Now it looks better than new, and I am wearing it as I key this article.

I now work as a telecommunications engineer in an industry where circuits flash millions of bits of data in the wink of an eye. In fact, the binary bits transmitted along the fiber optic and satellite lines are the direct descendants of the "clickety-clacks" from Grampaw's old telegraph key and tobacco tin. I wear Grampaw's ring in the various Lodges I visit throughout the world. As a journeyman engineer, I have been privileged to visit Lodges in 11 states and two foreign countries. Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternity, and I am sure that when Grampaw bought this ring, he never believed it would be worn in Lodges in Paris, the Middle East, and across America.

I am grateful to Grampaw for his interest in Masonry and for the inheritance of his ring. I wear it with honor to myself and pride in my Fraternity. Grampaw would have liked that.