Jack A. Hendee, 32°

Women are essential to the "man's world" of Freemasonry.

As she helped him with his shirt studs, fussed with his tie and pinned his rose boutonniere, she knew how nervous he was. Tonight he was to receive a meritorious award of some type. She wasn't exactly sure what it was. He sort of downplayed it, and it was a man's world after all.

Still, his pride showed as she kissed his cheek when he told her how nice she looked in her gown. There had been other, many other, nights like this when he had his nervous moments. Like his apprehension years ago when he had been asked to start the journey through the "chairs." He told her it would be time consuming. She told him he would do well and not to worry. They would find the time. So, on the many, many evenings when he was at practices and Lodge functions, she would always quietly support him and offer her support at dinners and parties, too—always in the background, for it was a man's world.

Even when the boys joined Little League and he became a coach, she was always there washing uniforms, baking cookies, and tending to scrapes and bruises, all for her men. They won second place in the tournament, and she was so happy for them. When he finally was installed as Master of his Lodge, she was bursting inside with emotion. During his "year," she fussed and cooed over his Lodge more like a proud mother than his wife. She was never the "boss," only another of the hard-working ladies who never receive enough recognition.

And now their den was full of his honors, hats, and aprons. She was familiar with all of them, for they were a great part of his life in that man's world. She had gotten no awards or banquets for the hundreds of hours she had spent consoling, cajoling, softly pushing, sometimes cautioning him, for, on the surface at least, it was his world, a man's world. Perhaps we should all take a minute to recognize her. As our wonderful organization faces the future, the answer to many of our problems might just be there having coffee with you at the breakfast table.

The ladies conduct their meetings with dignity and competency. When it is time to relax, they have great fun. When it is time for fund-raisers, they pitch in and go to work. We honor everyone from the ambulance driver to the zookeeper, but seldom one of our own hard-working ladies. They ask so little and offer so much to our lives in this man's world. For years, they have attended our meetings and dinners. It's time they shared the head table in this, our man's world.

Jack A. Hendee is an Iowan by birth and a Californian since 1952. In 1959, he was raised a Master Mason in Lorenzo Lodge No. 709, Hayward, Calif. (now merged with Acacia Lodge No. 243) and is a member of the York Rite, Scottish Rite, and Al Bahr Shrine, all in San Diego. He retired from a career in marketing, sales, and distribution. A former member of Boys and Girls Mental Health Society, he now pursues several hobbies: writing, fishing, ham radio, photography, and boating where he holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master's License. He is much too busy in all Masonic Bodies, but looking for more to do in the Craft.