When I was a toddler and then teen, I noticed many men would come to our house. My father, having retired because of his disability, had time on his hands. When these people came, my mother would go to the store and take me. I was not allowed to stay home. It was "grown-up talk." Later, my mother told me father was an instructor for the Freemasons.

Everyday my father sat at the end of the kitchen table, drinking coffee and moving his lips in silence. Sometimes, nodding his head back and forth as he spoke to himself, he made motions with his hands. If interrupted, he would always stop and speak to us, but then go back to what he was doing. I never knew or gave much thought to what he was doing.

My father had several strokes over the years and towards the end lost his speech. Even though he could not speak clearly, he still sat in silence moving his lips ever so slightly and nodding his head. When I would ask him what he was doing, he would raise his shoulders, meaning nothing.

My father died when I was fourteen, and I felt like I never really had known him. My mother told me stories about his being in the Masons, but it was not like hearing them from him. My father had a wonderful Masonic funeral, and many, many people showed up.

Over the years, I often wondered what they did in Lodge. I had been in the Lodge several times with my father for open houses and other events. Also, my mother was an Eastern Star, and her Chapter met in father's Lodge building. I was brought to mom's O.E.S. meetings several times and wondered what everything meant.

For the next 16 years, I met and spoke to several friends of my father. They always had nice things to say and asked about my family with concern. When I was 30, I called up a friend of my father and asked for a petition. My mother seemed to approve of my asking, but left it at that. After I got my petition, I went to another friend and asked him to co-sponsor me. He was really excited about me asking him and said it was an honor for him to sign my petition. Right off the bat, I knew it was the right thing to do.

I went through the usual background visit. A committee of Masons came to my house and spoke to my wife and me. They were very nice and straightforward. I was initiated in February 1990 and raised to Master Mason on April 17, 1990. When I started my instruction, I often wondered what my father would think and wondered how he reacted to his instruction. I petitioned the Scottish Rite and the Shriners in October of that same year. My father had a 32° ring, and after I went through the Consistory, my mother gave me his ring. I was really excited.

My occupation since 1983 has been in law enforcement, and in 1993, I transferred to the detective bureau. The captain of the detective bureau and I talked about the Freemasons. I learned that his father was a Mason and an instructor also. Several weeks later, he decided to petition. Now we have had two additional detectives petition, and each has been raised.

Though I have not had the time to learn to become an instructor, I think that later on I may. While being instructed and sitting in while others were instructed, I would think back to my father sitting at the table, and I noticed the same moves and gestures. I knew then what he must have been doing, reciting the Degree work to himself. Despite his illness, I felt he never lost his knowledge of the Degrees. Somehow, through it all, he remembered. Maybe that's what kept him going and his mind together throughout his ordeal with the strokes. Even though he could not speak, I saw him there at the table drinking his coffee, moving his lips, and sitting in silence. Still today, I find it amazing that the Degrees taught by word of mouth remain the same, unchanged. Even the teaching methods are unchanged.
Having met several Masons my father's age and several who knew him, I often wondered what stories and other information he could have passed down to me. I am sure he had much information to pass on. One day I know I will meet him again and know for sure.

André S. Dominick is a native of Louisiana and a life-long resident of St. Bernard Parish. A member of Andrew Jackson Lodge No. 428 since 1990, he is also a member of the St. Bernard Shrine Club, the Jerusalem Shrine Temple, and the Scottish Rite Valley of New Orleans. He started the Honesty and Integrity Award program, now in its 6th year, for Andrew Jackson Lodge. He is married to the former Danette Fos, and they have one child, Kayla. The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office employs Brother Dominick as a detective with the rank of sergeant. His father, Bro. Leo Bernard Dominick, 32°, Valley of New Orleans, Louisiana, became a Mason in 1963 and died November 6, 1974, at age of 52. His mother is Ella Abney Dominick, and her father, Roland Abney, was a Freemason.