It was Lodge night, December 31, 2035, 7:30 p.m. The 98-year-old Tyler could still remember the words of the Worshipful Master, "Flail the water boys, you're still sinking." The Tyler, who was Master of his Lodge 70 years previous, repeated those prophetic words as he slowly placed the officer's aprons and jewels on the proper station and places, then walked to his place at the outer door and waited.

He waited and waited. It was 7:30 p.m., then 8:30 p.m., and nobody came.

He slowly walked around the Lodge, to the Worshipful Master's station and then to all the officer's chairs, retrieved the aprons and jewels, and placed them neatly in the storage locker. He turned the lights off in the Lodge, closed the outer door, and walked into the darkness sadly muttering over and over, "No one listened to the Worshipful Master in 1966 when his message sounded the alarm, 'Wake up Master Masons! Wake up!'"

The Tyler, the Last Mason, tears streaming down his face, thought, "They didn't listen, they were complacent."
Freemasonry slipped into the darkness. In 1959, there were 4,103,161 Masons in America. In 1995, there were 2,153,316—a loss over 36 years of 1,949,845. That comes to 54,162 lost each year. Do the numbers: divide the 2,153,316 Masons left in 1995 by 54,162 lost each year. The answer is 40 years or the year 2035, "The Year of the Last Mason."

Joseph Bureski is a Past Master of Nellis Lodge No. 46, Las Vegas, Nevada. He served as Grand Trustee of the Grand Lodge of Nevada for three years and founded the Las Vegas Friday Morning Masonic Breakfast in 1977. Grand Lodge Librarian of Nevada, Southern Jurisdiction, for three years, he has conducted Masonic memorial services for 26 years for Nevada Brethren who were members of National Sojourners. A past editor of the Las Vegas Footprinter, a Peace Officers organization, he became a York Rite Mason in 1962 and Scottish Rite Mason, Valley of Las Vegas, in 1970, being elected a K.C.C.H. in 1983 and coroneted a 33° I.G.H. in 1993. Presently, he is a member of the Nevada Educational Task Force for Southern Nevada.