South Hills Masons Lodge celebrates 75th anniversary
Pennsylvania Masons South Hills Lodge No. 761 recently celebrated its 75th anniversary and plans to continue carrying on its mission into the future.
The lodge based in Bethel Park commemorated its anniversary with an event at Al’s Cafe in Bethel Park.
“It was a very nice get-together,” said Warren Roberts, the lodge’s worshipful master. “Some remarks were made about our history, where we’ve been and where we hope to go to.”
The lodge was constituted Oct. 7, 1949. According to its website, the lodge’s brothers “have been a force for good in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.”
Freemasonry is the oldest fraternity in the world and among the oldest continued organizations in history. The organization’s stated goal is “to make good men into better men,” a goal emphasized by strengthening character, improving moral and spiritual outlook, and broadening mental horizons.
The South Hills lodge has 189 members who reside in various South Hills communities, including Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon.
“In our initial charter, we had 129 people that were interested in becoming members of a new Masonic lodge in the South Hills, what they call warrant members,” Roberts explained.
A warrant member is someone officially recognized and authorized to operate as a member under a “warrant” issued by the Grand Lodge.
Roberts, of Bethel Park, has a long history with the South Hills Lodge. His grandfather, Donald Roberts, was a member of a lodge in Omaha, Neb., when seeds were being planted for the South Hills lodge.
“He transferred to the Bethel lodge to become a warrant member of the Bethel lodge,” Roberts said. “My grandfather, my father and two of his brothers were all warrant members of our Masonic lodge. My dad was very, very involved and very active.”
Roberts, of Bethel Park, joined the lodge in 1988. He was originally the master of the lodge in 1994 and is serving the role again this year and in 2025.
The lodge is always seeking new members. Anyone interested can visit the lodge’s website at www.masons761.org or contact the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania at www.pagrandlodge.org. Eight new members joined this year.
“We’re trying to rekindle interest in our masonic body,” Roberts said.
Looking to the future, Roberts said the lodge has several goals.
“I want us to be recognized in the community and in the South Hills as a men’s fraternal organization with that mindset, to take good men and make them better men,” Roberts said. “So what we have done is have a couple of blood drives, a couple of food drives. We did (Bethel Park) Community Day this year for the first time ever. I actually had five people approach me at Community Day and asked what they had to do to be a member.”
The lodge meets the first Saturday of every month (except July and August) at the lodge building, 761 McNary Place in Bethel Park. Breakfast is served at 8:15 a.m. and the meeting starts at 10 a.m.
“It’s fellowship,” Roberts said. “With COVID, I think so many people are looking for an organization to join. To get together with some of the older members and just sit and talk with these guys and have mature conversations with other men who have the same interests, it kind of gives young men a different perspective. We can do something as a group of people to help.”