National Ritual Champions
1939-1940 Grand Lodge Session, Houston Texas
The officers of Inglewood Lodge #1492 for the year
1939-40 entered the District Ritual Contest and, after many long hours of
practice, competed with the other lodges of the district. After the dust had settled the Inglewood
officers were victorious.
The challenge was before them as they prepared to
represent the South Central District in the state finals. Many more hours of practice were spent by
this group of officers. The day of the final contest arrived and all were
nervous, but when they appeared on the floor to present their rendition of the
Ritual, all were at peace with the world. When all teams had competed and the
final scores announced, Inglewood officers were declared the winners. All were
elated with this victory for it was the first for Inglewood Lodge.
The team was told that it was to represent
California in the National Finals at Houston, Texas. The winner would then be
declared National Ritual Champions of all lodges of the Order. This of course was a great challenge, which
was accepted by this group of officers.
This called for long hours of practice for word and diction perfection.
Finally, the day came for departure to Houston, but
how were they to get there? The lodge had little money and to transport ten
officers, coach and candidate this long distance presented a problem. It was
finally decided to take three cars and drive. Several days later and after
several incidents en route the entourage arrived at its destination.
Practice was held at 11:00 p.m. on a Sunday night
for on the following morning at 11:00 a.m. they were scheduled to appear and
present their version of the ritual. All were in a state of shock but when the
contest started it was evident that their long hours of practice was paying off
for each officer was doing a splendid job. You could see this by the rapt
attention being given by the judges and spectators.