McDaniel presented with 50-year pin

Four members of the Comanche Masonic Lodge #41 drove down from Oklahoma on Monday, March 11 to present longtime Albany resident Vernon McDaniel with his 50-year Masonic pin.

McDaniel was born in Oklahoma and lived in the Shawnee area until he enlisted in the Marines in 1952. 

He was back in Oklahoma when he joined the Masons in early 1969.

Although McDaniel and his wife Geraldine moved to Albany that same year and the local Lodge invited him to join, he was unwilling to transfer his membership.

“I guess I was just sentimental and didn’t want to leave the men who first instructed me,” said McDaniel. “I attended the Albany, Moran, Breckenridge, Throckmorton, and Jolly Lodges, but I kept paying my dues at the Comanche Lodge. And every now and then, when we’d go through there on Lodge night, I’d stop by.” 

However, McDaniel said he was not expecting to hear that four of his fellow Lodge members planned to drop by and see him.

“It surprised the fool out of me when they called and said they were coming to give me my 50-year pin,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed being a Lodge member, but I didn’t realize it had been that long. It has been very educational, very interesting, and very religious.”

McDaniel intends to keep paying his dues to the Comanche Lodge.

“I’ll keep up my Lodge membership as long as I’m alive,” he said. 

McDaniel has a history of long-term commitments. 

“I worked for Koch Oil Company for 30 years,” he said. “I’ve been married to Geraldine for 63 years. She was the light of my life then, and she still is.”

Comanche Lodge #41 has a charter through the Grand Lodge of OK, AF&AM.