Greenville Masons deliver holiday fruit baskets to widows

GREENVILLE — For decades, members of Greenville’s Masonic Lodge No. 107 have brightened Christmas for widows of its deceased members, and this year was no different.

“Part of Masonic teaching is the obligation to look after the widows of our members,” said Secretary David Bollinger, “and we’ve always done something for them.”

Recently, treasurer Ted Marlow, Bollinger, past master Lavern Daves and worshipful master Allen Brooks delivered fruit baskets for the holidays.

“We delivered 12 baskets this year,” Bollinger said, “and those went to local widows.”

Each year, he said, anywhere from 12 to 15 baskets are crafted and delivered.

The gesture, Bollinger said, is to “say we’re here. We want to let them know they are not forgotten.”

While Bollinger said nobody at the lodge knows exactly when the fruit basket program began, he believes “hundreds, maybe thousands” may have benefitted from it.

Other projects and support gestures for Mason widows, Bollinger said, have included such things as cutting firewood, delivering food, yard work, making home improvements and more.

“Our lodge has a Masonic Home representative, and we reach out to the widows to take care of them,” Bollinger said. “It’s our obligation and is part of what we do.”