FOREWORD TO THE 2005 REVISION
In 1999, Brother Mark Bosch, who was at that time Junior Warden of the Lodge, approached me with the proposition that I should write a History of Broad Ripple Lodge, for which service the Lodge would pay me a small stipend. I was at that time Junior Steward of the Lodge, having been raised only a few months earlier, and being embued with great zeal for the institution I replied that I would certainly be pleased to embark upon the work he had suggested, but that no stipend would be required. I had at that time recently come across the original 1937 history and did not believe that the job would require that much in the way of time.
How much things then changed in a very short period … for only a few months after that, through no fault of my own, I found myself sitting in the South as your duly-elected Junior Warden, and a very busy man I was indeed. (For one thing, I got married that year!) Looking forward, and being able to count on my fingers as well as the next Brother, it became clear to me that our 100th anniversary was going to fall in the year I would–presumably–be the 100th Master of Broad Ripple Lodge; and so with a firm resolution I started working at odd hours in an attempt to bring this history forward into our own day, and before that anniversary actually arrived.
Unfortunately I didn’t get it done by the deadline I’d set for myself. It had to wait until I was a Past Master, securely ensconsed in the Secretary’s chair, and finally able to breathe a sigh of relief that someone else was in charge. I hope that this final work, derivative as it is of the work of our earlier Brethren, yet still additive by my own efforts, will continue to be kept up to date by our future Brethren.
Respectfully submitted,
Nathan C. Brindle, P.M.