By Paul Rodriguez-Obrian, PM—Master Brethren and Families, Happy New Year - 6026 A.L. Thank you to all who attended the Installation of Officers for 2026. The lodge was honored to have our DeMolay team perform the Arch of Steel as the new officers entered the lodge room. Our guests, the installation team, and the officers were then privileged to witness the ceremonial presentation of our nation’s flag by the Grand Patriotism and Representative to Iowa, Mississippi, and Missou

By Alex VonStadt — Sr. Warden Brethren: I hope that each and everyone of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It’s now time to pack up the Christmas lights and decorations and make way for the events of 2026. It’s time to recycle the Christmas tree- if you had a “real” one or if you didn’t, it’s time to box up and store the artificial one. It is at this particular time of year that I will hear multiple traffic reports during my morning commute of the sudden and mys

By Andrew Hawes, PM — Jr. Warden 2026!  Wow.  Time keeps flying past. To start this year, I will digress a bit from my usual introspective attempt to provoke thought, and take a more Junior-Warden-based approach to my article.  Specifically, I want to share with everyone the tentative menu for each stated meeting dinner of the year.  Subject of course to minor changes or large corrections as deemed appropriate, here is the plan: January: (Winter belly warmer!) - Soup, Meatlo

By Denise Jow—Past Grand Guide Job’s Daughters Bethel No. 1, Dublin Bethel One ended the year attending Ashleigh’s Lily of the Valley Award on December 27th. Ashleigh joined Bethel One when she was 10 years old, later her family moved to Sacramento so she joined Bethel No. 291. She is a PHQ of both Bethels & was a Grand Bethel Officer in 2023. This award is presented to young women between the ages of 18 and 24 who have shown outstanding dedication to both their Bethels an

By Lyman Penning, PM—Master I would like to thank all of you for electing me to serve in the East as Worshipful Master for 2025. As I prepare to step down, I am looking back at what Crow Canyon has done as well as looking at the plans that Paul Rodriguez has for 2026.  Make sure that you have made your reservations for both the December Stated Meeting on Thursday, December 4 as well as the Installation Dinner on Saturday, December 6. The Installation of Officers will start at

By Paul Rodriguez-Obrien, PM — Master-Elect My Brothers and Family, Thank you sincerely for your confidence in me as your next Worshipful Master of CC-551. Before we look ahead, I’d like to offer special recognition to our newest Junior Past Master, Wor. Lyman Penning, for his dedication to our youth groups and for keeping our lodge and membership in such fine shape during his time in the East. Under Wor. Penning’s leadership, we initiated two new Brothers and raised three ne

By Alex Von Stadt — Sr. Warden Brethren: I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2026! December is named after the Latin word “decem” for ten or tenth as December was originally the tenth month of the Roman calendar, which was revised in later years. The month of December marks the Winter Solstice or the first day of Winter (also the shortest day of the year) in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2025, that event occurs on December 21st. In closing, I wis

Written by Microsoft Copilot in the style of Andrew Hawes, PM — Jr. Warden (with express consent from Wor. Hawes prior to publishing) December is here, brethren, and with it comes the end of another year. I always find myself a little contemplative this time of year — maybe it’s the colder weather, maybe it’s the shorter days, or maybe it’s just the fact that the calendar is about to flip over again and remind me that time marches on whether I’m ready for it or not. Now, Dece

By Denise Jow—Past Grand Guide Job’s Daughters Bethel No. 1, Dublin Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! In December we have planned a Gift Exchange, Installation of Bethel Guardian Council & Holiday Lights. The Bethel Officers are making plans for our 204th Installation of Officers to be held on Saturday, January 10th at Castro Valley Masonic Center. Bethel members are encouraged to invite their friends to our activities. Grand Guardian Council was held in Visalia t

By Lyman Penning, PM—Master Our Stated Meeting in November will be an important meeting for the lodge. We will be holding our Annual Election of officers for 2026, as well as getting positions filled for the Hall Association and other lodge positions that need to be taken care of at this Stated Meeting. So please make sure to put in your reservations for November 6, 2025. I would like to encourage everyone to try and come to the Castro Valley DeMolay Installation of Officers

By Alex Von Stade, PM — Sr. Warden Brethren: November is now upon us and as such, the 2025 calendar year is slowly coming to a close. November is derived from the Latin word “novem” meaning the number nine. In the early Roman calendar, November was the ninth month; however as the Roman calendar was revised over time, November became the eleventh month. Notable holidays this November include: November 2nd when Daylight Savings time ends, November 11th when we celebrate Veteran

By Andrew Hawes, PM — Jr. Warden We have all heard the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" It is meant as an encouragement towards optimism, towards staying positive and "soldiering on" despite things being difficult.  My personal favorite way of expressing this is "every cloud has a silver lining" - no matter how dark or bleak things look, there is always something positive that can be focused on instead of the woes or stresses in our lives.  A singer that my

By Denise Jow—Past Grand Guide Bethel One has had a busy month. It started with the Bethel members participating in the Alden Lane Nursery Scarecrow building contest on October 12th. There were three categories to pick from Traditional, Wizard of OZ or Super hero. Voting ended on October 31st. On October 28th we participated at the Truck or Treat at Las Positas College in Livermore. We decorated our car with a Halloween Peanuts theme which included Snoopy, Charlie Brown, L

By Lyman Penning, PM—Master We are now in the fall season of 2025, which is taking us to three 3rd degrees before we head for the Grand Lodge Communications. Our first degree will be Anton Korbas on Thursday, September 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM. We will then head up for our visitation with Brendan Korbas on October 3-5, 2025 in Mariposa, and return to Castro Valley for our last degree on Thursday, October 16, 2025, to raise Brian Canton. Please try to make these three Master Mason

By Alex Von Stade, PM — Sr. Warden We are now in the month of October, the tenth month of the year. October's name arises from the Latin word "Octo" meaning the number eight. In the old Roman calendar, October was the eighth month of the year, but was moved to the tenth when the calendar was revised in 713 BC to add the months of Ianuarius (January) and Februarius (February).  There is one federal holiday observed in October (Columbus Day) and this year it is celebrated on Oc

By Andrew Hawes, PM — Jr. Warden Life is full of disappointments, and the best made plans can oft gang awry.  This is just part of living.  Its important when we are faced with unexpected and undesired changes that we look past our initial disappointment or frustration and find the bright side- there is always a silver lining, in even the darkest cloud, if we look hard enough.  I am currently writing this while on a cruise ship, taking a 5 night trip to Bermuda.  We had plann

By William Ferrell, PM The past six months we lost some very dedicated Masons who were members of Crow Canyon Lodge. Sometimes we lose traditions in a lodge, and that’s OK. However sometimes we forget our blue lodge obligations. The California Masonic Code requires us as Masons to attend a Brothers funeral/memorial service whether you knew him or not: Duty to attend 804.855 It is the duty of every member to attend the funeral of a deceased member of this lodge or any other Ma

By Paul Rodriguez-O’brien, PM Brethren and Families, I am deeply honored to be considered and balloted for the position of Worshipful Master for the year 2026 at our beloved lodge—Crow Canyon No. 551. It has been a long-standing goal of mine to once again serve in the East. The last time I had the privilege of sitting as Worshipful Master of our lodge was during the challenging period before and after the Covid pandemic of 2020–2021. With a heavy heart, and out of concern for

By Lyman Penning, PM—Master Well brethren, I hope that everyone enjoyed the Lodge picnic at Tilden Park. Let us give a great big thank...