Honoring the long history, lore of Odd Fellows

A service-oriented and community-minded society shares a long history and a special place in Kent.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) – a voluntary, altruistic and benevolent fraternal organization – has served Kent and the valley for 130 years.

That’s five years before Kent became an incorporated city. That’s four years before Washington reached official statehood.

Telling the Order’s quiet role but impactful history is important to today’s IOOF leaders and the Greater Kent Historical Society (GKHS), which honors the group’s work and lore with a temporary exhibit at the Bereiter Museum.

The display – replete with photos, momentos, garb, jewels, documents and stories –

celebrates the Order’s rich history and its storied hall of many decades, Kent’s Titusville Lodge No. 34, which served the valley for generations since its institution on April 2, 1885.

The lodge, which was founded during Washington’s territorial period of 1853-1889, withstood the test of time. It remains active today, providing the framework that promotes personal and social development.

“They’ve been here a long time. They are an important part of the valley history,” said Zachary VanTassel, GKHS museum executive director. “(The Order) is about making people better. It’s an organization that makes you live up to great ideals.”

The Reitan family understands this. They have a deep-rooted connection to the fraternal order.

“A practicing Odd Fellow teaches you good citizenship,” said Ed Reitan, 77, a member of the IOOF Grand Lodge of Washington and a member of the Order for 59 years. He and other members were on hand for the exhibit’s open house at the museum last Friday. “For me, back in my day when I was a young guy, it was like a spiritual renewal.

“We met weekly,” he recalled. “We would go to the lodge, see your brothers, hear what was going on and find out how everybody was doing. … Then we were going to go out and challenge life for another week.”

Reitan’s great-great-grandfather, Robert C. Ramsay, began the family lineage, joining the Order during its infancy back in 1889. Ramsay, who owned 80 acres in Kent back in the day, is recognized today as the name of the short street that weaves its way through Kent Station.

Retian’s great-grandfather and father followed suit, representing the Order in many capacities. And like his father, Reitan served as grand master, which is the position his son, C. Allan Reitan, 42, holds today.

The tradition is passed on and the Order’s mission continues despite changing times. Although fewer in numbers, the Order still meets regularly in Des Moines to conduct business and spread goodwill.

“One of the challenges members of my generation face today – with social media and modern technology – is that people look at a lodge as rather antique or antiquated,” said C. Allan Reitan, a fifth-generation member of the Order. “They don’t fully understand the fun and camaraderie we have of just being together with people, sharing a common interest and a common sense of goals.”

Since the beginning, the Order was about duty and giving something back. Membership included royalty. It also was one of the first fraternities in the country to include both men and women.

The fellowship began in 18th century England before coming to the U.S. and Canada. Westward expansion brought it the Northwest and Washington, where Olympia instituted the territory’s first lodge in 1855.

Kent’s first five mayors were members of Titusville Lodge No. 34, which still stands today on Meeker Street. As mayors, it was part of their civic duty to foster leadership and development, helping Kent become a thriving farming community.

Nearly half of Kent’s mayors were Fellow brothers.

From the beginning, the Order has adhered to its four basic tenants: visit the sick; relieve the distressed; bury the dead; and educate the orphan.

The organization continues to operate Kent’s Hillcrest Burial Park, its most reliable public service. It historically supported orphanages. It presently maintains a senior living community in Walla Walla.

The fellowship also supports many groups, notably youth and elderly, and charitable causes in the community.

Mindful of those high and exalted virtues indicated in its three-link motto – friendship, love and truth – the Order teaches that “a man cannot be an Odd Fellow in spirit and in truth unless he is grateful to his creator, faithful to his country and fraternal to his fellow man.”

Friendship, love and truth are basic guidelines worth following in daily life. Such an approach has served Ed Reitan well.

“As long as you have those three things, you have the strength to get through life,” he said.

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To learn more, visit www.ioofwa.org.

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IOOF ON EXHIBIT: Greater Kent Historical Society: 855 E. Smith St., historic Bereiter House, Kent. Hours: noon-4 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday, and by appointment. Admission: suggested $2 donation; no tickets are required for entrance. Parking is available behind the house off East Temperance Street. GKHS is a nonprofit organization that promotes the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge about the history of the greater Kent area. www.gkhs.org