Congratulatory cookout

Masons cook up picnic for seniors

  • Graduating seniors Maddie Marshall, left, and Lily Gibson have their plates ready as the line inches toward the grill. Photos by Burton Cole.
    Graduating seniors Maddie Marshall, left, and Lily Gibson have their plates ready as the line inches toward the grill. Photos by Burton Cole.
  • Masons Larry York, left, Dwaine Smith and RC Cooper serve hamburgers in hot dogs members of the Pendleton County High School Class of 2025 on Thursday outside the school. Hidden by the line of seniors is Mason Kenny Hale. Commencement ceremonies were held the following day. This is the sixth year that the De Moss Lodge 220 of the Free and Accepted Masons have put a cookout for graduating seniors on their last day of school.
    Masons Larry York, left, Dwaine Smith and RC Cooper serve hamburgers in hot dogs members of the Pendleton County High School Class of 2025 on Thursday outside the school. Hidden by the line of seniors is Mason Kenny Hale. Commencement ceremonies were held the following day. This is the sixth year that the De Moss Lodge 220 of the Free and Accepted Masons have put a cookout for graduating seniors on their last day of school.

    By Burton Cole

     

    FALMOUTH — In what has become a sizzling tradition at Pendleton County High School, the Demossville Masons towed their grill to school on Thursday and cooked a picnic lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs for the graduating seniors.

    “The Masons are a charitable organization,” Larry York, master of De Moss Lodge 220 of the Free and Accepted Masons, said. “We thought one year it would be a good thing to do for the seniors.”

    So under a sky threatening rain, York, Kenny Hale, Dwaine Smith and RC Cooper cooked enough to feed the 171 members of Class of 2025.

    They came prepared with 50 pounds of hamburgers, 120 hot dogs, five pounds of cheese, multiple boxes of potato chips, eight cases of soft drinks, 24-packs of bottled water, and bottles of ketchup, mustard and mayo.

    It cost more than $500 to feed the group, but it was worth it, York said.

    Waiting in line, senior Allison Aulick said, “I think it’s awesome that our community comes out to support our seniors as much as they do.”

    Classmate Lucas Dennison said, “I’m pretty sure that I speak for all of us when I say it is greatly appreciated.”

    As the Masons noted previously, the best part of serving lunch is hearing the high schoolers say “thank you.”

    “It’s the memories of the kids being courteous. If we can instill that in them, then we got a good future,” Hale has said.

    Cooper also had noted that this sort of courteousness does not exist everywhere.

    York said the Masons consider the lunch an investment in the future. The group hopes that some of the students will go on to become Masons themselves or to understand the importance of giving back to the community themselves.