Brother Ernest Borgnine
(January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012)

Brother Borgnine was a member of Abingdon Lodge No. 48, Abingdon, Virginia, and Hollywood Lodge No. 355 in Los Angeles.

He joined the Scottish Rite Valley of Los Angeles in 1964, received the KCCH in 1979, was coroneted a 33° Inspector General Honorary in 1983, and received the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991.

Brother Borgnine was born in Hamden, Connecticut. His parents separated when he was two years old, and he and his mother went to live in Italy.

By 1923, his parents had reconciled. his family had settled in North Haven, Connecticut, where he attended public schools.

Brother Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935, after graduation from James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut.

He was discharged in 1941, but re-enlisted when the United States entered World War II and served until 1945 (a total of ten years), reaching the rank of Gunner's Mate 1st Class.

He served aboard the destroyer USS Lamberton (DD-119). His military decorations included the Navy Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

Brother Borgnine was an American actor of television and film. His career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–66 series McHale's Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine is also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.

Custom Screen Printed Lapel Pins from Fratline

Custom Past Grand Master's Jewel by Fratline

A Selection of Custom Lapel Pins from Fratline

Kosair Temple Membership Video

The Secret to Great Presentations: ENTHUSIASM

The Secret to Great Presentations:  ENTHUSIASM

By Doug Staneart

If you take only one piece of advice about public speaking, make sure that it is this pearl of wisdom.  If you focus on this one simple thing, the number of times you say "uhm" won't matter.  If you focus on this one thing, your gestures and not knowing what to do with your hands won't matter.  If you focus on this one thing, then the occasional loss of train of thought won't matter.  In fact, if you focus on this one simple thing, you can break just about every rule that public speakers are supposed to abide by, and you will still win over your audience.

This one simple rule has transformed countless mediocre speakers into good speakers, scores of good speakers into great speakers, and numerous great speakers into world-class speakers.

This simple rule that can make or break a speaker is… ENTHUSIASM.

That's right, if you have a little excitement in your talk and a spring in your step, people pay attention.  Your audience will have just about as much excitement about your talk as you do, and no more. So, if you want to win over your audience, add a sparkle of enthusiasm.

One of my mentors told me that there are two rules to live by in the world of professional speakers.  She said, "Rule number one is to never speak on a topic that you yourself are not enthusiastic about, and rule number two is that if you ever violate rule number one, fake it 'til you make it."

Frank Bettger in his book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling said it a different way. He said, "If you act enthusiastic, then you'll be enthusiastic."

For those of us who get nervous in front of groups, it's even easier.  However, 90% of our nervousness doesn't even show.  Let's look at the other 10%.  When we are nervous, we often cut out preambles and get right to the point, our rate of speech typically speeds up, we tend to move around a lot more, and we may move our hands around more than normal. Well, when we are excited about something, we do the exact same things.

Years ago, when I was a sales manager, I was often amazed at the number of times that a brand new sales person without a lot of product knowledge and absolutely no experience, could close sale after sale while my more seasoned people were struggling.  The more times I went on sales calls with these new people, the more I started to notice a pattern.  New salespeople are often nervous, so when they walk into an office on a sales call, they tend to cut right to the chase.  They also generally talk faster because they are afraid they'll forget something.  They have a tough time sitting still because of the nervousness, so they move around a lot.

I noticed that these symptoms of nervousness worked to the advantage of these new salespeople, because their prospects looked across the table at salespeople who appeared to be extremely enthusiastic about what they were selling.  I would imagine that these potential buyers were saying things to themselves like, "if this person believes so much in this product, it must be good."

We as speakers can also use our nervousness to our advantage.  When we turn that pent up nervousness into energy and enthusiasm, our audience can't help but be energized as well.
 

Doug Staneart is President of The Leader's Institute, leadership and public speaking training. He can be reached by e-mail at doug@leadersinstitute.com or toll-free at 1-800-872-7830 x-100.

How to Be a "Ray of Hope"

Leaders Should Be "Rays of Hope" Piercing the Darkness

A dark cloud of doom and gloom hangs over those of us in the United States and in other countries where we have subscribers.  Much of the worldwide gloom is of an economic nature.  For those of us in the US, we are faced with not only a struggling economy but also a war in the Middle East, high gas prices, an upcoming election and a miriad of other issues including recent natural disasters.

There's no doubt that several of these issues have touched each of us personally.  Most of us have felt it at the pump; perhaps you or a family member are serving in the US military; many of us have seen the political campaign commericals and see partisan supporter's signs in yards and on buildings during our commute.  It's all swirling around us.

In fact, most popular media are promoting doom and gloom.  We read it in the morning papers, see it on the television, hear it on the radio, read and view it on the internet and a lot of folks are passing negative emails.  It's difficult to escape it all.  Gotcha feeling down?

While I believe all citizens should be informed, many folks are living in a vacuum and just sucking this negativity up.  Those of us active in fraternal organizations are fortunate however.  Fraternal organizations, clubs and associations offer us a healthy retreat from all this doom and gloom.  Our organizations meet regularly and offer opportunities for fellowship that locks out the secular world if only for a while.  You can literally "get away from it all" by attending a meeting, social function or working a charitable event.

Speaking of charity, most fraternal organizations perform some type of charitable work.  The needs continue in our communities no matter what is going on in the world and we are there to help others.  Our fellow human beings still need our compassion, friendship and financial assisitance.

So, assuming you are serving in some leadership capacity, be a "Ray of Hope" for your organization.  Make your meetings fun, enjoyable and productive.  Let your members bask in the good works they do and talk about it.  In these difficult times, fraternal organizations can thrive and be a welcomed respite for our members.

Finally, I encourage you to tune some of the media out and focus on your communities, organizations, schools and places of worship.  Lend your skills to build these institutions up while many are busy tearing them down.