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IOOF has provided community support for more than a century

The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley Larry Ferguson of local IOOF Lodge No. 116 displays a book that has the signature of every member that has passed through the lodge. The book is over 100-years-old.

ELKINS — Whether it be worldwide, national, or here in the state of West Virginia, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows continues to do its part to help those in need wherever it may be.

It is said that the organization’s roots can be traced back to the Medieval Trade Guilds of the 12th and 13th Centuries. Officially, the organization 202 years-old this year and locally the Randolph IOOF Lodge No. 116 has been in existence since 1890.

What’s unique about the organization’s timeline in Randolph County is that the lodge has a book proving how long it’s been servicing the community. Every single member who has joined Lodge No. 116 has signed their name in what can now be deemed an artifact.

“The book has been around as long as the lodge has,” said Larry Ferguson, IOOF Grand Treasurer for the state of West Virginia. “It is well over 100-years-old and the lodge has kept it around for all of these years. Every member who has joined this lodge has signed their name in it.”

The book contains such names as Herman Guy Kump, former governor of West Virginia, and Henry Gassaway Davis, former state Senator who helped establish Davis & Elkins College. Philmore Kelley signed his name to the book in 1948, and is currently the oldest living member of the lodge.

Ferguson is a past Sovereign Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which is a post he and only one other West Virginian has ever held. Ferguson, who has also served as past Grand Master of Lodge No. 116, joined the organization 47 years ago and said he is extremely proud of everything the organization does both locally and worldwide.

“On the sovereign level we have an orphanage in Cambodia, have our Education Foundation, and do our Visual Research Foundation,” said Ferguson. “Two years ago on our 200th Anniversary, our Visual Research Foundation gave John Hopkins Hospital a check for a million dollars for eye research.”

Ferguson said that the Education Foundation gives out scholarships both locally and nationally each year. “A member or a child of a member can apply for a scholarship after getting their first semester grades from college,” he said. “Normally they give a thousand dollars a year for those who get it statewide. But this past year, because not many people applied, they gave each person four thousand dollars.”

Ferguson said that anyone locally who is interested in receiving the scholarship money for the upcoming year, can apply at the lodge this summer. He said that individuals can apply for the scholarship in each of the four years they are in college.

“On the sovereign level, there are scholarships available for as much as $15,000 per year for Masters and Doctoral Degrees,” said Ferguson. “And there are student loans at low interest rates that the organization sets up for people that they can pay back after they graduate over a period of years.”

Lodge No. 116 has several fundraisers throughout the year that includes multiple buckwheat feeds, a baked steak dinner during the summer, and the making and selling of apple butter in the fall. In the past they’ve also held rifle and television raffles. The money goes toward helping out numerous organizations and functions, like the Elkins High School graduation party that the lodge gives to each year.

“If there is an organization that needs something we will try to help them out the best we can,” said Ferguson. “In West Virginia we have what we call our emergency and disaster fund. If someone has a fire, a flood, or a serious illness in their family, we will help out. We’ve raised as much as $16,000 to help individuals in the past. Like in the flood of 1985, we gave to all of those people involved in that.”

The organization also does a youth pilgrimage each year for high school and junior high students. The pilgrimage consists of a 10-day trip and those chosen come from contest winners.

“What we do here locally for that contest is we contact the schools and have them write a story about the United Nations,” said Ferguson. “The winners get to go to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York where they get to go to a Broadway play and visit the Statue of Liberty. They also get to visit the United Nations during that trip.”

Ferguson said that the Odd Fellows’ name was influenced and taken from a group of generous people a long time ago.

“The name came about because in the Roman Empire days there was this group of people in the community who would go out and help folks and not expect anything in return,” said Ferguson. “People thought that was odd and unusual that they would do that. So that’s how they came up with the name.”

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