The Three Links Odd Cast

Most of us know about our local lodge and may be familiar with a couple other lodges in our area.  However, Odd Fellowship is global in scope and scale—or is it?  Brother Chuck Hillberry of the State Of The Order Committee of Sovereign Grand Lodge joins us to discuss exactly how much global reach Odd Fellowship has and how various overseas groups are connected to the Sovereign Grand Lodge.  The tr...

We think we all know the story of how Odd Fellowship began in North America: five brave souls, led by Thomas Wildey, held the first meeting in Baltimore in 1819 and, from there, Odd Fellowship exploded across the continent spreading friendship, love, and truth from sea to shining sea.  The reality, though, has a lot more detail and challenges than what we know.  Mike, Ainslie, and Toby delve into...

Thirty years ago, in a small town in Washington State, a young twenty-something man stood surrounded by five elderly men in a leaky, damp building doing something that would change the trajectory of his entire life.  In that moment, Kelly Hughes made a commitment that would shape his destiny and give him a new purpose in life.  From that time forward, as an Odd Fellow, Kelly would work tirelessly...

Every lodge wants to grow—but how many lodges are actually able to incorporate new members successfully in such a way that the new members feel valued?  Brother Matthew Thornton, NG of Houston Heights Lodge #225 in Texas, joins us to talk about how his lodge maintains a healthy lodge culture with a mix of everyone from oil workers to urban hippies.  Spoiler alert: their secret is holding a lot of...

Based on the classic holiday film "It's A Wonderful Life," this year's Christmas episode is an Odd Fellows' retelling of the old favorite in which George Bailey is the harried Past Grand of Bedford Falls Lodge #310.  Straining under the weight of his lodge's expectations, he finally breaks and wishes he had never been an Odd Fellow.  The ghost of Thomas Wildey visits...

Eating together is an integral part of Odd Fellowship and has a long tradition of inclusion within our Order, from formal banquets at Grand and Sovereign Grand Lodge meetings to sandwich platters during a Degree Rally, to tried-and-true fraternal staples like spaghetti feeds, pancake breakfasts, and pie auctions.  Mike, Ainslie, and Toby discuss these various modes of eating and other ways that fo...

In high school, Dustin used to wander past the dusty old Odd Fellows Hall in Wenatchee, Washington.  Intrigued by the music blaring out on to the sidewalk one evening, he went in to find an all-ages punk rock concert.  Joel was the producer of those concerts and made sure the teens and young adults of Wenatchee had a safe, fun place on Friday nights.  Now, nearly thirty years later, they are both...

Our Sovereign Grand Master, the Honorable Gerald V. Workman of West Virginia, sat down with us for a wide-ranging discussion about his path in Odd Fellowship and how it led him to the top job in the Order.  He tells about his early days joining the Junior Lodge, his many years working in his local lodge, his eventual path through the chairs of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia, and his journey into...

As has become tradition at the Three Links Odd Cast, we like to take a turn to the spooky for Halloween and talk cemeteries.  We're joined by Brother Michael Duplantier to discuss the progress on restoring New Orleans' famous Odd Fellows' Rest Cemetery.  Brother Duplantier does a wonderful job of giving us the history and background on the cemetery and how it fell into disrepair alo...

Usually, by the time we at the Three Links Odd Cast hear about a new lodge being chartered, it's already meeting regularly.  However, in this instance, we got to talk to Brother Garrett Hite of Oklahoma as he's in the process of re-chartering Durant Lodge #57.  Brother Garrett shares his story of how he first came to join the Odd Fellows, his time away from his home lodge, and the eventu...

Mike, Toby, and Ainslie are all safely home from their trip to Pittsburgh and back to their usual lodge activities.  The brothers got together to discuss their experiences at Sovereign Grand Lodge and how they felt the Order was progressing as a result.  They all had wonderful experiences at the event and enjoyed the fellowship and are energized with all kinds of great ideas for the future.  They...

The 2024 Annual Communication of the Sovereign Grand Lodge was noteworthy for many reasons, not least of which was our live recording of the first episode of Season Five of the Three Links Odd Cast.  We had a packed meeting room full of members from jurisdictions all across the US and Canada on hand for this lively discussion of the state of Odd Fellowship today.  Mike, Ainslie, and Toby had a gre...

One might think that after four seasons and over 30,000 downloads of the Three Links Odd Cast that there would be nothing left for the hosts to talk about.  Au contraire, mon frère!  Mike, Toby, and Ainslie are very opinionated and love hearing themselves talk so it was easy for them to take some time to talk about the highlights of the previous season's work.  The main highlight was their Ch...

Our recent episode on inclusion of the Lord's Prayer in the lodge opening generated some of the greatest volume of feedback from listeners we've ever received.  We went through dozens and dozens of listener emails, Facebook posts, Instagram messages, and other communications and read them all and then came up with our responses.  This is a long episode but we think it's worth hearin...

The Grand Jurisdiction of Texas is on an upswing.  Its membership is growing and getting younger and they are chartering new lodges.  Grand Master Charlie Stephenson and Brother William Plotts join us to talk about the chartering of Brazos Valley Lodge #76.  They share how the Grand Lodge supported their efforts, how what they learned from the failure of the new lodge in El Paso helped their effor...

Odd Fellowship is non-political and non-sectarian.  But why, then, do we recite the Lord's Prayer as part of the opening of the lodge?  Ainslie and Toby dig into some of the history around this observance and discuss whether it makes us truly non-sectarian or if that was just a thin veneer applied to the top of Odd Fellowship to make it appeal to more people.  Hint: there are no right answers...

Like many lodges, True Fellowship No. 52 in San Jose, CA had seen better days.  As members got older, the focus of the lodge became more insular and they were less interested in connecting to the outside community.  That all began to change when a new member with an interest in building community joined.  Since that time, the lodge has become a dynamo in San Jose and has not only become a thriving...

A remarkable convergence of events led to the revival of Friendship Lodge No. 50 in Northfield, Minnesota.  A Mason in Red Wing, Minnesota started an educational program for his Masonic lodge and then reached out to the Odd Fellows to request them give a presentation about Odd Fellowship.  Four of the Masons present decided to check out Odd Fellowship.  One person turned to Reddit and podcasts (li...

Billy and Tara from Modern Goat Rider joined us for a thorough and in-depth discussion about leadership in the Odd Fellows.  The first half of the episode is available on their feed on your favorite podcatcher or directly from their podcast host .  In this episode we discuss the leadership at the Grand Lodge and Sovereign Grand Lodge levels and specifically ponder the question of whether we need t...

A recent email from a listener prompted this episode's discussion about what happens when a lodge sells its building.  A lot can happen, but only a very few things should  happen.  We dig into the question and examine the process and what knowledge members should have when dealing with major lodge property.  The Shoutout goes to Prestonsburg Lodge #293 in Kentucky for their impressive growth...

This year, for our Christmas episode, we present this adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."  Listen along as an all-star cast of Odd Fellows presents this unique Odd Fellows take on the classic story. Ebeneezer Scrooge: Gil T. Rodello Thomas Wildey: Steven Cross Bob Cratchitt: Joseph Benton Tim Cratchitt: Ainslie Heilich Ghost of Odd Fellowship Past: Michael Greenzeige...

Our Sovereign Grand Master, John Cupp, is a very busy man.  We were very fortunate when he made some time at the West Virginia Grand Sessions to sit down and talk with co-host Mike Duminiak about his time as Sovereign Grand Master and some of his experiences in Odd Fellowship.  He was joined partway through the interview by his wife Emilie who also shared some experiences and observations.  Both a...

Pueblo Lodge #8 was down to just four members after the passing of one of the five who was maintaining the quorum that kept their charter.  John Jones had recently moved to Colorado from another state and was looking to join a lodge.  One day, a man with a letter from the Grand Secretary showed up on his doorstep to meet him and possibly bring him into the lodge.  That man was Vernon Wolf, Past Gr...

We always like to do an episode about cemeteries around Halloween and this year is no exception.  Given our command to "Bury The Dead" as Odd Fellows, and how many lodges have administered cemeteries throughout our history, it's no surprise to find a lodge engaged in activities related to a final resting place.  For this episode we are joined with Past Grand Master Carol Woltjer and...

A life of academic wandering and creation has brought Dr. Heather Calloway to her present position as Executive Director of University Collections  and Director of the Center for Fraternal Collections and Research at Indiana University.  Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and having grown up in a fraternal family, Dr. Calloway was destined from an early age to make her way to the hallowed ha...