Sanford Elks #1679

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

75 YEARS – OUR INSTITUTION

by Mike McGraw, Lodge Historian

Hanging in our building, probably unnoticed by many is the institution of our lodge dated October 2nd, 1945.

Listed you will find 3 names. These were active Elks of other lodges that were our original sponsors and submitted an application for our charter.

John A. Nixon was from Decatur Georgia lodge 1602. It’s unknown if he was residing near here in 1945 or what exactly brought him to our community. It is speculated that he was in the Fayetteville area and joined the other two sponsors.

M Lazarus and B.S. Simpson were from neighboring Fayetteville NC lodge 1081. That lodge would become our primary sponsor.

My intention was to elaborate more on these three men, however at this time the Fayetteville Lodge is temporarily closed and I have not been able to reach out to search their records.

Hopefully we will be able to uncover more as other lodges reopen.

Other notable contributors to our institution were John Prescot from Raleigh who was our NC Elks Vice President and Edward Davis who was our NC Elks Secretary. The ceremonial team for our first 30 members was from the Durham Lodge 568.

Present was our NC State President Thad Eure who also served as the Secretary of State to North Carolina.

FROM OUR LODGE CAME GROWTH

Just after our institution, it was our turn to contribute to the growth of Elks in North Carolina.
Just down the road in Southern Pines, we sponsored a group of men that would become the Southern Pines Elks
Lodge # 1692.

That lodge became the largest in the state of North Carolina. At their peak they had an 18 and 9 hole golf courses, pool, pro shop, soccer field, and large elegant lodge building with a premier ball room.

Sadly over the years it had declined, and today that grand building is being torn down and the golf course is under contract to be sold to private interest.

However, the Southern Pines lodge lives on. They are still active and began planning to construct their new lodge building on their old soccer field.

District and State Leaders From Sanford Lodge

The Sanford Lodge is located in the East Central District of our state. At one time there were nine lodges
in the district. With the passing of Lumberton, Durham and Burlington, today we have six. Sanford, Roxboro, Reidsville, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Southern Pines.

Each year a member is elected to represent the district as Vice President. By tradition, two years later the
Grand Lodge will appoint that person to act as District Deputy representing the Grand Lodge.

Sanford has had 10 members to serve in that honorable position:

PAST DISTRICT DEPUTIES OF THE GRAND LODGE

Harold Floyd 1953-54
J. Milton Cheshire 1958-59
D. Steve Gunter 1985-86
Lee Littiken 1994-95
David Riddle III 2000-01

Scott Pace 2003-04
Norman Brewer 2004-05
Steve Gunter II 2008-09
Steve Johnson 2017-18
Joe Clancy 2018-19

Each year, a member is elected to serve the entire state of North Carolina as the state President.
Three from our lodge have achieved that highest distinction:

PAST NORTH CAROLINA STATE PRESIDENTS

D. Steve Gunter 1988-89
Lee Littiken 2004-05
Scott Pace 2008-09

OUR POOL HISTORY
By Mike McGraw, Lodge Historian

After we moved into our present lodge location at 910 Carthage Street, discussions and plans began to build a pool for
members. The original location was to be south of the building on our property where presently we find the Sanford
Housing Authority in 1958/59.

Finances being an issue, it was decided to abort that location and sell that portion of our land back to Dr E.W. Hunter
and secure the land east of the lodge from the City of Sanford in 1959/60. It is there that a slow construction process
began in 1961. But, as with many projects, we ran out of money. That story I will cover at the end of this article.

Moving ahead a little in the future, there is little to no information on any additions or major improvements to the pool for
the next 40 years. That next big change would come in 2002.

In what began in 2001 under ER Norman Brewer and completed in 2002/03 under ER Mark Brown, our existing bath
house was changed into a pool house. Bathrooms were changed out and tiled, in addition to adding our existing concession room. It was this project that added a new pool deck. A completion of the project added all new pool furniture.

Over the next 18 years there would be yearly projects and upkeep to include a new pool deck, new baby pool, additional pool furniture and repainting of the pool several times. Most recent of this year, we had a restructuring of the retainer
wall around the pool and new pumps and electrical wiring installed.

There is a special family, although not an Elks member, that does deserve the shout out right now.

In 2000 we began an outside pool maintenance contract with Harvey Godfrey. From him it was handed down to his son
Josh Godfrey who takes care of us today. His skill, dedication, and understanding of our pool has kept us up and running and is very much appreciated.

Now let’s go back to 1962 and how we overcame our cash shortage.

The Legend of the Elks Pool

The pool was to open Memorial Day 1962 but that didn’t happen. We had unpaid bills for work completed and a shortage for what was required to the tune of $ 40,000.00.

In comes member and PER Bill Cooper who was determined that the Sanford Elks Lodge was going to have an operational pool and he set off on a quest to raise the money.

For the first two weeks in June, he announced to everyone that on June 15th he was going to dive into the new Elks
pool. This generated a lot of laughs, so he proceeded to make wagers that he in fact would be jumping in the pool.

At 5:00 PM on Friday June 15th, the Elks Lodge was full of members looking out on a half-finished and empty hole in the
ground. They witnessed a limousine pull up and Bill Cooper exiting in his swim suit. He walked to the edge and dove
in.

Oh yes, in the bottom of this hole was the Sanford Fire Department holding a round fire net that safely caught Bill as he
plunged in. So, wagers collected, we had the $40K and the pool opened later that summer.

Now folks, in the words of Paul Harvey, “You know the rest of the story.”

The Sanford Elks Lodge # 1679
“Where yesterday’s pool kids are today’s members”

In appreciation to:
Edwin Foushee
Amy Dew
Mark Brown
Scott Pace

OUR LODGE AND 75 YEARS OF COMMUNITY COMMITMENT

When thinking about the Sanford Elks, it’s pretty common the first two things that come to mind are a pool and a bar. But, we go a lot deeper than that.

In our early years, the main focus was establishing a new fraternal organization in Sanford and recruiting members.

The Elks National Foundation was established in 1928 and that was established as our main charity when we came along in 1945. The foundation had a strong focus on scholarships and veterans nationwide. We also had a national retirement home in Bedford Virginia until 2013.

On a state level, the Sanford Elks Lodge was a major contributor to the North Carolina Boys Camp which was established in 1944 in Hendersonville. Over the years we contributed $100,000. It’s unknown how many kids from Sanford attended that camp, but legends say we sent bus loads. The camp sold in 2005.

On a national level, in addition to our contributions to the ENF, our most notable contribution was to the World War II Memorial in Washington DC. In 1999 the Grand Lodge pledged an amount equal to $1 per member of all lodges in the United States. This generated $1.22 million making the Elks the largest contributor to the project. Little known was the person that led that project with the Grand Lodge. D. Steve Gunter from the Sanford Lodge was the Grand Americanism Chairman and ran that entire project. The Sanford Lodge was the first in the nation to make a contribution.

In the late 1980’s the ENF began to shift focus to more local projects. As time went on, we found grants available to our lodge that we could use right here in Sanford. Best example is that last year our members donated $ 4,750.00 to the ENF. In turn, we were granted $12,000 back for local projects.

Beginning in 2000, we as a local lodge, took huge steps forward in our charitable contributions and projects. Here are some highlights.

In 2011 after a tornado struck Sanford, we ventured through ravished neighborhoods giving $100 gift cards to anyone – no questions asked.
Contributed on a state level to buy television sets for all residents in the North Carolina Veterans Homes.
Contributed on a state level to buy buses for all 3 homes.
Continue to spend $1,000 annually for residents of the Fayetteville Veterans Home to buy special gifts and needs for residents.
Support Camp Carefree for children with chronic illnesses.
Financed the renovation of the Boys and Girls Club Park in Sanford, $ 3,000.00
Financed and ran our own Cleats for Kids program, $ 2,500.00 annually
Offered a back-to-school shoe program for younger children, $ 2,000.00
Financed and ran our Christmas Toys for Teens program, $ 2,500.00 annually
Purchased tablets for teen and young adult patients at the Jaycee Burn Center.
Contributed annually to local Back Pack Pals – now totaling over $20,000.00
Collected toys for our local fire departments’ 3 alarm toy drive.
Sponsored the Student of the Month program for both high schools, $ 1,600.00 annually
Sponsored the Student of the Year program for both high schools, $ 2,000.00 annually
Sponsored the Most Valuable Student Scholarship program.
Sponsored a Nursing Scholarship program.
Sponsored the Legacy Scholarship program.
Put on fundraisers for various local needs.
Made our facilities available to not-for-profits at high discounts.
Raised funds for both high schools going to national DECA competition.
Donated and helped during hurricane disasters on the East Coast.
We are proud members of the Sanford Area Chamber of Commerce and continue to be an active player in our community.

And we haven’t stopped.

Oh, we are so much more than just a bar and a pool. When you are an Elk you are part of the most diversified fraternal organization in our area.

We have made our mark in 75 years thanks to all of you – BPOE – aka: Best People On Earth.

Check back throughout the year for more on our colorful and rich history.

The Anniversary Committee

“Bringing our past forward”