Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • It’s part of a fraternity that’s more than five centuries old, shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories.
Now the Victorville Masonic Lodge is experiencing an influx of younger men looking to belong, to give back to their community — and to learn those cryptic handshakes.
“I think there’s a little piece of everyone that wishes they could be a part of a super-secret clubhouse,” said Joseph Fernandez, who, at 25 in January, became the youngest Master Mason in the local lodge.
That attraction to the more esoteric side of the Masons has been fostered of late through documentaries on the History Channel and the “National Treasure” films, portraying the Founding Fathers as having used symbols from the ancient masons’ guilds to hide great treasures.
But once the novelty of learning those secrets wears off, Fernandez, now 26 and a station commander at a local Army recruiting office, realized he’d joined a brotherhood he’s truly proud to be part of.
“What we teach is really a way of life, that’s all,” said Horace Larkin, who just turned 80 and is going on 49 years as a Mason. “We have a saying: We take good men and make them better.”
The Freemasons date back to the Middle Ages, keeping many of the fraternity’s traditions but opening membership to men from all professions in the 1700s. Today there are an estimated 5 million Masons worldwide, with more than 60,000 in California’s 340 lodges.
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