13/10/2026
There is something deeply symbolic, and heartbreaking, about this photograph.
The three links of Odd Fellowship represent Friendship, Love, and Truth. Yet here, in this old Lodge, the letter L — Love — is missing.
I am currently restoring the Historic Clarksville Lodge No. 53 I.O.O.F. in Clarksville, Missouri. The Lodge held its final meeting in 1998 after dwindling membership, political and religious disagreements, and personal conflicts that left some Brothers so deeply hurt that they chose never to return.
Perhaps the missing letter is simply the result of time and deterioration. But its absence tells a powerful story.
When friendship becomes conditional, when love is replaced by resentment, and when truth becomes secondary to personal opinions, the very foundation of Odd Fellowship begins to crumble.
A Lodge does not survive merely because it has a charter, a building, money, or impressive regalia. It survives because its members practice the principles they have sworn to uphold.
Disagreements will always exist among men. But disagreement should never become an excuse to abandon brotherly love, compassion, respect, and forgiveness.
And perhaps that is the greatest lesson this old Lodge has left behind.
Buildings can be restored. Charters can be preserved. Membership can be rebuilt. But when Brotherly Love disappears, a Lodge can lose the very spirit that gave it life.
The missing L reminds us that Friendship, Love, and Truth were never intended to be merely three letters displayed above a doorway. They were intended to be lived by every Brother and Sister who walked beneath them.
Let us learn from the past, so that the history of this Lodge does not become the future of another.
In Friendship, Love, and Truth.
~Bro. Casey Alan Brizendine
Noble Grand
I.O.O.F. Saint Louis Lodge No. 5
