HISTORY
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS
(I.O.O.F.)
WABANA LODGE No. 136
(I.O.O.F.)
WABANA LODGE No. 136
The "Odd Fellows," as this organization was commonly known, was created, as were most fraternal organizations of its time, to care for members in need when there were no government welfare systems in place to assist families when the bread-winner was ill, injured or had died and the family had no income, or in the event of catastrophe such as house fire left people homeless. Most working class people had no insurance to cover such events and most companies did not provide benefits to their workers.
The Wabana Lodge No. 136 of the I.O.O.F. was formed in 1920, with Brother Frank Godden as the first Noble Grand. In the summer of 1921, Brother Robert Hookey was elected Grand Noble, with Brother Gordon Hibbs as Recording Secretary. (Bown, 1921, p. 65.)
In September 1923, Brother W.A. McKay, Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland, was entertained at a banquet by the local Lodge of the I.O.O.F., where he was presented with a block of Wabana ore bearing a gold plate with suitable inscription. This was the first time such a gift to a visiting dignitary was noted in the press. (Source: Addison Bown, "Newspaper History of Bell Island," 1923, p. 73.