Clair Bracken has been a member of Masons for 50 years
NAUGHTON—On Wednesday evening, April 25, at a special ceremony, Clair Bracken was presented with the Jubilee Medal from the Grand Lodge of Canada in the province of Ontario for his 50 years as a Freemason. Mr. Bracken was born and raised on Manitoulin Island, in the town of Gore Bay.
“Oh my yes, it has been great being a member of the Masons all these years,” Mr. Bracken told the Recorder from his home in Naughton this past Sunday.
“I was first initiated in the Freemasons in 1968 in Sudbury (Copper Cliff),” said Mr. Bracken. He has been a member of the Friendship Lodge No. 691 for 50 years.
“I live in Naughton (with his wife Sheila), but I am originally from Gore Bay,” Mr. Bracken told the Recorder. “My parents Lyman and Clara ran the Cloverdale Dairy Farm just outside of Gore Bay.”
Mr. Bracken, 80, was born in Gore Bay in January 1938, the son of Lyman and Clara Bracken. Raised on a large dairy farm, there was always lots of work, and from the age of 10 he was driving horses and tractors, and got his driver’s licence when he was 15. From a family with strong work ethics, Clair was always employed if he wasn’t in school.
At age 16, he worked the summer holidays as the assistant vendor at the LCBO store. The summers when he was 17 and 18, he drove the passenger/mail bus daily between Little Current and Gore Bay.
“I came to Sudbury when I was 19-years-old, having completed high school (Grade 13) at Gore Bay High School, which is now the Manitoulin Lodge Nursing Home,” he told the Recorder. He moved to Sudbury to begin a career at Inco. He pointed out at that time mining companies were having difficulty attracting young engineers and Inco hired six high school graduates to train as “company engineers” through correspondence courses and on the job training.
Clair started in the Smelter Research Department, but eventually worked in every operating department at every surface plant. His experience led him to the newly formed combustion department when natural gas was first introduced to the Inco Complex.
When Clair retired in 1992 with 35 years service, he was chief engineer of the milling, smelting and matte processing complexes.
“My father was a Mason in the Gore Bay Masonic Lodge, and I had two uncles that were Masons,” said Mr. Bracken. “That is what encouraged me to join the Masons,” which he joined when he was 30.
“When I decided I wanted to do more work outside the job, in the community, I had friends who were in the Lions and Elks–both very good clubs–but because of my father and uncles, I decided to join the Masons.
He joined Friendship Lodge on February 14, 1968, was Passed in May, 1968, and Raised in October, 1968. He was installed as Worshipful Master in 1977 and served as District Secretary in 1982-1983. In July of 1983, he was appointed a Grand Steward of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the province of Ontario.
Clair has remained active in Friendship Lodge and the Sudbury-Manitoulin District Masonic community. He has served in every office in Friendship Lodge except historian, and on most committees. He has delivered nearly all the rituals, and has been Installing Master for nine Masters in the Sudbury Manitoulin District.
Clair initiated the Friendship Lodge Adopt a Road program in 1994, which continues today. He has been chairman of Friendship Lodge Past Master’s Association since its inception in 1978 until 2016, and for many years arranged for the Harold Waller Award presentation to a member of Friendship Lodge who shows great commitment to the Friendship Lodge or the craft in general. Clair also served as the Sudbury-Manitoulin District Chaplain for several years.
Clair joined the Scottish Rite in North Bay in 1973, and was a charter member in the Sudbury Valley when it was formed. He became a member of the North Bay Chapter of Rose Croix and then a member of the North Bay Chapter of Rose Croix and then a member of Moore Sovereign Consistory in November of 1980. Clair has taken an active part in four degrees in the Sudbury Lodge of Perfection’s annual reunion since its formation. And in 2015, he was coroneted as an Honourary Inspector General, 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Clair is a member of Rameses Shriners and the Sudbury Shrine Club since 1990. He is currently the club’s historian.
In 2010 he was initiated into the York Rite at Tuscan Chapter No. 95, and with officer progression he was installed as First Principal in January of 2015.
He has also become a member of the York Rite, Mavar Preceptory No. 65, where he holds the office of Chaplain.
In 2013, Clair was elected and invested as the District Deputy Grand Master of the Sudbury-Manitoulin District, where he enjoyed an exciting year as the Grand Master’s representative.
In October of 2013, Clair was invited to become a member of Northern Lights Conclave in Sault. Ste. Marie and served two years as the Prior (chaplain).
“Oh yes, I expect to be in the Masons as long as I live,” said Clair.
Clair is married to Sheila, who has operated her own retail ladies wear store, Fashion Fair, for 43 years. The couple have six children, four girls and two boys. They have 13 grand children and five great grandchildren.
