The History of Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge #338

Sikhs Mox Lamonti #338 was formed in 1995 with the merger of two powerful lodges - Kelcema #305 and Quilshan #325. Prior to that, only one lodge had ever used the number 338 - that was Nisjaw, disbanded in 1947. Immediately following the merger of Evergreen Area Council #603 and Mt. Baker Area Council #606, the members of both Quilshan and Kelcema started meeting to discuss the future of the lodge. Both groups were extrememly proud of their lodge's immense history, and so both groups wanted their lodge name carried forward.

However, it was soon evident that both names could not be carried forward, so they decided upon Sikhs Mox Lamonti, meaning Friends of two mountains, a reference to Mt. Baker Area Council's Camp Black Mountain, and Everegreen Area Council's Fire Mountain Boy Scout Reservation. The lodge totem was also decided upon - the Octopus. This led to the name of the Newsletter - the Octi Ink, and the new T-Shirt design, with a red Octopus upon it.

In June of 1995, the new lodge met for Lodgeapolluza I - the now traditional annual fellowship where, among other activites, the Lodge Executive Committee is elected. Dave Henrichsen was elected as Sikhs Mox Lamonti's first Lodge Chief. He gathered behind him an excellent group of Arrowmen to help guide Sikhs Mox Lamonti into making history. These included: Jerry Gardner as Vice Chief , Tom Rose as Scribe,
Rasheed Bakkar as Activites, Jeff Major heading Publications, Joe Collins overseeing Ceremonies, Erik Moll promoting Camping, Tison King in Unit Elections and Pat Smith advising this motley crew.

As first Lodge Chief, Dave had a great challenge ahead of him, as he had to make several decisions, including a new flap, Lodge Bylaws, policies, and many other decisions that have shaped Sikhs Mox Lamonti. In October of 1995, the members of Sikhs Mox Lamonti gathered at Camp Black Mountain for the first official Lodge Fellowship, where 29 Arrowmen were the first ones inducted into Sikhs Mox Lamonti. With the Fall Fellowship Coordinators including Rasheed Bakkar and Joe Collins, as well as Al Bowles, Adnan Bakkar, Ed Verdugo, Chad Coy, and Tom Rose cooking, everyone had an excellent weekend of fellowship and service. Thanks to Wolomuk Chapter for serving as host. (Rumor has it that Jeff Major and Erik Maynard also ran around with pumpkins on their heads, but that has not yet been confirmed.)

The new lodge also had the honor of hosting Section W-1B Conclave in the spring of 1996 at Fire Mountain - Nathan Moseley was the Conclave Chairman, and was able to bring together a large group of excited Arrowmen to make Conclave 1996 one of the best ever.

On May 16, 1996, the lodge held it's first annual Lodge Banquet, where members gathered in Mount Vernon for an excellent meal of Baron of Beef, Roasted Chicken, and much more.

The weekend of May 31 to June 2 was Lodgeapolluza II, where the new Lodge Executive Committee was elected - they included: Rasheed Bakkar as Lodge Chief , Joe Collins as Vice Chief, Carl Ronhaar in charge of Activities, Tom Rose as Scribe, Matt Dierck in charge of Public Relations, Nathan Moseley running Ceremonies, Brad Shimek in Camping Promotions, Ben Tomey in charge of Unit Elections, and Pat Smith once again as Lodge Adviser.

1996 brought with it many changes and events... the greatest of those was NOAC '96 at Indiana University. Six Arrowmen attended from our lodge, and we also had three people, Jason Clark, Aaron Blank, and Ricky Ford attending as Staff Members.

Fall of 1996 brought the second Sikhs Mox Lamonti Fall Fellowship; this one was held at Fire Mountain. With the culinary skills of Ed Verdugo and Tom Rose once again making it worthwhile to attend. Once again there were many new Arrowmen inducted into Sikhs Mox Lamonti - it soon became obvious that the new lodge was growing in both power and popularity.

15 Arrowmen were selected for the Vigil Honor in this second year of our lodge - a great testament to the spirit and devotion of the members of the lodge. They included Matt Dierck, Abe Lloyd, Scott Marchand, Nathan Moseley, Rhian Moseley, Carl Ronhaar, Tom Stores, Steve Andrews, Venne Beauchamp, Clay Carter, Larry Hazard, Rasheed Bakkar, T. Kent Prentice, Paul Masten, and Russ Leighton.

Spring 1997 brought once again Conclave, and then the second annual Banquet and Lodgeapolluza III. Lodgeapolluza III was held June 6, 7, and 8 at Fire Mountain, where there were various awards including the Founder's Award for Carl Ronhaar and Pat Smith, and the Auction. The whole event was a total blast, raising over $500 for the lodge, and bringing with it the new Lodge Executive Committee, which included: Carl Ronhaar as Lodge Chief, Rhian Moseley as First Vice Chief, Derek Drube planning Activities, James Whalen running Elections, Moke Keawe in Ceremonies, Glen Gardner as Publications (what used to be called Public Relations), Chris Passey as Scribe, and Pat Smith as Lodge Adviser once again

This group of Arrowmen then prepared to take our lodge into it's third year.
1997 started out with an exciting Fall Fellowship, held once again at Fire Mountain. Here, many new members were inducted into our order, even in the midst of irksome tasks, weighty responsibilities, and bucket fulls of rain. Ed Verdugo and Tom Rose were once again the cooks, and two of the 1998 Vigil Honorees were selected - Joe Moseley and Ricky Ford. The weekend was finished off with a movie night in the Farmhouse hosted by Tom Rose.

Winter brought the Sikhs Mox Lamonti first ever Winter Fellowship - where everyone met up at Fire Mountain for a nice clean weekend of strictly fun - no work projects! This is a tradition that is sure to continue.

March came and brought with it Spring Fellowship at Black Mountain - where once again a large number of new Arrowmen were inducted into the Order as Ordeal members.

In June came Lodgeapolluza IV - June 5, 6, and 7, where not only the annual banquet and auction were held, but also the election of the 1998 to 1999 Lodge Executive Committee. They include: Moke Keawe as Lodge Chief, Davey Collins, First Vice Chief, Tom Rose running Activities, Jom Campbell, Camping Promotions, Ben Wiyrick with Ceremonies,
Brian Carpenter in charge of Elections, Ray Aberle producing Publications, Adam Gessaman as Scribe, And Pat Smith as our illustrious Lodge Adviser.

The new LEC got off the ground immediately planning an exciting year of service and fun activities... but first came NOAC 1998. Held in Ames, Iowa, on the campus of Iowa State University, 12 Arrowmen from Sikhs Mox Lamonti traveled to learn about the Order as well as have a great time! August 2 to 6, 1998 was filled with competitions, training, fellowship, and much much more. Look for information about NOAC 2000 - as it is an experience you don't want to miss!

The full list of 1998 Vigil honorees was released, which included Joe Moseley, Bruce Krieger, Derek Drube, Darlene Odell, Dwayne Rogge, Anthony Massey, Jason Clark, Jerry Gardner, Sr, Glen Gardner, Pat Scott, Ricky Ford, Allan Weiss, and Aaron Stork.

As September rolled around, and the new year started up, many signs came forward showing that Sikhs Mox Lamonti was alive and kicking. The Position of First Vice Chief was changed to Mike Shurtz, due to the fact that Davey Collins was unable to make the time committment. The Newsletter came out to tremendous acolades of support - many commented that the September 1998 was the best issue of the Octi Ink they had seen. The Lodge unrolled a new website at http://www.mtbaker.org/oa - in a move designed to consolidate Mt. Baker's web activities to one domain.

With October came Fall Fellowship 1998, with 50 new Ordeal members and 11 new Brotherhood members. The October issue of the Octi Ink was released.

Came November, the Section Officer Training conference and Council of Chiefs meeting where more details about Conclave were decided, the November, December, and January issues of the Octi Ink, and then the first ever Tropical party! Themed Winter Fellowship, where over 70 Arrowmen gathered for an excellent blast!

February brought another action packed issue of the Octi Ink, as well as numerous crossover ceremonies, tapouts, and troop elections. We also had several Arrowmen at Potlatch evangelizing the Order as well as collecting dues, teaching Scoutmasters how the OA can assist them as well as the Service To America program. On the 27th, the lodge traveled to Seattle for an exciting hockey game featuring Thunderbirds vs Kamloops.

March brought with it Spring Fellowship at Black Mountain, with 55 new Ordeal members and 14 brothers sealing their membership in the Brotherhood ceremony!

In April, excitement grew as we prepared for Conclave `99, being the host and all. Sikhs Mox Lamonti was proud to have over 110 members show up for this great event, including both staff and delegates! Our own Ray Aberle was then elected as Section W-1B Vice Chief, and is sure to bring honesty, power, and dedication to the section.

May brought us the Scout Expo, where the lodge made a great showing of our power! In the middle of May; May 16 to be precise, the lodge gathered at Viking Hall in Silvana, WA for the annual lodge banquet! Here, we had an awesome meal of meaty meat, as well as a year-in-review slide show, Forktapi awards, and much more. We also announced and tapped out the 1999 Vigil honorees, which included: Moke Keawe, Adam Gessaman, Mike Shurtz, Cari Crabtree, Curt Eidem, Ray Aberle, Torrey Dringman, and Bobby Moseley. Congratulations to these Arrowmen who are truly dedicated to the high ideals of the Order of the Arrow.

June 4-6 was Summer Fellowship and Lodgeapolluza. There, 34 new members were inducted into our lodge as well as seven Arrowmen sealing their membership with the Brotherhood. Including the squirrel. [Ask Brian Carpenter about the squirrel!] Moke Keawe, Mike Shurtz, Cari Crabtree, Curt Eidem, Ray Aberle, Torry Dringman, and Mike Naylor all obtained their Vigil Honor during this weekend, as the lodge had a fun weekend of cheerful service. Saturday afternoon, as part of the Lodgeapolluza celebration, the lodge held the annual Lodge Officer Elections. Accordingly, the 1999-2000 Lodge Executive Committee is: Moke Keawe, Lodge Chief, Derek Drube, First Vice Chief, Garrett Longhini, Activities Vice Chief, Brian Carpenter, Ceremonies Vice Chief, Eric Masten, Elections Vice Chief, Dan Lee, Publications Vice Chief , Joe Miller, Camping Promotions Vice Chief, Adam Gessaman, Lodge Scribe, and Pat Smith for another hit season as Lodge Adviser.We have confidence these fine Arrowmen will do another great job as the youth leadership of our lodge this next year.

On July 2-3, Tom Rose, Adam Gessaman, and Bobby Moseley obtained the Vigil Honor at Fire Mountain.

July 16-17, the lodge held once again another Ordeal and Brotherhood opportunity, where eight new Ordeal Members and four new Brotherhood members wrere inducted into our lodge. That brought us into the Summer Camp Season, where over the course of five weeks, we had four new Ordeal members and eight new Brotherhood members inducted into our lodge.

From July 31 to August 3, Ray Aberle and Kevin Stock attended the National Leadership Summit, where they brought back large amounts of information of relevance to the lodge, including new Quality Lodge Petitions, new Lodge Leadership Development Syallabi, and information about the new Unit Representative program.

In September, Steve Maurer, Matt Rosenberg, and Ray Aberle attended the Section W-1A Conclave at Camp McLoughlin in Medford, Oregon, where they showed the spirit of our section. They even developed a quick make-shift Lodge Booth, making more noise then the other lodges combined. While at Conclave, Ray Aberle entered into the Vigil Ceremonial competitions, where he placed first overall. September 17-19 brought the Klahaya and Tyee District camporees; where in both places the lodge was quick to lend a hand and show cheerful service. September 25 was the Lodge Leadership Development Conference, where the officers of the lodge were given indepth training in the Unit Rep Program, OA History, Ceremonies, new Member Orientation, among other things. Look for another one of these coming soon to train those who missed this one!

October 1-3, the lodge held Fall Fellowship at Fire Mountain. 55 new members were inducted into the lodge, as well as 10 new Brotherhood members.

January brought in a new year with new fun. The Lodge shrugged off claims of destruction from Y2K and enjoyed Winter Fellowship with a Mardis Gras theme. During the weekend, we had training, service, a visit by Western Region Chief Cameron Mulder, and 8 brothers sealed their membership with the Brotherhood ceremony.

March 17-19, we traveled to Camp Black Mountain for Spring Ordeal, where we inducted 55 new members into our lodge, as well as 4 new Brotherhood members. Over a rainy weekend, the lodge helped develop and finalize the new COPE course at Black Mountain, giving valuable service to the camp.

April 7-9 a group of 15 Arrowmen traveled to Cheney, Washington for Section W-1C's conclave.

April 28-30, 46 lodge members braved the journey to Anchorage, Alaska for the 2000 Section W-1B Conclave. As they were prompted to Choose Your Own Adventure, our lodge exemplified the spirit of service to which our lodge is dedicated, and showed how loud and spirited we can be. Saturday evening, the Section held the Annual Business Meeting, where the new Section Officers were elected. Sven Gilkey, of Toontuk was elected Secretary, Brian Stock of Nisqually was elected Vice Chief, and Kevin Stock, formally of NIsqually and now from Sikhs Mox Lamonti was elected Section Chief.

June 2-4, 2000 at Fire Mountain was the Council Camporee. The Lodge turned out in force to help make this memorable event a success, and an awesome job they indeed did. Saturday afternoon, Arrowmen from across the lodge gathered for the Lodge Business Meeting, for the purpose of approving new Lodge ByLaws as well as election of new officers. Accordingly, the 2000-2001 Lodge Executive Committee is: Eric Masten, Lodge Chief, Joe Miller, First Vice Chief, Ben Wiyrick, Activities Vice Chief, Brian Carpenter, Cermeonies Vice Chief, Adam Gessaman, Elangomat Vice Chief, Danny Lee, Publications Vice Chief, Garrett Longhini, Unit Visitations Vice Chief, Eric Buher, Lodge Secretary-Treasurer, Torrey Dringman, Lodge Adviser

At the Saturday night campfire, the first 6 members of the Vigil Class of 2000 were recognized, including Brian Carpenter, Tom Moore, Justin Carroll, Ben Wiyrick, Roy Kamisugi, and Walt Wheeler.

June 25 we gathered once again at Viking Hall in Silvana for the annual Lodge Banquet. During the evening, we celebrated 5 years of Sikhs Mox Lamonti coolness as well as many lodge awards and recognitions. The 1999 Founder's Award Recipients were announced, Moke Keawe and Adnan Bakkar, as well as the 2000 Founder's Award Recipients, Adam Gessaman and Fred Heilbrunn. Two more members of the Vigil Class of 2000 were tapped out, Doug Wolff and Arlie Hash. The evening continued with a Five Year In Review Slide Show, a Broken Arrow Ceremony, and a famous Lodge Auction to raise some funds. Thanks to the over 100 members who were in attendance!

Over the course of the summer, the Lodge kept extremely active at both council camps, inducting 36 Ordeal Members on July 15 as well as a total of 38 new brotherhood members over the course over the summer! That sets a record for the amount of brotherhoods inducted over the course of one summer, and puts us well on the course towards our goal of Quality Lodge.

On August 26 there was a Vigil Honor Weekend at Fire Mountain, where Doug Wolff, Arlie Hash, Roy Kamisugi, Justin Carroll, Nick Saylor, and Tom Moore obtained the Vigil Honor.

September 9 the Lodge held the annual Lodge Leadership Development Conference at Camas Lodge at Fire Mountain. Over 30 Arrowmen gathered to learn some new skills as well as be trainned in the finer nuances of running our lodge. With this highly successful conference, we're even closer to our goal of National Quality Lodge recognition.

September 22-24, 45 Arrowmen traveled south to the 2000 Section W-1A Conclave... which was a BLAST! The amount of Arrowmen we got at this event shows once again that Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge is well on its way to becoming an awesome lodge once again.

October 6-8 brought Fall Ordeal to Fire Mountain, where the lodge gathered en masse to welcome new members into our lodge. During the course of the weekend, among the large amounts of cheerful service that the lodge provided for the council, 57 new Ordeal members and 12 new Brotherhood members were inducted. We also welcomed in five new Vigil Honor members in the lodge -- Brian Carpenter, Nate Davis, Jim Rhodes, Walt Wheeler, and Ben Wiyrick all obtained the Vigil Honor in recognition of their cheerful service. We also set a Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge Record of Arrowmen in the Ceremony Site -- we had 114 Lodge members present at the end of the second Ordeal ceremony.

Besides that record-setting ceremony, we had over 125 Arrowmen present during the weekend, including new members. We also had the Section W-1B Chief Kevin Stock, W-1C Vice Chief TJ Arnold, and two of the W-1B Section Advisers. Overheard were also comments made that Sikhs Mox Lamonti is rapidly becoming the best lodge in the entire section, based on our active members, spirit and attendance in lodge and section events. This was punctuated by our great attendance at the recent W-1A Conclave.

In October, spearheaded by the Tillikum Chapter, 15 lodge members traveled to Bear Lake, near Granite Falls, to perform several hours of cheerful service. In a group that include Ray Aberle, Jeremy Kaiser, Garrett Longhini, Wendy Leighton, Russ Leighton, Erik Maynard, Joe Miller, Danny Lee, Davey Collins, Mike Lowry, Cody Reaves, Brian Carpenter, Krisy Simpson, and two others whose names don't come immediately to mind, Sikhs Mox Lamonti continued to show that they are truly dedicated to cheerful service.

In November, as our Lodge Members were serving Fire Mountain Scout Camp, there was also a Brotherhood Ceremony held at Fire Mountain. In that ceremony, 12 Brothers sealed their membership with the Brotherhood Ceremony, putting Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge over the number of Brotherhood Conversions needed to be recognized as a National Quality Lodge.

For the first time in our History, Sikhs Mox Lamonti became a National Quality Lodge. This feat was not due to any one Arrowman's efforts, but was the culmination of a year of hard work by two LECs, driving and striving to be the first lodge in Section W-1B in recent memory to achieve this honor.

December 2 passed without incident. Only 5 days til the 59th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.On January 6, at Fire Mountain, the 2000 Vigil Class was finally completed as Scot Schloemer kept his Vigil there.

In January, over 75 Arrowmen gathered at Fire Mountain for yet another totally awesome Winter Fellowship. Once again, the hard work of all of the LEC members showed in the fun and excitement that was had by all. During the weekend, 6 Arrowmen sealed their membership with the Brotherhood Ceremony, getting us on track for another Quality year.

During this weekend, the new Lodge Service Award flap (S19) was introduced -- it is made from the current Standard Issue Flap, with the addition of a gold Mylar border. [Pictures to be posted soon in the Lodge Flap Collection online.] As you can see, Sikhs Mox Lamonti has a long and rich heritage of spirit, enthusiasm, and desire to serve. There are many opportunities for you to be able to show your dedication to the spirit of service that our Order was founded for -- show up to your chapter meetings and keep giving service. Help Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge to grow and continue to prove that our lodge is the best.