A Place to Share
This Blog was initiated by Leo DiBiase who was a guest at the Masonic Home in Utica, New York during the years of 1940 to 1946. Leo is the Historian for the alumni group organized by the former children guests of the Home and called, appropriately, The Masonic Home Kids Alumni Association. It is hoped that this site will be used to share experiences and remembrances and become a place where the children guests of all the Masonic Homes across America may join in this sharing.
posted by Virgilius "Leo" DiBiase at 5:41 PM
17 Comments:
Hi to All,
I am fervently hoping that the lack of activity on the Web Log is due to "fear of something new".
For those of you for which this suggestion is not true please surf into:
http://masonichomekids.blogspot.com/ and share some ideas, memories with some of the other Kids.
For those of you that may need some help...Well, here goes:
Click on the link above. If your browser does not provide a direct link then "cut and paste" the address into your address pane of your browser and click on GO.
On the BLOG site you enter your e-mail address and pick a password. This will allow you to "Log In" and leave a comment, a message of good cheer, a birth announcement, a simple hello or an in-depth analysis of the World economy for others to comment on.
Notice for us that are fearful, It is not possible to leave a message anonymously, so the site is simply a bulletin board.
How about it? Isn't this a good idea where you can express yourselves as to what you want in the Newsletter? Ideas for the reunions, reconnecting with Kids from the same generation?
I found this necessary since all messages were being routed through me and this Blog provides a more direct conduit.
Speak up, Log in, Be heard as we need you to be counted among us.
Sincerely bro. Leo
My previous comment is a copy of the e-mail I have sent to all the Wired Kids. Obviously if you are reading the comment in the BLOG you know how to get in. I thought the other comments were need, unedited.bro. Leo
Thanks George,
You will forever be remembered as the first responder! How about telling us how the Masonic Home helped you during and after your residency? You had siblings there as well and it would be wonderful to hear about them. I have some pictures to send to you via e-mail for identification of some other Kids. bro. Leo
The spring meeting of the Masonic Home Kids Alumni Association will be held in Utica at the Masonic Home (Masonic Care Facility) on May 28, 2005 at 10:00 am. All Kids are invited as it is an open meeting to discuss organization, reunion plans and any other pertinent questions brought to the attention of the board.
We can count one more blogger with Joe Pisco on board!
The HK Newsletter has been put to bed and will be reproduced and distributed.
Gordy Myers is ill and is at the Masonic Care Facility in Utica.
NS415
2150 Bleeker St.
Utica, NY 13501
General Commentand question.
Why is it so difficult to get Masonic Home Kids to open up? (few exceptions). Do they feel stigmatized by their Home experience? Do they not see the experience as beneficial? There are at least 6 Kids that refuse to communicate in any way. What was it about their experience that they are angry about? I would like to get some commentary on this and also opinions on the usefullness of a survey using McKenzie's (survey) as seen in his book ; "Rethinking Orphanages in the 20th Century".
bro. Leo
I am correcting a typo in my last comment.The title of the book that has a useful and interesting survey is "Rethinking Orphanages in the 21th Century". Richard B. McKensie, Sage Publications, ISBN 0-7619-1443-9. The statistics are not rigorous and the sample small but anything that gets people talking is useful. I am not in anyway endorsing Dr. McKensie's conclusions, (if anybody cares) as I think he got too facinated with Newt Gingrich and his vision of "Boys Town" as a happy place, and a paradigm to follow in the 21st Century. When I spoke with him on the phone (prior to buying his book) I questioned him on some details of his experiences and he said, "Buy the book."
OOPS McKenZie
I am listing a copy of the e-mail I sent out to the Wired Kids for archival purposes and with the hope that some serious thought would be applied to the question.
...................................
To all the Wired Kids,
May I draw your attention to an obituary of a Home Kid I recently reread. One of the sentences read as follows;
"......... moved as a child to Utica, NY. .....and was educated in local schools and graduated from Proctor High School." Is this a clue to what the answer is to the question I posed on stigma? I would appreciate some thoughtful responses. Thank you, bro. Leo
Geri DiNardo. the daughter of Vincent DiNardo responded to my inquiry as follows: (Thank you Gerry for your permission to quote you)
" hope that none of you feels a stigma having been raised at the HOME. When I tell people about my dad and his bothers.......well, they tear up and the older ones shake their head in a knowing sort of way and share with me their story as there were other orphanges during that time.
When I tell people my age, 61, they say WOW! and ask a lot of questions. After all, my generation did not spend much time in orphanages.....In fact, most have no clue about this phenomenon.
You all have become very wonderful people, in spite of a difficult situation. Please be proud of yourselves.
I recently took care of a woman who's husband had been put into an orphanage in MA. and when he was old enough they put him to work on a farm in MA. He grew up to be a very difficult man and very hard on his kids..... "
Again with Geri's approval, Kids of Kids that may want to chat with Geri may reach her at dinardog@aol.com.
bro. Leo
[for those of you that may think "bro. Leo" is a conceit, please indulge me as it allows me to sign, " Love, bro. Leo" to differentiate my brotherly love from any other. Also the lower case "b" differentiates me from Catholic priests and members of the Masonic Fraternity but calls attention to my feeling that I am a brother to all the Kids at the Masonic Home, having share similar experiences.
Love, bro. Leo
Hi All: Not many of us on yet. I sure hope more join us soon. Meanwhile we have it all to ourselves. I think some just don't know how to get on with out some help. I know I needed the help. Got it to, thanks to you Leo.
You know, when you speak of being ashamed of being in the Home. I really was never that, but I did find that when I did mention it most people did not know how to handle the news and sort of dropped the subject.
Had one funny experience though. Jim and I had gone to a ski lodge with some people for "work week" They put the woman up in the loft and men below. We woman got to talking in the dark and I mentioned I'd been raised in the Home. Went on to tell of being in the band and the chorus and having the pool and the camp. There was silence and than a voice said, Little Orphan Annie you weren't. We all laughed.
By the time I left the home I really was not eager to leave. I had made it home I guess. In the earlier years there I suffered. Missed a place to call home. Missed my Grandmother. (My Mother and Grandfather had passed on the year before we came up to the Home) I was sick a lot and in the Hospital on the grounds often. But one day the Doctors daughter came into my room and said. Wouldn't you really like to be outs
POV: Vocational education: The need continues
By Michael Viana
May 12, 2005
Mike gave his permission to publish this in the BLOG, send him words of encouragement. bro. Leo
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Let me begin by explaining why I became a guidance counselor. My father died when I was young so I went to live in the Masonic Home in Utica. My school grades were average.
When it came time to discuss college plans, my counselor said that he did not expect much from me but that I should try college first because I had financial backing from the Masons.
I was sure I could learn to counsel better than him and I have my master's degree and experience to prove it.
As I write this, I have just completed 30 years working with vocational students at the Herkimer BOCES. I can honestly say I still like children and love the part of my job that allows me to help them to succeed in meeting their career and personal goals. I don't have any magic, but I have enough experience to help kids see alternatives that are not clear to them. It is because of the children that I am here; not the pay, the recognition or the benefits. Kids know that I will give them lunch money if they really need it or listen when they have a problem.
Over the years, our school has had between 500 and 700 students enrolled annually in an average of 22 programs. We have had from 150 to 250 students complete a two-year program each year. Programs have been dropped, new ones added and standards have risen to meet increasing graduation requirements.
At BOCES, we have integrated academic credits to help students meet their graduation standards. We now offer credit for English, science and math.
A survey that I sent out to our 12 district guidance counselors indicates a trend in some districts toward an increase in the pursuit of General Education Diplomas. Vocational enrollments have also been higher the last three years, with the most popular courses having waiting lists to get in.
The survey also indicated that more students in some districts are staying in school, getting Regents diplomas as schools strive to meet their increasing needs.
There may be a need for more alternative education in the future, especially at the middle-school level. Around Herkimer County —- one of the state's smallest -— more than 100 students have been identified as needing additional help prior to getting into ninth grade.
I would suggest that the implementation of the new standards beginning in 1996 has created a renewed value in achieving a Regents diploma. Still, I see a rise of more than 10 percent around the state in the pursuit of GEDs.
With the challenge of passing Regents Exams, students must have a solid academic foundation. I will continue to motivate students and provide opportunities to earn as many credits as possible. Working together with our schools, we will get our students through.
However, success for some must be measured in ways other than passing five Regents Exams. With many students still choosing to go to the GED route, a vocational element is necessary to guarantee future employment. The more practical measure of success is for vocational students to secure employment related to their training.
The needs of students must be addressed, and our future will include new programs that can meet our community's needs while providing the
latest training for vocational students. For example, recently at Herkimer we started a general automotive service program and we are planning a patient services branch of health occupations.
As for me, do I expect anything in return? Not any more. I realize now that it is not about me, it is about the students; they are the reason I am here.
Michael Viana is a guidance counselor at Herkimer BOCES.
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This is an excerpt from Richard McKenzie's work that I thought would be iteresting to the Home Kids
Past assessments of institutional care for children have been far too harsh. The general conclusion drawn from the first and only large scale survey of orphanage alumni (involving 1,600 respondents from nine orphanages in the South and Midwest) stands in sharp contrast to conventional wisdom on orphanage life: As a group, the alumni have outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on practically all measures, not the least of which are education, income, and attitude toward life. The survey respondents seem to be saying that their orphanage experience gave them the connectedness, continuity, dignity, and opportunity that constituted a "good start" and served them well later in life.
The orphanage alumni, who are now 48 and older, have a 17 percent higher high school graduation rate than their counterparts in the general population and a 39 percent higher college graduation rate. They also have significantly more professional and master's degrees and more doctorates. The median household incomes of the orphanage alumni were one-tenth to three-fifths higher (depending on age group) than the medians for their counterparts in the general population. Moreover, the orphans' rates of unemployment, poverty, incarceration, and dependence on public assistance were minor fractions of the rates for white Americans.
Many children will never prosper in an institutional setting. Still, experience has shown that many children can do well in such a setting, and they can surely do better than they might do in a sequence of temporary placements. Private homes for children can provide a form of long-term, permanent care, from which a sense of security can develop. And they can provide much more: improved educational opportunity, a work ethic, religious and moral nurturing, camaraderie, and a sense of community -- attributes that successful alumni of private homes say were important in their childhoods.
Richard B. McKenzie is the Walter B. Gerken Professor of Enterprise and Society at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California-Irvine. He is also the author of The Home: A Memoir of Growing Up in an Orphanage (BasicBooks, 1996).
Dear cs,
Your comments on your grandmother are facinating to me from a historian's point of view. I have some rare photos of Ruth Florian that I would be happy to share. Please contact me at: virgilius.dibiase@verizon.net
The reunion for the MHKAA will be held at Round Lake, NY on Labor Day weekend, 2006 If you want more information send me an e-mail at
virgilius.dibiase@verizon.net.
Hi to all,
Leo DiBiase has a new E-mail: vldibiase@comcast.net
20 September 2007
Yesterday we lost one of our sisters. Ruth Mosier Williams died peacefully as her daughter whispered, "Go to camp. all the Kids are there." Ruth was a hard worker and a driving force of the MHKAA. Her Charlotte is a big supporter and we look forward to seeing her at the 2008 reunion.
bro. Leo
Thanks to Leo I am now an active
blogger.
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