Answer To Masonic Conundrum #108
Ernest Borgnine
Answering correctly: WB Phillip Bodle (Mesaba Lodge No. 225), WB Al Farmer (Ionic Lodge No. 186), WB Harland Brand (Templar Lodge No. 176), WB Todd Mayer (Anoka Lodge No. 30)
The thing that strikes me about Ernest Borgnine is the warmth that he seemed to bring to his roles. As a kid, Disney’s The Black Hole captured my imagination and was one of the first movies I would see in the theater. During the Easter season, I would see him play a Roman Centurion on TV while I sampled my Easter candy spoils. Matt Stone and Trey Parker changed the face of comedy forever with South Park, and I remember going to see BASEketball with my wife. We laughed hysterically, and while this was perhaps not the type of movie I would have expected to see Brother Borgnine in, he was fantastic nonetheless. My riddle referenced these roles specifically. The Lodge I mentioned was, of course, Red Wing Lodge No. 8.
Brother Ernest Borgnine was born January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. Joining the Navy in 1935, he served aboard the USS Lamberton and was honorably discharged in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he re-enlisted in 1942, and served aboard the USS Sylph, which was used for anti-submarine warfare. In 1945, he was once again honorably discharged from the Navy, having served for almost 10 years in total. He then went on to act with encouragement from his mother.
His acting career spanned several decades, earning him an Academy Award for Best Actor for Marty. Beyond the roles we have already covered, he appeared in From Here to Eternity, Vera Cruz, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Wild Bunch, Airwolf, and SpongeBob SquarePants, just to name a few.
According to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, “In 2000, Ill. Borgnine received his 50-year pin as a Mason in Abingdon Lodge No. 48, Abingdon, Virginia. He joined the Valley of Los Angeles in 1964, received the KCCH in 1979, was coroneted a 33° Inspector General Honorary in 1983, and received the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991.” In 2010 he received the York Rite Medal of Honor. He was also a Shriner.
Ernest Borgnine passed to the celestial Lodge in July of 2012.
Conundrum 109 – Please send your answers to MasonicConundrum@gmail.com. Remember to include your name, Masonic title, and your Lodge name and number. Example: WB Brad Phelps (Rochester Lodge No. 21)
Tradition holds that this Brother and 14 others applied for membership in Boston’s St. John’s Lodge and were turned down. While he supported the Patriot cause during the Revolution, it was through a Lodge connected to British forces that they found their path to initiation. What was the Lodge in which they were initiated?
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Borgnine
https://guernseyfreemasons.org.uk/2025/10/14/brother-ernest-borgnine/
https://www.muratshriners.com/FamousShriners/earnest-borgnine
https://yrscna.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/spring10-1.pdf