Odd Fellows to install new officers
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
The impressive great hall of the Nantucket Odd Fellows Lodge will be filled with members and guests on Saturday, Nov. 10 when the organization's state representatives arrive to install several new officers of the local branch and charge them with their obligations for the upcoming year.

Neville Richen, Dave Nickerson and Marianne Worth. ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent

The benevolent order formed in 1770 in England and in 1819 in the United States, and now numbers more than 200 lodges worldwide with 37 of them in Massachusetts. Island member Dave Nickerson said the name derived from the fact that at the time the organization formed "it was an odd thing to do to take care of someone other than family members." The fraternity, which includes the Rebekahs, the first fraternal women's organization in the world, holds practicing aid to others as its primary precept.

Nickerson said the island Lodge 66 opened on Centre Street in 1845. After selling several properties the lodge owned on Centre Street in 1984, members built the present lodge on Bartlett Road. The remaining balance was invested and the interest on the investments is used to fund $12,000 in annual scholarships for Nantucket High School graduates, financially support the Junior Miss Program, and each July sponsor one or two high school juniors who travel to a youth convention at the United Nations that is attended by children from around the globe.

The Odd Fellows state president is known as the Grand Master, and he is coming to the island with his officers to perform Saturday's installation ceremony that will begin at 12:30 p.m. Those being installed are Dave Nickerson - Noble Grand; Neville Richen - Vice-Grand; Brian Murphy - Secretary; Robert Day - Treasurer; Ken Hammond - Chaplin; Reggie Reed - Warden; Joe Swain - Conductor; Jim Perelman - Inside Guardian; James Hardy - Outside Guardian; Chuck Colley - Right Supporter to the Noble Grand and Patrick Nolan - Left Supporter to the Noble Grand.

Nickerson said the only Nantucket person in history who has served as the state Grand Master is his uncle Bill Burdick. It is anticipated that next year Odd Fellow Barry Rector will become the second Grand Master from Nantucket, followed in 2009 by Neville Richen. Rebekah Kathy Richen will be named president of the Rebekah Assembly in 2009 and become the first woman from

Nantucket to take that role. I