Without New Members, WV’s Odd Fellows Lodge Will Close
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Benny Rayborn, Mitzi Rayborn and William Preston Self from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Grand Lodge are working to recruit new members of the Water Valley lodge. They are pictured in the ornate meeting room located on the second floor at 425 1/2 Main Street. The ceilings are believed to made from the interior ceiling of several Pullman rail cars.
WATER VALLEY – A 157-year-old fraternal lodge in Water Valley is in jeopardy of closing unless new members are recruited. Water Valley No. 82, an Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge has not been active in several years, and state IOOF officials are hoping to bring renewed interest.
The alternative, according to Grand Treasurer and Past Grand Master Benny M. Rayborn, is for the lodge to be deactivated, meaning the IOOF would likely sell the two-story Main Street building. Rayborn reported that the Grand Lodge of Mississippi session is held annually in June, and the fate of the Water Valley lodge is expected to be on the agenda.
Regalia worn during the ceremonies hangs on the wall.
“If the Grand Lodge votes to sell the building, that is when it would happen. Or it would happen the following June (2026), Rayborn told the Herald. “But we have this beautiful building, why get rid of it if we can get members in it.”
Rayborn made a recruiting trip to Water Valley last Friday, accompanied by his wife, Mitzi Rayborn, Grand Rep and past Grand Master; and Grand Master William Preston Self.
Rayborn reported that the lodge cannot legally meet until new members are added, a minimum of five to have a quorum.
“That is why the Grand Lodge is here, to recruit new members,” Rayborn added.
Rayborn reported that any person of good character, who is loyal to their country, and believes in a Supreme Being, is eligible for membership. Anyone interested in joining the lodge can contact Mitzi Rayborn at (601) 466-9464 or Self at (662) 242-2305. An application is also available on-line at odd-fellows.org.
“The lodge will be what the members make it,” Rayborn noted. “We are not going to be in control, we will come to the first meeting or two. It will be the local members’ lodge. It is such a positive thing in my life, I hate to see it die out here in Water Valley”
“It is too precious to let it go away,” Self said about the lodge and heritage in Water Valley.
A membership book used for decades at the Odd Fellows lodge remains on display, a list of names from 1940 to 2002. Presumably there was an earlier book listing members prior, and the later date, 2002, marked the decline of the lodge.
I was associated with the Odd Fellows in Broken Arrow OK. Many years ago. I have been trying to get in contact with the chapter here in Water Valley with no headway. I just read the article. I would very much be interested in talking with anyone that is a member. Thank you.