Our lives are built on moments that stack upon each other across the span of time. Those moments are shaped by relationships — with our families, our friends, and our Brothers. And those relationships are the thread that connects those who have left us with those who are here today.

For centuries, Freemasonry has taught its members to reflect on mortality not with dread, but with purpose — to let the awareness of life's brevity sharpen how we live, how we love, and how we serve. The sprig of acacia reminds us that something endures beyond the grave. The hourglass reminds us that our time to act is now.

Since 1882, when representatives of four lodges gathered in Tucson to establish the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons for the Territory of Arizona, the men of this fraternity have helped shape not only Masonry, but the state itself. They built communities, served their neighbors, and carried forward a set of values older than the territory they settled. Their names are inscribed in our proceedings, carved into headstones, and woven into the very history of Arizona. They deserve to be remembered — not because remembering them honors the dead, but because it teaches the living.

I am here to carve that history into our memories. To seek out those stories that shaped us into who we are. The stories that Must be told. I am but a shepherd of history.

Memento Mori. Remember that you will die. And let that remembrance move you to live.

— Bo Buchanan, Grand Historian

Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Arizona