Annual Keynote Address
Of
Kermit W. Richardson
National Master (President)
Before the 137th Annual Convention
of
The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry

9:30 a.m. Monday, November 10, 2003
Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center
Burlington, Vermont

National Officers, Delegates, Distinguished Guests, Brothers and Sisters;

"The Hour of Labor has Arrived."

As the 20th Master of the National Grange, it is my honor to welcome you to the 137th Annual Session of the National Grange in Burlington, Vermont. It is especially a privilege for Margaret and I to welcome you to our beloved Green Mountain State. This is the third time that the members of the Vermont State Grange have had the privilege of hosting a National Grange Convention. The first time was the 87th Annual Session in 1953 when Hershel B. Newsom was National Master. The next time was the 125th Annual Session in 1991 when Robert E. Barrow was Master of the National Grange. Worthy State Master, Phyllis Mason, the Officers, the members and committees of Vermont State Grange have worked diligently to make this a memorable event. This is our second year of a new convention format. I am sure that you will find it filled with exciting things to do, decisions to make, friendships to renew, and recognition of outstanding accomplishments of our members. At the conclusion of this convention, I hope that you will be convinced that this is truly a New Century, a New Grange.

On this opening day, we take pride in and celebrate the accomplishments of the Grange at all levels and the building of the Grange across this country. From the very beginning, ours has been a truly unique organization involving the entire family and people from all walks of life. Any Grange meeting, whether it is on a local, county, state or national level, represents the very best cross-sections of interest, age, occupation and determination to build a better community.

"Cherishing in Our Hearts Every Kind Feeling Toward All Other Orders and
Associations Which Seek to Promote Human Welfare..."

At this point, I'd like to also report to you on the outcome of two special projects that were initiated by the National Grange earlier this year. First, on August 4, 2003, National Grange Legislative Director Leroy Watson and I met with National Farmers Organization President Paul Olsen, former National Farmers Organization President Eugene Paul and National Farmers Union President David Frederickson at the Minneapolis Airport Marriott Hotel to discuss how the National Grange, the National Farmers Union and the National Farmers Organization can work more closely together in the future. We had thoughtful, frank and friendly conversations. I came away from that meeting with a renewed confidence that all three of our organizations share many common goals and objectives.

Both Leroy and I feel quite confident that the three organizations will have many opportunities to work together for the benefit of all. You will have opportunities to hear from President Fredrickson of the National Farmers Union and former President Gene Paul of the National Farmers Organization at this convention. Continued cooperation and communication among our three fine organizations is something that should be encouraged, since I think the benefits would be very positive.

Second, the health care needs of our members and of people in our communities has long been one of the Grange's foremost concerns. Nowhere are the limitations of the current health care system more apparent than in the predominantly rural communities served by the Grange. Many Grangers have witnessed first hand the particular economic burden that prescription drug costs can have on individual seniors and their families.

To better serve our communities and to provide assistance to those most in need, the National Grange has entered into a partnership with Pfizer, Inc. to promote the Pfizer Share Card for Living Program in rural communities. The Share Card is designed to substantially reduce the costs of prescription drugs for low-income seniors currently receiving Medicare. It is perfectly suited to the needs of older Americans, especially seniors living in rural communities. The Share Card program is a wonderful program for Grange members to take advantage of. It is the perfect opportunity for local Granges to serve their community through outreach and education efforts.

I urge everyone at this convention to visit our "Celebrating Vermont Heritage Festival" and see the Pfizer Share Card for Living display. Furthermore, I hope you will all join me at the Celebration Banquet on Saturday night. At that time, the National Grange will present a special award to Mr. Forest Harper, Pfizer, Inc., Vice President for Pfizer Share Card for Living Programs. I'm sure after you have heard Mr. Harper explain Pfizer's commitment to this program, you will be convinced, just as I was, that Pfizer, Inc. is a valuable partner for the National Grange and wholeheartedly shares our commitment to serving the communities where our Granges live.

"New Ideas are the Material with which Progress is Made"

This year marks the 159th anniversary of one of the most adaptive, useful and socially beneficial technologies that our nation has ever seen-- the telegraph pole. The simple pine pole was first employed by Samuel Morse to carry the telegraph wire over long distances and thus shorten the physical chasm of human communication. Since Morse's day, the telegraph wire has become obsolete. But the basic telegraph pole has continuously been reinvented as a platform for multiple new ideas and technologies that have advanced the social welfare, especially in rural America. Imagine with me for a moment the social progress our society would have forgone, if we did not have the telegraph pole.

The telegraph pole has been an economic mainstay of agri-forestry for more than a century and a half.

The telegraph wire would never have united our country in the first seemless net of nearly instantaneous communication, regardless of geographic distance.

The telephone wire would never have linked all the human voices of a nation and a world together and the Internet would never have linked a billion individuals to a World Wide Web.

Rural America would still be dependent on kerosene oil for lamp light without the benefits of rural electrification.

The cultural, entertainment, educational and political diversity of hundreds of viewpoints that increase our knowledge of the world would be diminished without cable television.

The freedom of personal mobility in our society would be lost without the deployment of uniform traffic control devices on these poles.

Public safety would be severely compromised without the nightly illuminations of the street lamp.

Our understanding of the physical impacts of pollution on human health would be less accurate without monitoring devices attached to telegraph poles.

Our commitment to living in harmony with the natural environment would not be clearly demonstrated if we could not build nests and other habitats for wild animals and birds at the top of our telegraph poles.

Each new idea or application for this remarkably flexible technology has been the material on which social progress has been made. Performing each task assigned to it with dignity, the telegraph pole has created a legacy of innovation and technological application that far exceeds its original purpose or design.

The telegraph pole is also an appropriate metaphor to describe the Grange. Our success and durability as an organization has hinged on the ability of the Grange to adapt to the changing environment of our communities and to anticipate the evolving needs of our members. Today, while we value the past 136 years, we must move forward with greater relevance, community involvement and member benefits. For our historic organization to continue to be a voice for communities in an increasingly diverse and changing America in the 21st Century, we need to reevaluate our goals, our programs, our membership outreach and our benefits in order to become advocates for a new kind of dynamic, community-based and member-driven organization that reflects the best of our American values.

".Be Foremost in Advocating the Principles.of our Order.
Encourage Improvement; Remember that Nature's Motto is Onward; SHE Never Goes
Backward."

This inspiring charge from our Installation Ceremony, is a clear message from the Founders of our Order that speaks to us across 136 years about the importance of both advocacy and change if the Grange is to be successful and endure.

The dictionary defines an advocate as; "one who defends, vindicates or promotes a cause by persuasive argument." A successful advocate is not one who uses violence or employs coercion to achieve their goal. A successful advocate employs patience, reason and moral authority to convince their audience of the validity of their cause. Advocates are, therefore, leaders.

The dictionary also provides us with a definition for change: "to make the form, nature or content of something different from what it is or what it would be, if it was left alone." Therefore, when we use the word change, we clearly imply active, not passive, responses to the world around us. This definition also envisions that change requires making choices. These choices are, at the same time, both empowering, as well as, potentially threatening.

These are exciting times to be an advocate for change in the Grange. It has been three years since the National Grange delegates adopted the Grange Strategic Planning Task Force recommendations for a New Grange that ".will be responsive to the member's time, committed to membership growth and designed for relevance and national preeminence." During that period, we have seen many challenges that have truly tested our commitment to this organization.

I can assure everyone that the deliberations for changes were not easy. Our discussions have focused on the basic questions of how best to reform the processes and procedures we use in the Grange to conduct our business and manage our resources. Our commitment to change is not a reflection on past leadership or a repudiation of our past practices. It is a realization of where we are today and where society is today. The guiding force in all of these decisions was to do everything we could to perpetuate the Grange and to make it a viable, preeminent and serving organization.

Nevertheless, our decisions were reached with a clear understanding that these recommendations could be disruptive, could cause a great deal of stress and, in all probability, would not be understood or appreciated by everyone. We should not discount the emotional attachment that some people feel for our traditional procedures. These feelings represent legitimate concern and anxiety. As authors John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen point out in their book "Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations:"

"Our major finding [in large scale change] is that the central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems.The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people's feelings."

However, as these discussions have unfolded over the past three years, even the most strident advocates for moving boldly forward with a new culture of innovation in the Grange have insisted that the core values that shaped the formation of the Grange must still be part of the Grange today. These are values that are summed up by our motto; "In essentials Unity, in nonessentials Liberty and in all things Charity." Our Founders wisely advocated for the creation of a new kind of organization where our values and our principals, not the processes we use to conduct our business and manage our resources, should define who we are as individual Grange members and who we are as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Our predecessors understood clearly that procedures are the means by which we implement our values and principals. Procedures are the means to an end. They are not an end, in and of themselves.

"If we work upon marble, it will crumble-if we work upon brass, time will corrode it-if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds-if we imbue them with just and true principles, the reverence of God and the love of our fellowman, we engrave on something which will brighten to all eternity."

In my view, one of the most important and consistent lessons of our Grange Ritual compels us to become Grange leaders who are successful advocates for constructive change. Time will not pay homage to our efforts in the temple of endless deliberations or look kindly on our attempts to immortalize our current structure in the brass of process or the marble of procedure. Within the rank and file of the Grange, we must further develop the immortal minds of new advocates who will discover, explore, lead and be in the forefront of innovation. These leaders must not only be capable of analyzing and proposing appropriate changes within our organization. They must also help people understand the value of appropriate change, change that may fundamentally alter our processes and procedures, yet will leave our basic values intact. They must do this by creating a new sense of urgency regarding the need for change that will allow us to open up Grange Halls all across this nation, both literally and figuratively, to more than 100,000 new Grange members with diverse backgrounds and experiences over the next decade.

The results of a renewed emphasis on our values, rather than on our procedures, will allow our Grange structure to be as adaptable as the telegraph pole to new challenges and new responsibilities. Our vision for the Grange in the 21st Century must exemplify our core values in a manner that is relevant to the society we live in. It is not enough to have values that are widely admired in our community. We must demonstrate those values by reforming our procedures to better demonstrate our commitment to serve our members and our communities. We must do this not only by promoting the benefits of economic and political cooperation among our members, but by embracing the social, moral, cultural and educational aspects of Grange membership that address important individual needs for expression and personal growth. Successful advocates for change in the New Grange will be those leaders who take to heart the words of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy when he wrote: "Most people see the world as it is and ask 'Why?' I see the world as it could be and ask 'Why Not?'"

Action Grange Program
".difficulties are but opportunities to test our abilities."

To effectively demonstrate our principles and values to the communities in which the Grange lives, we have to overcome the misleading perception that some of our traditional processes and procedures impede our ability to communicate effectively with our members, our families and our communities. The task of overcoming these perceptions has been one of those opportunities that truly test our abilities.

In response to this opportunity, the National Grange created the Action Grange program to develop innovative procedures that will allow us to effectively conduct our business and persuasively demonstrate our principles. The Action Grange program has proven itself to be a viable part of Grange renewal. The Action Grange I program was created to revitalize the Grange. It has enabled over 100 Community Granges to systematically experiment with, and evaluate, the traditional processes we use to conduct our business and manage our resources. The Action Grange I program has produced numerous visible successes. These successes have fostered greater member involvement and generated greater interest by prospective members. An information update about the Action I program, and the stories of the tremendous successes by these Granges that are making a difference in their communities, will be available to you at this convention. In addition, we will have a workshop devoted to the entire Action Grange program. Sharon Croucher, First Lady of the New York State Grange, and John Fine, Master of the Oregon State Grange, will facilitate this important workshop.

Action Grange II was created in response to the requests of community Granges across the nation who built on the success of the Action Grange I program. We have now completed five of the Action II Programs. In these five programs there have been a total of 169 participants with 48 Granges involved. Two more seminars are planned before the 1st of the year. Salley Crosiar, of Canandaigua, New York, the facilitator for the program, has done an excellent job. The Action I Granges have also been important participants in the seminars for the Action II program. We have also introduced a new opportunity by which Granges that did not become a part of the original Action Grange II program may now join the program at this point. This participation does require commitment on the part of these new Granges because I think that is exactly what we have to have for the Action Grange program to be successful.

"Keep the Eye of the Mind Open."

Because of the Action Grange program and other efforts at reform, today every local Grange in the nation has the opportunity to control its own destiny. We too often forget that the Grange does not live in history books. It does not live in our memories. It does not live in our manuals, by-laws, rituals or resolutions. It does not live at our national headquarters at 1616 H Street, NW in Washington, DC. The Grange lives when and where we can proudly advocate our values in a manner that will make a difference in the lives of our members and our communities. That is why you have increasingly seen the efforts of the National Grange directed toward assisting the State Granges and then toward assisting the local community Granges.

The National Grange team of dedicated elected officers, program directors and staff is committed to providing each of you and your Granges with new opportunities to become Advocates for American Values. Advocates for your values as individuals, advocates for your values as a member of a dynamic statewide and nationwide organization and advocates for your values as leaders in your community. Our shared goal at the local, state and national level is to increase membership, retain the valuable members who already contribute to the Grange, enhance participation and foster greater visibility for the local Grange. I encourage every Grange member to proudly exemplify our principles of service and commitment to our families, homes, communities, state and nation both today and in the future as we introduce our new theme for 2004:

Advocating for American Values: The Grange

This theme was inspired by, and is dedicated to, the thousands of Grange people all across this country, and in this room, who have labored for years in the vineyard of the Grange. Especially, those who may be concerned about the changes they see occurring but at the same time are fully committed to the values of the Grange. Because of your sacrifice, dedication and advocacy, I am confident that we will soon see the fruits of our labors to revitalize the Grange, just as we now see the blossoms of that revival in our Action Grange programs.

Our newly-improved web site will also be an immediate reflection of our new theme. Not only will it continue to be a source of information to state and community Granges across the nation, it will show America why the Grange is an important part of the fabric of our nation by providing the latest news about issues affecting rural America and by showing how we are fighting for stronger rural communities. So on Wednesday, November 12, please visit www.nationalgrange.org and see first hand how we are Advocating for American Values.

"Imbue Us All With the Spirit of Service."

As I have during past National Master's Keynote Addresses, I will honor certain individuals who have made a lasting contribution to our organization. This year, I have selected two individuals that have made a difference in my life and in the life of the Grange. They were also both outstanding Advocates for American Values and the examples of their lives truly exemplify the message of our new theme.

Harold J. Arthur

Harold J. Arthur was the Master of Vermont State Grange from 1946 to 1958. During that time he had the distinction of being both Governor of the State of Vermont and Master of Vermont State Grange at the same time.

Master Arthur appointed me as deputy of the Vermont State Grange while I was still in military service. This was the beginning of my involvement at the State Grange and National Grange levels. He was active, involved and committed to the Grange and what the Grange could do for communities and individuals. Brother Arthur also served as U.S. Representative for the State of Vermont to the United States Congress.

His widow, Mary, was very active in the Grange organization and assisted in many areas, by virtue of her being an attorney. Today Sister Mary lives with her daughter Portia in Stowe, VT. Portia will be participating in the reception prior to the Vermont Host Banquet. I asked Portia for information in regards to her dad and these are some of her thoughts:

"He truly loved being among Grangers and participating in the works and projects which they sponsored for respective communities." "Seeing the Grange's accomplishments through teamwork, flourish in many unexpected and gratifying ways was exciting. Certainly, the Grange was one of the consistently positive influences on his life." "On behalf of Mary, and my late father, I thank you and offer our best wishes for a future of challenges met and continued solidarity."

Brother Arthur's influence on the Grange organization, both in the State of Vermont and nationally was profound and lasting.

Adrian L DeVries

On April 15, we lost a great Granger and a real friend in Adrian L. DeVries.

Brother Adrian was known by thousands of people because of his extensive background in radio and television in the inland Northwest for more than 55 years. He was especially committed to, and continued to work for, the Washington State Grange, the National Grange, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, the Ag Bureau of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce, the Washington Association of Broadcasters and other state and national organizations.

In 1985 he was the first person chosen to receive the "Broadcaster of the Year" award from the Washington State Association of Broadcasters. Just weeks before his death he was singled out as the longest continuous radio and television voice in the state of Washington by the Northwest Pioneer Broadcasters organization. We all remember his work at the National Convention. A kind, thoughtful gentleman, Brother Adrian was a real craftsman at his work and who believed in exactly what he was doing.

Margaret and I will especially miss our friend Adrian. We appreciate very much his wife Betty sharing this great and humble man's life work with our Order.

Conclusion: "Whatever We Do, Strive To Do Well."

Success in any effort is achieved only by a team effort. I have had the opportunity these past eight years, and especially this last year, to work with an excellent Grange team. It is a team that was, and is, dedicated to Advocating for American Values.

I would like to express my appreciation to Dick Weiss, Chief Operating Officer of the National Grange, the staff of the DC office, and the field directors for their untiring efforts on behalf of Grange people all across this country. The past year has not been easy for them as we journey from what was, toward what is going to be. They have remained steadfast clear in understanding that Grange members are our customers, and it is our responsibility as the National staff to support Grange members all across this country.

To the Executive Committee, Bob Clouse, Chair; Bruce Croucher, Secretary; Bill Steel, Overseer; Kevin Klenklen and John Thompson, I wish to express my sincere appreciation for your dedication, your thoughtful consideration and your commitment. Your counsel, your willingness to go the extra mile and your fortitude in making some very tough decisions, have been appreciated by me. There is no question that the Grange is a stronger organization today because of the decisions you have made.

To our family, I would like to thank you for your support, your caring and your understanding. We are very proud of our families and appreciate very much the many thoughtful things they do. To Margaret, my lifetime companion, best friend and love, I thank you for your caring, for your understanding, for your guidance and for simply being you. You have made the task easier with your understanding and caring.

As we pause at this 137th Annual Session to reflect and appreciate the past, let us once again be thankful for that multitude of Grange members that have made it possible for us to participate in this annual convention. They are our sturdiest telegraph poles, flexible, adaptive and willing to serve in whatever capacity they are asked. At the same time, let us resolve that we will do everything we can to be sure that the Grange will move forward as a relevant, caring, involved and proactive organization concerned not only with the welfare and happiness of our membership but also Advocating for the Values of the larger community. We must be guided by the knowledge that the past is our heritage, the present our responsibility and the future our challenge.

"May the Devine Master Protect, Guide and Bless Us All, Now and Evermore."

Fraternally submitted.

Kermit W. Richardson, National Master
National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry