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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 14 October 2018

It is always sad to announce about a brother or sister who has left us.  This week has been troublesome for our lodge.  I am sad to announce that a long-time member Paul Behneman died on Friday, October 12, 2018, from complications due to cancer.  I know many of you were good friends to Paul.  We thank everyone that attended Paul’s fundraiser on July 21, 2018.  I know Paul and his family really appreciated the support.   I hope you keep him and his family in your prayers in their time of need.

Updated (10/19/2018):

A service will be held on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, at:

St. Marks Catholic Church in Vienna at 11:00 am.

9970 Vale Road Vienna, VA 22181

A celebration of life will be held at:

Vienna Moose Lodge at Noon

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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 22 September 2018

Hubert "Specks" Spaulding, Jr., a crusader of the Moose, the Moose Legion, a Fellow of our lodge, and dear friend to so many died on Saturday, September 15, 2018, at the age of 90 years.  I know he will be dearly missed.  Brothers and Sisters, our Defending Circle has been broken.  Specks has been called to his final reward.  Let us for a moment, in silence, think of him and remember his virtues as we offer a prayer for his loved ones who mourn.  Specks, may you rest in peace.

A Moose ritual will be held at 6:00 pm on Friday, September 28, 2018.

An obituary can be found here.

Visitation will be held Friday, September 28, from 2:00 - 4:00 PM and 6:00 - 8:00 PM at

Money and King Funeral Home

171 Maple Ave W

Vienna, VA.

A celebration of Speck's life will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 29, at the funeral home, immediately followed by burial with military honors at

National Memorial Park

7482 Lee Hwy

Falls Church, VA

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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 14 August 2018

It is with sadness and a heavy heart that I announce that Karl Berman died on August 12, 2018, at home.  Karl was a member of the Moose Fraternity for many years before becoming a member here at Vienna.  It hurts to say our defending circle is once again broken.  Karl had been very frail the months before his death.  He leaves his sisters Alisha and Barbara, his father, and many friends who attended school at Oakton Elementary, Oakton High School.

Karl my brother, you will be dearly missed.

The celebration of Life:

We will be celebrating Karl's life with family and friends on Saturday, September 8, 2018, starting at 2:00 pm here at the Vienna lodge.

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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 27 July 2018

Our defending circle has been broken.  Our friend and member Tim Gray has passed his earthly bonds the week of July 8th, 2018.  The family wishes to let everyone know that Tim passed peacefully.  Tim's dogs are in a shelter and are actively looking for a new home.

A celebration of life has been scheduled for Sunday, August 19th, 2018 starting at noon.  The family would like to invite you and your family to a potluck event to celebrate Tim's life.  We look forward to seeing everyone.

If we get more information we will post in this article.

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Written by: Governor - Mike Wright

Published: 11 July 2018

With the convention for Moose International starting this week in New Orleans, we are excited to represent our lodge this year.  This year is a year we are working hard to get back to basics.  This means that we are following the rules set forth in the Bylaws and the leadership represented in the manuals created by Moose International.

If you have not been in the lodge for many weeks, changes are happening.  We are happy to report that we have started a new Lodge Membership drive.  We are waiving all application fees for all LOOM and WOTM members for the summer.  Yes, we know we don't have a Lodge Chapter currently.  We even received a question on Facebook about free application fees for WOTM members.  This was our answer.

"Yes, even WOTM! While we don't have a chapter right now, we still want everyone to be welcomed here. So, if someone wants to frequent our lodge, we sign them up as "All Hearts" chapter with the hope of transferring them in when we are able to start a Chapter again. The Women of the Moose are such an integral part of the Moose fraternal system. To not have a Chapter, makes our lodge less welcoming! We want and need the support of a lodge Chapter to make our lodge whole again! While it may not be in the cards now, we are working towards this goal.”

We have signed up 5 new women in the last three weeks.  We hope the removal of the application fees makes it easier for you to sign up new members.

As we continue to move forward, you may have also noticed that we have extended our operating hours on Friday's until 1:00 am.  This was facilitated by one of hopefully many new activities starting at the lodge, Free Texas Hold'Em.  We have been getting a good group to play each Friday including current and new members.  Our Friday Night sales are increasing too!  Just to let you in on a secret, if you want an extra $1000 in free poker chips (no real cash value), just buy dinner!

Some other noteworthy news, we have extended our hours on Sundays too (until 10:00 pm).  And, we have started using our Point of Sale system here at the lodge.  We know many of you will take advantage of this system.  If you would like to use a credit or debit card for your purchases at the lodge now you can.  We have even more great things happening in the near future too.

Our lodge has endured many hardships in the recent past.  And, I am sure there will be more hardships in the coming days, but we as a lodge are moving forward.  One can only hope that we move forward together!  One of the ways we are trying to change things is through communication.  While we work on everything, you will be hearing more from us during meetings and on our website.

Finally, we know we sound like a broken record sometimes, but we need volunteers to help with the new activities, new committees, and help in staying on top of what is already going on!  We are only as strong as our membership!  And, thanks to everyone already helping and to each of you that have signed up a new member this year.

In conclusion, I want to thank all the volunteers (Sandi, Gwen, and all the others) that are helping set up the Paul Behneman fundraiser.  We are getting help for this from so many local businesses too!  The response has been amazing.  If you are free on Saturday, July 21, please come on down to the lodge and support Paul by participating in this event.  There will be great food, amazing music by the "Rusty Highway Band”, and lots of supportive raffles for Paul.  We have already started a raffle for a 55 inch HD television.  You can see the TV and purchase your tickets in the Social Quarters!  Good Luck and thanks for your support!

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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 20 June 2018

Our defending circle has been broken.  Our friend and member Edward "Eddie" Yankowski have passed his earthly bonds on June 18, 2018.  Eddie joined Vienna Moose Lodge 1896 on June 28, 1990.  In his the last few years, he was getting treatment for the cancers that were caused by agent orange as have so many of his fellow veterans and moose members.  He will be missed dearly by many of our members.  His remains were cremated. His son Daniel will bury him in Connecticut with the ashes of his two beloved dogs.

The last two years of his life he lived in Frederick County Maryland and enjoyed the town of Brunswick. He loved his early morning walks to the river. Eddie will be missed. RIP old friend.

If we get more information we will post in this article.

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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 06 June 2018

A break in our defending circle has happened.  Ed Turkaly was called for his final reward on the morning of June 1, 2018.  Ed was a great friend to many here at the lodge.  He was a champion for the lodge for many years.  Please take a moment today and say a prayer for his family and friends who will miss him dearly.

A copy of the obituary can be found here.  You can leave messages for the family here as well.

A memorial service will be held at the American Legion Dyer-Gunnell Post #180 on Friday, June 15, 2018, from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

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Written by: Dan Sullivan

Published: 25 April 2018

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Written by: Carl Thomas

Published: 14 April 2018

I hope everyone is having a great spring so far and is surviving the beginning of allergy season. First, I would like to thank our outgoing men’s officers.  Their leadership and guidance have been instrumental getting our lodge through some of the toughest times in our history.  And, we are not out of the woods yet.  We have lots to do in the coming years to be back on a good course.  I am not going to candy coat things.  We know the members remember the good times and sometimes it is easy to remember them with fondness when things are down.  But, we have lots to look forward to with everyone’s help.  With an election being held this week and welcoming at least one new board officer.  I want to thank all the board officer from last year for their hard work.  It is easy to point fingers and say what is not getting done, but these members stepped up and succeeded in leading our lodge.  With each New Year comes a new board of officers that are going to need our help.  We invite all members to come help the lodge.  We are going to need to revitalize some of our committees.  Do you have a few good ideas?

I would like to personally thank Mark Los for organizing the upcoming Flea Market.  We are hoping for a lot of support from the lodge.  I also want to thank Lenny Valvano for re-hanging the HD television for one of our newest additions our “Moose TV”.  If you are wondering what is going on around the lodge this is one place you can look.  I want to thank Bunkey, Scott Graves, Scott Glaser, and Peter Wintermute for helping with keeping the troops fed and hydrated.  They have been making runs to get food for the lodge, cooking, and serving drinks.  I cannot tell you thank you enough.

Now on to other matters, as I mentioned before that the lodge has a TV dedicated to letting you know what is going on around the lodge, state, and internationally.  We call it Moose TV.  I also want to let everyone know we have a new Lodge website.  You can find it at www.ViennaMoose.org.  It is up now and has our calendar of events that is updated daily.  But, if you are reading this, you already know that.  Please keep an eye out for changes to our calendar where we will be posting our coming activities, parties, dinners, and even community service events.  We are also attempting to get the .com address for our website, so it will be easier for some members to navigate.

With almost everything being said, now is the time to ask for new volunteers. I understand that it can be very difficult to find time in your hectic schedule, but our lodge relies on you to keep it the great place that it is. Currently, we have volunteer positions that take 1-2 days a month of your time, to 1-2 days a year. Even if you can only volunteer for a single event, it is greatly appreciated.  If you would like to become a member of a committee, a committee chairman, or would even like to be put on a list of volunteers your lodge can call on, it would be great. Our first goal with our new Governor is to fill as many vacant committee spots, and ensure all committees have everything they need to accomplish their goals. If you are unable to attend our meetings, but would still like to volunteer, all you need to do is drop a quick note on our contact us page or slip a note under my door with your name, phone number, and what you would like to volunteer for. Of course, you can also let me or our new Governor after the election.  I am always up at the lodge on Thursdays for meetings. If you would like to speak to me about volunteering or anything else, please feel free to let me know before or after the meeting.  I am very excited about this New Year and look forward to assisting our lodge to achieve great things over the next year. Always remember, our lodge would not be the great place it is without our members!

Oh, I almost forgot.  I want to thank everyone for their support during my knee replacement surgery.  Your calls and get well card was very nice.  I am still working with a physical therapist to get back in fighting shape.  I hope to be back at full strength soon.  I hope to see you all Thursday for our lodge election.

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Written by: Michael Hauf IMLP

Published: 09 April 2018

Straight and level is a pilot’s term. +1 AGL is a must for a pilot in the clouds with no sight of the ground underneath.  Straight and level +1 is also a goal that we have had for the past few years as far as our membership. The past few years we have not quite made our goals and with that our membership has slipped a little.

Some of it seems to be that the new members after a year or two, don’t feel that the Moose Legion membership is worth it. Really? When the new members were asked to join and step up did they get a proper ML Orientation? Do they know where their dues actually go? The average ML membership is $1.50 /month. The application has dues breakdown information printed on the part the members are actually supposed to keep in their possession. Many of us have lost more change in the dryer than our ML dues each month don’t know it that one rings true.

The other problem we hear is that the members don’t feel wanted or appreciated and drop their dues. If a person was asked to join and accepted where is their sponsor when the activities committee (LMLC) is setting up and having events? If the new members haven’t been to activities maybe the lodge committees should call those that they haven’t seen at their meeting/fun nights and personally invite those that will probably not renew from inactivity.

Have member retention committees been making contact with expired members to try to bring them current? As the Moose Legionaries and their spouses are invited to ML events the retention committee should be helping with the Lodge and Chapter arrears list too. We have to see if they have forgotten to renew their commitment to the children and seniors or if there are issues that need to be looked at that will help prevent others from not feeling welcome. April 30 is around the corner and +1 is still the goal, this year let’s do it!

This year we have been looking at previous conflicts during our sessions at the International Convention and have changed things by having all of our business meetings the morning and early afternoon on Thursday prior to the joint opening.  This will give us all more opportunities to attend the other worthwhile breakouts and also give time to tour the historic area of New Orleans.  Don’t forget to get your registration in For New Orleans.

This year is the first of many that the Moose Legion will have their own Celebration in OKC. Information has been emailed to each jurisdiction along with a hardcopy registration. The online preregistration form for shirts, meals, etc. is here!.

OKC will be an International Celebration for the Moose Legion in conjunction with the ML Ritual Competition, some very short Informational sessions, lots of sights, veteran’s recognition, awards and a conferral. If you haven’t been to a true Celebration for a while, now is the time to mark your calendar and block out the weekend before Veterans Day for an event you won’t soon forget. See ya there!

Have fun and safe travels.