It’s a family affair at Elks Lodge

Veronica Duran

NEWPORT BECH -- It soon will be a mother-son affair at the Elks

Lodge.

Nina Cross Brazleton and her son, Chris Brazleton, will join the once

all-male lodge Sept. 23 -- just days after the organization celebrates

its 50th anniversary.

A retired Bolsa Grande High School teacher, Nina Cross Brazleton has

served as vice president for the Newport-Harbor chapter of City of Hope,

working with Girl and Boy Scout groups and serving as a judge for the

Knott’s Americanism contests and the Academic Decathlon.

As part of his community service, Chris Brazleton and his family are

volunteers for the Pageant of the Masters. He and his wife are also

costume designers for the AIDS Foundation Services musical fund-raiser,

one of the largest private fund-raisers for AIDS research.

“I’m proud that he makes time for his charity work such as AFS, the

Pageant of the Masters and the YWCA, where he’s taught Indian history to

the girls for five years,” his mother said. “I’m proud of a young person

finding that kind of time for volunteerism.” Nina Cross Brazleton said

she feels privileged to be part of something that has traditionally been

an all-male club.

“I’m personally so proud of it,” she said. “I’m a charitable-minded

person and [members of the Elks Lodge] truly live by their philosophy of

brotherly love.”

Once Nina is an official member of the lodge, she said, she hopes she

can be active in its educational programs and charitable fund-raisers.

The first women to join the lodge were Reve Miller and Joleen

Valentine in 1996.

To become a member of the Elks Lodge, people must be a U.S. citizen,

21 years old, sponsored by someone and believe in God, said Lila Mackey,

public relations chairwoman and lecturing knight.

In 1947, 11 men held their first committee meeting and adopted the

name, Big Bills. The lodge joined the national order in 1949.

The club meetings were to be held at Norton’s Cafe, but it was not

long before members hustled to raise money for the lodge building on Lido

Avenue.

In its half-century, the group -- which now has 970 members -- has

raised more than $1 million, said Marilyn Mounce, wife of Chanceford

Mounce, chairman of the board of trustees for the lodge. Its biggest

fund-raiser of the year is the Western Round Up, in which a barbecue and

booths are set up in the parking lot next to the lodge to raise money for

charities.

During Christmas and Thanksgiving, the club also provides dinners for

needy families and sends food and money to families of men overseas.

Mackey, who became a member in 1997, and whose son is also a member,

said she hopes more people in the community become aware of what the Elks

do -- not only locally, but across the country.

“Hopefully more people would like to become involved and be part of

the organization,” she said.