Many drive by the West Seattle Fraternal Order of Eagles at 4426 California Ave. every day but few may have realized the buzz in their dining room Thursday night, Feb. 3 when the (women's) Auxiliary hosted Mary Myers, the International Grand Madam President. That title indicates that she is in charge of over 300,000 female F.O.E. members across America and Canada. Interestingly, her male counterpart, Grand Worthy President, Mike Lagervall, resides in Ballard where the F.O.E. was founded, in 1898. His wife, Martha, attended the Feb. 3 dinner.

Myers was in town to raise money for the charity she and the late Grand Worthy President, Phil Tice, chose, the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City. They have raised nearly $15 million with a goal to raise $25 million total in three years. Myers is also raising money for Heart/Stroke Research, Hurley Medical Center, in her home town of Flint, Michigan.

"I am promoting Heart/Stroke (research) in memory of my husband who passed away 10 years ago," she told the West Seattle Herald. "I am soliciting. No, 'soliciting' isn't right. 'Begging'. Considering the economy is bad we are doing so well. All the Eagle lodges is where I go. We have over 300,000 women, almost a million strong including men, in the U.S. and Canada. My husband and I organized over 42 aeries and auxiliaries in Michigan and Canada."

Men belong to aeries, women to auxiliaries.

She added, "We stand for 'people helping people'. I visit every U.S. state and some provinces in Canada. We are known for our Mother's Day, and we dabble in politics."

According to the F.O.E. website: Although others claim they started Mother's Day, Frank E. Hering, a Past Grand Worthy President of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, made the first known public plea for "a national day to honor our mothers" in 1904. Twenty-one years later, the "Society of War Mothers" invited Hering to participate in a special Mother's Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.There, at the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," before a large audience including many congressmen and senators, Hering was introduced as "the Father of Mother's Day." That was 11 years after President Woodrow Wilson by Proclamation officially made Mother's Day the second Sunday in May.

On October 25, 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter to former F.O.E. Grand Worthy President John M. Morin. It said, "I am very glad to give you as the representative of the Fraternal Order of Eagles a pen with which I signed the Social Security Securities Act."

He wrote that he recognized the social justice legislation sponsored by the order. The F.O.E. is now involved in lobbying for passage of the Cares Act, or Children’s Access to Reconstructive Evaluation and Surgeries, for treatment of a child’s congenital or developmental deformity to be covered by all insurers.

Myers gave a speech at the fundraiser. She said, " I came to Seattle on a mission. My surviving brother lives here in Everett. He was told he had only a few months to decide to lose his leg for diabetes (to survive). This is the second brother afflicted with diabetes. My first brother passed away two years ago, both legs amputated. My daughter is diagnosed pre-diabetic. Every one of us present has someone we love, someone we know, someone that maybe you don't even like, but you know they've got diabetes so we pray for those people, then for ourselves so that we in the Order of Eagles will reach our $25 million obligation."

Two representatives from the Park West Care Center on North Admiral thanked the F.O.E. for collecting a large volume of Christmas presents so that each resident at the center received a gift. They were Annie Fairchild, activities director, and Katie Keefe, activities coordinator, and presented the group with a scrapbook of smiling faces. The gifts were the idea of the West Seattle Eagles Auxiliary Madam President, Debbie Knightly, and Aerie Worthy President, Carl Young, who helped deliver clothes, teddy bears, lotion, and other useful and fun presents.

"Many (residents) don't have a lot," Keefe told the crowd. "It was so amazing when you came in with tons of presents, such an overwhelmingly beautiful moment. You touched the lives of many people. I feel completely blessed to have been part of this donation."

"Our jaws were on the ground when we first saw the gifts come in," said Fairchild. "The volume, thought, selection, (expressed) the meaning of love of Christmas. "It gives me chills thinking about it. This was the most powerful and memorable Christmas i ever had. Every single resident got presents solely because of you."