Before he became a comedy legend, Don Rickles was a 25-year-old actor in Jackson Heights. Lodge records place him in Geba Lodge No. 954 in 1953, alongside his father, Max S. Rickles.

Chartered in 1919 in Elmhurst, Queens, Geba Lodge No. 945 emerged during a formative period in New York civic life. This directory preserves the names of its charter members and notable members, highlighting the lodge’s place in the broader history of Masonry in New York.

Chartered in Elmhurst in 1919, Geba Lodge No. 954 was more than a Masonic hall. It was a meeting place for immigrant ambition, civic ritual, neighborhood charity, and an unlikely brotherhood that included David Wechsler, Dudley D. Shoenfeld, Bernard Berkley, and Don Rickles.