Vale Brother Donald Jay Rickles

On April 6 2017, Brother Donald Jay "Don" Rickles passed away at the age of 90. He was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author whose fame spanned some 60 years.

Brother Rickles was raised on June 6, 1953 and remained a member of what is today Service City Geba Lodge 1009 which meets in the Anchor Astoria Temple on 30th Avenue in Astoria, New York. The lodge has been through several consolidations but when Rickles was initiated, it was Geba Lodge 954. He hadn't attended his Mother Lodge for almost three decades, but still faithfully mailed in his dues check each year.

Of Bro Rickles, Bro Chris Hodapp said “I suspect his brand of comedy will be positively horrific in this day and age. That's too bad, because he packed audiences full of folks of every race, creed, ethnicity, and persuasion who were only too delighted to be on the receiving end of his "insults" for over half a century. He spared no one, and by doing so, made us all laugh at each other and ourselves as a result. Meanwhile, offstage, he was known as one of the kindest and most generous people in show business. Not a bad legacy, that. His column is broken and his brethren mourn.”