With great sadness, I report the passing of WBro. William N. Wine at his home Friday in Concord, California. Bill was well known to many brethren from the CompuServe Masonry Forum, the first popular online community for Freemasons in the 1990s.Bill was raised in June 1971 in Diablo Valley Lodge No. 448, and served as Master in 1978-79, and again in 1986-87. He was a founding member of Academia Lodge No. 847. He was also a member of Concord Star No. 384 of the Order of the Eastern Star. Among his many accomplishments and honors, Bill was a Past Grand High Priest of Royal Arch Masons in California, a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, and served as president of the Philalethes' Cornerstone Computer Chapter. He was involved with Masonic education programs in California, including the formative years of the California Masonic Symposium. He was a Past Master of the Northern California Research Lodge, and a Past Master Councilor of the Northern California DeMolay Association.
Bill was a frequent attendee at Masonic Week in Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, VA, and I have fond memories of him enjoying his cigar and frequenting the TMS Hospitality Suite. He will be sorely missed.
His column is broken and his brethren mourn.
R.I.P.
UPDATE
I was contacted Saturday morning by Bill's niece Carina who lives in Massachusetts. His family is scattered across the country (his brother lives in Hawaii), and they are trying to assemble contact information for his lodges, as well as attempting to make funeral and memorial arrangements via long distance. If you have any information that can help the family in their planning, please contact her directly at onoparrots@gmail.com
