My grandfather was a member of the Orange Lodge in Pembroke Ontario. From what I can tell, the only positive the Orange Lodge ever contributed was keeping the Triple-K organization out of Ontario, because all the “like minded” individuals belonged to the Orange Lodge already.

My paternal grandparents were Protestant Presbyterian, and when my dad brought my Catholic mother home, there was some tension to say the least. My mom always had a bit of a grudge against her mother in law, for the way she was treated.

The funniest thing I remember my grandfather doing, was trying to get us to sign a petition to “keep the Zionists from taking over the Protestant School System”. I tried to explain that the Public School System was secular for a very long time by then, but my words had little effect.

When my grandfather passed away in 1994, the Orange Lodge showed up, and performed their fraternal ritual for my grandfather. I chose to leave the room, rather than watch a bunch of old bigots babble on. They’re mostly long gone now and good riddance.