An Army of Normal Folks - The Forgotten Club That Once Had 1 Million Members

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dive into the odd history of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows - one of the largest organizations most Americans have never heard of. At their peak, they had over a million members and thousands of lodges across the country. They cared for widows and orphans, built hospitals, and more than 800 cemeteries. And then, slowly, they disappeared. If you've ever wondered why community feels harder to find than it used to - or why civic life seems to be quietly fading - this episode might be the most important conversation you hear this week. It's a history lesson that hits surprisingly close to home. ARMY ACTIONS Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us! Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/ Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org  Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This shop talk number 117, the odd fellows that helped build America. Interestingly, I've heard about the odd fellows a little bit. Alex is going to introduce the topic. But first of all, you're looking for anything special in the shop or are you just browsing? Cigars, old-fashioned women. The typical things. Oh, my God. One woman, actually.

Not multiple women, one good woman, many good women, many good things. Garzambor. Correct. That's correct. That's what I was looking for. I never look for anything different. It's always the same thing. In honor of shop talk number one, 17, what happened in 1941?

Oh, 1909. What? 1909, Bill. Oh, 170 years ago, 1909. Okay, what happened 17 years ago? Robert Puri claimed to reach the North Pole. What? I love that it's contested.

What did you just say? Robert Puri claimed to reach the North Pole, the first guy. It claimed. Yeah, he claimed it. Oh, well, that's great. The stories of debate where they actually did. Why is that even newsworthy that somebody claimed something? It's kind of funny.

So they didn't believe it? I guess. Some don't, yeah. N. AACP was founded. That was real. That's a real thing. Yeah, that's a real thing.

117 years ago, the NWACP. Yeah. I'm getting old. Actually, this is interesting. It's established on the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. The NACP, if WACP was established on the 100th anniversary. of Lincoln's birth. Is that interesting that they timed it that way?

What an honor that African-Americans would choose to put such an important organization's charter date on the birth of a president. What an honor for the president is what I'm saying. That would tell you the regard that the African-American community 117 years ago had for Abraham Lincoln. You know one of my favorite things about the NAACP? Do you know NDACP versus Alabama? No. So the state of Alabama, you know, when they were attacking, you know, the whole Civil Rights fight.

Yeah, the Falma and all of it. All of it literally demanded of the NACP to give them the names and addresses of every single one of their donors. How about the NWASAP, told them to pound fans. So it became a Supreme Court case. It was famous NACP versus Alabama. Really? And it said that donors must remain anonymous to a 5-1C3. And that's at the press.

That's the precedent for anonymous, yeah, giving. Is that right? I mean, you can go further back in history where the federalist papers they were arguing for anonymity. Like, you should be able to speak anonymously to, right? So there is historical, but the Supreme Court held it up. You cannot force 511C3 non-profits that are closed their donors to the public. And that's because in double-as who fought it back. Which makes sense.

Like, you shouldn't have yourself on a list for retribution. That would have had very real consequences back then. Oh, my gosh. for that. That's interesting. Isn't it? Anything else under 17 years ago? Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened.

A hundred and 17 years ago. Yeah. This guy flew across. They didn't have fast cars back then? I don't know. I guess. Well, the Wright brothers sold the first military airplane of the U.S. Army that same year. So maybe they did.

Yeah. U.S. Army bought the first airplane. Uh-huh. Military airplane. Military airplane. Manhattan Bridge opened in New York City. Mm-hmm. The famous Honest Wagner T-T-206.

tobacco card was issued. Really? For you baseball fans? Oh, well, but that thing's worth a fortune. Yeah. Like three of them. My friend owns it. Really?

You have a friend that owns it? I'm not going into it any further than that, but. Holy smokes. He's the number one card collector in the world. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that was a stranger.

That was in my... That was in my... Back to last shop talk. No. That was my prior work life. That's interesting. How I interviewed interesting people like you, Bill. That's my very...

here today. All right. Well, that's all the stuff that happened 117 years ago. And the thing about the NAACP versus Alabama was actually interesting. And that they found they were found, they start, their charter's date was Lincoln's birthday. I think that's pretty good. Okay, everybody, the odd fellows that helped build America shop talk number 117 coming to you right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Do we want to jump right in?

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It's uptoe number 117, the Odd Fellows to Help Build America. We're going to let Alex introduce the topic. So going back to Water Valley, all the roads lead back to Water Valley, Mississippi. Apparently. So I'm in downtown Water Valley, and I'm driving, and I see on this building, there are a lot of big, beautiful buildings there downtown,

and it says the independent order of the Oddfellos. the independent order of the oddfellows so you googled it i'm like what the hell is the independent order and the odd fellows don't know have you ever heard of anything so odd i actually i had heard of the of the of the i didn't know it's called the independent order of the odd fellows but i'd heard like in the early 1900s there's this group of people that called themselves the odd fellows we're about to get into it bill okay well is that what this is that's what we're talking about today and that's and you googled it off the what is it like an old painting yeah no it's like uh like etched in a stone How are you making?

So like Mason's Stuck it in there Beautiful downtown building in Water Valley No kidding Was there lodge back in the day? And of course you Google it Look, it's in the brick

Let me Google it Come on the independent order Of the odd fellows You gotta look that up Okay, well here it goes So Alex looked up This odd name And here's what he found

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is one of the largest organizations you've probably never heard of. At its peak in the early 1900s, see, I told you, in its early 1900s, the Odd Fellows had well over a million members

in America, who knew, and thousands of lodges in towns large and small. If you lived in a rural community a hundred years ago, chances are there was an Odd Fellows lodge just a few blocks from your house.

The name sounds well, Odd. Some historians believe they earned it because they brought together workers from odd trades that weren't large enough to form their own guilds. Others believe it was because ordinary working people banding together to care for one another seemed unusual, almost peculiar. In 18th century England, whatever their origin, they embraced the name. What really fascinates Alex and me isn't their name. It's what they actually did. The odd fellows had a remarkably simple vision. Visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, educate the orphan. Sounds like an army of normal odd fellows to me. That's it. Four simple things. Think about it for a minute.

Not write policy papers, not argue on social media, not wait for someone else to show up and solve a problem. just visit the sick, help people in distress, make sure every person receives a dignified burial, and help orphan children get an education. Those weren't slogans, their responsibilities. It was their tenant. And you have to remember the world they lived in at the time. There was no Social Security. There was no Medicare.

There was no unemployment insurance. There was no life insurance for the vast majority of working families. If the breadwinner died, the family often faced catastrophe. The odd fellow stepped into the gap. Members paid dues into a common fund. If someone got sick, fellow odd fellow members visited them. If someone died, the lodge helped them get buried. If children were left behind, the community helped care for them.

Long before government safety nets existed, these local organizations became safe. safety nets made out of neighbors, just normal people. In many ways, they were one of America's original mutual aid societies. They understood something we've forgotten. The strongest safety net isn't built in Washington. It isn't something some big group came up with in New York or Silicon Valley. It's built on Main Street, not Wall Street, not K Street. Main Street. You're in my home. Now, to be fair, the Odd Fellows weren't perfect. Like many

institutions of the era, they tragically had a White's only policy for far too long. But there's another thing that's interesting. Why did they decline? During the Great Depression and the New Deal, many of the functions of organizations like the Odd Fellows, many of the functions they pioneered were displaced by Uncle Sam. by government programs. Social Security reduced the financial necessity of belonging to a fraternal society. Other public programs filled needs these associations had once met, and membership began a long decline.

And I wonder if something else quietly disappeared, because the odd fellows didn't just provide benefits. They created something we talk about all the time. They created a community. They gave people a reason to gather every month. They built friendships across occupations and backgrounds. They taught ordinary people how to organize projects, lead meetings, solve problems, and care for neighbors and one another. In other words, they weren't simply providing services.

They were building citizens. One thing I do admire is a rule, many odd fellow. lodges adopted. Politics and sectarian religious debates were forbidden inside the lodge. Why? Because the purpose of the lodge was bigger than that. It was to create a place where people who disagreed about many things could still become brothers in service and community. There's wisdom there. And that's remarkably similar to our ANF local service clubs and their rules. Today, we've become incredibly good at finding people who already agree with. with us. The internet makes that pretty simple. So does CNN and Fox in our politics. What's much

harder is finding people you'll serve beside people who vote differently, worship differently, look different, love different, act different, believe different, but they'll still help you build a wheelchair ramp on a Saturday morning. Finally, one of the most haunting reminders of the Odd Fellows is found in our cemeteries. Between the 19th century, they established more than 800 cemeteries across America. Nearly every successful lodge eventually purchased land for one. They weren't simply buying burial plots.

They were making a promise. If you belong to the lodge, you would not die alone. Your family wouldn't have to wonder how to afford a funeral, and your life would be remembered with dignity. If you've ever wandered through an old. older cemetery, you've probably walked past one of their members that never even knew it. Look closely and you often find three interlocking chains carved into a gravestone, sometimes with the letters, FL&T for friendship, love, and truth.

Those three links weren't just a logo. They were, I guess, a declaration that this person belonged to a community that had promised to care for them in life and honor them in death. The odd fellows understood that a civilization reveals its values not only in how it treats its children, but how it buries its dead. Long before funeral homes, life insurance or Social Security, they made sure ordinary people, normal people,

received a dignified burial. They sat with grieving families, walked beside the casket, and stood together at gravesides. They understood that no one should have, to face life's hardest moments alone. Today, many of those cemeteries have passed in the hands of cities or private organizations. Some are beautifully maintained. Others have fallen sadly into disrepair.

Their weathered headstones quietly reminding us of a time when neighbors assumed responsibility for one another rather than hoping somebody else, big brother, government, some organization would come along and fix it. but everyone of them asked the same question across the generations. Who will care for one another now? Because while the government can use our money, our money, our tax dollars, to write checks, the government's not going to visit the sick. It can fund schools, but it didn't become a mentor.

It can provide benefits, but has government ever become your friend? loneliness is not solved by legislations or city hall. Belonging has to be built, and that's where the Army and normal folks comes in. We're not trying to recreate the odd fellows. We actually just learned about him. He saw them on a wall. But I do think we're trying to recover something that they understood. Community matters, and the government is not going to come rescue and fix

all of our problems. The odd fellows. They're folks that help build America. And we need to become odd fellows ourselves pretty soon. What do you think, Alex? I think it's amazing. I think you're an odd fellow. Anyway.

You too, Bill. Yeah, thanks. I do think you're, I think you're an odd fellow, not like you're an odd fellow, but I think you're an odd fellow. I mean, you do a lot of these things. and actually an army of normal folks doesn't exist with without your vision, rekindling so much of what the odd fellows thought. I think it's interesting that they had four things, and that's what they do.

And they're pretty basic good things. Yeah, well, and what I'm saying is they didn't say, let's get together and try to do something nice. These are the four things we're going to do. This is what we're going to commit to. This is we're going to pull our resources for because these things matter. We're going to take care of orphan children. We're going to make sure people have a decent. I mean, I'm just saying they defined their mission, and that's what they did.

And basically dignity and empowerment, a dignified burial, a dignified end of your life. If you know, if you're a widow and empower kids, you don't have an opportunity. I know you get weird when we get into politics. So I'm going to do this gently. And don't you dare cut this out. But I really do think, again, this is not. about politics per se but I wonder how much participation in not only the odd fellows but the Qantas Club Rotary all of these clubs that have hundred and

hundred and fifty-year-old beginnings started to really fall off when the advent of the New Deal and this idea that government was going to be a catch basin for all of us came in. I mean, it replaced in large part, and I think we continue to suffer from it, but it replaced in large part our duty to be a citizen. And when that, when the duty to be a citizen starts eroding, then your care for your community,

your care for your city your your your your civics little by little starts going away and i just i mean my own kids i don't think any of them would ever consider joining ruddery unfortunately it's just not part of their ethos um the idea that the odd fellows are gone think of all the other organizations that used to do the moose club and all all those things i'll whatever it's called with the tassels on the elks yeah the elks that the jose these all them Once government stepped in and said, okay, we got you. I think we shifted civic duty from something we personally have to invest in to, oh, well, they are going to take care of that. And I think that's destructive for community, which is why an army and normal folks matter so much.

And destructive for ourselves as individuals. We've been robbed of the opportunity to go help people. Obviously, you still can, but it's taken away a lot of that motivation. One guy actually had a line. I've always liked. you said, the bigger the government, the smaller the church. Obviously, you could say the smaller the service club. You could, yeah, you could.

Yeah. The bigger the government, the smaller the individual, the service club. Yeah. Or even just think about on a practical level, like in New York state, my brother pays over 50% taxes. So if like, that's your case. Like, yeah, are you motivated to go spend a bunch more money when you're already doing all that to like go help people? Well, the other thing is I think people can be roped into, well, that's what my tax dollars go for. Why do I need to do it?

Exactly. which is so backwards. Just turn around and look at the world and say, how's that going for us? That's good point. All right, that's it. The odd fellows that help build America and the lesson they have for us and how we normal folks, oddly, need to be odd fellows. Abnormal.

An army of abnormal. An army of fellow abnormal people or something like that. All right, everybody. That's Shop Talk 170. Thanks for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate it, view it, share it friends on on social. Join the army at normalfokes.org. Normalfokes.org.

Take the 10-level challenge. Join a service club or start one in your community. Write me or email me anytime at bill and normalfocus. Then I will respond. Give us ideas for shop talk. Give us ideas for guests. We just interviewed somebody earlier today that came from a suggestion on a guest. and she will get some free merch, go to our website, buy some merch.

We make no money on it. It's just so we can get our name out there. And what else? Time of something. That's it. That's it. That's a... That's it.

Shop Talk number 117. I'm Bill Courtney. Thanks for joining us. Until next week, do what you can. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Hayes-Davenport.

And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook. Each week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman,

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