Brothers bond as Masons to aid Salvation Army

Brothers Jason and Jeremy Watters have also been close friends for 30-plus years since they grew up together in a small town in Washington state.

Over the years, Jeremy, who is single, visits on holidays with his married older brother and his family. This year was no exception. Jeremy flew in from Atlanta, and the Watters celebrated Thanksgiving in New Bern.

On Friday Jason had a volunteer commitment as a Masonic Lodge bell ringer for the Salvation Army Kettle campaign in front of the Walmart store.

Jason is a member of the Berne Lodge 724, which have been long-time regular bell-ringers.

Jeremy, a Masonic member in Washington state, came along to seek donations to help the needy.

“There’s nothing like a couple of hours of bonding time with my brother in the cold wind,” Jeremy laughed.

The brothers had a successful morning at gathering donations.

“It was everything we had hoped,” Jeremy said after the two finished their bell-ringing shift. “We were happy to see the community come out and they donated a lot. It was amazing. You don’t know anybody’s background when they walk up. You would see people and just anticipate people that probably didn’t look like they had anything to give, but they still reached in their pockets and their wallets. We filled our bucket in two hours.”

They also had a good time just being brothers and Masons.

“A big part of Masonry is just getting out into the community and doing what you can, to better the community and lend a hand,” said Jason. “When I had a opportunity to volunteer, I jumped right on that, and my brother being a Mason, and a good brother, thought he would come out and help me for a couple of hours.”

The two said Friday’s short time working together was like old times.

 “My brother and I have always been very close and we still are,” Jason said. “We were kind of country boys. We rode motorcycle and go-carts out in the country, and we both grew up wrestling and playing football.”

Both were offensive guards and linebackers in football.

The brothers’ home town was Shelton, near Olympia, Wash., where the major industry was logging and wood products.

After high school, Jason was a football walk-on at Washington State University, while Jeremy played college rugby at a chiropractic college.

“Walking on to a football team doesn’t really work out most of the time,” Jason said. “So, I came home and went back to community college and then enlisted in the Marine Corps.”

He served 11 years, which included overseas tours in Turkey, Japan and Italy as an aviation electrician for Prowlers.

His last duty station was Cherry Point air station and when he left the military as a staff sergeant, he worked at Hatteras Yacht, and then moved to Weyerhaeuser as an operations supervisor.

He has continued his education and will get a degree from Washington State in the spring of 2010.

Jason and his wife of eight years, Stephanie, have a 7-year-old son, Gavin, who is a second-grader at Bangert Elementary. He sees New Bern as home. He’s happy with his career path and she is an assistant manager at Pier One.

“This is home,” he said. “Now that I am in Weyerhaeuser leadership, I expect to stay here in the Atlantic region. My wife and I really enjoy the climate here and the people.”

Jeremy’s work for a drilling company keeps him on the road a lot from his home base in Atlanta.

Friday was not the first or last time he’ll be a New Bern visitor.

“Every opportunity he gets to have a few days off, he flies here and just spends time with us,” Jason added.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com.