This month the Bellflower-Long Beach Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) Lodge #888 is congratulating Josephine M.Rosser, the lodge’s secretary, on her retirement.
Born on July 1, 1927 in Staten Island, New York, Josephine lived on the East Coast for nearly 25 years before moving westward to California with her husband John C. Rosser in May of 1952.
For the first three years of Josephine’s California employment, she worked on a church fundraiser for the PX Exchange, which was located on Spring Street in Long Beach. She also spent time working at St. Lucy’s Church in Long Beach.
On the afternoon of Jan. 15, 1955, Josephine was looking for a new job and applied for an office position at the Long Beach Elks Lodge #888, then located at 19 Cedar Ave. While her husband and children waited in the car, she was hired and was asked to start work that same afternoon. That’s exactly what she did. Josephine and Elks #888 were at that location for five years.
[As] the next step in her career with the Elks, Josephine transferred her duties to the new Elks Lodge #888 at 4101 E. Willow St. The building was a landmark known to locals as “The Dome.”
In 1960, Josephine was promoted to secretary of the lodge and assistant to the bookkeeper. In 1997, when the lodge relocated to the Seaport Marina Hotel, Josephine went right along with it. Nearly a decade later, in 2006, Long Beach Lodge #888 merged with Bellflower Lodge #2003, and the two became one. Josephine also merged and has been at the Bellflower/Long Beach Elks Lodge #888 for 10 years, giving Josephine a combined number of 61 years working with us.
During those years, she has helped our organization flourish and stay on course no matter the changes at hand.
We all thank Josephine from the bottom of our hearts and appreciate her decades of loyalty, hard work and dedication. May God bless her always, and we pray that she will thoroughly enjoy her retirement.
Bellflower-Long Beach BPOE
Lodge #888
