MEET OUR NEW MEMBER
Please welcome the newest member of Mission Lodge #169.
Brother A. Arthur Rugama
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I was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1957, while my father was attending medical school in that area. My parents were from Nicaragua, Central America. Thus, when I was very young they decided to return to Nicaragua where I spent my formative years in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
I went to primary and secondary school in Managua, attending the famed Jesuit College Preparatory Academy there. I received a superb Jesuit education which emphasized character, virtue, honesty and integrity in one’s life. I grew up in nice neighborhood with a very loving family.
My parents instilled in me a positive and healthy view of life by encouraging me to be the best person that I could be and by developing my talents to help others around me. Their kind words of love and praise made me into the person that I am who sees the glass always “full and overflowing”, not just “half full” as opposed to “half empty”; but saying with confidence “my cup overflows” as the Psalmist said in Psalm 23. One could say that I had a perfect childhood.
My mother’s father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all Masons in Managua, Nicaragua. Unfortunately, her father (that is my grandfather) did not take Masonry seriously, but I grew up hearing stories told by my mother about how her father and ancestors were Masons who were very active in Masonry. This aroused a curiosity in me which has finally began to be satisfied as I became an Entered Apprentice Mason in June 2011.
Last year, I was invited to go to Lodge 169 by two good friends: Richard San Mames and Enrique Pasos. There I met with some people I already knew from my association with the Odd Fellows, Apollo Lodge. I continued to come for the Tuesday night dinners, and finally one day, I filled up an application the very same night that my fellow “Odd Fellow” Nasseem Khan received his Hiram Award.
Immediately, after graduating from the Jesuit school in the early ‘70s, I returned to live to the United States. I recall that at that time, two new elements of the periodic table had been discovered: Berkelium and Lawrencium in honor of the great university and its famous laboratory where they were discovered. I wanted to study medicine and go to a great academic school. Therefore, I attended the University of California at Berkeley. Destiny, however, had a different plan for me and I did not study pre-medicine. I majored in Economics instead. I made a decision at Berkeley to go to Law School and become an attorney.
After Berkeley I continued my studies in a sort of a detour, a different area than economics. I received a Masters of Divinity, where I learned biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek, theology, and just about everything there is to know about the Bible). Later I was ordained as a Baptist Minister by the only Italian Baptist congregation in the US located here in San Francisco. I forgot to mention that in addition to Spanish and English I can also speak Italian and understand and read some French.
I worked for a few years for the United States Government before finally attending law school at the Jesuit University of San Francisco where I graduated with a Doctor in Jurisprudence, J.D. degree. I have been practicing law for over 21 years. I have a diverse practice involving real property, tax, bankruptcy, litigation and immigration. My offices are located on Filbert Street in Pacific Heights. I am able to help people in my capacity as an attorney every day. To me being an attorney is not a job, but a calling to serve others.
Although I am almost 54 years old, and still single, I have a lovely and beautiful fiancée that I hope to marry soon. I have never been married and have no children.
