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Photo by Johnny Wagner

Photo by Johnny Wagner

CORRECTION: The original story contained an error. This was not the first Masonic burial for Jiren Anders. He was properly honored by the Masons in 1921.

Family is forever for the Masons.

Masons from across the state and as far as Pennsylvania came together Saturday to honor one of their own 87 years after his death.

Two rows of Masons dressed in Masonic ceremonial clothes lined the grave of Jirden Anders, a Mason and deputy U.S. marshal who has been buried at the Clay Street Cemetery with an incorrect gravestone for almost nine decades.

Anders was killed in 1921 while trying to apprehend a suspect in the area now known as Manley Hot Springs.

He lay undisturbed at Clay Street until Kevin Fitzgerald, a California man whose hobby is researching the deaths of officers killed in the line of duty, turned his attentions to Anders’ misspelled gravestone.

Kevin McKinley, a Mason with the Tanana Lodge said "We wanted to do the right thing for a brother of ours,” McKinley said.

Originally thought to have a misspelled name, it was discovered the name on the headstone was spelled correctly but entered incorrectly into the public works records. During the research process, it was revealed Anders’ year of birth was incorrect.

McKinley said the process took a couple of months and while a new and corrected gravestone was placed on Anders grave beforehand, the ceremony took place during Tanana Lodge’s 100th anniversary celebration.

Also in attendance was Marc Otte, chief deputy for the District of Alaska, and other representatives of the U.S. Marshals. Otte said even though there aren’t many clear records of the marshals at this time, corrections like Anders’ are rare.

He also said the Masons took the lead when it came to the project, but the marshals served as consultants for the official marshals badge on Anders’ new gravestone.

The badge’s look created a problem for Jerry Shepherd, who did the bronze work for the gravestone.

The original badge planned for the gravestone was based on marshals’ badges from the 1920s, but Shepherd then found out during that time period marshals would customize their badges and there was no uniform badge for the organization. For formality, the marshals recommended using the current badge for Anders’ gravestone. The change meant having to redo the bronze work, which set Shepherd back a couple of months, but the whole project was finished in seven months.

Shepherd is the only licensed founder in Alaska and creates a majority of the bronze work in the city.

“They’re all unique in their own way,” Shepherd said of the gravestones.

The traditional Masonic ceremony was led by Kevin Tennant, worshipful master of Tanana Lodge, and ended with the Masons completing funeral grand honors for Anders.

“Let the memory of his duty be remembered today,” Tennant said.