ANTIQUE STERLING SILVER ENAMELED ID HOLDER VESTA CARD CASE HELLO BILL ELK

Description

ANTIQUE STERLING SILVER ENAMELED ID HOLDER VESTA CARD CASE HELLO BILL ELK.
Condition is "Used". Shipped with USPS First Class.
Comes with vintage 18” Sterling Chain (on original card)
See photos.
ORIGIN OF "HELLO, BILL!"
WILLIAM GODDARD, of Minneapolis (Minn.) Lodge, No. 44, B. P. O. Elks, is the original "Hello Bill!" of Elkdom, and this cheerful salutation which has found its way around the world, originated in Minneapolis during the Elks' National Re-Union in that city in 1897. Brother Goddard, the junior partner of the Minneapolis firm of Barnaby & Company, had been for a great many years the treasurer of Minneapolis Lodge, No. 44, B. P. O. Elks. He was Chairman of the Finance Committee, and a member of a great many other committees that had in charge the arrangements for the Elks' Re-Union of that year, and he spent a great deal of his time at the Committee headquarters.
When visiting Elks came to the headquarters to inquire about matters they wanted to know about, if they happened to meet anybody who was not fully posted, they were usually told to "Go over there and ask Billy Goddard," and it was a constant strain of "Billy can tell you," "See Billy, he knows," etc., etc. This was repeated so incessantly that the stranger Elks when they approached Brother Goddard, greeted him with the expression, "Hello Bill! I was told to see you," etc., and so the custom started of greeting each other "Hello Bill!"
The custom spread to the streets, with Elks from all parts of the country, and passing each other they sang out cheerfully, "Hello Bill!" and they carried the greeting back to their home lodges, and so it has spread around the ends of the earth.