After a 50-odd year hiatus, the Order of DeMolay has returned to Portsmouth, and it also mentors young Suffolk, Smithfield and Chesapeake men, says chapter dad Jayson Payne.

Since 1919, DeMolay International has worked to prepare young men aged 12 to 21 for “successful, happy and productive lives,” according to Payne.

DeMolay’s basic principles are love of parents, respect for others, courtesy, faithfulness, cleanness in thought and action, and patriotism.

Supported by the Masons, its namesake is Jacques de Molay, the last grand master of the Knights of Templar.

“We had a chapter here back in the ‘60s, but it folded due to lack of participation from adults,” said Payne, speaking inside the Masonic Lodge at 114 Hodges Ferry Road, Portsmouth, where the new DeMolay chapter meets.

“I see a lot of kids around here with nothing really to do and no structure. So we started it back up to try to help the boys out and see what we can do for them,” Payne said.

Alumni of the organization, founded in Kansas City, Miss., in 1919, include Walt Disney, John Wayne, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.

Payne says it imparts its chosen principles successfully by emphasizing fun and self-sufficiency.

“It’s up to the boys — they sit down and vote,” he said of chapter activities, which generally end up being things like paintball, swimming, fishing and going to the movies.

Other activities include fundraisers like car washes and community service efforts. “The boys are helping the Masons do Child ID,” Payne said as an example of the latter.

This Saturday, the chapter will receive its charter and officially install officers such as master councilor, senior councilor, junior councilor, chaplain, marshal, stewards and flag bearers.

The chapter has nine boys and five advisers, Payne said, and is looking for more of each. The majority of the boys are from Portsmouth, he said, but three are from Suffolk. Advisers must pass background checks and receive training.

“We are hoping, if we can get large enough, we can open another chapter in Suffolk,” Payne said.

Current members have elected to meet the first and third Sunday of the month at 2 p.m., and how long meetings last depends on the boys, Payne said.

“Sometimes they can discuss for a couple of hours which movie to go and see,” he said.

Guest speakers attend meetings, and Payne said he hopes to lineup executives and managers from different industries.

Payne said some of the current nine boys have been with the fledgling chapter for more than a year now, “and it’s interesting to watch them grow.”

“We took them to a dance,” he said, “and it was the first time some of them had ever danced with a girl.”

Jayson Payne can be contacted at jayson.payne2012@gmail.com. More information can be found at www.demolay.org.