The North Carolina Mason

Page 4 The North Carolina Mason September/October 2013 ANN COMM, from page 1 District deputy grand masters and grand lecturers were seated on either side of the ceremonial lodge floor. Grand Lodge officers from the grand lodges of District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia, and sitting officers from state appendant bodies were escorted to the stage which held the podium and the symbolic East. Finally, our past grand masters were brought to the stage. Each group was welcomed and accorded private grand honors. The officers of the Grand Lodge opened the Annual Communication in a ceremony very much like the one we use in every blue lodge meeting. State Senator and Grand Orator Andrew C. Brock (of Farmington 265) delivered the keynote. Through the rest of the morning, recognitions were presented, and a number of reports were introduced before breaking for lunch. Immediate Past Grand Master Robert E. Gresham Jr. presented a supplement to his preliminary report of last year, finishing the business of his term. Immediately after lunch, and before resealing the lodge, representatives of North Carolina's Masonic youth groups, Rainbow for Girls' Claudia Grainger and DeMolay Andrew Williard, spoke to the gathering. A young lady resident of the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford spoke of her love for the Home and moved the crowd to tears. After the non-Masons were escorted from the lodge hall, we resumed labor. A ceremony was conducted to honor our members who died this past year. Special eulogies being delivered for our late past grand masters William H. Simpson (by Past Grand Master Charles Lewis) and Clifton W. Everett Jr. (by Past Grand Master/Grand Treasurer Lewis Ledford). At the conclusion of the necrology, Grand Master Preslar presented his preliminary report on his year thus far. There was business requiring voting on Friday afternoon including the Report of the Committee on Appeals. Appeals' recommendations were adopted by the delegates. The proposed amendments, with the exception of the increase in per capita, were discussed and voted on Friday afternoon. Grand Master Preslar called us from labor to refreshment before 4:00 p.m., ending day one of our business session. On Friday evening, Masons were seen in groups all over downtown Winston-Salem. They enjoyed the entertainment and many restaurants around the center of the city. They got to visit with old friends and brothers they never met before. The final business session of the Annual Communication opened at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. The first business before us on the second day was, as always, the budget for 2014. Finance Committee Chairman Grover Dees, of Fellowship 84 in Smithfield, presented the budget and called for discussion after each section. Interspersed between those parts, delegates marked ballots to elect Grand Lodge officers for next year. The budget was approved as presented. Elections proceeded without surprise with elected officers advancing a station and the grand treasurer and grand secretary comfortably holding their seats. Clinton 98 member Dalton W. Mayo was elected to become our next grand master. Mayo is retired from the faculty of Sampson Community College. He is also a member of Wilkerson College 760 and Orphans 761 and an honorary member of ten lodges. The Grand Lodge voted to grant a charter to Jacksonville's Knights of Solomon Lodge No. 766, a second lodge for motorcycle enthusiasts. They also granted name changes for merged lodges to now Wallace 279 (Rehoboth 279 and Wallace 595) and Polk County Union 482 (Saluda 482 and Jeff L. Nelson 605). We had ten amendment groups to The Code to be considered during the meeting. Amendment Group 1 was adopted assuring that Endowed Memberships are calculated on the basis of upcoming dues, helping make sure lodges lose less money on new endowed members. Group 2 passed and raised per capita to $20 from it current $17. This is the fee paid by lodges per member with less than 50 years membership. Group 3, regarding the use of alcohol by lodge renters, was withdrawn before consideration. Groups 4 and 5 passed in substitute form. Past district deputy grand masters and past district deputy grand lecturers will be allowed to buy their aprons as mementos, but they will only be permitted to display them, not wear them in lodge. Groups 6 and 7 were both rejected. They would have, respectively, required three black cubes to reject a life membership and would have set minimum dues for lodges to $200. Group 8 was a straw vote on interest in allowing lodges to conduct business in the First Degree. A small majority was against the idea. Group 9 was passed. It makes regulations for disposing of defunct temple corporation assets match those for a defunct lodge. Group 10, regarding distancing NC Masonic Foundation director appointments from the Craft, passed. It reduces potential legal exposure for each of the organizations. Others elected to Grand Lodge offices were Douglas L. Caudle (Statesville 27), deputy grand master; Bryant D. Webster (NicholsWest Asheville 650), senior grand warden; A. Gene Cobb (Royal White Hart 2), junior grand warden; T. Walton Clapp III (Mystic Tie 237), grand secretary; and PGM Lewis R. Ledford, grand treasurer. The most awaited appointment each year is the new grand steward, the man who will join the line of men advancing toward the office of grand master. The new steward is R. David Wicker of Oak Grove 750, Orphans 761, and Mosaic 762. Wicker is a lawyer. This year's appointed officers include Jimmie B. Hicks Jr. (St. John's 3), senior grand deacon; Speed Hallman (Eagle 19), junior grand deacon; You're invited to the installation of the 2014 Grand Lodge officers at 11:00 a.m. December 7 at Sunset Avenue School, 505 Sunset Avenue, Clinton, NC. A reception will follow. Dwight M. "Mack" Sigmon (Catawba 248), grand marshal; Shaun Bradshaw (Stokesdale 428) and David Wicker (Oak Grove 750), grand stewards; Thomas M. Bass (Hiram 98), grand tyler; Andrew Benjamin Wood (Wallace 585), grand chaplain; James Massie Gillespie (Hiram 98), grand historian; Earl Wells (Hiram 98), grand lecturer; Mansour Hatefi, PGM (Grand Secretary of Grand Lodge of District of Columbia), grand orator; and James R. Stevens (Garner 701), judge advocate. After concluding much of its business on Friday afternoon, Annual Communication was adjourned well before noon on Saturday. Grand Lodge scholars receive awards WEAVERVILLE — Past Grand Master Berry Rigdon recently visited North Buncombe High School to present one of the Grand Lodge Scholarships to Sierra N. Garrison. She and Rigdon are seen here with Garrison's mother. CHINA GROVE — Katherine Starnes, second from left, recently received one of the Grand Lodge Scholarships. Senior Grand Warden Douglas Caudle made the presentation during South Rowan High School's Awards Night. Her father, Don Starnes, and grandfather, Don Lyerly are both members of Eureka 283. Seen here, from left, are Lyerly, Starnes, Ms. Starnes, and Caudle. STATE, from page 3 Smithfield Fellowship 84's Annual Pancake Breakfast this year brought in more than $3,500. The money goes into their scholarship fund which this year awarded three grants to college bound kids in the neighborhood. — David Ellis LINCOLNTON — Ronnie L. Tackett received one of this year's Cathey Grand Lodge Scholarships on June 6.Tackett is seen here with Grand Steward Mack Sigmon who made the presentation at Lincolnton High School. Tackett's father (Ronald Tackett Jr.) and grandfather (Jerry L. Lewis) are members of Cookville 502. CHAIR, from page 8 Concord Reel on his apron mission. Stokes 32 held their first past masters' night of the year August 19. — Thomas Van Etten Reel has fun with history Sanford Raleigh William P. Minard was recently honored with the Secretary of Distinction award by Sanford 151. — Dillon Teel James B. Green 735 had a pancake breakfast for local heroes in June. A dozen lodge members came out early to make sure the firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and law enforcement officers had a good and generous breakfast. — Don Steichen Old Town 751 has replaced its carpet. The job even improved all the lodge as the furniture removal for the carpet replacement inspired a clean up of the rest of the building. They report that the "foyer, office, library, and preparation room look great." Old Town's annual raffle is set for November 2. The drawing is part of a larger evening of fundraising which includes supper and other events. They are giving away five guns this year. — On the Level at Old Town Lodge Lodges in the Fifteenth Masonic District were having a blood drive with Rex Blood Services August 17. The plan included games, hot dogs on the grill, prizes, and a bouncy house for the tykes. — The Trowel Greensboro P. P. Turner 746 was having their annual picnic August 15. They were inviting friends and family to the event. — P. P. Turner Lodge Gate City 694 had their annual fish fry set for September 14. — Trestleboard Waxhaw Waxhaw 562's Past Masters' and Ladies' Luncheon was set for August 10, high noon. Walter Klein was speaking to them about the Hezekiah Alexander House and its Masonic symbols. — Richard Shields Winston-Salem Camden Widow's Son 75 recently presented Donald Pugh his Diamond Jubilee celebrating 60 years of Masonic membership. — Mike Albertson Southport John Richards, 35 years the secretary for Pythagoras 249, has been given the Secretary of Distinction award by his lodge. Richards is a past recipient of the Harris Dudley Grand Secretary's Award. Pythagoras Lodge contributed $400 to tornado relief in Oklahoma. — Newsletter On January 21, 2013 a team from Harmony Lodge attended Wayne Lodge at a regular stated meeting and a ceremony took place. For the first time after restoration of the chairs, both lodges were able to see them displayed in their new permanent home in the foyer of Wayne Lodge. Grand Master Dewey Preslar rededicated the chairs. Rick Pridgen is a member of Wayne 112. SHELBY — In January, Tommy Brooks and Pat Phifer found an old Masonic apron in a shoebox tucked away at Cleveland 202. Upon looking under the flap of the apron, they found that it had belonged to a Mason named Horace Clifton Johnson, and that he had been raised in Wilmington's Orient 395 in 1919. What do you do with an old apron? Brooks and Phifer had a quick idea. They knew a local Mason who was a member of Orient Lodge. Why not ask Dennis Reel to take the apron back to his home lodge? Reel became excited about the mission and determined to learn as much as possible about the former wearer of the apron. He made dozens of calls to research and drum up publicity. Johnson was a real estate agent and Army reservist who lived his adult life in New Hanover County. He died in 1956 and is buried in Masonic section of Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery, across the street from Orient Lodge. How the apron found it way to Shelby is still unknown. By the time Reel delivered the apron to Orient Lodge in early April, both WWAY television and the Shelby Star had done articles on his mission. He had met lots of new friends and received comments from around the country. — Dennis Reel

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