The North Carolina Mason

Page 2 The North Carolina Mason July/August 2017 see RING, page 9 Grand Warden Mack Sigmon on making the service even more meaningful in remem- brance of deceased brothers. Vendors will gather to sell special Masonic items, while various key committees will meet the day before Grand Lodge opens. All Masons statewide are invited and encouraged to attend Annual Communication. Each lodge must send the three principal officers or their proxies to the meeting. ese officers must present their credentials, which were mailed in advance to your lodges, at registration in order to receive their ballots. Voting is restricted to delegates only (see information about this to the right). If you're going, the suggested dress is coat and tie. While you're packing, remember to bring cans of food. GM Cobb asked to bring back for a second year the successful drive that Past Grand Master Bryant Webster launched last year. What you knew as "Masons Can" last year returns as "Masons Can.2" this year. Expect a few surprises and some good conversation about membership, communication, and ways to help keep Masonry strong in number, revenue and dedication. You will hear reports from various leaders in the fraternity and from our charities: Whit- eStone, the Masonic Home for Children and the North Carolina Masonic Foundation. If you can't go, watch the Grand Lodge and North Caro- lina Mason Facebook pages for photos, updates, amendment votes, etc. So plan to join your brothers at the largest North Carolina Masonic gathering of the year. Fellowship, after all, is what Masonry is all about. "We are creating a legacy here," says Grand Master Cobb. "Our role and function is brotherly love and service. is meeting will be a celebration and recognition of that." ANNUAL, from page 1 Who is the Grand Lodge? YOU are the Grand Lodge! • Principal officers of each lodge (only Lodges may proxy votes all others must be present) • Boards • Commissions • Committees • Past Grand Masters • Grand Lodge Officers • District Deputy Grand Masters • District Deputy Grand Lecturers • Three boards at five voting members each = 15 • Three commissions at five voting members each= 15 • 16 committees at five voting members each= 80 • Living Past Grand Masters = 26 • Grand Lodge Officers = 15 • DDGMs = 41 • DDGLs = 41 • Total = 230 Votes •375 lodges at three votes apiece = 1,125 Votes WHO VOTES? VOTING BREAKDOWN Annual Communication 2017 WHEN: Sept. 22-23 WHERE: Twin City Quarter, 425 N. Cherry St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101 HOTEL RESERVATIONS: Reserve your room at the special group rate of $131 per night by Aug. 31. Link to the hotel here: http://tinyurl.com/kpnwyh9 Schedule Thursday, Sept. 21: Committees (Embassy Suites), various times Secretaries' Seminar (Hearn CD Ballroom Marriott) 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Credentials desk opens 3 p.m., lobby of Grand Pavilion, Embassy Suites Friday, Sept. 22: Vendors open 8 a.m. DDGL Meeting, Ayers, 8 a.m. Grand Lodge opens, 10 a.m., Grand Pavilion Grand Lodge reconvenes, 1:30 p.m., Grand Pavilion Grand Master's reception, 6 p.m., Presi- dential Suite Saturday, Sept. 23: Vendors open 8 a.m. Grand Lodge opens, 9 a.m., Grand Pavilion By omas Pope Secretary, Stedman #730 Margaret Pope and I will have been married 41 years next month. But for the past four years, I haven't worn this wedding band, and here's the story of why that was the case. In 2013, then-Grand Master Dewey Preslar called a meeting of several statewide committee chairmen in his hometown of Salisbury. I stopped for gas when I got into town and cleaned the windshield, then headed to his home lodge for our meeting. I made a bath- room stop prior to the meeting, and when the meeting concluded, I rode with the Grand Master in his truck to a nearby BBQ place. When we got back to the lodge, I realized my wedding band was missing. I wanted to throw up. I've never had a material posses- sion that means as much to me and it had vanished. I re-walked my path from the car to the lodge. I checked the bathroom sink. I emptied the bathroom trash can, piece by piece. Nothing. We scoured the room in which we'd met. Nothing. We went back to the restaurant, but no one had turned in a gold wedding band. We checked his truck and came up empty. Later, Brother Steve Schenk, the grand tyler that year, went back to the lodge with a metal detector, but no luck. I even stopped at the same gas station on my way out of town and dug through the garbage can where I had tossed the paper towels after wiping the wind- shield dry, but the ring wasn't there. Sickened by the loss of my ring and distraught at the prospect of having to break the news to Margaret, it was a long, somber ride home. Coincidentally, I had just received payment for the sale of my college class ring, which I very rarely wore, and a gold chain, and there A story of fellowship and a wedding ring Margaret and Thomas Pope. The missing wedding band at right is safely back on his ring finger.

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