Volume 69 No. 02
March - April 2022
VMAP
Adam Kendall
Event Picture
pg 5
pg 6
pg 8
2 Seattle Scottish Rite
Scottish Rite Communicator Valley of Seattle
www.seattle-scottishrite.org
SCOTTISH RITE OFFICERS Ill. James D. Cole, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander Ill. Alvin W. Jorgensen, 33° S:.G:.I:.G:, Orient of Washington Ill. Greg Goodrich, 33° Personal Rep. of S:.G:.I:.G:. greg@seattle-scottishrite.org Daniel Southerland, 32° KCCH General Secretary Communicator Editor secretary@seattle-scottishrite.org Gene Ulrich, 32° KCCH Treasurer Ill. Tom Lamb, 33° Almoner PRESIDING OFFICERS Jaime Speicher 32° Master of Kadosh, Consistory Carl Bronkema 32° Commander, Council of Kadosh Bryan Reagan 32° Wise Master, Chapter of Rose Croix Anthony Brandt 32° Venerable Master, Lodge of Perfection Seattle Scottish Rite Center 1207 N 152nd St. Seattle, WA 98133-6213 206 324-3330 voice 206 324-3332 fax
The Communicator (USPS 485-660) is published by the Valley of Seattle, A&A Scottish Rite, 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213, for the benefit of its members, bimonthly and is mailed as a non-profit publication to all members of the Valley of Seattle and to specified other interested parties. $2.00 per member is assessed for the publication of The Communicator. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle, Washington and at additional mailing offices. The material contained within this publication is intended for the education and enjoyment of the members of the Masonic Fraternity and all material published becomes the property of Seattle Valley of Scottish Rite. Postmaster: Send address changes to — The Communicator at 1207 N 152nd St., Shoreline, WA 98133-6213.
"...Masonry imposes upon us these duties that it is properly and significantly styled work; and he who imagines that he becomes a Mason by merly taking the first two or three Degrees,and that he may,having leisurely stepped upon that small elevation,thenceforward worthily wear the honors of Masonry,without labor or exertion, or self-denial or sacrifice,and that there is nothing to be done in Masonry,is strangely deceived." – Bro. Albert Pike
Seattle Scottish Rite 3
News from the Personal Representative Brethren,
We are progressing quite nicely as the year is forming. We have already had a guest speaker in February and we have another coming up in April. Adam Kendal will be joining us at our stated meeting on April 19th and will be speaking on the Scandals and Secret Rites of Benjamin Hyam. Adam’s name might sound familiar to many of you as he was the former editor of the Scottish Rite Research Society’s Plumbline newsletter and is now the editor for Heredom. In other news, we had a successful potential members event the last Saturday of February. Several members from the Valley and Brethren from various Blue Lodges gathered at the Valley for drinks, cigars and fellowship. We received one new petition, which brings our total number of petitions up to six for the class of 2022. As always, if you know of any brethren that might be interested in the degrees of the Scottish Rite, please get in touch with our General Secretary so he can get you or them a member packet. I sent out an email survey recently regarding our 150th Anniversary. If you have not taken the time to complete it, I would greatly appreciate it if you could. We plan to have a really special event sometime in the summer and it’s important to us that all members let us know what they think we should do to celebrate such an augustus occasion. This is your Valley and you always have a voice. Feel free to email me if you come up with a great idea you would like us to consider. The month of March is a time where we celebrate the Ceremony of Remembrance and Renewal during our stated meeting. As a Past Sovereign Grand Commander wrote: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another” (John 13:34). These are the words spoken by the Master of Nazareth as He broke bread with His Disciples at the Last Supper. They are simple words. Yet express the most sublime truth: all men are brothers. - C. Fred Kleinknect, 33°. March is also a time where many Christians begin the 40 day period of Lent. Lent is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before the beginning of his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan. I wish all of those beginning this holy period, starting on Ash Wednesday, a blessed Lenten season. Fraternally, Greg Goodrich, 33° Personal Representative of the S:.G:.I:.G:.
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. Marcus Aurelius
4 Seattle Scottish Rite
Greetings All, How the time flies by as we all know but that usually means we are busy and this is sure true here at your Seattle Valley. We have our 2022 degrees starting soon and we look forward to having quite a few new brothers join us. If you are interested in becoming a member at Seattle Valley there is still time to get your petition in as we will be voting on them in the March stated. We look forward to hearing from you. Also if you are interested in helping in providing the degrees to our new brother just let me know and we will get you involved as it surly takes an army of great brothers. As we look to the future we are looking at ways to make this a better place for all to meet so we would love to hear your ideas on what you wold like to see as we grow. We know the unused space need to be addressed so come forward with any ideas as we look to expand. We have had some great events in the last couple of months and look forward to keeping up the momentum as we continue to go forward. Its been a long road and we are seeing some sort of path back to what we would like to see. Looks like its time to play catch up with all the activities we have been missing so we want you all to be a part of the fun. Well Seattle Valley is reaching a HUGE milestone this year. We are turning 150 years old as of March 14th. Happy Birthday to us. So it looks like we will be wanting to do some very special celebrations. What do you think we should do? Let us know of your ideas and maybe we will do them all. Who is up for it? As always we have so many things going with as many brothers who spend great time with each and we thank them all for the great work they do in the quarry. We are always open to more so if you see something you want to get involved in or even a great idea to bring into your valley just let us know. We are always open to great new ventures. We all love seeing the different ideas come together to make this such a great valley top be a member of.
Fraternally, Daniel J. Southerland, 32° KCCH General Secretary
Seattle Scottish Rite 5
VMAP Committee Report Brethren, Our VMAP (Valley Membership Achievement Project) packet has been submitted for the 2021 calendar year. What is VMAP you ask? VMAP is a road map or usable checklist for Valley’s to use to increase the engagement and involvement of their members. It’s broken into sections that focus on ways to increase and improve Membership Retention & Engagement, Member Restoration & Reinstatement, Membership Recruitment, and the Reunion Experience. It’s not a report card and we are not competing against other Orients or Valleys. We are simply trying to improve on what we already have. Since its inception in 2015 we have achieved the award every year and will continue to try to achieve it for the foreseeable future. You can see the VMAP plaque next time you are at Seattle Valley in the hallway outside our Secretary’s office. If you would like to volunteer to be on the VMAP committee please contact the PR and he can put you in touch with me. Todd Pike, 32°, KCCH VMAP Chairman
6 Seattle Scottish Rite
April’s Speaker Info The Scandals and Secret Rites of Benjamin Daniel Hyam, California’s Third Grand
Master. Against the backdrop of a rapidly accelerating society and the power dynamics of nineteenth-century fraternal organizations, this presentation reconstructs the life of one of California Masonry’s most misunderstood characters. From searing Masonic politics, war, greed, the obscure high-degree rites of the Rite of Memphis, and a meeting with the famous esotericist John Yarker, this Hyam’s life is a reflection of a complex and subtle network of people and events that influenced the social architecture of an expanding nation.
About our speaker: Adam Kendall, 32°, KCCH Adam Kendall holds a master’s degree in history and is the Executive Director of the Oakland Scottish Rite Historical Foundation in Oakland, California. Brother Kendall is a past master of San Francisco’s Phoenix No. 144 and a full member of the premier research lodge, Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, in London. Adam is a frequent international speaker and, for many years, has advocated for the study of Masonic history. He is the editor of Heredom, the annual transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society, and serves on the editorial committee for Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. A Fellow of the Philalethes Society, he is their 2022–2024 First Vice President. In early 2022 he was inducted into the Society of Blue Friars, an organization formed in 1932 to “recognize Masonic authors.” Adam’s research investigates the more obscure relationships between American popular culture, social movements, and fraternal societies. He has been published in notable publications such as the British Association of American Studies, the Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, Heredom, and Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.
Seattle Scottish Rite 7
8 Seattle Scottish Rite
Events in Pictures
Cap & Ring Ceremony
Installation of Officers
Burns Cantata & Dinner
Seattle Scottish Rite 9
VALLEY OF SEATTLE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE OF FREEMASONRY 1207 N 152nd Street, Shoreline, WA 98133
Message from ALMONER 2021
February 24, 2022
An almoner is an organization officer who oversees distributing money to the deserving poor. The title almoner has to some extent fallen out of use in English, but is still used, both name and function, by masonic lodges. It historically was a person whose function or duty is the distribution of alms on behalf of an institution, It was expected that the last year would have been an increased applications and distribution because of the COVID-19 pandemic but this was not the case. Three was only three applications and distributions of: $2,000 November 29th, 2021 $750 December 16th, 2021 $500 February 23rd , 2022 The low activity of the Almoner cannot be explained considering the serious problem that the pandemic presented to many people. There should have been many more applications. With the lack of actual person to person meetings the monthly Almoners Box could not be replenished. Therefore, brothers were requested to submit donations to the Secretary in 2020 and this was continued for most of 2022. Please give what you can. Send checks to Secretary identified for Almoner’s Fund. In preparation for an increase in applications the Finance Committee transferred funds from a recent bereavement to the Almoners Fund. The Almoner repeated at each stated meeting that brothers should keep vigil for needy candidates. It is also surprising that we have not had an increase in support requests even though the need must be there. If you know of anyone in need of financial assistance please let the Secretary or me know about it Thankyou
Thomas Lamb 33 Almoner
10 S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e
Messages Happy Birthday!
Congratulations from all your Scottish Rite Brethren To our members over 90 who have reached a very important birthday!
March
April
Elroy W. Conant 03/07-1925
Richard C. Buckland 04/20/1924
James H. Toner 03/21/1925
Howard E. Bothell 04/13/1927
Richard D. Upchurch 03/08/1926
H. Parker White 04/07/1929
Lee R. Fox 03/24/1926
Cameron A. Stewart 04/07/1931
Myron C. Maxwell 03/12/1927
Lee S. Vincent 04/25/1931
Dean H. Borchert 03/01/1929
Joel C. Rindal 04/26/1931
Harold A. Rice 03/21/1929
Carmine F. Pecoraro 04/04/1932
Clyde R. Cherberg 03/01/1930 Gus N. Cooper 03/14/1930 Devere F. Simmons 03/03/1921
S e a t t l e S c o t t i s h R i t e 11
www.seattle-scottishrite.org
MONTH TIME EVENT March 5 9:00 am ExCom March 15 7:30pm Stated Meeting (6:30 Dinner) Remembrance & Renewal March 26
9:00am
29° Conferral & KSA Initiation
March 29
7:00pm
Eastside S.R. Club (Zoom)
April 2 9:00am 4°-14° Conferral April 8-10
Scottish Rite Conference, San Diego CA.
April 19 7:30pm Stated Meeting (6:30 Dinner) Speaker, Adam Kendall 32°KCCH April 26
7:00pm
Jackets $40.00 looks great
Eastside S.R. Club (Zoom)
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 1207 N 152nd St. Shoreline, WA 98133-6247
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