The Communicator (Nov-Dec 2022)

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

Gerry O’Brien 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

Appreciation

'Tis good to feel ourselves beloved of men To know that all our anxious cares and sighs For others' weal are given not in vain, But treasured up in grateful memories How light the toil for those we fondly love! How rich the wages grateful spirits prove!

But when those men are Brothers, strongly bound By bonds indissoluble, sweet and true, — When gratitude springs out of sacred ground, And prayers are mingled with the praises due Ah then, toil is no burden, gifts no load! We have full recompense for what's bestowed.

'Tis thus with you, my friend: the voice of all Yields willing tribute to your high deserts But from the Craft there comes a stronger call, From that great Brotherhood whose chain begirts The broad world round, the grateful wages come, Whose price is Honor and whose favor Bloom.

Long may you live in Bloom and Honor, long, To show the Christian in the Mason's guise! In Strength Omnipotent may you be strong! In Wisdom Heavenly may you be wise! And when to Death's dark portals you shall come, May Jesus banish all the fear and gloom!

Rob Morris

News from the Personal Representative

Brethren,

Our 2022 class of candidates have completed the Thirty-Second Degree and we look forward to the Cap & Ring ceremony that will take place later this month. My congratulations to the new members on obtaining the Royal Secret and all the Officers and Brethren of the Valley for their hard work and contributions making this year’s class a resounding success. I would encourage all new members to get involved with the Valley and join a degree team or other Body within the Valley.

We have several seats open on three of our boards and we are looking for new members that might be interested. Those seats are for our Finance board, LLC board (building) and Rite Way board (charity). So if you have an interest and would like to contribute, please get in touch with me.

As a reminder, we do not have a meeting in December and will resume in January back to our normal meeting schedule of the third Tuesday of the month, so make sure to put our meetings back on your calendar.

See you soon!

Fraternally,

Greg Goodrich, 33° Personal Representative of the S:.G:.I:.G:.

Greetings Brethren,

We are looking at winter coming in pretty fast along with the holiday season being upon us. We just completed this years class for our new members and we congratulate them all and bid welcome to you to our great fraternity. We look forward to having you join us. We invite you to take advantage that all the Scottish Rite and Seattle Valley has to off. Also remember your first year of dinners is on us so we look forward to seeing you all here. Our Cap & Ring Ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 19th at 4:00 pm. You are welcome to bring your significant others and let them celebrate with us. Make sure you RSVP so we will know who is coming.

For the classes we had during covid, we would like to invite any member who received their cap & ring without the celebration to join us at this years celebration. You are welcome to go through the ceremony and definitely join us for dinner. Just let me know if you will be coming and who is coming with you. We want to make sure you get the enjoyment along with us.

We want to remind everyone Seattle Valley is dark in the month of December, we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. Our office is still open during this time so if you need anything just let us know. If you are looking for a great gift idea we still have polo shirts and jackets here in the office, come get them before its to late.

In this issue there are some great pictures to celebrate our brothers. First I would like to take my hat off to Hon. Brother Bill Harker for his many years of service to our craft. He has been honored by the National Sojourners for his work with our Americanism. Also to our new members as they complete their degrees, we salute you all.

We are already receiving petitions for our next class in 2023 so if you know any brother ho is looking for more out of the fraternity and want to take the next step be sure to send them this issue so they will have a petition or they can get one online at our website. Invite them to dinner so they can meet the members of Seattle Valley and find out for themselves what we have to offer.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years.

Fraternally, Daniel J. Southerland, 32° KCCH General Secretary

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America Valley of Seattle 1207 N 152nd St. Shoreline, WA 98133 Telephone (206) 324 3330 _, 20_ Today's Date

TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF: SEATTLE LODGE OF PERFECTION SEATTLE CHAPTER OF ROSE CROIX SEATTLE COUNCIL OF KADOSH SEATTLE CONSISTORY I THE UNDERSIGNED, DO CERTIFY THE FOLLOWING TO BE TRUE AND CORRECT: MY FULL NAME IS _______________________ _. MY AGE IS ______ YEARS. MY DATE OF BIRTH IS ________ ________ ________. I WAS BORN AT STATE OF _____. I CURRENTLY RESIDE AT ______________________________________ _____. Address, City and State I HAVE RESIDED THERE FOR ____________ YEARS. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS ______________________ ___. MY MAILING ADDRESS IS ___________________________. Street address or Post Office Box City, State, & ZIP MY CURRENT TELEPHONE NUMBER IS (____)_______________________. SPOUSE NAME__________________ Area Code MY OCCUPATION IS _____________________________. I AM EMPLOYED BY __________________________________. If retired, state previous occupation If retired, enter “Retired” I AM A MASTER MASON IN GOOD STANDING IN __________________ ____ LODGE NO. ___________ LOCATED AT ___________________________________ , UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF____________. I WAS RAISED TO THE DEGREE OF MASTER MASON ON __________________________________________________. Date you received third degree PLEASE ENTER YOUR CAP SIZE (IF KNOWN) PLEASE ENTER YOUR RING SIZE (IF KNOWN) . Continued on other side

What motivated you to join the Scottish Rite?

Please indicate your interest in the following subje cts.

Scottish Rite Education

Scottish Rite Ritual

Esoteric Research & Education

Participation is Scottish Rite Degrees

Participation as an officer in one of the four bodies

Participation in Scottish Rite Committees, i.e. Finance, Building, etc.

Americanism (ROTC, JROTC)

Craft Lodge Education

Craft Lodge Ritual

THE SUPREME COUNCIL REQUIRES ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES: THE INCULCATION OF PATRIOTISM, RESPECT FOR LAW AND ORDER, UNDYING LOYALTY TO THE PRINCIPLES OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. DO YOU APPROVE OF THESE PRINCIPLES? ________ YES __ ______ NO

I HAVE NEVER PREVIOUSLY APPLIED FOR ANY OF THE SCOTTISH RITE DEGREES NOR FOR ANY MEMBERSHIP IN ANY BODY OF SCOTTISH RITE MASONS. (IF PREVIOUSLY APPLIED FOR MEMBERSHIP HERE OR ELSEWHERE, USE THE REVERSE SIDE OF THIS APPLICATION TO PROVIDE FULL D ETAILS OF SAID APPLICATION, SPECIFICALLY INCLUDING THE SCOTTISH RITE BODIES TO WHICH APPLICATION WAS MADE, DATES THEREOF, AND RESULTS OF SAID APPLICATION ) I NOW RESPECTFULLY MAKE THIS APPLICATION TO RECEIVE THE DEGREES OF THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE OF FREEMASONRY, PROMISING ALWAYS TO BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE THIRTY THIRD DEGREE OF THE SOUTHERN JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATED OF AMERICA. ___ (Signature)

Congratulations Hon. Brother Bill

Harker

for being Honored by the National Sojourners

for your many years of service to our craft and Americanism

Congratulations to our Brothers upon becoming Masters of the Royal Secret.

A great day for our Fraternity.

We look forward to having you further your journey with us.

The Spirit of Christmas Describes the Practice of a Mason

It is this time of year when I stop and take notice of a certain change in the atmosphere around me. When I accidentally cut off a stranger on the road I do not get back the raised fist or digital sign language of contempt. No blaring horns, no verbalizing scorn with four letter words, no cold shoulder darken my path. Instead I am greeted with a smile and best wishes by perfect strangers; women open doors for me and even dogs wag their tail at my presence.

It’s Christmas and the spirit of the holiday has taken hold of most homosapiens.

Chris Thomas in an article titled, ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, Hav ing A Real Spirit of Christmas Throughout The Year, quotes Thomas S. Monson: Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christ mas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things.”

Thomas goes on to say: “Having such a spirit doesn’t have to be something that is seen or noticed by everyone. It can be as simple as continuing with one’s work while the teacher’s not in the room or conducting oneself at work as if they were being watched, even while the boss is away.”

“Philippians chapter 2, verses 3-5 state, ‘Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.’

“Note that these verses don’t encourage one to belittle themselves but rather to recognize the worth of others as well as oneself. The spirit of Christmas truly involves being a character with integrity, one that is selfless and humble and above all, loves.”

Our Daily Bread, describes the Christmas Spirit this way:

J. I. Packer goes to the heart of this matter in his book Knowing God. He writes, “We talk glibly of the Christmas spirit, rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the [temperament] of Him who for our sakes became poor, . . . the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor spending and being spent to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, thought, care, and concern to do good to others . . . in whatever way there seems need.”

These descriptions, this Christmas Spirit are how a Mason governs himself 365 days a year. Oh there are a few bad apples in the pile, I guess. But by and large a Mason is or strives to be honest, kind, giving, patient, understanding, tolerant, patriotic, gentle, forgiving and charitable. These are attributes which puts a Mason in a year round Christmas Spirit.

I am often asked what effect does becoming a Mason have on the individual. And my answer is that one becomes a new person, with a new outlook on life. Masonry is a way of life but that way of life is not limited to a certain time of year. That is really what it means to become a Mason.

When you enter that door for the first time you are in darkness, seeking light. When you have found light you have started your rebirth into the world of constant learning and constant striving to polish that rough ashlar. Freemasonry is a journey not a destination but it is the process of performing a new way of life that makes a man a Mason.

Remember that spirit that followed immediately after 9/11? We were all one, united in one purpose, one spirit, one common bond. “There was a true spirit of camaraderie, a sense that we were all in this together, all on the same side, from our own neighborhoods, throughout our local communities, and across the country”

But then the newspaper goes on to lament:

“Sadly, that spirit has long since been lost over the last seven years; in fact, it was lost within a few months after the attacks. Unfortunately, we now seem as divided — politically, economically and ideologically — as we have even been. And that’s not only on the national level.”

Outside the Craft, the spirit is short lived. It is there after some national traumatic event; it is there at Christmas time but it soon fades and soon we are back to a dog eat dog world. Not so with a Mason. His world is Christmas time year round.

So let us salute the peace, harmony and tolerance that Masons throughout the world contribute to their world and everybody else’s world.

Messages

Happy Birthday!

Congratulations from all your Scottish Rite Brethren

To our members over 90 who have reached a very important birthday!

November

Floyd F. Klinkenberg 11/12/1927

Edward A. Tolford 11/07/1929

James W. Hart Jr. 11/11/1930

Leroy F. Mc Vay 11/03/1932

Charles R. Olmstead 11/27/1932

December

Frederick H. Oliver 12/12/1927

William E. Edwards 12/10/1929

Raymond L. Horn 12/24/1929

Joseph L. Bennett 12/31/1930

Joseph Smith 12/19/1931

William A. Harris 12/24/1932

Karl W. Cunningham 12/27/1932

Robert A. Stenning 12/28/1932