Working Dayton Dragons

Tonight I'm working a fund raiser for Marty Trent at the Dayton Dragons Game. Not sure what to expect as the weather is nice right now which should mean a big crowd and a busy night but rain is projected for later.I'm working nought because I was originally schedule for this past Monday when I was at a meeting for my fund raiser for next year! I;m waiting on the summer downtime but it doesn't seem to be showing up. In addition, we are dealing with health issues for my mother-in-law and college preparations for my daughter who is a senior in high school this year. Maybe the real issue is that I'm just getting old!

Circus Start-up

Tonight was the start-up meeting for the Shrine Circus 2014 and as our fund raiser again for 2014 is parking cars at the Shrine Circus, I am very interested in any changes.The Charmain for the Circus will now be the Assistant Rabban since the funds raised will potentially help fund his year as Potentate. They have increased the number of shows to 5 and are discussing if we might open more gates for parking. The main change is that they are trying to get the North end opened back up for entering the arena, This would help with parking on the north side of the arena.

DeMolay Conclave

Today was the Legion of Honor presentation and the Installation of new officers. Sam Cohen is the new State Master Councilor. Several who received the Active Legion of Honor today where Senior DeMolays who I ran around with while I was in DeMolay. In addition, our new State Master Councilor is the son of a Senior DeMolay I served with as a State Officer.

Preparing For DeMolay Conclave

For the next couple of days I will be in Berea for the Ohio DeMolay Conclave. We will have the Legion of Honor, State Officer Installation for the new officers and the Annual Dance on Saturday. Ohio DeMolay is continuing to dominate the Region and International that we started a few years back when we won our first Great Lakes Championship (and have won several more since then), showed a positive gain in membership (and are continuing the trend), had our first ever Regional Coordinator (and another one since that time), had a Regional Director, only our second Grand Master ever of DeMolay International and this year with our second ever International Master Councilor.

Parade Planning Meeting

Tonight we had a meeting of the planning of GLSA in Mason and the Lebanon Parade on September 14th. The parade will include the Shrine units but also the Masonic Youth and Masonic organizations as we try to let the public know you need to be a Mason to be a Shriner. We are hoping for a large contingency of Masonic adults and youth and are promoting the parade around the area so we will also have a large crowd.

Funeral For Roland Williams

Last night was the funeral for a very active Mason in our area Roland Williams. He was a Past Master of his Lodge, Past Most Wise Master/Past Trustee in Scottish Rite, and Past Potentate. In addition he was a Past Worthy Matron and former active member of the Miamisburg Rainbow Advisory Board.

here is part of his obituary in the paper:

His Masonic and Shrine careers began in 1972 when he was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in 1972. He went on to actively serve 7 years in John W. Durst Lodge # 716 and was Master of the Lodge in 1980-81. He became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason in 1973 and served 12 years in the Dayton Chapter of Rose Croix line, including two years as Most Wise Master in 2000 and 2001. He was awarded the Honorary 33rd Degree in Boston on September 3rd, 2002.  Roland served as Trustee of The Scottish Rite Valley of Dayton.

Roland's Antioch career began in 1973. He initially joined the Stewards Unit where he served several years. In 1980 he joined the Past Masters Unit with whom he marched and worked in the Crafts for over 10 years. He joined the Antioch Rovers Unit in 1994 and became their director in 1999.  Roland was also a regular part of the Antioch Ceremonial Cast where he performed the Inspired Charge.

Roland retired from his sales management position in December of 2003 and dedicated considerable time to causes of Shrine Masonry. Roland served as Potentate of Antioch Shrine in 2007.

3rd District Picnic

Today was the Third District Chapter Picnic at Wilson Park in West Carrolton. The 3rd Arch was also represented. Around 60 Companions and their wives were in attendance for a nice afternoon and dinner. Our District Officers cooked the meal, the District Deputies provide the meat, the District Education Officers provide the drinks and the Companions provided the side dishes and desserts (and the 3rd Arch provides the buns). This is a long standing outing of the 3rd District and provides an opportunity for limited introductions and maximum socialization.

Red Cross of Constantine

Today was the meeting of my Conclave of this organization in Ashland Ohio at the Cabin Restaurant. The food was great and the company just as enjoying. Our pressding officer MEC Garis Pugh was unable to attend but MWB Jack Allen filled in quite nicely for him. In addition MEC Bob Crabbs and MEC Bob Blankenhorn were also present representing the Grand Chapter.

Ohio DeMolay Foundation Meeting

What a rewarding day. I was given the opportunity several years ago to join the board of the Ohio DeMolay Scholarship Foundation. Every year we hear about young men from the Order of DeMolay in Ohio who are wanting to advance their education in College and apply for the scholarship. This year we were pleased to be able to afford 8 young men that opportunity.

300 Club Meeting

Doug Kaylor and the Second District in conjunction with our hopefully having a Grand Master in 2017 from the Second District started something called the 300 club. For $300 a person could show their support of the Second Masonic District and our representative being installed as Grand Master. Many have decided they wanted to be a part of the activity and joined. Tonight we had a meeting for Doug to share his ideas and to hear some of our ideas ... sort of a Masonic Town Hall. Many of the members of the 300 club were in attendance and several good points were discussed.

Cabiri (Past Potentates) Meeting

Every month we get together to discuss what the Past Potentates can do to support the Shrine. I'm not sure I belong to another Masonic organization in which the Past Presiding officers meet actively on a regular basis. It is a good time to learn about the health of the other Past Potentates and their families and offers a method of keeping the Past Potentates active. While I always hope the Past Presiding officers realize they are PAST, it is nice for them to stay actively involved. I have always thought it was a shame in organizations which give tons of power to the person while presiding but then act as if they have lost all abilities once they are out of office.

Red Cross Constantaine Reception

Tonight I went to a reception/roast for Burch Zehner who is the head of this Masonic "invitation only" international organization. It is only the second time in history that someone from Ohio has been selected to lead the organization. We had a nice meal but got to have lots of laughs at Burch's expense. But probably the highlight of the evening when the words given by all the "roasters" had left Burch nearly speechless. For those who are not aware of this organization, one of the prerequisites is you must belong to the Royal Arch Chapter. They also have a very limited membership and only a very few conclaves of it are located in Ohio. I personally belong out of Lima. (though as someone said at the roast, our conclave has never met in Lima but rather at all corners of Ohio!) And I'm sure Burch likes the "official title" of the office as it fills up a whole introduction card itself, but shortened is: Most Illustrious Grand Sovereign of the United Grand Imperial Council Red Cross of Constantine (Okay so it's not a whole lot shorter)!

Ralph H McMillan DeMolay

Last night was a very exciting night. Several of the advisors from the DeMolay Chapter in Vandalia (which we are trying to start) travelled to Xenia to the Ralph H. McMillan meeting. 16 DeMolays were present and probably around the same number of adult advisors. It was also Government Day and a local councilman came in and spoke on the Xenia Government. He was impressed with how we ran a meeting and indicated before be got on council he had never received any training on running a meeting or planning and the skills learned in DeMolay would have been really helpful to have known. The Master Councilor, I thought, did a outstanding job keeping the meeting on track, running smoothly and getting all items covered in a reasonable timeframe and should be commended for his leadership. The State Master Councilor, Mark Chong, and District Governor, Dad Mike Himes were also present.

Helping Commandery Make Money

For some time I have been stressing to all Masonic groups that the idea of living within your dues is no longer feasible and you need to raise money for things in various ways. Well I decide since I'm preaching the sermon, I had better adhere to it myself and worked the Dayton Dragons game to help out the 2nd Division. It is not easy work but it is a good way to make some money and I wanted to help out my counterpart, Marty Trent.

Busy Week

As I mentioned earlier this week, I would be in Indy for the Shrine Imperial through Thursday. We had several pieces of legislation but also took some time to explore Indy. We heard the International Master Councilor speak (Robert Laing from Ohio). We did the Indy experience and both Pam and Laura did a ride along in an Indy car. We went to Dick's Last Resort....where you pay to get insulted at your meal. And during the session we were recognized for being only one of 25 temple with positive membership growth in the world during 2012 while I was Potentate.

After coming back we spent the weekend cleaning up at home and the mother-in-laws house. Not exciting stuff but definitely needed.