Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Scottish Rite 33 Dinner

Tonight the 33rd's from the Valley of Dayton got together for a dinner in which the new 33rd's were officially introduced and we discussed several upcoming events in the Valley of Dayton: William Lawson, Steve Hottle and Gary Nicholson (Paul Weglage also it but was unable to attend due to work). It was also mentioned that Steve Goad was elected to receive his in 2017. We also remembered those who we have lost in the last year: Ed Schultz, PGC George Davidson, PGIM Richard Harless, PGM William Mayberry Sr. It sounds like we have lots of exciting events planned in the near future.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Valley 80 Drill Practice

Well I'm finally back from Atlanta and it was a long week with every day starting early and ending late. Tonight we had drill practice in the newly paved parking lot at our temple. It was still a little rough but we have several new members this year. I had originally planned to attend another meeting prior to this practice but work decided to keep me until right before this one started at 7PM. Oh well, I'm headed home and back to work.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

HRAKTP & Irish Council Meeting

Today was our annual meeting and initiation for both organizations held at the Ohio Masonic Home. These are both invitational organizations with the first having a very limited membership. Since I have parts in the initiation work for Irish Council and am a past presiding officer, I also helped in the Installation. For Irish Council we brought in 15 new members. I"ll be offline most of the next week as I have to travel to Atlanta for work.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Ormus Grotto Stated Meeting


  1. Tonight was our monthly stated meeting. The crowd was small but we did discuss several potential upcoming activities and ideas to keep things going at the Grotto. Over the past year unfortunately we have lost due to health or death several of those who regularly attend. We are working with Khana Sharar Grotto in Springfield on joint actives to keep both functioning. Since we are close enough to hold joint activities but far enough apart to not even contemplate merging, we all made a commitment to try to do what it takes to keep us open. It is nice to see that despite setbacks some Masonic groups are forging ahead.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Shrine Stated Meeting

Tonight was the stated meeting for the Shrine and while I would have gone to Commandery as we have drill practice, I needed to drop some items off at the Shrine as well as picking some up. The meeting moved right along and I was happy to see that many of the positive things we started over the past few years are still continuing to evolve and improve. Our financial picture is also now stable and we continue to push membership. As we got done fairly quickly I was going to head by Commandery but I got a call from wotk which led me to go home and begin work.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Minerva Lodge Fund Raisier

Today I helped my lodge with a fund raising activity parking cars at the Renaissance Festival. It started out really nice but just before the end of my shift started to rain so hard I couldn't even see what I was doing. As it was a very cold heavy rain and I was soaked to the skin. When I left 1 went home to dry off as I was freezing cold. I was really glad I could help my Lodge not only since I am a member and should help my Lodge if possible but also because this group working has been very faithfully helping me out with my fund raiser at the Shrine Circus in February and the weather there is usually miserably cold. I also saw some Grand Officers from Masonic bodies and members of other lodges who were attending the festival. The funny thing was just 5 minutes from the event it not only stopped raining but hadn't even rained at all today. So after warming up, Pam and I headed to Dayton for the Greek Festival being held right next to the Dayton Temple where the Scottish Rite members park cars to help raise funds for the Scottish Rite Masonic Learning Center. And while I knew all working to park the cars there, who did I see but one of my Lodge members helping out there. He said he was working the parking lot to help the Scottish Rite Masonic Learning Center today so he could go tomorrow to help our Lodge with the Renaissance parking tomorrow which I would have probably been back working there myself but was told they had plenty of help tomorrow.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Special Olympics Fund Raiser

Tonight Alpha Lodge had a special fund raiser for Special Olympics and since our 2VP for our Chapter District, Alf Butler, was largely involved in the efforts I made sure I was able to stop by to support him and the Lodge. Several members of my Lodge also attended and the Zombie dog truck was the main attraction. They serve very unique flavors of hot dogs. I also saw someone who I used to work with who I haven't talked with in around 15 years at the event. I then had intended to head by the funeral home for the viewing of Past Recorder Emeritus and Past Treasurer Emeritus Jimmie Mitchell. Unfortunately, between two unexpected trips to the garage to fix car problems after I left the Special Olympics  event it left me with no time to stop by the funeral home and since one emergency was with Laura's car I couldn't leave her stranded. 

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Minerva Lodge Stated

Tonight was the first stated meeting back from summer break and we had around 40 in attendance. I thought this was a great attendance for just a regular meeting and all the officers moved up tonight for the opening and closing. I think our email communications are really paying off as I get a list of all activities going on at our temple every week covering every night of the upcoming week. I was also great to see several past masters present this evening. We also had two new petitions for the evening,

Friday, September 4, 2015

Labor Day Weekend

Hopefully everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. I am taking the weekend off (along with a couple days afterwards) so we can go camping and have some time to rest. The plan camping is to have no plans. I'm not leaving the park once we get there. I plan to have no set time to get up, no set activities and while we have food to fix, eat it as we decide during the moment. I think Pam is in shock since normally I have every moment of every day and trip completely planned out along with how long each event/activity can take... Not this weekend!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Shrine Circus Kick-off

Today was the circus kick-off meeting where they introduced those persons or leading the various areas of the circus and announce the theme for the year. Once again this year the 3rd Capitular District will be in charge of parking as our fund raiser. They had a great turnout and I'm hoping for another successful year for the circus all around.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Trinity Chapter Stated Meeting

Tonight we started back to work as our first stated meeting of the fall was held for my chapter. We had lots to cover but moved through all of it fairly well. We also started to cover the items being voted on at Grand Chapter next month. It was really great to see 16 in attendance for the stated meeting. I think Trinity is ready to start working on the new year and try to again win the travelling award.