Merry Christmas

I want to wish all a Merry Christmas. While this might be the last post I make before the end of the year, I'm hoping the next year will bring lots of excitement and joy to all.

Chapter District Christmas Party

Every year the current and past leaders of our Chapter District get together informally to celebrate the year around Christmas. Tonight was that night and despite a few extra conflicts this year, several were still able to attend. MEC George Shell and Doris Crawford (the late MEC Jerry Crawford;s widow) were both able to join us.  We had pizza and fellowship before everyone heading off for the hectic Christmas events.

Trinity Chapter #44 Stated Meeting

Tonight I went to the stated meeting for my Chapter in Miamisburg. Happy to report it was just a regular business meeting and afterwards we all went downstairs and fellowshipped for a while before leaving. I often think this is actually the most important time of a meeting. Oh ... and we did have a good attendance as all stations were filled and we even had a couple on the sidelines despite several regulars being out of town.

Proud Day

While I might have liked to attend the 200th anniversary for Lebanon Chapter today, I was instead attending an event at Ohio’s university today, I wouldn’t have missed for the world. You see today my nephew graduated from college but you need to know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would have said. He was supposed to graduate this past May but unfortunately one year ago we weren’t sure if he would live as he suffered a seizure and they found brain tumors which had to be removed. So he had brain surgery and then found out it was cancerous. So he had brain surgery and underwent cancer treatments and had to relearn to do everything. This semester he finished his final class and today marked his graduation.

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AMD Meeting

Tonight was our annual meeting and installation of new officers for Herman Lawrence AMD in Middletown. I got a couple of photos of our outgoing and incoming Sovereign Master.  We also received back a couple of invites we had afforded to potential new members at out last meeting. Most likely we will bring them in at the next meeting in January.

Another Day on Grand Chapter

Today I spent another day working on items for Grand Chapter. There is definitely lots of "behind the scenes" work to be done and some days you just need to focus on getting some of that done. Hopefully some of the things I was working on yesterday will allow us to better handle bringing new members into the organization. After a long day working on these items, I had a Community Fund Raising Board Christmas Party to attend.

Viewing for Kent Lyon

Today was the viewing for Kent Lyon. He was a very active Mason and did work in most Masonic bodies and was the current Monarch of Ormus Grotto. Kent was also Prelate in the Commandery and and officer in Chapter and Council along with a Veteran member from the Bobbies in the Shrine. He had a huge turnout which I would attribute to his willingness to work in so many Masonic bodies and always tried to do his best. Well done good and faithful servant.

Cabiri Christmas Party

Today was the Christmas Party for the Past Potentates at Antioch Shrine. We had a nice social time with appetizers and then a good dinner along with allot of fellowship and the election of new officers, I was glad I had already done my time in the barrel and didn't have to go through the line again. 

Four Chapter Inspections

After staying Friday night in Elyria Ohio, I headed to four chapter inspections being held in each of the degrees in the temple  for Huron, Wakeman, Marshall and Oberlin. It was well planned out and there was minimal downtime. They had five candidates for the day. I stayed as long as I could to attend as much as possible and then had to get on the road to Lima for the next activity of the day. 

HRAKTP

Today next I went to Lima for the Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests meeting. This is an invitational group of which I had a part in the degree to bring in some new members. You must be  a Past Commnder of your Commandery and we are limited to 33 members. I also started into the line in the organization as an officer. Since we only meet one day a year, it only adds a like to more work to my plate.  After this finished off I headed to my final event of the day in Springfield.

Grotto Installation

I finished up today at the Grotto Installation for my Grotto, Ormus, and Khana Shahar. It was kind of a mixed emotions at the event as our Monarch for 2018 Kent Lyon just passed away this week. Kent was a member of both Grotto's and had served Ormus in 2017 and 2018. I was once again installed as the Secretary/Treasurer.

Pennsylvania Grand Chapter

Wednesday I was on the road most of the day, after staying overnight in Cambridge, for the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania being held in Philadelphia. The hotel was right next to the temple so it made going to the meetings very convenient. If you get a chance to go to Philadelphia go to the Masonic Temple to tour it, you won;t be sorry. The Grand Chapter room was super nice and they are very different than the manner of how we do things with much more pomp and circumstance which leads to the grandeur of the room. They were super friendly and the meals were all very good. After a long day of activities on Thursday, I got ready to head back on Friday to Ohio.

Cambridge #53 Chapter Inspection

This week is going to be a whirlwind of activities starting with tonight's Inspection. I was in Cambridge Ohio for the chapter inspection in the Past Master degree. They had a good crowd and the Inspection went well. I sat this evening with REC Mark Bruns who is the new Grand Master of the 1st Veil.

Hi 12 Christmas Party and Installation

Today at Dayton was our Christmas party and Installation of officers. We had a great meal and had a total of 36 in attendance. Most of the state officers along with members from several other clubs were present. I came home then tonight to get myself ready to go to Cambridge Inspection tomorrow and then off to Philadelphia to represent our Grand Chapter at their Grand session.

Grand River #104 Redication

Today I met REC Dan Smith and we headed up together to Rock Creek, Ohio by Astabula. They had a nice turnout of their own members and refreshments for us when we finished. The ride up and back gave Dan and myself time to talk about our plans for the next couple of years. We solved most of the world's problems and then found some new ones to be resolved later.