11 New Sir Knights

Last night 11 Knights of Malta were dub and created members of the Valiant and Magnanimous Order of the Temple, or Knights Templar. It had been several years since St. Simon of Cyrene Commandery in Davenport had put on an Order of the Temple or an Inspection. There has been some controversy about the York Rite Bodies in Davenport the last two years, I hope with these new members they can survive.
The Grand Commandery put on their Inspection and Order of the Temple. I thank all the Grand and Past Grand Commandery Officers who assisted. Considering there was no practice and several officers took parts for the first time, the Order was excellent. There were candidates from Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Clinton, and Davenport.
Yesterday I had lunch in the Amanas then attended the Board of Instruction meeting. There have been several changes in how we teach and grade the ritual and tactics for the Grand Commandery of Iowa. Most of these changes have seen positive results. We decided to have 4 schools across the state, and created a new award to be given out at Grand Conclave.
Tonight I am off to Cedar Rapids for a full form Malta. John, my chauffeur will be driving. I am glad to have him, as the time and miles this week are stacking up.

On the road again

Monday at ten the quarterly meeting of the Masonic Charitable Education Corporation was held at Iowa State Bank in West Des Moines. I serve as Treasurer/Director for this organization. In the past all the MCEC did was make student loans. Now through the generosity of some members estates we also distribute money to the MCEC Scholarship Selection Committee to be given to Iowa High School graduates to attend Trade Schools or Community College. This is a wonderful program as it recognizes not the top of the graduating class, rather those who are "average". Also preference is given to a Masonic connection in the application, though not required. We approved $25,000 to be given as 25 $1,000 scholarships. After lunch at the bank I stopped by Jordan Creek Mall and found a great bargain on a sport coat. I am also looking to upgrade my cell phone to one that does email, so stopped by the Verizon store. I just hate to part with the money.
Monday night was the annual Grand Lodge third degree at South Central MI/DL club in Prairie City. As usual we had good chili and I heard the oyster stew was good to, but I don't like oysters. This is one of the hardest degrees for the new Grand Lodge Officers to put on. It is one of their first and the audience is almost all proficient. They did an admirable job.
Last night I had practice for the 32nd degree this Sat. And even went to work for a day LOL.
Today is busy. The Board of Instruction has its meeting in the Amana's at noon. Then the Grand Commandery Officers are helping the Commandery in Davenport put on the Order of the Temple and their Inspection. I hope all goes well. Then Thursday night off to Cedar Rapids for the full form Order of Malta. Then Newton Friday for a third degree, and Scottish Rite all day Saturday.

North Central Department Conference

Last Saturday I attended the North Central Department Conference for the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America. I have been going to these meetings for years now. I remember helping set up for Jerry Thomas of South Dakota many many years ago in Des Moines. This years meeting was in Mandan, North Dakota. Mom, dad, and I made the ten hour journey. Luckily the weather was good. No snow or ice like last year.

The Grand Commandery and the Sir Knights of Iowa should be proud that 14 past and present Grand Commandery Officers attended. Thanks Sir Knights, you made my and the Department Commander's day. While the subject of the meetings don't change much, the meetings are run efficiently and are interesting. It was my pleasure to give the presentation on Public Relations.
One Grand Commander was missing and his Deputy Grand Commander was there. It is nice to see and talk about our state Grand Commanderies and what is going on. Iowa is in my humble, unbiased (lol) opinion leading the pack in our Department and maybe even in the Nation. This is due to the help and dedication of many many Sir Knights.

I am not going to report item by item what we learned. It will be communicated at future meetings. Suffice it to say it was a good meeting.

Mason City, Scottish Rite, KYCH, and a Wedding

When assuming any leadership role in Masonry, the person should be aware of the responsibilities the office he assumes requires. Serving as Grand Commander I was well aware of the travel required. This month is a test of my loyalty. The next three weeks are filled with meetings across Iowa and even a trip to North Dakota. This past Thursday night dad and I drove to Mason City for their local Commandery School and to help them prepare for their inspection in February. While the local number of Sir Knights was small (there was a masonic brother's funeral that night) the school of instruction was great. Butch, a member of the Board of Instruction was the Instructor and did a good job. I answered several of their questions and congratulated them on moving forward after several years of inactivity. They voted on two candidates for the orders. It is comforting to know there is some resurgence in our local York Rites around the state. Yes, we still have to many that are inactive, and even some that may not exist before my term is expired, but places like Mason City, Creston Corning Red Oak, Anamosa, Ottumwa, Albia and Estherville prove that it is possible to reunite the fire. Because of the dedication and diligence of many Sir Knights across our state, Iowa York Rite has yet to see its "days of glory". Thank you to the local Sir Knights, the backbone of Templary.

Friday late afternoon dad and I were in downtown Des Moines for the opening of the George R. Carr Memorial Scottish Rite Reunion. It was with heartfelt sadness that we attended. For two reasons, first one of our dear friends and brothers, Curt Vandivier passed away last week. Curt succeeded dad as chairman of the Dining Room Committee, was a past master and active member in my lodge in Ankeny, and was a fine gentleman. His two sons are outstanding masons and active in our lodge and Scottish Rite. Dad and I volunteered to help with some of Curt's duties until someone is asked to assume them. Second, is for the memory of another "giant" of Iowa Masonry, George R. Carr. George was more than a brother or friend, he was one of my masonic mentors, and I miss him alot, especially playing golf with him. The Des Moines Scottish Rite is honoring him this fall reunion. I hope there is a sell-out crowd October 31 at the Scottish Rite Gala in his honor. There are 27 candidates in this reunion class.

Saturday I went downtown for awhile to the Scottish Rite, then took mom and dad with me to Marshalltown for the annual meeting of Charles Clyde Hunt Priory No. 42, KYCH. Nat's nephew's wedding was also today in Waterloo. So she came to Marshalltown to pick me up at the end of KYCH to go to Waterloo. KYCH is one of my favorite "honors", not because of a title, or ceremony (though I have presided and conferred the ceremony for over 10 years). What makes KYCH special is that you must earn it, to be eligible a Sir Knight must have served and completed his term as: 1. Master of his Lodge, High Priest of his Chapter, Illustrious Master of his Council, and Commander of his Commandery. The only way to attain membership is by service to the fraternity. The ceremony is brief, but effective and I enjoy the ritual. There were five fine candidates that I had the privilege of Knighting. My friend George H was elected Prior and he asked me to install him, a duty I was pleased to perform. Nat arrived during the Installation and I had to leave quickly and change to go to the wedding in Waterloo.

We made the wedding reception in Waterloo on time (just a couple minutes to spare). had a good time with Nat's family. The reception and wedding earlier today were done in renaissance attire. I did not go properly attired. I should have borrowed one of the York Rite costumes and would have fit right in. LOL! It was fun, but not everyone was in costume, so I didn't fill to out of place. The reception was in the Waterloo Masonic Temple. A wonderful place to have such a "renaissance" wedding.

Next week brings practices for the last weekend of the Scottish Rite Reunion, Grand Chapter of the OES (which I am unable to attend, but have sent a representative to), and a long trip to Mandan North Dakota for the Department Conference. The next week I will be attending meetings every day, sometimes two in one day. But this is all part of the job, being there to help, to lead, to engage our membership.

Sioux City York Rite Festival

This past Friday and Saturday dad and I spent our time in Sioux City. I have always enjoyed traveling to the northwest part of Iowa and this trip was no different, except the little snow we found on the car Saturday morning.

The Sioux City York Rite was celebrating the 100th anniversary of their council and the reception for the Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council who is from Sioux City. Their ritual is good. They do have several of the same people taking large parts, but they did good in those parts. I especially enjoyed seeing the full form Order of the Red Cross and Order of Malta. These are not put on in full form many places anymore. I have been to Iowa City for a full form Red Cross and Cedar Rapids is planning a full form Malta latter this month.

It was my honor to be received under an arch of steel and introduced and to bring greetings of the Grand Commandery of Iowa. I congratulated the six new Sir Knights on completing their York Rite journey. At the banquet Sat night we honored the MIGM and Zadok Council's centennial. We took one of the candidates home from Sioux City as he lived in Boone, which wasn't to far out of our way. Got home around 11 and went right to bed.
That had been a busy and tiring week, only one day at work, the rest traveling from Washington DC to Sioux City and home. This week is just work during the day and only a couple meetings at night. Am going to Mason City for a commandery school Thursday, and preparing for the KYCH meeting Saturday, which I confer.

Supreme Council Session

Last Saturday morning Nat, mom, dad, and I flew to Washington DC for the Supreme Council Session for the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction. I have been to DC many times before, but Nat had never been there. This is one of my favorite masonic events to attend. It only happens every two years. After checking into the Capital Hilton Hotel, we unpacked and prepared for the next five days. I have many friends from across the country whom I only see at this Session. I had to miss our annual Red Cross of Constantine meeting and the Grand Master's reception, but it is impossible to be everywhere. Saturday night a wonderful man, and a good friend from Georgia, Bernie, took a group out to dinner. He has done this for the past 4 biennial sessions. We had a fabulous dinner at Morton's Steakhouse in DC. From the jumbo jumbo shrimp, bacon wrapped large scallops, fresh crab cakes, and shrimp Alexander for appetizers, to the fine choice of salads, to the main entrees of double cut fillet Mignon, new york strip, salmon, or chicken, ending with three decadent desserts, the meal was wonderful. Thanks to Bernie, a good man, a good mason, and a good friend.

For me this trip is about reuniting old friendships and making some new ones. There was Woody, who will be installed Grand Master of Louisiana in Feb, John from St. Louis, a true kidder and joy to be around (John the tie is in the mail LOL), to the California girls, a new friend from Florida and another from New Mexico. Of course there was Ed from Penn, Billy from Ohio, and many many more. I have had the privilege to meet and get to know several SGIG's beyond Iowas. Several of the SGIG's had dinner with us Sat night, including the Sovereign Grand Commander, Ronald Seale. They also joined our group for brunch Sunday at the Hay Adams across the street from the White House. Here are some pics taken from the Hay Adams roof top terrace.

Nat and Me

Dad, Mom, Nat, and Me

SGIG in Iowa Gary and Carol

SGIG in Arkansas, his grandson and Earl Ihle of the Supreme Council

Sunday's brunch was hosted by brother Butch of Texas, he and his wife were wonderful hosts. Again we ate like royalty. That afternoon was the opening reception in the St. Regis Hotel. The Sovereign Grand Commander and his lady greeted each person. There was plenty of fine appetizers and wonderful finger desserts. We didn't eat to much, still recovering from brunch an hour before. Nat and I then walked around DC. Our hotel was just four blocks from the white house, so we wandered there and were escorted out of a park. Must have been someone coming or going from the White House. That night we ate at one of my favorite places, The Capital Grille. They have the best french fries, parmesan truffle fries, I ate 2 servings with my crusted butter bone in sirloin.

Monday was the session for The Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commanders of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America. I learned that that is the official name in the act of congress with reference to the Supreme Council. This session is solely ceremonial. All the business was conducted in closed executive session. This is true pomp and circumstance, almost regal in its ceremonies. While a bit boring, it is fascinating to see so many states and countries meeting together as Freemasons. There were 32 sitting Grand Masters of their respective Grand Lodges in attendance, that is 32 from a possible 35 total. Unfortunately Iowa's Grand Master was unable to attend. To bad as he would have been royally received. There were 28 different countries in attendance. It truly proves Masonry is universal in its reach, scope, and teachings. Of interest is that everyone, including women are invited to this session. There was no voting or official business transacted. There were several committee reports given and several visitors addressed the audience. Then we had lunch. Then we rested for a couple hours before the reception that evening. After the reception we loaded buses for the Kennedy Center. I had never been to the Kennedy Center before. It is a very large place, next to the Watergate Hotel. The show was "shear madness" and that is what it was, madness. Five SGIG's were asked to take part in the show and did an amazing job. One (a real dentist) had to act like a doctor reading a coroners report on the person murdered. The others (all lawyers) plead the case of innocence for their "clients" accused of the murder to the jury (the audience).

It was a lot of fun and laughs.

Tuesday was more for relaxing and getting ready for the formal banquet that evening. Mom, dad, Nat, and I visited the House of the Temple. Dad is honored with his portrait in the House of the Temple. We took a pic of us with his portrait.

Nat and I got a special tour of the House of the Temple. But I think I knew more than the tour guide. I knew that the little sword with the diamond in it was Burl Ives's toothpick, one of my favorite objects in the Burl Ives's collection. Also got to see my favorite 33rd ring, a large triangular diamond that reflects 33 when look through by the right angle. The House of the Temple is the headquarters for the Supreme Council and is filled with many many things. That afternoon I sent Nat on the Metro (DC's subway). She had never been on a subway before and really wanted me to go, but I didn't have time. She made it okay...all the way to the mall and back.

The Grand Commander's banquet ended the session Tuesday night. It was in many ways the usual Masonic banquet, but in many ways was not. The food was so so, average for a large banquet. The moving orchestra was great. There were no introductions of dignitaries, only the new Grand Crosses, and a speech from a nine year old girl who attends a Rite Care Clinic in DC. The main speaker was unable to attend. He did however send a letter of which copies were placed at each seat, explaining that he would have liked to have been with us, but his schedule did not allow it. The letter was signed by Dan Brown. Yes that Dan Brown, to bad he couldn't have made it as I would have enjoyed hearing him speak, maybe in the future.

Wednesday we were on our own. We got back to Des Moines at 9PM tired, full, and happy.

Yellowstone National Park

This past weekend Nat and I attended the Convent General KYCH national meeting in Jackson Hole, WY. I have never attended this meeting, though I am a Past Prior and have a vote, but we thought it would make a wonderful trip. And it was a most memorable trip. We flew out Thursday afternoon and after a layover in Denver arrived in Jackson about 9 PM. The Snow King Resort is where we stayed. We had a lovely condo overlooking snow king mountain. We had some dinner at the hotel and saw some people from around the country that we had meet before.

The next morning was beautiful. The weather was perfect for our entire stay. Our tour of Yellowstone National Park the the Grand Tetons left the resort a little after 7 AM. We had a box breakfast to eat on our journey. As we left Jackson you could see how large the mountains were. An awesome site. Our tour guide/bus driver was really interesting. He enjoyed his job and sharing the history and stories of the area. As we entered the park we saw a moose grazing under the snow capped Tetons. As we entered Yellowstone our guide told us about the fires in Yellowstone and how they are important to the natural cycle. We would latter learn the real power of fire. The bus would stop every so often so we could see the main attractions. We saw "old faithful" and many other geysers. There was hot boiling mud and the smell of sulphur rising form deep beneath the earth. Below is picture of a rainbow at the bottom of one of the two waterfalls we saw.

It is impossible to put in words the majestic and magnificent sights of nature we saw. The pictures below are of me and Nat in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with the waterfall in the back.

Our box lunches were on the bus and around 1 PM we were dropped of at "old faithful inn" to eat our prepared lunches and see the geyser erupt. After that it was back on the bus and on the curvy hilly narrow roads. Our last "official" site seeing stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. WOW! How truly amazing. The colors, the waterfall, all God's handywork. Our tour was coming to an end, or so we thought. We stopped to see some grazing buffalo, I was amazed at how many people had never seen a buffalo. What happened next may go down in the history of bus tours. Since after leaving the Grand Canyon our return trip would take about 3 hours, the bus stopped at the Yellowstone Inn so we could refresh ourselves. While we were refreshing ourselves the tour guide and the other tour guide (there was two buses with a total of about 75 people) found out from the park rangers that the fire had closed the road we needed to travel home.

There we were hundreds of miles away from our hotel. and no road to get us home. We had been on the bus since 7 that morning and most of the people were getting tired and ready to leave. The head of the Convent General made the decision to get back by way of Cody, WY. It would take at least 6 hours, but it was the closest route. Our bus traveled a narrow, winding, cliffhanging road for the next two hours. The scenery was out of sight. We got to see more of Yellowstone than any other bus tour. The rock formations and colors were indescribable. We pulled into Cody and there was an argument about where to eat. Most wanted fast food so we could get going faster. But our leader wanted a nice dinner and told the driver to drop us off at Irma's, a good restaurant. One couple stayed on the bus out of spite. I worried that Irma's wouldn't be able to accommodate thirty one people at once. The other bus was going to Burger King. We got to Irma's and what a surprise. The place was big, they had plenty of room for us. Irma was Buffalo Bill Cody's sister and she founded the restaurant. It was the best meal I had on the trip, chicken fried steak was yummy.

During dinner our driver learned the road he was going to take was closing at 10 PM and reopening at 1 AM. We wouldn't make it by 10. The other bus was ready to leave, but our dinners were just starting to come from the kitchen. Nat suggested that maybe the fire was away from the road and we could go back that way. He called the park rangers, and indeed the road through Yellowstone was now open. That would save us 2 or 3 hours. So we all had a good meal and didn't rush to much. The other bus left about 30 minutes before us. We then got to see Yellowstone National Park by moonlight. The bus pulled in Snow King Resort at midnight. Our driver did a remarkable job. That is a 17 hour bus tour of Yellowstone.

The next day most people were tired, but the meeting started at 9 AM. I skipped breakfast at 7 as did many others. The meeting only lasted two hours. Then I joined Nat to walk around Jackson, do some shopping and have lunch. We visited the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, and ate at the Cadillac Grille. Good food. I skipped out on the installation of the new officers Sat afternoon to spend time exploring the town with Nat.

That evening was the Grand Banquet. Just the normal masonic banquet, but it was over by 8 PM which is rare. We saw many friends from around the country and met many new ones.

We left the resort at 5 AM to go to the airport and fly home.

What a wonderful trip. One we will not forget.