Richard "Rick" G. Moore, 33°

We gather here today (see photo and caption below) to pay tribute to Brother Lloyd Wilkerson who has served the Orient of North Carolina and the Supreme Council, 33°, with integrity, dignity, and humility for eighteen years. He is a man who has truly led by example, never expecting more of others than he expected of himself.

Bro. Lloyd was born in Troy, Tennessee, on October 31, 1919. He was a member of the class of 1941 of Erskine College where he received a BA in Mathematics and English. He has served Erskine in many capacities as an alumnus—being elected to serve as Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1985 through 1987. In recognition of his service to Erskine, he received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award on May 18, 1985, the Distinguished Service Award in 1988, and the Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree on May 19, 1996.

To sum up his highly successful military career, one only needs to point out that he enlisted in the Marine Corps at the outbreak of World War II as private and retired on May 31, 1978, as a Major General. He later served the state of North Carolina as a member of the Governor’s Commission for Military Affairs, 1981–91.

An active member of the Episcopalian Church, he served as a member of the Episcopal Foundation of the Diocese of East Carolina (1980–84) and is currently a member of St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Swansboro, N.C., where he is serving as Lay Reader and Chalicist. In community affairs, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Jacksonville Rotary Club, the Board of the Coastal Carolina Community College Foundation, as a Trustee of Onslow County Public Library, and a member of the Jacksonville Board of Realtors.

Highlights of his extensive Masonic career include: membership in and Past Master of Semper Fidelis Lodge No. 680; Honorary Membership in three Blue Lodges, Honorary Legion of Honor, DeMolay; and outstanding leadership of the Scottish Rite, York Rite, Shrine, Royal Order of Jesters, Eastern Star, Royal Order of Scotland, and the National Sojourners, Inc. He has served the Grand Lodge of North Carolina on the following committees: Finance, Board of Publication of the North Carolina Mason, and Board of General Purposes. He also served as Grand Orator for two consecutive years. He is currently a member of the Committee on Special Gifts, the Board of General Purposes, and is Grand Representative of the United Grand Lodges of Germany near the Grand Lodge of North Carolina. In recognition of Bro. Wilkerson’s devoted service to Freemasonry, M.W. L. R. "Pete" Thomas, Jr., presented him the coveted Joseph Montford Medal in 1989.

As an Active Member of the Supreme Council, 33°, he has held the office of Lt. Grand Commander, served on many committees, is Grand Representative of the Supreme Council of Scotland near the Supreme Council, S.J., USA. and is President of the North Carolina Scottish Rite Masonic Foundation—which under his leadership has so increased its endowment as to allow disbursing over $200,000 annually to the Childhood Language Disorders Centers in North Carolina. Undoubtedly, Bro. Lloyd is the most visible S.G.I.G. who has ever served in the Orient of North Carolina, and we are of the opinion he is perceived as the same by the other Active Members in the Southern and Northern Scottish Rite Jurisdictions.

Lloyd is one who has always put others before himself—in the order of God, Family, and country. In his years of service to the Scottish Rite, he has treated his Brothers fairly, kindly (but I might add with a gentle firmness), and with great humility.

Truly, to understand the internal qualities of Lloyd Wilkerson the man, one needs only to examine how he feels about his family, and particularly, his lovely wife, Jeanne. He speaks quite often with a gleam in his eyes and a smile on his face about his sons and their families. He is indeed a proud father and grandfather. When it comes to Jeanne, that is a different story. Perhaps the Biblical commentator Matthew Henry summed it up best when he made the following insightful statement, "The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him nor out of his feet to be trampled by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."

While I’m sure there are others, I have only known one other couple as deeply in love as Jeanne and Lloyd and that was my mother and father. To my way of thinking, Lloyd still sees Jeanne today as the same lovely young lady he married over 53 years ago. This is a marriage that has truly been blessed by God.

Ladies and Brethren, I give you H. Lloyd Wilkerson—a patient, kind, humble, and God-fearing man—whom we honor and pay tribute to this afternoon.

Richard "Rick" G. Moore retired in 1997 after 19 years as the Secretary of the Valley of Charlotte, N.C. He served as Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina (1993) and is a Life Member of Mount Holly Lodge, No. 544, Mount Holly, N.C., and Oasis Shrine Temple, Charlotte, N.C. He is also a member of the Gastonia, N.C., York Rite Bodies; Past Director of Court 109 Royal Order of Jesters; Red Cross of Constantine; Camp LeJeune Chapter No. 329 of National Sojourners, Inc.; Heroes of ’76; and the Honorary Legion of Honor, Order of DeMolay.

On Saturday, October 10, 1998, about 200 North Carolina Scottish Rite Masons and their wives attended a dedication of a window in honor of Ill. Brother H. Lloyd Wilkerson, 33°, S.G.I.G., in North Carolina. The delegation was led by M.W. Bro. Thomas W. Gregory, 33°, Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina. The window was installed in the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (GWMNM), Alexandria, Virginia, through donations from all eight Valleys in North Carolina and is a tribute to Bro. Wilkerson and his service to Masonry and Scottish Rite in the Orient of North Carolina. The window is located on the Scottish Rite Floor of the Memorial. Prior to the dedication, Stokesdale Lodge No. 428 from North Carolina, opened their Lodge in GWMNM, through permission of Alexandria–Washington Lodge No. 22, then proceeded to exemplify a Third Degree and raise two North Carolina Master Masons. Grand Master Gregory served as Master and Ill. Wilkerson was Senior Warden in that Degree. Following the window dedication, a reception was held in the GWMNM for all attending. The article (facing page) by Ill. Bro. Richard "Rick" G. Moore, 33°, P.G.M., was his address (edited for length) at the dedication of the GWMNM window honoring Ill. Bro. H. Lloyd Wilkerson, 33°.

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