From
January-February 2005
What's
in a Title?
By Jason L. Whitehorn
Guthrie, Oklahoma, Scottish Rite Temple
At each Scottish Rite function, there is a sea of black,
red, white, blue, and purple caps that tell the story of
honors bestowed upon our numbers. When I became a 32nd Degree
Master of the Royal Secret and proudly received by own black
Scottish Rite cap, I would often look at all those other
hats and think the unspoken question: "I wonder if I
will ever become a red cap, a Knight Commander Court of Honour?" The
Brothers I know who have the honor of a red, white, or other
honor cap are among the finest, most up-standing men in our
Fraternity. It would be an honor to share the same titles
with them, but one tour at the Guthrie Valley Temple changed
my outlook forever. Now I know what the greatest Masonic
honor can be.
I often spend time each Reunion giving tours of
our splendid Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma
(shown above),
to the Candidates of our new Classes. I never fail to find
time
to give those
tours because I am proud of our magnificent building, a
true wonder to behold inside and out. Showing them a few,
I tell
Candidates about the hundreds of hand-painted backdrops
our stage contains. They stand in awe at the beauty in our
main
auditorium. They tremble when they hear the power of our
historic pipe organ filling the auditorium with resonating
sound. They look with wonder at the stained-glass masterpieces
that serve as windows in several rooms throughout the Temple.
Each tour ends when I take my group of Candidates outside
to the steps of the Temple. Out of all the amazing things
the Guthrie Temple has to offer, the most
important, to me, is engraved in stone. Near the grand entrance steps, the cornerstone
of our Temple shows the men who were prominent in constructing the great building.
Among the words engraved in the stone are the names of SGIGs, 33° Illustrious
Brothers, and those bestowed with the honor of the KCCH. Clearly, they were respected,
appreciated, and honored. How awesome it would have been to have lived back then
and been one of those men! Then I noticed something special about the Guthrie
Temple’s cornerstone (shown below).
At bottom of the stone, barely visible after years of Oklahoma
weathering, is not the name of a SGIG, an illustrious 33rd
Degree Inspector General Honorary
(IGH), a KCCH, or even a 32° Master of the Royal Secret. No, there beside
his weathered, almost indecipherable name is “1°” as a small
inscription. Who was this Entered Apprentice and why is he listed on the stone?
Those answers are not easy to come by. Some Guthrie Brothers speculate he did
some painting work at the Temple. Maybe he helped move furniture. Nobody knows
exactly who he was or what he did. Yet one thing is sure: he did something to
make other Brethren sit up, take notice, and put his name on the cornerstone
of the Guthrie Temple. He had no title other than the most important——more
important than SGIG, IGH, KCCH, or even 33°. Our mysterious Brother held
the highest title. He was a Mason.
 |
Jason L. Whitehorn,
a member of the Philalethes Society, is currently
Master of Hobart Lodge #198 in Hobart, Oklahoma,
and Mount
Scott Lodge
#540
in
Lawton,
Oklahoma.
A
member of the Valley of Guthrie where he is a Knight
of St. Andrew and a member of the College of the
Consistory, Bro. Jason has brought positive stories
of Masonry to the general public through his job
as a newscaster for an Oklahoma ABC news affiliate.
Contacts: 3205 NW Ferris Ave.
Lawton, OK 73505-6129; jwhitehorn@kswo.com |
Informed of this article, Ill.
Robert G. Davis, GC, Secretary in the Valley of Guthrie,
found it
most worthy but did
note the following as of historical
interest:
As for the name on the cornerstone, actually we know
quite a bit about the fellow. His name appears on the lower
right
corner of the cornerstone and it
is in smaller
lettering than the other names. It reads "L. Overton, 1°".and relates
to the situation when the cornerstone was laid on January 20, 1921, At that time,
Bro. Overton was an Entered Apprentice Mason, a member of Guthrie Lodge #35.
His full name was L. Vernon Overton. He was a granite worker for a monument manufacturer
in Guthrie, and he tooled the names on the cornerstone. The then Grand Master
of Masons in Oklahoma, MW Frank Alvin Derr, 33°, who happened to also
be the Secretary of the Guthrie Scottish Rite Bodies at the time and served
for
36 years (1908-1934), was reviewing his work and suggested that Overton put
his signature on the stone. Thus, it is included among the names on the finished
stone. Overton joined the Guthrie Scottish Rite Bodies at the earliest opportunity,
becoming a member of the April 19-21, 1921 Reunion Class. He was 40 years
old when he joined the Rite and died on December 30, 1931, at the age of
50.
