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GWMNM Receives Important Acquisition
Photos: Bro. Arthur
W. Pierson, 32°,
Pierson Photography, Falls Church, Va.
The George Washington Museum, entirely
renovated last year due to the generous contributions
of the Supreme
Councils of the Southern and Northern Masonic Jurisdictions
of the Scottish Rite, has drawn many favorable reviews and new donations. Recently,
for instance, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, which houses the
Washington Museum, acquired the gold pocket watch used
to time the pulse of President and
Brother George Washington just before he died at Mount Vernon. The watch belonged
to Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, one of the three physicians attending Washington.
The donor, Robert Lyne, is a descendent
of John D. Vowell, who read medicine with Dr. Dick and
to whom the doctor gave his watch later in life. The
watch
has been handed down in the family until now. When Lyne visited the Memorial
several years ago, he felt it was the appropriate location for Dr. Dick’s
watch.
The
watch has both historical interest and aesthetic value.
It rests in a sterling
silver case and opens to reveal fine filigree and jeweled
works.
It is the most significant museum piece acquired by the GWMNM since its acquisition
of the Washington Family Bible.
The George Washington Museum is located
on the fourth floor of the Memorial at 101 Callahan Drive,
Alexandria, Virginia. It is open to the public free
of charge
from 9AM to 5PM every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and
New Year’s Day. For information, please call 703-683-2007. Click
here to visit
the GWMNM's official site.
The above article
is by Bro. Dustin B. Smith, Librarian, George Washington
Masonic National
Memorial, member of the Lodge of the Nine Muses #1776,
Washington, DC,
and is excerpted with permission from his essay “The George Washington
Museum: Its Innovative New Design and Important New Acquisition” as
published in The Virginia Masonic Herald (Fall 2004).
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Grand
Commander Seale Named Emeritus Member of Honor of
Northern Masonic
Jurisdiction
During the 192nd Annual Meeting, held
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 18-22, 2004, of the
Supreme Council, 33°,
Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite,
five visiting Sovereign Grand Commanders were named Emeriti
Members of Honor of the Supreme Council. Pictured above
(l. to r.) they are Illustrious Brothers: Cesar A.
Garcia,
Dominican Republic; Henk E. Konig, the Netherlands;
Pierre Marchal, Belgium; Algie S. Oldham Jr., Prince
Hall Northern
Jurisdiction; and Ronald A. Seale, Southern Jurisdiction.
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Northern
Masonic Jurisdiction Revises Degree Ritual
|
|
| In his Allocution to the
Annual Meeting of the Supreme Council, 33°,
NMJ, Sovereign Grand Commander Webber, 33°,
addressed many important issues, including the
revision of the Scottish Rite Degrees as
presented in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. |
During the Annual Meeting of the Supreme
Council, 33°,
NMJ, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 18-22, 2004,
the Active Members of the Supreme Council, 33°, NMJ,
agreed with the recommendations of the Council’s
Committee on Ritualistic Matters. The changes will go
into effect as soon as the Scottish Rite Valleys receive
the revisions. A fundamental organizational change will
base Scottish Rite membership on the 4° rather than
the 14°.
The committee recommended a new ritual
for the 4°,
substantial revisions to the ritual of the 11°, 13°,
21°, 31°, and 32°; a minor revision to the
29°; authorization to prepare a new ritual for the
26°; and a realignment of the 30°, 31°, and
32°.
The new 4° provides an introduction to the Degrees
of the Scottish Rite and an overview of some of the lessons
and characters. It will be the required initial Degree
for all Candidates, whether in a “one-day class” or
in the traditional Valley Reunion. At that point, the
Candidate will be considered a 4° Scottish Rite Mason
and will be encouraged to continue his Scottish Rite
journey through the 32°.
Another major change is the withdrawal
of the former 30°, repositioning of the former 31° to
the 30°,
and separating the 32° into two distinct segments.
The Allegory will become the 31°, and
the ceremonial section will remain as the 32°.
Extracted from “Annual
Meeting Highlights” The
Northern Light (Nov. 2004).
Please note that the NMJ
does not use the Revised Standard Pike Degrees as they
are presented in the Southern Jurisdiction.
Thus, there may be only occasional equivalency between
the NMJ Degrees noted above and the same numbered Degrees
in the Southern Jurisdiction. The Southern Jurisdiction
employs traditional Masonic themes which, being similar
to the Degrees as originally developed, would be recognized
by the founders of the Scottish Rite. The Northern
Masonic Jurisdiction also presents its lessons in dramatic
and
ritual form, and many of them are based on the rituals
of Albert Pike. However, some of their Degrees include
modern historical settings based on events within the
memory of people living today.
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Judge
Sentelle, 33°, Visits
His Home Lodge in Charlotte,
N.C.
|
| Judge David B. Sentelle,
33° (right), holds the historic gavel given
to him by the Brothers of Excelsior Lodge #261,
Charlotte, N.C., as he confers with Bro. David
C. Carriker, 32°, Master of Excelsior Lodge.
WM Carriker proudly holds the rustic gavel he
uses each Monday night. It is the hand-crafted
gavel his wife’s grandfather used when
Grand Master of Masons in Georgia. |
Judge David Bryan Sentelle, 33°, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, came
home to Excelsior Lodge #261, Charlotte, N.C., on Monday
night November 1, 2004. Eight Past Masters came to honor Judge Sentelle,
as
did the sitting Master of East Gate Lodge #692, the
Recorder of Oasis Shrine, and
many members of Excelsior Lodge.
Ill. Sentelle felt right at home in the Lodge where
he was raised a Master Mason a generation ago. His eloquent
talk to the Lodge focused on Masonry as
a worldwide
brotherhood where “good men of all colors, faiths, and national origins
are welcomed.” In a question-and-answer period following his presentation,
Judge Sentelle told of bumping into his nemesis at a Washington barber shop.
The man had challenged his appointment in Congress years ago. After staring at
Bro. Sentelle for a moment, he asked, “Don’t I know you?” Ill.
Sentelle identified himself and then thanked the man. His one-time foe asked, “Whatever
for?” Judge Sentelle smiled and answered, “If it hadn’t been
for you, I would never have been invited to speak before Grand Lodges all over
America, meeting great men I never would have known.”
Know Your Brother
Born in 1943 in Canton, N.C., Judge David B. Sentelle,
33°, lives in Fairfax,
Virginia, but has many relatives and friends in North Carolina. This famous and
powerful Federal judge received his BA degree at the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, in 1965 and his law degree there in 1968. He practiced law with
the firm of Ussell & Dumont in Asheville from 1968 to 1970. He was Assistant
U.S. Attorney in Charlotte from 1970 to 1974 and Judge of North Carolina
General Courts of Justice here from 1974 to 1977.
|
| Illustrious Brother Sentelle
was pleased to reunite with Brother Arthur D.
Skidmore, 32°, now 92, who participated in
the Master Mason Degree for the Judge. Bro. Skidmore
served as Tyler of Excelsior Lodge for a generation. |
He served as Visiting Professor at the University of
North Carolina (UNC), Charlotte, in 1977, and continued
in private practice with the firm of Tucker,
Hicks, Sentelle,
Moon & Hodge from 1977 to 1985. He resumed as Visiting Professor
at UNC from 1991 to 1992.
His Federal judicial service began when he was nominated
by President Ronald Reagan July 25, 1985, to the seat
in U.S. District Court, Western District
of North Carolina, vacated by Woodrow W. Jones.
On February 2, 1987, President Reagan nominated Brother
Sentelle to the seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit
that was
vacated by Antonin Scalia. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate September
9, 1987, and
received his commission two days later. That confirmation came after
Sentelle survived a Congressional demand for his resignation from the
Masonic Order,
which he refused.
Since 1992 he has been Presiding Judge of the Special
Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels.
He serves as President
of
the Edward
Bennett Williams Inn of the American Inns of Court.
Brother and North Carolina Senator Jesse A. Helms,
33°, Grand Cross, has
been Brother Sentelle’s advocate and friend across many years.
Judge Sentelle is the person who appointed Kenneth Starr, whose
Whitewater investigation led
to impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.
Submitted by Walter J. Klein,
32°, KCCH
Valley
of Charlotte, N.C.; wklein@carolina.rr.com
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National Sojourners, Inc., an organization
primarily consisting of Masons who have served in the
military,
is conducting a capital campaign to establish the American
Legacy Center at headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
The center will provide a venue for educational seminars
and events on the “American Experience.”
