Illinois Council of Deliberation

Transcription

1 PROCEEDINGS of the Illinois Council of Deliberation ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE NORTHERN MASONIC JURISDICTION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA STATE OF ILLINOIS at its ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING HELD AT THE Springfield HILTON VALLEY OF SPRINGFIELD SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2015 BENNY L. GRISHAM, MSA, 33 Ill Commander-in-Chief and Deputy for Illinois GREGORY R. KLEMM, MSA, 33 Secretary Created by Order of the Council 2015

2 2016 Illinois Council of Deliberation 383 E. Lake Street Bloomingdale, Illinois Photos were provided by and used with the permission of Ill William J. Shaner, 33

3 Illinois Council of Deliberation Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry NORTHERN MASONIC JURISDICTION, U.S.A. May 1, 2015 Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33 Deputy for Illinois 6512 Carlisle Bend Springfield, IL To the Officers and Members of the Illinois Council of Deliberation, A A S R Dear Brethren: In accordance with the provisions of Articles 200 to 209 inclusive of the Constitutions of the Supreme Council, you are notified that the One Hundred Forty-Sixth Convocation of the Illinois Council of Deliberation will be held in Springfield, Illinois, Saturday, June 27, 2015, at 1:30 P.M. for the transaction of business concerning the welfare of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the State of Illinois. MEMBERS Article 200 of the Constitutions of the Supreme Council defines those who are entitled to seats in the Council of Deliberation as follows: The Active, Emeriti, and Honorary Members of the Supreme Council accredited to each State; The Past First and Past Second Lieutenant Commanders of the Council of Deliberation; the Past Commanders-in-Chief of Consistories; the Past Most Wise Masters of Chapters of Rose Croix; the Past Sovereign Princes of Councils of Jerusalem; the Past Thrice Potent Masters of Lodges of Perfection; those members of Subordinate Bodes in the State who have received the Meritorious Service Award from the Council of Deliberation of such State, and the first three elected officers together with such other officers as are duly elected by a Subordinate Body and designated to be a member of the Council of 1

4 2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Deliberation for that State of which the Deputy for that State shall be ex-officio Illustrious Commander-in-Chief. PROXIES Article 201 of the Constitutions of the Supreme Council defines the use of proxies as follows: Any officer of a Subordinate Body of the rite who is entitled to a seat in the Council of Deliberation from his State, but is unable to be present at any session of such Council, may appoint as his proxy to act in his stead any member of such Subordinate Body, provided, however, that such proxy shall not represent more than one member of such Council. Presiding Officers are expected to attend in person. Any officer who is unable to attend may give a written authority to another member to act. The person so appointed must present his authority, in writing, to the Secretary of the Council, signed by the officer whom he represents. The wearing of caps and jewels of office, both past and present, is requested. Fraternally yours,, MSA, 33 Illustrious Commander-in-Chief Deputy for Illinois Attest: Secretary, MSA, 33

5 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 3 Agenda SATURDAY, JUNE 27, :00 A.M. Actives, Emeriti and Deputy Representatives Meeting 10:00 A.M. Membership Committee Meeting 11:00 A.M. Scholarship Committee Meeting 11:00 A.M. Secretaries Meeting 11:30 A.M.. Ladies Lunch 12:00 P.M. Men s Lunch 1:30 P.M. General Business Session Formal Opening Reception and Remarks of Distinguished Guests Welcome by the Commander-in-Chief, Valley of Springfield Announcement of the 2016 Council of Deliberation Address of the Illustrious Commander-in-Chief Membership Presentation Acceptance of the Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meeting Committee Reports Annual Meeting of the Illinois Scottish Rite Scholarship Fund Installation of Officers 4:00 P.M. Adjournment of the Council of Deliberation 4:00 P.M. Joint Hospitality Room Open 6:00 P.M. Reception 6:30 P.M. Banquet Introduction of MSA Designees and Ladies Membership Presentation Presentation of Distinguished Service Award Conferral of the MSA on 2015 Recipients Announcement of the 2016 Nominees Photo Session for 2015 Recipients 9:00 P.M> Joint Hospitality Room Open

6 4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Ill JOHN W. MCNAUGHTON, 33 Sovereign Grand Commander Northern Masonic Jurisdiction Ill BENNY L. GRISHAM, MSA, 33 Deputy for Illinois Ill JAMES L. TUNGATE, 33 Grand Secretary General, Supreme Council, NMJ and Active for Illinois Ill JOHN T. PHILLIPs, 33 Active for Illinois Ill Gregory L. Clark, 33 Active for Illinois

7 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 5 Ill NORMAN R. BUECKER, MSA, 33 Active Emeriti for Illinois Ill PHILLIP C. KENNEY, MSA, 33 Active Emeriti for Illinois Ill LAWRENCE D. INGLIS, 33 Honorary Sovereign Grand Commander and Active Emeriti for Illinois Ill LEE B. LOCKWOOD, 33 Active Emeriti for Illinois Ill RICHARD L. SWANEY, 33 Past Active

8 6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Illinois Council of Deliberation OFFICERS, Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, Commander-in-Chief Springfield Ill James L. Tungate, First Lieutenant Commander Danville Ill John T. Phillips, Second Lieutenant Commander Chicago Ill Gregory L. Clark, Minister of State Southern Illinois Ill Norman R. Buecker, MSA, Active Emeritus Springfield Ill Phillip C. Kenney, MSA, Active Emeritus Peoria Ill Lawrence D. Inglis, Active Emeritus Chicago Ill Lee B. Lockwood, Active Emeritus Freeport Ill Loren I. Barnes, Deputy Representative Springfield Ill Gregory L. Clark, Deputy Representative Bloomington Ill G. Nick Graff, MSA, Deputy Representative Peoria Ill Joseph A. Diliberto, Deputy Representative Southern Illinois Ill Jeffrey W. Miller, Deputy Representative Freeport Ill Robert L. Millikan, MSA, Deputy Representative Moline Ill Michael B. Myers, Deputy Representative Quincy Ill Roger F. Aukerman, MSA Orator Bloomington Ill Stephens R. Taylor, MSA, Chancellor Southern Illinois Ill Marvin L. Selock, Treasurer Chicago Ill Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, Secretary Chicago Ill Pressly Alvin Laird, MSA, 33, Prior Quincy Ill John W. Bracken, Hospitaler Freeport Ill William J. Farris, Engineer & Architect Freeport Ill Lauren L. Crawford, MSA, Master of Ceremonies Moline Ill Bruce W. Rhinehart, Seneschal Danville Ill Gerry L. Williams, MSA, Standard Bearer Springfield Ill Richard E. Hummel, MSA, 33, Captain of The Guard Peoria Ill Stanley L. Davidson, Sentinel Quincy Bro. John W. Quinn, Outer Guard Chicago

9 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 7 ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIXTH SESSION Saturday, June 27, :30 p.m. FORMAL OPENING Brethren, if I can have your attention, please, we ll get started. First, I want to welcome each of you to our 146th Convocation of this Illinois Council of Deliberation. We will start with the video of the Scottish Rite vision. I just think that s something that we need to remind ourselves of as well as each of our Brethren. Let s do that first. I know this is out of the order of business, but that s alright. [Video playing] Again, Brethren, I hope the video has been shown in your Valley a few times. You know, you see something once and you think, "Okay, I m done with it," and I understand. But we have many brothers out there that maybe have never seen the vision video. I think it s a very good video and certainly tells everyone what we are and who we are. As soon as we get a flag, which is very close, I ll ask everyone to please rise and join me on pledging allegiance to the flag. Pledge was given Together Brethren. To the glory of the grand architect of the universe, in the name and under the auspices of the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33rd and last degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the United States of America, I declare the Illinois Council of Deliberation open for business. Thank you, Brethren. At this time, please remain standing. I won t have you up and down again. I ll call on Brother Presley Laird, our Prior, to give the invocation. Ill P. Alvin Laird, MSA, 33, Prior: Supreme architect of the universe, we reverently invoke your blessing on this council of deliberation. We pray that what we do here will be acceptable in your eyes. We pray that when we come to inquire of the Lord that you will listen to us and guide and direct us in the path that you would have us go. We give thanks

10 8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, for those who have founded and built this fraternity, and we pray that those who have inherited it will continue to build on the labor previously done. We give thanks for those who are here and ask your blessings upon them. Especially this class of Meritorious Service Award recipients. Be with us as we build around the, tenants of brotherly love, relief and truth. To the honor and glory of Thy Holy Name. Amen. Ill Benny L. Grisham MSA, 33, C-n-C Ill P. Alvin Laird, MSA, 33, Prior INTRODUCTION OF EAST Thank you, Brother Laird. Please be seated, Brethren. It s now my pleasure to introduce to you, men that I m sure everybody knows, but I feel important that they be introduced to you at this meeting, the Active and Emeriti members of our Supreme Council. I will start with the Emeriti members, Brother Norm Buecker was to be here and he decided that he would attend the banquet tonight and maybe skip today because Norm has a little trouble walking on the carpet. So he will be here with us tonight. We do have Illustrious Brother Lee B. Lockwood, 33, Emeritus member of our Supreme Council and Past Deputy for the State of Illinois. Please welcome Lee! I will now introduce the three active members. Illustrious Brother Gregory Clark, 33, Active Member of our Supreme Council. Illustrious Brother John T. Phillips, 33, Active member of our Supreme Council. John is an active member and he s also the Associate Grand Chancellor of our Supreme Council; and Illustrious Brother James Tungate. 33, Active Member of our Supreme Council and Grand Secretary General. As I said, Brother Norm is not able to be with us today. Illustrious Brother Larry Inglis, 33 is not able to be with us. I think they may be traveling. Phillip Phil Kenney and Jean aren t able to be with us. I think Jean has some physical problems. And Rick Swaney opted out, and I can t believe he would do this, but to go to Canada fishing rather than come to this meeting. These guys, you just kind of understand. Rick is a Past Active Member. At any rate, they all had reasons they couldn t be here and we certainly want to remember all of them. INTRODUCTION OF DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVES I also then want to introduce our Deputy Representatives, and if they will stand and remain standing as I call their name then we ll give them applause all at one time. First, I would like to recognize Illustrious Brother Loren Barnes, 33 who was the Deputy Representative for the Valley of Springfield. Loren is moving to Wisconsin. He s, in fact, moved already, so he s not able to be with us. Loren has done a good job here in Springfield as the Deputy Representative and

11 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 9 I certainly want to thank him for his years of service. Replacing Loren, we have a new Deputy Representative in the Valley of Springfield and that s David MacDonna, III. David, would you please approach the dais? Dave, it s certainly my pleasure to appoint you as the Deputy Representative for the Valley of Springfield. I m sure you ll do a good job. If we can get this collar straightened out, I will place it on you. There you go. Looks good. Ill David MacDonna, III, 32 MSA, Deputy Representative, Valley of Springfield: Thank you very much. Ill Benny L. Grisham MSA, 33, C-n-C and Bro. David MacDonna, III, 32 Deptuty Representative for the Valley of Springfield And we have Illustrious Brother Joe Diliberto, 33, Valley of Southern Illinois; Illustrious Brother Jeffrey Miller, 33, Valley of Freeport; Illustrious Brother Robert Millikan, 33, Valley of Moline;Illustrious Brother Mick Myers, 33, Valley of Quincy; Illustrious Brother Nick Graff, 33 from the Valley of Peoria. Brethren, let s congratulate these men. I thank each of the Deputy Representatives for the service they do for myself and for Scottish Rite. They really provide leadership in the Valleys. I appreciate it and I hope the Valleys do as well. So Brethren, I thank you for that. INTRODUCTION OF THE 33 NOMINEES FOR INDIANAPOLIS And at this time, we have, and I don t know how many of them are here, but I do want to introduce them, the Brethren who will receive the 33 in Indianapolis in August. Like I said, I m not sure who s here and who s not. From the Valley of Danville, Peter Eisenmenger. Is Peter here? There he is, okay. Craig Kennedy, Valley of Springfield; Grant Koentz, Valley of Southern Illinois; Frederick Hubert, Valley of Freeport. Gerald Starks is not here. I know he called and said he couldn t be here. Mark Welch, Valley of Peoria; Don Wood, Valley of Moline; Dale Cyrier, Valley of Chicago; David Crosson, Valley of Chicago; Eddie Witas, Valley of Chicago; John Quinn, Valley of Chicago. John Milner, Valley of Chicago; Ed Steffy, Valley of Chicago; John McBride is not here, Valley of Danville; Steven Scaife, Valley of Springfield; William Brown, Valley of Southern Illinois; and Randy Zaerr, Valley of Quincy. Brethren, let s congratulate these Brothers on their election to receive the 33. Congratulations, Brethren, on this well-deserved honor and I m sure you ll enjoy your trip to Indianapolis.

12 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, INTRODUCTION OF THE DeMOLAY REPRESENTATIVE At this time we will have the introduction of Distinguished Guests. I ll call on Russell Scanlan and Santé Deserio to be conducted into the room. Please come right up here in front row, if you will. Brethren, it s my pleasure and honor to present to you Brother Russell Scanlan, Executive Officer for DeMolay in the State of Illinois, and Brother Santé Deserio, a recently raised Master Mason who will be the next State Master Councilor of the State of Illinois. So let s give them a big welcome. Brother Santé, if you will say a few words in behalf of DeMolay. If you ll come up here please. And Russ, if you ll have a seat in the front row. We appreciate you being here, thank you. Santé, welcome. Brother Santé Deserio, State Master Councilor, Illinois DeMolay: Thank you. Good afternoon to my esteemed brother. It is truly an honor and my pleasure to be here today amongst so many great men. One of my favorite quotes and quite honestly something I would like to implement into the next term of Illinois DeMolay comes from Mr. Steve Jobs. Your work is going to feel a large part of your life, and only way to truly satisfy is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven t found it yet, keep looking. Don t settle. As with all matters of the Bro. Santé Deserio, State Master Councilor, Illinois Demolay heart, you will know when you find it. Since I was a young boy and following my father and so many other great men of this fraternity, I ve always wanted to become a viable part of both DeMolay and Freemasonry. I believe in what Mr. Jobs said. I believe in DeMolay. I love what we are doing in DeMolay. We in Illinois, DeMolay do good work. I know I have found what I d love to do and that is to make good young men strive to be better brothers, sons, husbands, and fathers from the teachings of our founder, Dad Frank S. Land. We re going to continue in Illinois DeMolay to go that extra step. To go that extra mile and bring back DeMolay to the forefront. Back to the greatness we know we are. That greatness that back in 2009 made me say to my father, I want to be a state officer in Illinois DeMolay someday. This year, with the vision of our executive officer. Dad Russ Scanlan, we are, Commander in Chief, having the first ever leadership camp in the Midwest. This camp will take our great young men to the next level, both in the DeMolay fraternal world and the real world. We are planning many great team-building exercises as well as individual tasks to improve the way we think and live. Finally, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to all of you today, and I m looking forward to seeing all of you at our conclave, July 10th, 11th, and 12th at Lincoln College. Thank you.

13 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 11 Thank you for being with us, Brother Santé. And you might tell us which lodge you belong to, when you were initiated and when you were raised. I know it was only a two-week period, you don t have to tell us the date. But when were you raised and which lodge? Brother Santé Deserio, State Master Councilor, Illinois DeMolay: I was raised in Madison Lodge Number 175 in Joliet, Illinois. And I do not remember the exact date. It was recently. It was in the month of May, June. All my dates are running together recently with preparing for next year and going around the different events and representing Illinois DeMolay. But I was raised to become a Master Mason and I can t be happier to be so and associated with all of you, great men. Thank you again, Santé. Brother Santé Deserio, State Master Councilor, Illinois DeMolay: Thank you. And welcome to the fraternity. INTRODUCTION OF THE YORK RITE Illustrious Brother Sloan, you will conduct the officers of the York Rite to the east, please. Brethren, I have the honor of presenting to you Companion Everett S. Campbell, Most Illustrious Grand Master of Cryptic Masons of the State of Illinois. Will any other Grand Council Officers that are present please Ill Russell L. Schlosser, 33, REGC and Companion Everett S. Campbell, MIGM stand? So I m assuming Russell Schlosser was the other past officer that is here. Brethren, let s welcome the officers of the Cryptic Masons. And we have with us the shy, Illustrious Brother and Sir Knight Russell L. Schlosser, 33, Right Eminent Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of the State of Illinois. Will any of the Grand Commandery Officers and Past Officers please stand? Let s give them a big welcome and thank you brothers. I m sure you had to notice that many of those past commanders also have a white hat on or white cap on which indicates that they ve not only been active in

14 12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, York Rite, they certainly have been active in Scottish Rite as well, and we appreciate all your assistance over the years. Everett, if you will have a seat and Illustrious Brother Schlosser we call on you to say a few words. A few words. Notice I said a few words. RESPONSE FROM THE YORK RITE Ill Russell L. Scholsser, 33, REGC of the Grand Commandery: Certainly, it s nice that all of you are anticipating what I might say, Illustrious Commander-in-Chief and distinguished guests and to you, my brothers. Fourteen years ago, I was called upon to make remarks to this group as the Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Great Council. I reminded you at that particular time there was a special anniversary that was to take place in a couple of weeks. That anniversary was the date when the Shrine decided to drop the Scottish Rite and the York Rite as a prerequisite. Today, 15 years from then, I ask you, that didn t that work well for them did it? We are the same men. The men who will accompany themselves into this room, under a Council of Deliberation, are the same exact men who in two weeks will assemble together as the York Rite Grand sessions begin. We do not exist without one another. I thank you for your recognition of our organization and I want you to understand that when I stand here as the Grand Commander, I also stand here as one of your Brother masons. Proud in the idea that I belong to a fraternity who recognizes all men equally regardless of how they participate or how they exist within our organization. Thank you very much for your time and your effort. Thank you. Thank you Brother Russ INTRODUCTION OF THE COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION PRINCE HALL AFFILIATION Illustrious Brother Sloan, if you will conduct the Deputy for the Orient of Illinois of the United Supreme Council to the East and on the dais. Brethren, I have the honor and pleasure to present to you the Illustrious Brother Melvin Frierson, 33, active member for the United Supreme Council and Deputy for the Orient of Illinois. Brother Melvin, we certainly want to welcome you. Ill Melvin Frierson, 33, Deputy for Illinois, Prince Hall Affiliation: Thank you. Ill Russell L. Schlosser, 33, REGC

15 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 13 Let s, please, give Brother Frierson a big hand. I know you have several active members with you. If you will please introduce them. Ill Melvin Frierson, 33, Deputy for Illinois, PHA: Sure, I d be glad to. Good afternoon to the Most Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Sovereign Grand Commander, to the officers and members of this Illinois Council of Deliberation, all of our distinguished guests, and Brethren. Again, another year has passed and I m very pleased to be in your company. I would like to introduce and recognize those who are here with me. I would start with our past Deputy Sovereign Grand Inspector General Charles Stuart, the assistant to the Deputy, Sovereign Grand Inspector General Charles Burns, active member, Grand Inspector General William Norman, Grand Inspector General Milton Jackson, Sovereign Grand Inspector General Charles Carter, and the Grand Inspector General James Jones. Thank you so much. We certainly welcome you brother and thank you for joining us, Melvin. It s always a pleasure to have you here with us. And I ll call on you in a few minutes for a few words. I want to call special attention to our Illustrious Brother Charles Carter an Honorary Distinguished Service Award member of this Council Deliberation. I was pleased to have the honor to present Charles with his jewel some years ago. And Charlie, it s always good to see you here with us. I know you have a hard time getting up and around, but you re doing your best and we appreciate you being here with us. Thank you very much for being here. INTRODUCTION OF THE SOVEREIGN GRAND COMMANDER Illustrious Brother Sloan, if you will conduct the Sovereign Grand Commander to the Dais. Brethren, please rise. Brethren, I have the honor and pleasure of presenting to you the Illustrious John William McNaughton,33, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council. Please welcome him. Thank you for a big Illinois welcome because he s one of our Midwestern Brothers not far from here in Indiana, and one of the few Midwestern s that have been Sovereign Grand Commanders. So we certainly are proud of him and he does a super job Ill Melvin Friersen, 33, Deputy for the State of Illinois, PHA Ill John William McNaughton, 33,Soverign Grand Commander and Ill Benny L. Griasham, MSA, 33. Deputy for the State of Illinois

16 14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, for our Supreme Council. Thank you for being with us, Commander, and I will call on you in a few moments. If you don t mind, have a seat. Thank you, Brethren. Please be seated. Only to rise again, INTRODUCTION OF THE MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND MASTER OF F. & A.M. OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, PHA Illustrious Brother Sloan, if you will conduct the Most Worshipful Grand Master to the east, please. Please rise, Brethren. We ll just keep you up for a few minutes. Brethren, I have the honor of presenting the Illustrious Most Worshipful Grand Master of Prince Hall Masons in Illinois, Brother Millard Driskell. Please join me in giving him the Grand Honors, taking your cue from the east. Together Brethren. Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33, Commander-in-Chief: Brother Driskell, it s our pleasure and honor to have you here. Do you have other officers here with you? Most Worshipful Brother Millard Driskell, Grand Master of Illinois, PHA: No. They re travelling all over the state. Okay. I was going to have them introduced as well. It s always a pleasure to have you with us. If you will be seated over here please, and I ll call on you later for a few words. Please be seated Brethren. INTRODUCTION OF THE OFFICERS OF THE MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE OF ILLINOIS, A.F. & A.M. Ill Millard Driskell, Most Worshipful Garnd Master of thte State of Illionis, PHA and Ill Benny L. Griasham, MSA, 33. Deputy for the State of Illinois At this time, I will ask Brother Sloan to conduct the officers of the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. and A.M. to the east. If you will, Brethren, turn around and face the audience. I have seen your faces many times. Brethren, it is an honor and pleasure to present to you the elected officers of the Grand Lodge of Illinois starting with Frank Cline, our Grand Secretary; Brother Stephen Oakley, our Right Worshipful Junior Grand Warden; Brother

17 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 15 Gregory Clark, our Right Worshipful Senior Grand Warden; and Brother Anthony Cracco, Deputy Grand Master, who I would say is itching to move on up, but I don t think he is. He s getting ready though to move on up to Grand Master. Please give them a warm welcome. Commander in Chief: Thank you brothers for being with us today. INTRODUCTION OF THE MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND MASTER OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, A.F. & A.M. Illustrious Brother Sloan, if you will conduct the Most Worshipful Grand Master to the east. Brethren, I have the honor to present to you, Illustrious Brother Barry D. Weer, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Illinois. Please join me in giving him the Grand Honors taking your cue from the east. Together Brethren. Most Worshipful Grand Master, I will present you with the gavel but with reservation. I m going take it right back from you and I will call on you in a few minutes. Thank you Grand Master for being with us. Brethren, I think we re done with introductions. I know it takes some time, but I think there are people who need to be introduced even though you know them and they ve been introduced to you many times. In our Masonic setting, there s always the requirement in my mind that they are introduced. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES At this time, we need to have approval of the 2014 minutes. Oh, wait a minute. The minutes weren t printed but they were placed on the website. So if you Brethren haven t had the opportunity to read them, we certainly will have the secretary read them to you. No? Ill Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33, Secretary, ICOD: I move for the approval of the minutes Ill Barry D. Weer, 33,, Most Worshipful Garnd Master of thte State of Illionis, and Ill Benny L. Griasham, MSA, 33. Deputy for the State of Illinois Okay. There has been a motion by the secretary that they be approved as written. Is there a second? (Several seconds came from the floor) Is there any discussion other than? I don t really think everyone read them. I ll call for the vote then. All in favor will vote by the usual sign of a Mason when voting. Down hands, contrary same sign. The motion passed, they won t have to be read. Greg

18 16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, has been in Mississippi for a week, well, in the south, he went to Mississippi for a couple of days, and then went to Florida for DeMolay, and then came back. So he s starting to get the accent already. Y all and all y aou all and that stuff. RESPONSE OF THE DEPUTY FOR ILLINOIS PRINCE HALL AFFILIATION If you will care to share a few words with us, we d certainly appreciate hearing from you. Ill Melvin Friersen, 33, Deputy for Illinois, Prince Hall Affiliation: Melvin Frierson: Thank you. Hello again, about a month ago, we held our United Supreme Council session in the City of Chicago. And of course, your Sovereign Grand Commander was there and so was your Deputy. And our Illinois Council of Deliberation gave out some gifts and some souvenirs. And I wasn t sure if you got one or not. So I thought that I would bring you some of the gifts and if you got one, then you get two. First of all, this is actually a toiletry bag, you know, that when you travel, you can put all your toiletries and such in. In addition, it has a pin and key chains, actually it s a flashlight. And the other thing is we wanted you to have one of our souvenir books because you sent us a greeting in that book that was really fantastic and we truly appreciate it. So we want you to have a copy of that along with this and all of this. Okay, very good. Thank you very much. Ill Melvin Friersen, 33, Deputy for Illinois, Prince Hall Affiliation: Thank you. I appreciate it. Ill Melvin Friersen, 33, Deputy for Illinois, Prince Hall Affiliation: Thank you. Other than I m glad to be here as usual and I always learn something while I m here, and so I expect too this year. Other than that I m going to do something that s unusual. I m going to sit down. Thank you very much. Ill Melvin Friersen, 33, Deputy for the State of Illinois, PHA Thank you again for being with us and for the gifts and for the good words. I ve had the pleasure and honor of visiting their Council of Deliberation for

19 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 17 probably the past 10 years at least, if not quite longer than that, and always have a good time there and they re always very welcoming to me and I do appreciate that. WELCOME BY THE HOST VALLEY SPRINGFIELD At this time, I ll call on Brother Gerry Williams, Commander-in-Chief of the Valley of Springfield, to provide us a welcome to this council of deliberation. The Valley of Springfield is the host Valley for this year. And I know Gerry and his crew has been working hard to prepare the hospitality room for you Brethren later today. So Gerry, welcome to you. Brethren, Gerry Williams, Commanderin-Chief for the Valley of Springfield. Ill Gerry L. Williams, MSA, 33, Commander-in-Chief, Valley of Springfield: Well, Ben just divulged the whole secret to this afternoon that s the hospitality room. Welcome. Every day is a good day and great day to be a Mason. Very nice to see everyone here from all around the state. We do truly welcome you to Springfield. Ben told me I had 25 minutes so I got this prepared. I gave Greg all the information for the PowerPoint. He lost it. Ben lost my speech. So I guess the shortest this can be, the faster we get to the hospitality room this afternoon. So we welcome you to Springfield. We hope everybody has a good time here at the Hilton Hotel or if you re over next door, wherever you may be. Please everyone have a good day, have a good evening. We ll see you later. PLACE OF MEETING IN 2016 And next year, and this is a new announcement, the Valley of Freeport has not heard, they will be the Host Valley even though we will be here in Springfield. So Valley of Freeport, I ask you to get ready. You re going to have a tough act to follow with the Valley of Springfield. RESPONSE OF THE GRAND MASTER OF ILLINOIS F. & A.M. PRINCE HALL AFFILIATION Ill Gerry L. Williams, MSA, 33, C-n-C for the Valley of Springfield Illustrious and Most Worshipful Brother Driskell. At this time I ll call on you for a few words.

20 18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Most Worshipful Brother Millard Driskell, Grand Master of Illinois, PHA: Okay. And there will be a few words. Good afternoon. It is indeed a pleasure and an honor to be here again among you Brethren at your council. As the Deputy said, we just had our Supreme Council meeting in Chicago and I was the host Commander in Chief Grand Master. So for Freeport, when the Deputy tells you to get ready, trust him. It s more than a notion, brothers. I had one job, I am also a member of Western Consistory No. 28 in Chicago. And I do degree work, that s my call, I do degree work. They took me out of the degree team because I was the Grand Master. And I said, Well, I have to have something to do. So they told me, Go talk to the Sovereign. Keep him busy and keep all of his entourage there. So that was my duty for seven days. I picked him up from the airport and I put him back on the airplane. I did not get to see any of my friends. Excuse me, I did not get to spend any time with any of my friends. Okay? I was with the Sovereign for that time. We did have a very enjoyable time in our United Supreme Council. But thank you for the opportunity, I will do as I am told. I will be brief, be poignant, be seated, and hopefully I ll be invited back next year. Thank you very much. I m glad Illustrious Brother Driskell shared that, he was so busy, that he couldn t have time with us. I thought he was doing some of this. ADDRESS OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF Well, Brethren, I have my report which was pre-printed and I don t think you want me to go through and read four pages or more than that I guess a bit. But I do want to make a few comments. So I ll select a few pieces out of that report and share it with you. First off, I want to remind each of you that this meeting is not my meeting. It s not our meeting up here on the dais. It s your meeting. And if there are any suggestions of what we should be doing different to make it interesting for you, you have to tell us. There is no way otherwise that we re going to know where we re headed or what we should be doing or whether you re unhappy or you re happy. So Most Worshipful Millard Driskell Grand Master of Illinois, PHA Ill Benny L. Griasham, MSA, 33. Deputy for the State of Illinois please, don t hesitate. Or if you have some comment to make during the meeting, don t hesitate to go ahead and make it. Certainly, I offer a special welcome to our visiting dignitaries. It s always a pleasure and honor to have you visit with us. And I know when I visited any of the other groups, the Prince Hall groups, or our appendant bodies, I ve always

21 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 19 been received very graciously and I do appreciate it. Sherrie and I both do, so thank you for that. Again, we ve mourned the loss of several Brethren who ve passed from this transitory existence to the Grand Lodge above. And in the past 11 months, 27 of our Illustrious Brethren, 10 Meritorious Service Award recipients, and 673 other members have left us. This past March, our Illustrious Brother Robert LaSurs an Emeritus member of our Supreme Council, who was an active member for over 25 years was called to by our Supreme Architect. Bob s activity, his sincerity, and his humor will no doubt be missed by many of us. If you ever had any time to spend with Bob at all, he s had a joke for about everything, I think, there was always a funny joke to share. We will certainly miss Bob, and at this time I ll ask everybody to please rise and let s have a moment of silent prayer for Bob. Thank you, Brethren. Please be seated. I want to offer my sincerest thanks to the Valley secretaries who so diligently performed their duties and assist the Valley officers and the leadership in directing those Valleys. These Brethren spent untold hours providing support for their Valley and offer their knowledge and assistance to the Valley leaders. To each of you officers of the Valleys here in Illinois, I thank you for your expertise and the time you shared to help our Scottish Rite here in the state. Much of your time goes unheralded but I can assure you it s appreciated by all of the Scottish Rite leadership, and I m sure it s appreciated by your particular membership. This past year, we tried a different approach on our leadership seminar, and my idea was to not have all the officers there but the membership committees, the secretaries and the Deputy Representatives to try to get a consensus on where we should be going as far as leadership in the Valleys. Unfortunately, with my surgery I wasn t able to be there, but Brother Greg Clark, Jim Tungate and John Phillips certainly took over. And I understand you had a very good time and much information was shared at that seminar. I thank each of you three for taking over again for what I started and was unable to be there. So thank you very much. In September, on the 25th and 26th as a matter of fact, our Supreme Council will have a leadership seminar in Lexington. We certainly want every Valley in Illinois to be represented. Some Valleys, I know one was sending four members out there. So I urge you to send somebody out there. It would be a very informative meeting and information will be shared that you can use not only for membership programs, but leadership in the individual Valleys. So please send someone if it s at all possible and someone that s going to be responsible and share the information back with the Valley when he comes home. Too many times, we had people go out to the seminars and come home and never share any of the information that they ve picked up or any other brochures or anything. It doesn t do the Valley a darn bit of good if they don t come back and share that information with the leadership in that Valley. Put that date down, September 25th and 26th. Supreme Council will be subsidizing the trip for each Valley for up to $400, so it shouldn t be a burden on the Valley. We, the Scottish Rite Masons of today, receive the accolades for many of our scholarships that we are able to present. This year, we re presenting $500,000 worth of scholarships from the Illinois Scottish Rite Fund. The Grand Lodge of Illinois is How many are we giving, Barry? 54? 54 scholarships at $2,000 each.

22 20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, We will receive 30 of the Abbott scholarships. You know, it s just a tremendous amount of scholarships that we re able to give. We re giving that not because you and I are particularly contributing the money, but because the money that s been contributed by our predecessors. So we re going to do an appeal this year for our fund, and if you can at all, I would suggest that you contribute to support the scholarship program. It really is a worthwhile program when you look at what we re able to do. Here in Illinois, we ve been blessed by the Grand Lodge s IMOS program. The Illinois Masonic Outreach Services Program. So we ve not really had to use our Almoner s Fund much to date. But in the future you never know. We have many brothers who really need assistance and the Outreach Services Program is certainly able to help them right now. But we ve established the Almoner s Fund and the collection at the banquet tonight will be for the Almoner s Fund. So again, I urge you. I know like we have our hand out all the time, but we have programs that we support and we as Masons need to support them, so I urge you to contribute to that as much as you can, please. I m not sure if everybody is aware of the tornado up at Geneva early of the spring. The wife of the Master of the lodge was one of the casualties. So as representatives of the Outreach Services Program, the Grand Master and I went up to visit with the brother. The house was totally leveled. The only things that were there were rocks from the old foundation. We visited with him and his daughter and through the Outreach Services Program, we presented them a check for $5,000. Now, he had house insurance, we all know that most of us are able to have insurance and most things are paid for. But at the time that when something happens, those individuals need things right now. So we were very proud to be able to present him a check and help him along at while he s waiting for insurance payments. So again, you and I through the Grand Lodge of the Illinois Masonic Outreach Services program were able to assist a needy worthy Brother. I believe that s pretty well all I m going to share out of the comments. Please read my pre-printed report if you will. At this time, I m going to call on Brother Pressley Laird for our report on necrology. NECROLOGY Ill P. Alvin Laird, MSA, 33, Prior: Illustrious Brother Commander-in-Chief, Illustrious Sovereign Grand Commander, Most Worshipful Grand Master, Brethren, all, I offer my thanks and gratitude for the honor of being allowed to serve the Illinois Council of Deliberation during these last few years. Brethren, we ve gathered here and set aside this brief time to praise God and to witness to our faith as we celebrate the lives of our departed Brethren. We come together in grief, acknowledging our human laws. May God grant us grace that in pain Ill P. Alvin Laird,, MSA, 33, Prior we may find comfort in sorrow and hope in death and resurrection. Will those of us who are able, please rise. Eternal God, we praise You for the great company of all those who have finished their course in faith and now rest from their labor. We praise You for those

23 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 21 dear to us whom we will name and whom You have graciously received into Your presence. To all these, grant Your peace. Let perpetual light shine upon them and help us so to believe where we have not seen that Your presence may lead us through our years and bring us at last with them into the joy of Your home, not made with hands but eternal in the heavens through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Audience: So mote it be. Please be seated. Please listen to the words of the prophet, Habakkuk. See if any of these sounds familiar. How long, oh, Lord must I call for help but you do not listen. Or cry out to you, Violence! but you do not save. Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. There is strife and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails. The wicked him in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. This is the Lord s answer, Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are feared and dreaded people. They are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour. They all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on--guilty people, whose own strength is their god. Doesn t that sound very much like the world we live in today? It s very much in the news today that is very discouraging. There s a long list of terrible things happening in the world today. Headlines speak in alarming tones about AIDS, anthrax, Ebola and threats of other pandemics, corporate greed, diminishing oil supplies, global terrorism, global warming, political scandals, wars and rumors of wars. With the world situation as it is today, it makes a person want to throw up his hands and give up. With all the bad news in the world, there is much that is encouraging. I would like to tell you a story that may help encourage you. We have very little information about the Soviet prison camps primarily because few prisoners lived to tell about it. These camps were designed to kill men. Under Stalin, Jews and Christians whose loyalty was to God suffered for their belief and went to prison because those in power had to maintain their delusions of omnipotence. We know that Dr. Boris Nicholayevich Kornfeld was imprisoned in a concentration camp for political subversives. Dr. Kornfeld was Jewish. He came in contact with the Christian who often recited the Lord s Prayer. This man spoke of a Jewish Messiah who would come to keep the promises of the Lord and made to Israel. Gradually, the man s faith had an influence on Dr. Kornfeld. One day, a guard who Dr. Kornfeld hated was brought in, he had been knifed and an artery was cut. Dr. Kornfeld was suturing the artery when he thought of hiding the thread in such a way that the cut would re-open shortly after the surgery, allowing the guard to die without anyone knowing. He

24 22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, remembered the man who often recited the Lord s Prayer and he repeated the words, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us. He sutured the cut artery properly and did not kill the guard. He began to refuse to sign forms that said that an unhealthy prisoner was healthy enough to be sent to the punishment block where they nearly all died. When Dr. Kornfeld reported an orderly for stealing bread, the commandant put the orderly in the punishment block for only three days thereby ensuring Kornfeld s death. One day he examined a young man who had been operated on for cancer of the intestines. It was unlikely that that young man would live. All afternoon and late into the night, Dr. Kornfeld talked to the patient about his conversion and experience with Jesus. Later that night, someone killed him with eight blows on the head with a plaster s mallet. With a tight lid on information coming out of the Soviet prison camps, how do we know this? What is so encouraging about this story? The young man who had the cancer surgery did live and survived the prison camp and was released. His name is Alexander Solzhenitsyn. And his book, The Gulag Archipelago, brought about the closing of those prison camps. The faith and influence of that unknown man who met Dr. Kornfeld in the prison camp made possible the closing of dozens of Russian prison camps. In this world of terrible news events that make us discouraged, the lives of our departed Brethren give us reason for optimistic hope. With all the terrible things that are happening, the encouraging thing is this, just as that one unknown prisoner had influences spread far beyond his acquaintances, each of the deceased Brethren we remember today have brought blessings that are spreading outward, bringing blessings that are beyond calculation. Please hear the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name s sake. Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. Our departed brother have heard the words, well done our good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. Brethren please rise as you are able and reverently listen as the names of our departed Brethren are read. I m sorry to report this list is long. Valley Name Date of Death Member Name Valley of Chicago June 19, 2014 Herbert L. Coons, 33 September 20, 2014 Royle L. Epperson II, 33 July 4, 2014 Homer A. Guy, MSA June 10, 2014 Allen R. Kohn, MSA, 33 August 13, 2014 Charles R. Neumann, 33 May 4, 2014 Rev. Thomas W. O Connor, 33 August 27, 2014 James R. Stockner, 33

25 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 23 Quincy April 13, 2015 George P. Burmeyer, MSA, 33 February 12, 2015 Roy M. Gates, 33 Freeport October 6, 2014 Robert E. Martin, Jr., 33 Peoria March 13, 2015 Ira L. Gallaway, 33 April 28, 2015 Burton L. Hasselberg, MSA, 33 February 26, 2015 Elmer F. McIntosh, MSA May 30, 2014 Tom Velon, MSA May 4, 2014 Robert F. Voss, 33 November 12, 2014 Jerry W. Winberry, MSA, 33 Danville January 17, 2015 Francis W. Bariether, MSA April 19, 2015 Robert Lee Blacketer, 33 February 21, 2015 Harold R. Greer, 33 October 21, 2014 Harry F. Muller, Jr, MSA Southern Illinois October 26, 2014 Richard B. Barnett, MSA, 33 August 16, 2014 Ralph A. Bauer, 33 November 11, 2014 James Milton Doan, MSA May 8, 2014 Ferdinand C. Goewert, 33 November 7, 2014 Russell L. Hauser, Jr., MSA February 7, 2015 Robert J. Kirkpatrick, 33 April 2, 2015 Robert W. Lasurs, 33, Active March 21, 2015 Hallie F. Lewis, MSA, 33 January 30, 2015 William H. Osborne, MSA Bloomington September 12, 2014 John C. Martin, 33 January 11, 2015 Danny H. Raber, MSA April 20, 2015 Kenneth W. Smith, MSA, 33 Moline March 2, 2015 Roland Everett Mose, MSA, 33 September 27, 2014 Donald Eugene Peterson, MSA March 7, 2015 Keith Glenn Roesner, 33 As a point of personal privilege, I feel that I will be remiss if I fail to include the Most Worshipful Past Grand Master Robert E. Ford, who died May 31st and will be honored in next years service for deceased Brethren. Let us hold for a few seconds in silence as we remember and honor these brothers of ours.

26 24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Gracious Heavenly Father, into Thy hands we commend Thy servants. Receive each and every one of them into the arms of Thy mercy into the blessed rest in everlasting peace and into the glorious company of the saints of light. Amen. Audience: So mote it be. Brethren please be seated. Please allow me to express my gratitude for being allowed to perform this duty this one last time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Ill P. Alvin Laird, MSA, 33, Prior: Thank you. Illustrious Brother Laird has been our prior for how many years Pres? Do you know? Ill P. Alvin Laird, MSA, 33, Prior: I don t know. Several years, as long as I can recall here and we certainly thank him for all the service to the Illinois Council Deliberation. APPROVAL OF THE PREPRINTED COMMITTEE REPORTS Brethren we have several preprinted committee reports and with your permission I will call on for a vote of acceptance on several of them as they are grouped. If that s alright. Does Anyone have a disagreement with that? Good. Appeals and grievances, Robert Powers, Deceased members. We just had the deceased members by Brother Laird, Distinguished Service Award, which will be presented this evening. General Council, Scott Ripley, Introduction of Distinguished Guest, Jurisprudence Rules and Regulations and Membership. I will go ahead and read past membership but Brother Morey is going to make a membership report for us at this council meeting. Meritorious Service Award will be this evening. Scholarship will be later on by Roger Auckerman, Report of the DeMolay Foundation, Representative to the Illinois Youth Fund, Credentials, Audit Committee, Budget and Finance, Treasurer s Report, and Secretary s Report. So those were all preprinted Brother Greg. So if there is a motion (motion made from floor to approve as written) is there any discussion, Brethren it has been regularly moved and seconded that the preprinted reports be received and recorded as written. All in favor will vote by the usual sign of a

27 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 25 mason when voting, down hands contrary same sign. So passed. I do have one item that I would like to bring before this council. A few years ago, I think two years ago, I decided that we would have a Deputy s Distinguished Service Award. It s an award to provide recognition of any member that has provided special duties for this Illinois Council Deliberation. When I started to review the possible recipients this year, I decided that it probably should be a named award. So I m going to bring before this group, I would like to name that award the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award. I think he is the most appropriate person of this Council of Deliberation to be so recognized by naming the award. At least for us that has been around for some thirty or forty years, Norman has been around that long and active in this Council Deliberation all that time. Is there a motion for that and a second for naming the award. (Motion and second form the floor) Any discussion? If not I ll call for a vote. All in favor vote by the usual sign of a Mason, down hands contrary same sign. The Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award has been approved. Thank you brothers. I do appreciate that. Editor s Note, these reports are printed in full starting on page 44 MEMBERSHIP REPORT At this time I ll call on Brother Ken Morey and we ll have the membership report. Ill Kenneth L. Morey, 33, Chairman of the Membership Committee: Sovereign Grand Commander, Illustrious Deputy I d like again to welcome you to Springfield. If you re not from central Illinois you might have had the same experience but this is our first good day in seven so it certainly is appropriate that we spend the entire day inside. I guess I ll wait for my first slide to come up here. How s it going so far? This might be the appropriate time to share a story I was going to share later in my talk but wife calls your husband at work and says that the window s frozen and Ill Kenneth L. Morey, 33 Membership Chairman husband says, Oh just throw hot water on it. She calls him back and she says, Well now the computer is really screwed up. Did we lose it? Alright. I guess I m just letting you know when to advance the slide, am I? Alright. Well I have some numbers for you this afternoon but I m not going to spend a lot of time on them. As we all probably are aware where our numbers are. The highlighted number in the upper right hand corner is a projection of where your values membership will be in 2019, assuming that we continue to proceed with

28 26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, membership as we have in the past couple of years. So the first slide there shows Bloomington you ll be down to 625 members. The next slide, it went too far, it should be Chicago at 3,200, Danville at 1,750, Freeport at 600, Moline at 450, Peoria 1,125, Quincy 800, Southern Illinois 2,500 and the Valley of Springfield 1,250. So Brethren you can see we have our work cut out for us. The next slide Greg please. These numbers are pretty tiny so I m only going to reference three of them that I think are important to us, highlighted in yellow and then the numbers in green. We are only as an Illinois Council Deliberation, we are only affecting 27% of the Grand Lodge membership in Illinois. So there is a vast list out there of potential members that can be addressed by this body and by the membership chairman. The average lost for last year for the Illinois Council Deliberation is 3.8% which is actually better than the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction number of 5.1%. Next slide. So let s talk about some positive things. Next slide. We all know that working membership is not an easy task. It takes a lot more work today than it ever did in the past and we have to make sure that we have stepped up to the plate and we re willing to take this challenge. Next slide Greg. No one member can effectively handle the membership program. It s a team effort. And in our membership breakout session this morning, there was some indication of Valleys whose officers don t feel that this is their responsibility. But Brethren I m here to tell you, you re wrong if that is your concept. Membership is the entire Valley s responsibility but most assured, if you re an elected officer of your Valley, it is your task and you re responsible for this. A few years ago I had someone in my breakout session that made a very appropriate saying I thought, he had just come on as a line officer and was going to take membership extremely seriously because by the time he got to be the presiding officer of his line, he didn t want to be sitting around that room by himself. So you fellow officers, if you re not stepping up to the plate and realizing that this is yours in fact responsibility, you re going to find yourself sitting around the room with only yourself to talk to. Next. It takes planning, and then follow up and the more follow up. It s not an easy task. Did I mention it takes follow up? This is an ongoing task that you have to have a monthly program in place. You can t be addressing this one day a month closing your briefcase, taking it home and leaving it sit in the corner until you come back to next month s meeting. You re going to have to be doing this on a daily, for sure on a monthly basis. Next slide. I thought maybe we re all working the ambassador s program throughout the state but we realized this morning in the breakout session that not everyone is. It s my opinion that if you re working the ambassador program correctly, it is a very legitimate and bona fide program. So if you re not working the ambassador program I suggest that you should think about starting it. But for those of you that are working in the ambassador program, do they know what to do? Do your ambassadors realize what is expected of them? More importantly, as Jim Collins stated in his book Good to Great, do you have the right ambassadors in the job? We recently reviewed our ambassador list in Springfield and found 2 of them on the 2-year suspension list for being delinquent in dues. You know, obviously

29 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 27 just because they raise their hand and say I might be interested in that job. We re going to have to do an effective job of investigating whether they re truly interested in doing the job and then making sure that we re training them for what is required of them in this job. If you have no clue what the ambassador s responsibilities are, we put together this ambassador s playbook last year that does a pretty nice job of being a reference guide or a quick review for what is involved with the ambassador, what the ambassador should be doing, and actually goes on to include the membership chairman and the other people that are involved in the membership program and has sample forms in there for their use. So if you have not seen this book before, let me know and I would be more than happy to put one in your hands. We all have social activities but are we accomplishing what the intention is with those activities? We have to make sure that we re addressing our activities to fit the right people. What are we doing about closing the back door? In Springfield we just suspended 45 members for being 2 years in arrears in their dues. Our treasurer did some interesting statistical research and found that of the 45, 11 had been suspended before. So we got them back and that was good but we weren t doing what it took to keep them. We lost them a second time. So obviously we re not effectively addressing all of our Brethren s needs to make sure that we keep them. Are we marketing effectively to the right age group? Masons have a tendency to do it that way because they always have. Do we need a new plan? According to Robert Davis, the author of The New American Mason, millennials who are aged are team players who thrive on doing meaningful things with meaningful people. So are we addressing these millennials? Are we working Facebook and Twitter or are you still trying to get your arms around ? Springfield s membership chairman John Lavaley likes to say membership is simply having a conversation about something of interest. And I ll admit that I m probably as guilty as the next guy of not going that extra mile to have that conversation, but all it takes is starting up a conversation. We talked in the breakout session this morning about some blue lodges are very hesitant to allow the Scottish Right to make a presentation in there because they re protective and they re afraid that you re going to steal them from the blue lodge and they re not going to come back. They re going to become active in the Scottish Right only. Well, if that is the attitude your Master is taking, that doesn t preclude you from seeing him before the meeting starts or after the meeting s over in the social hour and simply walk up and have a conversation about something that s interesting to them. How about just saying, Hey we ve got something going on in our Valley next month, or, We just had something last month that I think he might be interested in if we do something like that again. Is it a good thing! Would you be interested at coming as my guest? Once we have their attention, then it s time to start on the core values. In my opinion, until you have their attention, you re probably wasting your time talking about the core values because unless they feel there s a reason to start coming to your meetings, I m not sure how much just sharing the core values is going to mean to them. One of the most successful prospecting tools in business is referrals. If you are not already doing this, I strongly suggest that you start. When you have a new

30 28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, member, have that conversation with them about who do you know that might like doing what we do? And then, invite that person to come. You ve got people in your Valley I know, because I hear from mine all the time, well you know what? I just don t like calling people and I don t like asking people for things. Well, okay if you don t like making that phone call, give us that name and we ll give it to somebody that does like making the phone call and invite that person in. It can be something as simple as John, hi my name is Ken Morey and I m with the Scottish Rite. Your name came up in the conversation we were having the other night with Jim Miller and he said that you were an avid World War II history buff. Well John, we re having an Iwo Jima marine come and speak to our meeting next Tuesday night. Would you like to come and be my guest? How easy is that? It can be that easy. Take out your calendars and mark your date. We are having an all Scottish Right day in the state of Illinois, November the 12th of next year The Deputy s hope is that we can have the 32nd degree performed in 3 or 4 locations around the state all at the same time, unifying the Illinois Council Deliberation with that 32nd degree. So write that down on your program or on your calendar book. Take it back to your Valley and start making preparations to plan November 12, In summary, are we emphasizing the core values correctly? Are our activities fun? Are they enjoyable? Are we getting the members to come? Let s make sure that we re planning our work and working our plan. I hope that these few slides have caused you to rethink where you are versus where you want to be with membership in your Valley. If you have suggestions that work please come and see me after the meeting. I d be happy to have that conversation with you. Are there any immediate questions for me? Thank you very much for your time. Thank you Ken. GUEST SPEAKER ABRAHAM LINCOLN Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of Amerian We have a guest outside that has been patiently waiting and I promised him I wouldn t make him wait too long but I have so we ll have him come in if we can find him. I guess we won t have him right now. He s not as impatient as I thought. Well while we re waiting, I will introduce to this group, and you will see them again tonight, the MSA recipients of I started on this list earlier so, the first 2 names you heard before. Brian Gaddy, he wasn t here then. He s not here now evidently. Alvin House, just stay on your feet if you will Al; Bill Carlton, from the Valley of Chicago, Burton Schorr Jr., Valley of Chicago; Valley of Danville Rick Casteel and Rolland

31 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 29 Meier; Valley of Freeport, Dennis Bussian and Thomas Gipe; Valley of Moline Eric Noyd and David Ziegler; Valley of Quincy Kenneth Brickman and James Parr; Valley of Southern Illinois David Casson, Jr and John Lowe; and Valley of Springfield, David MacDonna III and Matthew Stoltz. Let s give these Brethren a big hand of congratulations. Brethren, congratulations to each of you and I m sure you ll enjoy yourselves this evening and we look forward to making that presentation to you. Okay, our guest is here. Will somebody bring him up east? Abraham Lincoln. Brethren, here in the city of Springfield, somebody dragged him out of the tomb, I think. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States: You don t make it easy. I tell you. Mr. President. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States: Yes sir. Welcome to you sir, and if you would like to say a few words to the group. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States: Well just a few. Okay. Very good. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States: Bring out your snoring tablets. Who said that? What s that? What a pleasure this is. So far if you haven t had your stretch yet, and you d like to, please feel free to stand up, stretch and scratch. Do anything you need to relax yourself. I ll only be with you a few minutes. Some people had request, most of them were, be brief. I like that. That s good. Now, speaking of being brief and speaking of trying to get something out of the President, which so many people do when you are president, there was a dear lady and you may have heard this, who was always seeking a new position because she felt she earned it. Mr. President she s coming here every week and annoying me at the White House. I helped you get that job and you said you d get me a new position and I m here to get it. Yes Ma am, but there are many others. Never mind" she said I worked hard for you and I want you to do this for me. Yes Mam. We re doing what we can. Week after week; she finally said, Alright, get in your holiday time. I m back Mr. President and I want that new position. Madame he said, Today you re going to get it. Yes sir. What s it

32 30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, going to be? He said, Well what time of the year is it? She said, Well its Christmas time. Yes, my dear, he says. What do they do at Christmas time? Will they celebrate. And what is it if they have a little spring of green on top of the ceiling there? What is that? Oh, she said, You mean mistletoe? I said, Yes. What do you do under the mistletoe Ma am? Oh, we kiss whoever s there. We kiss. I said, Good, Madame. I have a new position for you. You ll see as I leave the room, at the end of my coattails is a sprig of mistletoe. So if you assume the new position, you ll have your due. Funny she never returned after that particular time. So keep a brief but be ready for them. That s funny. Anyway, the presidency is an amazing experience. I have talked by young reenactors and the older re-enactors who do the presidency. And some of the older re-enactors, like myself, are much older than Lincoln was when he was shot out in this country, so to speak. So I think the most fun I ever had portraying Lincoln, I m switching back now to the character of me, was for a funeral directors association, and I really enjoyed that because I put a lot of bronze and make up on and little bits of moss on my face. And I said, I climbed out of the box for you gentleman and I m here to congratulate you on the good job you did to me. However, the makeup was dreadful. Well they laughed and never invited me back. It s one way to get even with them, absolutely. Well I ll do two things gentleman and then let you go. Some people so they did want to hear the Gettysburg address, you hear it all your life. To me, it means a great deal. After I finish it, I will have a story short to bring you back up, okay? Now Lincoln, and I will go to his character for just a moment, on the way to Gettysburg was on the train and my voice will have to change because people thought Lincoln had a deep voice. Because he had a tall body and a tall top hat. But when he started to speak, it was kind of a high squeaky voice and people said, What s the matter with him? He talks that way Oh, well," Lincoln said, I m not quite finished with this particular speech. On the train to Gettysburg, he rewrote it and he d scratched out had five or six different renditions. Finally, he said, This will have to do. He gets to Gettysburg. There s this man who spoke for 2-1/2 hours. Never mind, gentleman, I won t. And it was a very eloquent speech. Very highfault. Good words. Good thoughts. People thought it s amazing, 2-1/2 hours. So they all finished politely. Now we will introduce Mr. President. He said, my God, how am I going to make anything coherent after all that he said? Well, I ll do the best I can. So in Lincoln style, I will take out the copy I agreed upon. Always the mail, the love letters and his speeches went into the hat. So he took it out, this paper. He actually read it and he looked at that crowd and he looked at that Gettysburg battlefield and he felt such compassion for what had happened and the families who lost their loved ones and all the sons and brothers who were under that soil. So we put that into these words and he said: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, dedicated to the proposition that all men, all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. While we are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live or it s altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

33 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 31 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but they can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be here dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here, have, thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause which they who fought here, gave their last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth. Thank you. I always weep with that, funny thing at the end of the speech that Abe really gave nobody applauded and he thought he was a failure. Darn it I failed again I wasn t eloquent and on and on, and a reporter in a paper next to Abe said, nobody applauded because it would have been applauding the Lord s Prayer. That to me one of the finest compliments anyone could ever receive on what they said. Okay. To sort of bring us back up for just to the moment, lighten it up. Some of you heard this before but it s kind of fun about that medieval king who decided to celebrate. I don t know if he was Scottish Rite or York Rite or whether he was right at all. Anyway, he got excited that life should be celebrated. He waited for a nice day. He looked out. The day was full of sunshine and glory. He said, I m going to have everybody in the castle and the village here to gussy up and we ll go into the woods and have a wonderful picnic and a good time. Well, someone said, You better find out if it s going to rain. Oh, he says, Call the soothsayer. So they got the old soothsayer and he s chocked at him and said, Oh, he said, I looked into the entrails of an owl. What did you find? It s not going to rain today It s a good day for partying and having a good time. Okay," said the King, Off we go. Everybody get on those horses decorated. Everybody get on, ladies, in your lovely gowns and tiaras. All you men on your gorgeous armor and metals. Off we go. So they re marching across the field toward the woods where they got this big picnic. There was a farmer standing out there and seen the entourage going by. He said, Oh, King Sir, Yes, my good man? Why are you going out to the woods? We re going to have a good picnic, good party. I wouldn t go if I were you, said the farmer. Why not? Said The King, Going to rain, going to rain? No," said the King. Our soothsayer said it s not going to rain. We re going on to have a good time. I wouldn t go if I were you, said the farmer. Why not said the King it s going to rain, going to rain. Well, we re going anyway. Alright, but I warned you! Off they went to the woods, they weren t a mile into the woods before, boom a Springfield rain came upon them all. You know what that means. Dark clouds and lots of thunder, hail and all kinds of awful stuff getting ladies got drenched their hair down their tiaras while the men drenched all their medallions and poohbah, ribbons were getting wrinkled. They all trudged back to the castle. Everybody was upset. The King was furious. Bring the soothsayer here and tell us about the rain. Soothsayer came in, Did you have a good time? Not as good as you re going to have. What made you think it was going to not rain

34 32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, today? Oh, I did look in the entrails of the owl. It s raining like crazy, said the King. Oh, said the soothsayer. Wrong owl. Well, the King said, We will have no more of that, flop off with his head. And the people said, Now we have no one to tell us if it s going to rain or not. Well, you better bring the farmer, they said. He knows if it s going to rain. They bring the farmer in. They said, Youvre going to be the soothsayer. It wasn t me, said the farmer, It was my mule. Your mule? Yes, see. When it s going to rain, his ears go flapping over his head and face and he looks funny but I know it s going to rain. If it s nice, his ears are back and he s grinning like a good old time. Today, he was not grinning. His ears were a flapping. So I told them, said the farmer, that it was going to rain. Oh," said the people. Let s make the mule the soothsayer. He knows. And ever since and every jackass on the country has come to Washington for a new position. Have a good time. Thank you. Brethren this is Brother Del Yarnel, MSA from the Valley of Chicago and we certainly appreciate you being here with us Dell. Thank you for the presentation. Brother Del Yarnel, 32, MSA: You re so welcome. Keep those actors out. RESPONSE OF THE SOVEREIGN GRAND COMMANDER At this time, Commander I ll ask you if you will say a few words to the group. Brethren: Commander John William McNaughton. (Applause) Ill John William McNaughton 33, Sovereign Grand Commander: Thank you, Brethren. Grand Masters, Illustrious Deputies, Illustrious Active members, Honorary members, Brethren all, good afternoon. Audience: Good afternoon. Right after lunch, the Grand Master and the Deputy cornered me and said, John William, no more stories about adultery or women of the evening. So anyways, this nasty old drunk walks into a bar and he pounds down about three or four doubles and the bartender is kind of giving him the eye and pretty soon he says, buddy, he said, rest room is Ill John William McNaughton, 33 Soverign Grand Commander down here at the end of the hall and sure enough, a few minutes later, our good friend, the nasty drunk, got up but he staggered down to one end of the rest

35 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 33 room, men s room and was there for a little bit and all of a sudden, the bartender heard a terrible scream coming out of the rest room and he thought about going over but he got distracted and a few moments later, again, another blood curdling scream out of the rest room and finally he went down there and he knocked on the door and he said, hey, buddy, are you all right? And this kind of weak voice on the other side said, oh, I think so and the bartender said, what s the problem? What happened? He said, every time I went to flush the toilet, something came up and grabbed me by the private parts and just squeezed the hell out of them. So bartender says, well, let me open the door and see what the problem is. So he opened the door and he said, you jerk. You re sitting on the mop bucket. Brethren, we all belong to this great fraternity that focuses our attention on ritual and the ritual brings us together and allows us to operate and many have contended that ritual is without a doubt the most important thing within the Scottish Rite and certainly within the Masonic fraternity, and I m here to tell you today that s not true. You and you and you the individual members, you are truly the most important thing within the Masonic fraternity. Some years back the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction developed a new vision statement that goes something like this, We will strive to be a fraternity that fulfills its Masonic obligation to care for our members. And how do we do that at headquarters? Well, simply, we ve done a significant number of things trying to keep you, the member in mind. We ve sent out birthday cards for a good number of years. We ve sent out holiday cards at the end of the year to wish everybody a happy holiday. We have sent out tenure certificates to let you know how much we appreciate your membership in the Scottish Rite. And we certainly have established an Almoners Fund and we take great pride in. Now, speaking of the Almoner s Fund, many of you from Illinois probably are thinking, what s the deal with the Almoner s Fund? Well, a brief word of explanation, the Grand Lodge of Illinois probably cares more about its members than almost any other Grand Lodges that I know of, certainly within the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Your Grand Lodge has been this for a good number of years and our hats and appreciation are extended to each and every one of them for this effort but I must tell you, there are many other Grand Lodge Jurisdictions within the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and within the United States that do very little in the way of relief for members who are having problems as they go through life. Those are just a few of the things that we ve been doing, and Brethren, the other half of that equation is when you ask, what are we doing for our members in the Northern Jurisdiction and it s not just Scottish Rite members but it s all Freemasons and I guess I have to turn the tables on everybody and say, what is your Valley; what is your lodge doing for others? And if you are cloistered in a tiled Lodge room spending 90% of your time with each other, you re missing a great opportunity in life in to reach out and help those who could be tickled beyond words to receive a phone call or a visit from each of you to let them understand that the obligation that you took when you knelt at the altar of Freemasonry means a great deal to you and certainly means a great deal to them. I leave you with these words today. Ritual is what we say, Freemasonry is what we do. Thank you, Commander.

36 34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, ANNUAL MEETING ILLINOIS SCOTTISH RITE SCHOLARSHIP FUND At this time I m going to declare the Illinois Council of Deliberation at recess and call into session to convene the annual meeting of the Illinois Scottish Rite Fund Corporation. First order of business will be the report of our treasurer for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, Brother Charlie Smith who has served our fund as treasurer for many years and Brother Smith, if you will please approach the podium and give us your report. TREASURER REPORT, ISRSF Brother Charles G. Smith, 32, MSA, Treasurer, ISFSF: Charlie Smith: Good afternoon. I m the treasurer of the Illinois Scottish Rite Scholarship Fund and I ve been asked to present a report for the financial results of the finance of March 31, Some of these amounts would be rounded off. Contributions, Posey fund $34,000, Rollinson $13,000, general contributions $2,000 for a total contributed during the year $50,477. Investment earnings, dividends and interests $250,000, capital gains $503,000 and the farm income with $17,000 for a total of $770,731. We had an increase in fair market value during the year of $175,000. Payouts; Scholarships, we paid out $376,000. We paid investment fees to our money managers of $97,000 and that s broken down between R.J. Vaughn $21,000 Atlantic Trust $23,000, Raymond James $52,000. We had other administrative expenses of $17,000. The fund s increase in value was $505,162. The fund value as of March 31, 2015 was $11,700,892. During the past 12 years, we ve paid out over $4,073,000 in scholarships and this morning the board has authorized a payout of $549,000 next summer. Are there any questions or concerns or anything that I can answer? This concludes my presentation. Illustrious Commander in Chief I move for the acceptance of this report. Bro. Charles G. Smith, 32. MSA, Treasurer, ISRSF Brethren it has been moved and seconded that the treasurer s report be approved. Is there any discussion? Hearing none I ll call for the vote. All in favor vote by the usual sign of a mason when voting. Down hands, contrary the same sign. The Motion has passed. Thank you, Brethren and thank you, Charlie. I might mention that a couple of years ago, I believe, maybe it was last year Brother Smith was the recipient of the Deputy s Distinguished Service Award for all of the service he has provided for our Council of Deliberation. Charlie, we thank you again for all your service. I also want to thank our investment committee and the Chairman Larry Gorrel. Larry wasn t able to be with us today

37 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 35 because of travels, but he certainly has provided this fund with leadership for our investments. The other members of the committee are Jim Tungate, John Phillips, Phil Kenney, Richard Barclay, Danny Leifel and Barry Weer. We thank each of those Brethren for their service and for their input in the investments. REPORT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP CHAIRMAN I will now call on Roger Aukerman, the Chairman of the Scholarship Committee for his report. Ill Roger F. Aukerman, MSA, 33, Chairman, Scholarship Committee: In your hand outs, you have the preliminary report which has my comments, numbers, everything, number wise, is there and so you could see there is nothing in hiding. Everybody can see what s going on. So I m not going to go over that report but there is one thing I want to call out, one statement that I made in that report that I feel very strongly about and that is we are called to deliver a scholarship experience, you know. It s easy to have a reception, call our students up, pass out a piece of paper and applaud them and life goes on. Someone that I talked to several years back made the observation that, you know, in dealing with some of the students sometimes you have to consider whether you re going to renew or not and this friend made the comment that well, also consider what is the life experience that they will walk away from this scholarship and those words have stuck with me and I hope, it is my hope that as each Valley works with their scholarships the recipients that they make the recipients and family members feel welcome at every possible option. This year I m glad to report that more Valleys than ever are attending the high school awards receptions an excellent way of getting the Masonic word out. In my Valley, and this is something that s just happening recently, instead of doing certificates this year, we decided to put together a paperweight medal that shows both the Grand Lodge emblem and the Scottish Rite emblem on the front to give to our students so years from now that they re using this as a paper weight they see who was it that went to bat for them. Who was it that helped further their education? That s what is happening in our Valley. A year ago, I came up here and I was able to report great news at our Grand Lodge, our partners and their scholarship increased their scholarships not only in amount but also in count. So this year, we had six recipients for each Valley starting at $2,000 per recipient and you sit back and wonder well, how can we top that? We can always increase the value, we can always increase the number, something that I hadn t even thought of and it is in the proceedings, our Grand Master and the Grand Lodge Scholarship Committee has come up with a way that if you re a mason, if you have a need to go to a trade school or college to further your education, you can work through the Grand Lodge of Illinois to get a $3,000 a year scholarship and for that, I thank the Most Worshipful Grand Master and those on that committee.

38 36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Now, as I was coming up here I felt today the stars were in alignment and it just kind of happen on me. Today, we have a celebrity here and if you haven t noticed the Scottish Rite has a new brochure and I know that celebrity, his autograph is going to be worth a lot of money. In our membership report, I heard a call out to have more fun in the organization, did I not? Audience: You did. Ill Roger F. Aukerman, MSA, 33, Scholarship Chairman and Ill Andrew S. Bender, 33 C-n-C of the Valley of Blomoington and celebrity Okay. And earlier I heard the call out that we re going to be doing a fund raising for the scholarship. A letter will be sent out in the next several months to start off a campaign. So putting all the stars in alignment all happening today, first thing I m going to do is I m going to ask Andy to come up here and autograph this. Andy? Come on up, you probably don t realize how much your signature is worth. Well, we re going to find out here in a minute because someone needs to be the first person to make a donation to the Scholarship Fund. Ill Andrew S. Bender 33, Commander-in-Chief, Valley of Bloomington: Here s the important part Roger hasn t told you. He very generously offered to match any donation that was made. Hold him to it. Ill Roger F. Aukerman, MSA, 33, Chairman, Scholarship Committee: Okay. We need the first donation to our campaign to raise funds for the scholarship. So I m going to start the bidding at $50. Do I see anyone willing to get a frame ready brochure signed by a celebrity, be the first person and it will actually appear in the meeting minutes. I see Steve over here, $50. I hear $60. I see 60 back there, $70. Now, Brethren, you re also sitting and with your Valleys. I got a $70. You know, you can work together and make a Valley bid if you so desire. This is - we ve heard enough from the man not at the platform. So we re at $70 over here. Do I see 80? $80? We got some Distinguished guests up here. We don t want to leave you out Jim. So we re at $80. I see $90. $100. I see $100 back there. Okay $110. $110. This is going to the scholarship. 100% of - $110 right there, Charlie. $120. $120, okay, $120. $130. You can write a check when you go home and we will get it to the fund. $130? DeMolay, man. DeMolay is looking to sponsor the youth of tomorrow. $130? Okay. $130. I believe we have $150. And you know, this is going to appear in the ICOD proceedings so this is a chance, your chance to be part of the meeting minutes. $200, okay. Wow, first donation to the scholarship campaign. $200. So we re at $200. Potentially $400. Okay. That first donation is going to appear in the meeting minutes. Valley of Freeport $250. $250. And I believe that will be doubled. Thank you for putting me up to that. So Valley of Freeport, if you d like to come down and get your

39 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 37 ready to be framed picture. Okay. (Applause) Thank you. Thank you Valley of Freeport. All right, Ken, you know, you were looking for some more fun. How are we doing here? At this time, the Illustrious Commander-In-Chief I move for the acceptance of my report. Brethren has been moved and seconded that the report of the Chairman of the Scholarship Committee be accepted. Any discussion? No further bidding? Sorry. All in favor vote by the usual sign of Mason when voting. Down hands. Contrary same sign. The motion has passed. Thank you, Roger. Ill Roger F. Aukerman, MSA, 33, Chairman, Scholarship Committee: Thank you. And thanks for the contribution. Again, I thank the Board of Directors of the Scholarship Fund for all your efforts and Brethren, the Board does work diligently to see that the fund is well managed and that we re able to do the things that we should be doing with that money. At this time, I would like a motion to approve the actions of the investment committee and the Board of Directors of the Corporation for the 2014 Council of Deliberation year. Is there a second? Brethren it has been moved and seconded that the actions of the Committee and the Board of Directors of the corporation be approved. Is there any discussion? All in favorable will give the sign of a Mason when voting. Down hands, contrary same sign. The motion has passed. Thank you, brothers. NOMINATION OF DIRECTORS, ISRSF The final item of business to come before the Corporation is the nomination of Directors for the terms. I will call on Brother Frank, Illustrious Brother Frank Winans, 33rd degree, Chairman of the nominating committee to present the nominations for Directors. Ill Frank S. Winans, MSA, 33, Chairman, Nominations Committee: Brethren as your name is read, please step down to the carpet in front of the podium. Never mind stepping down here. Illustrious Commander-In-Chief, officers and Brethren; the nominating committee would propose the following names for election to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Scottish Rite Scholarship Fund for a three-year term Illustrious Thomas T.

40 38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Johnson, 33, Valley of Quincy, second term. Brother Ronald E. Hoffman, 32, Valley of Danville, first term. Illustrious Danny J. Leifel, 33, second term. Illustrious Commander, Commander-In-Chief, I move the election of Directors as proposed. Brethren it has been regularly moved and seconded that the named Brethren be elected for the term on the Scottish Rite Scholarship Committee. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Hearing none. I declare those Brethren elected by acclamation. Thank you very much, Frank. Brethren, our retiring board member is Brother James Both, Illustrious Brother James Both, 33, from the Valley of Danville and he has served two terms on our board which is six years, let s show Jim our appreciation for all his efforts. There he is over there, I m sorry. I couldn t see him. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. RECONVENING OF THE ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION Is there any further business to bring before this board? If not, I hereby adjourn the annual meeting of the Corporation and now call back the Illinois Council of Deliberation business meeting. RESPONSE OF THE MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND MASTER Most Worshipful Grand Master, I will now call on you if you would like to say a few words, we certainly would appreciate it. Again it is our pleasure to have you here Grand Master. I know you have some good words to say to the Brethren. Ill Barry D. Weer, 33, Most Worshipful Grand Master: Thank you. Illustrious Sovereign Grand Commander, Illustrious Commander-In-Chief, Most Worshipful Grand Master and my Brethren all, there s certainly a problem that exist when you end up being the last to have the opportunity to speak because many times the things that you were really wanting to talk about have been one way or another been discussed already. Plus the fact that I know that if I were to attempt humor I would pale Most Worshipful Barry D. Weer, Grand Master of State of Illinois

41 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 39 against our Illustrious Sovereign Grand Commander and so I m not going to do that and put myself in a position of looking feeble in that regard. But I did want to mention a few things and perhaps put a different twist on some of the comments that have been made earlier during the session. Certainly, our Grand Lodge is pleased and proud to be in a position today to do the things that we do through our Masonic Outreach Services Program where we touch lives, significantly touch lives when there s those experiences of life that cannot be anticipated and cause deep painful loss at one time or another. I don t mean to disagree necessarily with Illustrious Deputy but I do need to correct the fact that when we went up and shared with Worshipful Master of Genoa Lodge, after his tragic loss that we presented $10,000 in the name of the Masons of Illinois not as a salve, but as a statement that we stood with him, we stood for him and we grieved with him. It s the least we could do. But it demonstrates in our society that money often times becomes a way of demonstrating worth, of making an investment in people, an investment in lives and certainly I want to thank the Scottish Rite for their services in helping our Grand Lodge to administer our Grand Lodge Scholarship Program for graduating seniors that are moving on in higher education. Without the diligent labors of those men and every one of the Valleys in Illinois culling through those applications, a fairly tedious, sometimes mundane process, but very valuable because they try to lift up those students that they feel are going to not only appreciate what we are doing for them but are going to be able to enrich and advance their lives through higher education and then be able to invest back into the well being of our society because of the efforts that we ve made in their behalf. It was mentioned that we ve now expanded our scholarship outreach to include Master Masons across the state. I don t know how many of you are aware of this program that was started in November but our Illinois Masonic Outreach Services Program now provides $3,000 of scholarship assistance to Master Masons who need the retraining because of dislocation, closing of plants or just the way technology is moving forward and may need to have new skills, new capabilities in order to enjoy what our society could provide them. Also it will allow those that would like to complete perhaps a bachelor s program or go on in a graduate program with assistance. I m pleased to report to you that since November, we have presented in excess of $75,000 worth of scholarships in the name of the Masons of Illinois, to help Masons in the Illinois and I thank you for your support of our programs that allow that. Now, we had a little fun with fund-raising a few minutes ago but I think there s valuable lessons to be learned about what we could hear and what you are called upon a number of different times from various aspects of our fraternity or from other good charitable concerns within the community. Unfortunately, I can tell you that in my own experience recently, we had a good brother who passed away. A brother who over years accumulated significant assets. Many people didn t realize it or even know about it, that he was worth millions of dollars. After his death it was discovered that his will that was currently in existence was signed in 1976 when he did not have significant assets. Our good brother had actually met with an attorney and estate counselor and had laid out plans in the latter part of - actually, it was about 2009 for what he wanted to do and how he wanted to support Masonry through a number of his bequests. Unfortunately, he never got

42 40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, around to signing that document and so the aspects that he had in place from 1976 is the way his estate will be divided and his final desires were not really totally fulfilled. So I look around the room and I would suggest to you there s maybe a few of you that your circumstances have changed over the years. Have you gone back and looked at your estate planning? Have you recognized the way that you may be able to assist the various elements of Masonry and our good work, Mason s work, through a little thought and action on your part and even if you re not in a position where you have significant assets there are appeals that come regularly and I would urge you to remember a Mason s charity should be boundless, limited only by his ability without material injury to his family or himself. Moving on from perhaps that question which is a little bit of a downer, I want to tell you that we are actually in a circumstance where the number of Masons, the decline in masonry in the Illinois is being narrowed. Yes, we re still going to have a loss in membership. Some a little bit about what Ken talked about but we are seeing across our state in many instances a revitalization of what s going on in our lodges, activity that we haven t had for a number of years; men who have become aware of what Masonry is and what Masonry stands for. Young men that are looking for things of value and worth in order to invest themselves in their lives and they are coming through the portals of our lodges in increasing numbers. It s not everywhere yet but I think it is indeed the kind of activity that is going to allow us very shortly to say that we have an overall increase in our membership in the Illinois and part of that is the fact that I see in those lodges that are seen increases that there s good activity, there s investment of men s interest and involvement with those new men that are coming through the portals. They are sitting down with them and working through our intenders program with those candidates so they understand not just the ritual but they understand the intent and purpose, and principals and values that masonry stands for and they have the opportunity to develop relationships that are becoming lifelong in their execution. These are men that we need to build upon. We need to help them realize that Masonry is something that s worth sharing. It brings value to our lives. It brings a change in our attitude and our actions that the Sovereign Grand Commander talked about. It brings to those men true pride in where they are and pride in what they can do as they become members of Freemasonry, of our gentle craft. I would urge all of you here to make sure that you invest back into your local Blue Lodge the time and effort to help these young men become the leaders in their lodge and, ultimately, I would hope they explore the opportunities to advance within the fraternity taking advantage of our Rites and becoming workers in the quarries. I appreciate the opportunity to share these thoughts with you but more importantly I would hope that they will help you realize what you can do in order to continue and further, the positive aspects of Freemasonry in the Illinois and there s always, I hope, the Grand Architect of the Universe will bless you, that his spirit will be with you and that it will guide, uplift and illumine and sustain you through all the days of your lives. Thank you, Brethren. Thank you very much, Grand Master. It s always a pleasure to have you with us and to hear your words of wisdom and they are indeed words of wisdom. I

43 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 41 would never say that they weren t. I know that sometimes it appears as though that the job of the Grand Master is one with a lot of ceremonies and visitations and a lot of applause and honors and all that, but I can assure you that the administration of the 480 lodges that we have in the state of Illinois and although it s not direct administration that there are a heck a lot of problems that the guys have out there that the Grand Master gets faced with. It s not a ceremonial job where you just get to go visit and get the accolades. It s one that you have to work at so I know it s very demanding and you ve had a good one and three quarter years. I want to personally thank you for the service to our fraternity. NOMINATION OF OFFICERS ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION I now call on Brother Frank Winans for nomination of the officers of our Council of Deliberation. Ill Frank S. Winans, MSA, 33, Chairman, Nominations Committee: All right. We will try it again, Brethren. When your name is read, please step down here in front and we will get on with the installation of officers for the next year. Illustrious Commander-In-Chief, Distinguish guests and members, on behalf of the nominating committee, it is my pleasure to announce the nominations for the officers elected and appointed to serve the Illinois Council of Deliberation. Please stand and remain standing when I call your name. Ill Frank S. Winans, MSA, 33 Chairman, Nominations Comm. Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, Commander-in-Chief Springfield Ill James L. Tungate, First Lieutenant Commander Danville Ill John T. Phillips, Second Lieutenant Commander Chicago Ill Gregory L. Clark, Minister of State Southern Illinois Ill Norman R. Buecker, MSA, Active Emeritus Springfield Ill Phillip C. Kenney, MSA, Active Emeritus Peoria Ill Lawrence D. Inglis, Active Emeritus Chicago Ill Lee B. Lockwood, Active Emeritus Freeport Ill David MacDonna III, Deputy Representative Springfield

44 42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Ill Gregory L. Clark, Deputy Representative Bloomington Ill G. Nick Graff, MSA, Deputy Representative Peoria Ill Joseph A. Diliberto, Deputy Representative Southern Illinois Ill Jeffrey W. Miller, Deputy Representative Freeport Ill Robert L. Millikan, MSA, Deputy Representative Moline Ill Michael B. Myers, Deputy Representative Quincy Ill Andrew S. Bender, Orator Bloomington Ill Stephen R. Taylor, MSA, Chancellor Southern Illinois Ill Marvin L. Selock, Treasurer Chicago Ill Barry D. Weer, Secretary Bloomington Bro. Joseph H. Eby, 32, Prior Springfield Ill John W. Bracken, Hospitaler Freeport Ill William J. Farris, Engineer & Architect Freeport Ill Lauren L. Crawford, MSA, Master of Ceremonies Moline Ill Bruce W. Rhinehart, Seneschal Danville Ill Gerry L. Williams, MSA, Standard Bearer Springfield Ill Richard E. Hummel, MSA, 33, Captain of The Guard Peoria Ill Frank E. Baumgartner, MSA, Sentinel Quincy Bro. John W. Quinn, Outer Guard Chicago Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, the members of the Nominating Committee present the Officers of the Illinois Council of Deliberation for the ensuing Scottish Rite Year. I move acceptance of this report. Ill Lee B. Lockwood, 33, Active Emeritus, Installing Officer: Thank you. Brethren, you ve heard the roster of officers for the next year. All those in favor of accepting this roster, say I. Audience: I. Opposed? There we took care of all the legalities now. The officers elect will now assume their vow of office. Each will place it s right hand over his heart and say, I, pronounce his name and full and repeat after me. I. Do hereby reaffirm my pledge of fealty to the supreme council of the 33rd degree, for the Northern Masonic

45 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 43 jurisdiction, and so solemnly promise that I will support the rules and regulations of this Council of Deliberation. I will endeavor to be just and impartial in my relations with my Brethren and will faithfully perform the duties of my office to the best of my ability and will faithfully perform the duties of my office to the best of my ability, God being my helper Amen. Brother Commander-In-Chief, I declare the Officers of the Council of Deliberation for the district of Illinois duly installed and prepared to proceed with their labors. Thank you. Commander in Chief: Thank you illustrious Brother Lockwood. Again, Brethren I thank each of you for the work that you do for your Valley and for the Scottish Rite in Illinois. If there s any assistance that I or any of the Active members can provide during the next year, please don t hesitate to contact me or them. Certainly, we will do everything that we possibly can to assist you and of course your Deputy Representative, they re in most cases readily available to you and they certainly will assist you. Is there anything further to bring before this Council of Deliberation? If not, we will proceed to close. Brother Eby if you will offer a benediction for us, please. Brother Joseph H. Eby, 32, Prior, Let s pray. Supreme Architect of the Universe, we give you thanks for this gathering for the beauty of this day, for the fraternal relations that we share across the state. We thank you for your guidance and direction of our lives and by that of this fraternity. We thank you for all of the good work that is being done through the Council of Deliberation, through the Scottish Rite or the Masonic jurisdiction, through our Grand Lodge Masons everywhere. Protect and preserve our fraternity, our country. Amen. Bro. Joseph H. Eby, 32, Prior Thank you very much Brother Eby. To order Brethren: "To the Glory of the Grand Architect of the Universe and in the name and under the auspices of the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspector Generals of the thirty third and last degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America and by virtue of the authority upon me conferred, I declare this Council of Deliberation closed." Thank you, Brethren again for being here and for your attention. Hospitality is over in the Rendezvous room.

46 44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Preprinted Reports Approved as printed and not presented or not presented in full at the session ADDRESS OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF Brethren, It is my pleasure as Deputy for the Illinois Council of Deliberation to welcome you to this 147th convocation of the Illinois Council of Deliberation. It is a special pleasure to welcome you to the city of my Valley and the hometown of Abraham Lincoln. I would remind each of you, that this meeting is held for you the members of the Illinois Council of deliberation. And if any of you have any comments or suggestions about the meeting, please don t hesitate to share them with me. I want to offer a special welcome to the representatives of the other Masonic organizations that are here with us today. We are fortunate here in the state of Illinois that all of our Masonic groups are unified and try to work with one another in a harmony for the good of the Masonic fraternity in general. I sincerely thank and commend the Valley of Springfield for being the host of our convocation this year. This past year I have been honored to be able to travel and visit with several of our valleys during their functions. I sincerely thank each of you for the hospitality and recognition that has been granted to both Sherrie and I on those occasions. Necrology We again mourn the loss of our brothers who have passed from this transitory existence and now dwell with the Grand Architect of the Universe. In the past 11 months 27 of our Illustrious Brethren, 11 Meritorious Service Award recipients, 16 Honorary members of our Supreme Council and 673 additional members of our Valleys have left us. Valley Operations I offer my sincere thanks to the Valley secretaries who so diligently perform their duties and assist the Valley leadership in directing their Valleys. These brethren spend untold hours providing support for their Valley and offer their knowledge and assistance to the Valley leaders.i also thank each of the officers in the Illinois Valleys, for all of the expertise, time and efforts provided to your Valley and to Scottish Rite in Illinois. Much of the time your effort goes unheralded but I can assure you it is appreciated by all of the Scottish Rite leadership and I am sure it is appreciated by your membership.

47 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 45 State of the Rite During the past year each of our Valleys have made strides towards being an organization that sincerely cares for and nurtures its membership. For all of us it seems that we have great difficulty in making changes. We know that as Valley leaders we must make changes in our thought process and our actions as a Scottish Rite Valley. We are changing from an organization that focused on membership recruitment and degree presentation for the past several years to one that is dedicated to our ancient principles of brotherly love and fraternalism. As a member driven fraternal organization we must provide value to each of our members or they will no longer be a part of our circle. A majority of the time of many of our Valley leaders is consumed by maintaining and operating the Valley buildings. I can empathize with the officer that has the extra stress of creating effective membership programs, administering the Valley operation and finances and still try to support a building which requires enormous amount of his time and Valley assets. The buildings of our Valleys, once considered to be one of our greatest assets, are increasingly becoming a burden on many of the Valleys and a cause for additional ingenuity and effort for those who lead our Valleys. I urge each of you as leaders to be diligent as you carefully review how much effort and funding the building costs your Valley. Many officers are beginning to feel they are working to support a building and end up with little time or assets to support the membership and programs of the Valley If these are the conditions of the officers in your Valley, hard decisions need to be made about the future of your Valley and the future of Scottish Rite in your area. Here in Illinois we are very fortunate to have nine Valleys scattered throughout state. With our locations we can provide the Scottish Rite experience statewide without requiring extensive travel by our members. That said, as Scottish Rite Masons, we continue to have a problem with the most basic of the principles of our fraternity. We can offer degrees and create what we think are effective membership activities but we still seem to fail in imparting true friendship and brotherly love with all our brothers. The responsibility of sharing of these principles is not solely the duty of the leadership of the valleys but is the duty of every member of Scottish Rite. The Valley leadership does have the responsibility and duty to exemplify these principles to the Valley membership. Leadership This past year we tried a different approach to our training seminar. My idea was to make the seminar a more interactive program for the attendees. Each of your Active Members and the Membership team were asked to present a section of the seminar, with participation by the attendees as a focus of the presentation. I believe everyone enjoyed the seminar and took several ideas home to their Valleys. A special thanks goes to Greg Clark and Greg Klemm for their efforts at this year s seminar.

48 46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Supreme Council The Supreme Council membership and leadership seminar will be held in Lexington at our museum and library building on September 25th and 26th this year. The hotel accommodations will be in Burlington MA. Valley representatives from all NMJ Valleys will be represented at the seminar. I urge every Valley to provide the opportunity to attend this years seminar with at least one member. Membership During the past fiscal year, our 9 Illinois valleys initiated 278 new members. During the same period last year we initiated 309 new members. During the year our ICOD experienced a death loss of 719 members, 536 suspensions, and 108 dimits. As you can see this is a significant loss to our Rite in Illinois. Every Valley in Illinois has a membership chairman, who devotes many hours to the membership efforts in his Valley. I sincerely thank the membership Chairmen and their Valley teams for their combined devoted efforts in our behalf. For a membership effort to be successful that chairman must have the complete support of the Valley officers. I continue to believe that our Valley leadership, working with the Membership Chairmen and their teams will turn the tide and see the fruits of their efforts. I will again stress that membership is a duty of every Scottish Rite Mason. Please assist your membership chairmen and committee whenever you can. To all of our members who have worked to provide new membership in individual valleys, I sincerely thank you for all of your efforts to provide growth or your Valley. I especially thank the Valley membership chairman, ambassadors and all that have helped with the various membership programs of our valleys. I know that membership recruitment and retention go hand-in-hand. I also know that many hours are devoted to membership efforts which are sometimes fruitful and sometimes not. Scholarships We, the Scottish Rite Masons of today receive the accolades for the many scholarships that we are able to present. We tend to forget the generosity of many of the many Brethren who have made it possible for our programs to be what they are today. We have granted $500,000 for student scholarships this upcoming year. These grants are possible because of large bequests of the past and because of gifts from our many generous brethren who have continued to contribute to our fund annually over the past several years. ICE The acronym for Inspiration, Convenience and Enjoyment seems to be an accepted mode of operation for our Valleys today. If what we are doing does not fit in the category of one of these three descriptions, we need to ask why are we doing it. We need to make every event an inspirational, convenient and enjoyable experience. If we can t do that then we probably shouldn t have that type of event.

49 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 47 Value Proposition Every branch of the Masonic fraternity has been blessed with members who have been loyal to maintain their membership even though they might never have returned to their Lodge, Valley or Temple. We have seen the day pass when men were happy by just being a member, today men expect some type of value proposition for the dues they pay and for the time they allow for membership. That loyal brother is now slipping into history and we are faced with a new breed of brothers. These brothers expect to receive value for their membership dues, not necessarily a dollar value but a perceived value of their membership. This value can be educational, fraternal friendship or a feeling of worth, but our members need to perceive a value for their membership or they will move on to another organization. Our members today have time restrictions for all of their activities outside the home and away from their family. If we want to involve them we have to provide them quality activities with fellowship within a restricted time period. This, my brothers is a big challenge for our fraternity. We are a Fraternity that has for years expected and received loyalty from its members. We have expected them to be loyal without any true feeling of brotherhood or any other type of gratifying feedback. We, you and I, have to make the decision to make a change and demonstrate loyalty and true brotherly love to every member we meet. We have to continue to remind every member of our Rite that he is the most important link in our chain of membership and we have to show him that he is that important member regardless of rank or office. Our actions today will determine the future of our Rite. Almoners Fund Here in Illinois, we masons are blessed with the Illinois Masonic Outreach Services. This Grand Lodge program provides information about government programs, consultation and financial assistance to our needy brethren and widows. Our Supreme Council s Almoner s fund has not been used in Illinois for the past year because of the Outreach program, which provides assistance to those members in need and in cases of catastrophe such as the recent tornadoes here in Illinois. The Illinois Council of Deliberation Almoners Fund has now been established to further assist any needy brethren and or widows here in Illinois. Many of our aged members find themselves in need of assistance and have nowhere else to turn but to us, the fraternity who promised to help each other in times of need. Our Illinois Council of Deliberation needs to be in a position to be ready and able to provide additional assistance assist to our Brethren when they need help. I urge each of you to contribute to this fund and help fulfill our Brother s needs. Conclusion: I wish to thank all who have volunteered their time and efforts to our Scottish Rite here in Illinois. It makes no difference what programs could be developed

50 48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, or what ideas are put in place, without the devotion and efforts of brethren in every Valley nothing would be accomplished. Thank you my Brethren. I certainly will would be remiss if I didn t thank our Active members and the Deputy Representatives for all of their assistance during the past year. They are a great group of men to work with. Respectfully submitted, Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33, Deputy for Illinois SECRETARY S REPORT Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Officers and Brethren: Your Secretary reports that the number entitled to vote in the Illinois Council of Deliberation consisting of those who have attained the Thirty-Third Degree, Past Presiding Officers, Elected Officers, Treasurers and Secretaries of the Coordinate Bodies, and holders of the Meritorious Service Award is 654. A full report of the membership of the Valleys under this Council, along with a comparative tale for the current and preceding years, is published below. I especially want to thank the Valley Secretaries for their support, cooperation and patience. The use of electronic communication is almost universal. I also want to thank Illustrious Brother Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33, for the opportunity to serve the Council in this role. Note: See Page 97 for the ICOD composite membership statistics for all nine Valleys. Respectfully submitted, Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33 Secretary, Illinois Council of Deliberation

51 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 49 Summary Statistics Year Beginning Membership 19,082 18,465 17,769 16,933 Prior Year Adjustments Adjusted Beginning 19,082 18,465 17,769 16,933 Initiations Affiliations Restorations Undone Deceased Total Increases Year Deaths Suspensions Demits Discharges Expulsions Total Decreases 1,281 1,184 1,256 1,388 Net Change (617) (696) (836) (1,089) Ending Membership 18,465 17,769 16,933 15,843 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP REPORT There is a quote by Helen Keller that says Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. Your State Membership Team had the opportunity to meet as a group four (4) separate times during the year. Each meeting allowed us to network and share what was and wasn t working in each of the Valleys. Some of the highlights from those meetings were: The Valley of Southern Illinois has expanded the reach of their Black Hat program where a brother receives his Black Scottish Rite Cap for top lining 6 candidates. They are also holding Town Meetings in conjunction with Shrine events to attract new members. The Valley of Bloomington is doing Discovering the Valley social programs every two (2) months all over their jurisdiction. They have also completed the first round of their Brotherhood Outreach calls. The Valley of Springfield is doing a degree at each of their stated meetings. They also have completed their first round of Brotherhood Outreach. The Valleys of Freeport and Danville both feel that their Scottish Rite Degree Teams has done much to expand the Valley awareness in their respective jurisdictions. Finally, Dave Koss, from the Valley of Chicago, coined a phrase that I have adopted. He said Scottish Rite is the College of Freemasonry. I love the phrase and think the idea can be a great talking point when trying to initiate a discussion about the Scottish Rite.

52 50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Chicago: Initiations - 80 Quincy: Initiations - 20 Restorations - 40 Restorations - 2 Deaths Deaths - 35 Suspensions Suspensions - 9 Demits - 2 Demits - 2 Net Loss Net Loss - 23 Ending Membership - 3,537 Ending Membership Freeport: Initiations - 19 Peoria: Initiations - 19 Restorations - 2 Restorations - 1 Deaths - 55 Deaths - 81 Suspensions - 49 Suspensions - 5 Demits - 1 Demits - 4 Net Loss - 84 Net Loss - 70 Ending Membership - 1,190 Ending Membership - 1,436 Danville: Initiations - 50 So. IL: Initiations - 54 Restorations - 2 Restorations - 11 Deaths Deaths Suspensions - 38 Suspensions Demits - 1 Demits - 0 Net Loss - 99 Net Loss Ending Membership - 2,588 Ending Membership - 2,796 Springfield: Initiations - 22 Bloomington: Initiations - 5 Restorations - 4 Restorations - 1 Deaths - 64 Deaths - 43 Suspensions - 42 Suspensions - 27 Demits - 2 Demits - 1 Net Loss - 84 Net Loss - 65 Ending Membership - 1,571 Ending Membership - 1,094 Moline: Initiations - 9 Restorations - 1 Deaths - 47 Suspensions - 5 Demits - 0 Net Loss - 42 Ending Membership One of my goals this last year was to try and do a better job of instilling teamwork, not only among our Membership Teams, but more importantly among our Valley Officers. Unfortunately, I don t think I achieved my goal. Today s Valley Officer is faced with some pretty challenging responsibilities. I feel the Valley Officers have not realized that Membership is everyone s responsibility and especially their responsibility as Elected Officers. The $64 question is How do we get the Officer to step up to the plate? I wish I knew the answer. Jim Collins in his bestselling book Good to Great, suggests we ask ourselves whether we have the right people on the bus? I recently ran across a Valley Ambassador who,

53 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 51 not only wasn t doing his job, he was 2 years in arrears and the Valley suspended him. We must take the job seriously and appoint Brethren who will take it seriously as well. We introduced a training piece last year called The Ambassador s Playbook. This Playbook is a step by step program for all Ambassadors as well as anyone interested in promoting membership. Like anything new in Masonry, it has gotten off to a slow start. However, I feel as time goes on it should prove to be a valuable tool in helping Officers and Valley Ambassadors with a fairly clear explanation of what is expected of them. I will leave with this quote; Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins Championships MichaelJordan. Respectfully submitted, Ken Morey, Chairman REPORT OF THE TREASURER Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Illustrious Active Members, Officers and Members of the Illinois Council of Deliberation: Following is the report of the Treasurer as of April 30, Cash in Bank Cornerstone National Bank, Non-Profit Now Checking Account # $18, Less Outstanding Checks # # # Total Outstanding checks $ Balance in Checking Account as of April 30, 2015 $18, Investments Preferred Money Market Checking Cornerstone Nat l. Bank, Yield 0.10% $13, SDIT US Government Money Market Fund Yield 0.02% 73, CD AMEX Centurion Due 7/20/15 Yield.70% 30, Discover Bank CD Due 7/20/15 Yield 1.20% 25, Discover Bank CD Due 9/26/16 Yield 1.20% 25, Discover Bank CD Due 9/25/17 Yield 1.60% 25, Sallie Mae Bank CD Due 12/11/18 Yield 2.00% 25, SIT Emerging Mkts. Debt FD 8, SIT International Fixed Income Fund 15, Northern Institutional Core Bond Fund 24, SIMT Core Fixed Income Fund 25, SIMT High Yield Bond Fund 9,756.10

54 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Total Investments of April 30, 2015 $ 301, Total Assets as April 30, 2015 $319, Total Assets as of April 30, 2014 $307, Increase (Decrease) $12, Respectfully submitted, Marvin L. Selock, 33, Treasurer REPORT OF THE AUDITING COMMITTEE The Audit Committee of Illinois Council of Deliberation has examined the transactions of the General Fund of the Council of Deliberation, and hereby files its report for the fiscal year ending April 30, We have examined the accompanying statement of assets arising from cash transactions of the Illinois Council of Deliberation of April 30, 2015, and related statements of income and expenses and changes in assets for the year then ended. Our examination was made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and accordingly include tests of the accuracy of the records and such other tests as we considered necessary. The account records are maintained on a cash basis of accounting. Accordingly, income at the time of collections and expenses at the time of disbursement, since the accrued basis of accounting is not used. Liabilities are not recorded until paid. We know of no significant liabilities outstanding as of April 30, 2015, and the results of the cash transaction for the year ended. Respectfully submitted, Stanley P. Boyd, 33, Chairman Frank E. Schubert, 32, MSA Andrew A. Keppy, 32 REPORT OF THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD COMMITTEE Each year the Council of Deliberation presents an outstanding Scottish Rite Mason with the Distinguished Service Award. Prior to the Council meeting, each Valley presents their selections and its recommendation to the Distinguished Service Award Committee for consideration. The name nominated by each Valley must be accompanied by a complete history of Masonic, Civil, Community, Church, and other pertinent information. The Valley recommendations are reviewed by the Distinguished Service Committee, and the finalist is announced and introduced at the Council of Deliberation Banquet.

55 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 53 After due deliberation, the Distinguished Service Committee awards the Distinguished Service Award for 2015 to: Illustrious James F. Albsmeyer, MSA, 33. of the Valley of Quincy. Respectfully Submitted Joseph M. Lucas, 33, Chairman Donald L. Anderson, 33 Stanley L. Davidson, 33 Gary D. Hermann, 33 Dale P. Cyrier, 32 Jerry H. Askren, 33 Robert K. Cronk, 33 Danny J. Leifel, 33 APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEES FOR Appeals and Grievances Elliott R. McKinley, 32, Springfield; Chairman Robert B. Wells, 33, Freeport Patrick E. Schlehuber, 32 Bloomington Audit Stanley P. Boyd, 33, Bloomington; Chairman Fred E. Schubert 32, MSA, Freeport Andrew A. Keppy, 32, Chicago Budget and Finance Frank J. Roth, 33, Chicago; Chairman Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33, Chicago Marvin L. Selock, 33, Chicago Credentials Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33, Chicago; Chairman Edward J. Witas III, 32, MSA Mike Graff, 32 Southern Illinois Dick J. Carroll, 33, Peoria Joseph P. Laleman, 32, Moline John E. Larsen, 33, Danville Paul E. Mealiff, 33 Quincy Wilbert W. Martel, 33, Springfield Robert D. Erwin, 32, Bloomington Dean G. White, 33, Freeport Deceased Members Joseph H. Eby, 32, Quincy; Chairman

56 54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Distinguished Service Award Joseph W. Lucas, 33, Springfield; Chairman Donald L. Anderson, 33, Moline Stanley L. Davidson, 33, Quincy Gary D. Hermann, 33, Peoria Michael E. Ehle, 32, Chicago Jerry H. Askren, 33, Danville Robert W. Cronk, 33, Freeport Danny J. Leifel, 33, Bloomington Charles E. Hileman, Jr. MSA, 33, Southern Illinois General Council Scott R. Ripley, 33, Danville; Counsel Danny J. Leifel, 33, Bloomington; Assistant Counsel Introduction of Distinguished Guests Grady M. Birdsell, 33, Moline; Chairman Michael Fitzpatrick, 32, MSA, Southern Illinois Elliott R. McKinley, 32, Springfield Jurisprudence Rules and Regulations Irvin C. Slate, Jr., 33, Southern Illinois; Chairman Scott A. Sexton, 33, Peoria John Quinn, 32, Chicago Membership Kenneth L. Morey, 33, Springfield; Chairman Roger A. Carson, 33, Freeport Arlo R. Sloan, MSA, 33, Moline John LeValley, 32, Springfield Alvin R. Abbott, Jr, 32, Bloomington Jerry B. Witt, 32, Peoria Michael J. Dooley,, 32, Danville Michael B. Myers, 33, Quincy David R. Koss, 32, Chicago David Roger, 32, Southern Illinois Meritorious Service Award Daryl W. Selock, MSA, 33, Chicago; Chairman Barry G. Carney, 32, MSA, Bloomington Enrique J. Unanue, 32, MSA, Springfield Charles E. Mullins, 32, MSA, Quincy Robert F. Buck, MSA, 33 Southern Illinois H. Wayne Hoffman, 32 MSA, Peoria Walter M. Hoffman, 32, MSA, Freeport David L. Newton, MSA, 33, Moline Richard A. Thompson, MSA, 33, Danville

57 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 55 Nomination of Officers Frank S. Winans, 33, Chicago; Chairman Andrew S. Bender, 33, Bloomington David MacDonna, III, 32, Springfield Bruce W. Rhinehart, 33, Danville Representatives to the DeMolay Foundation Gary D. Hermann, 33, Peoria; Representative Charles E. Hileman, Jr., MSA, 33, Southern Illinois L. Milton McClure III, 32, Springfield Scholarship Roger F. Aukerman, MSA, 33, Bloomington; Chairman Dennis R. Bussian, 32, Freeport Henry A. Haisch, Jr., 32, Southern Illinois Thomas T. Johnson, 33, Quincy Fred Esken, 32, Peoria Peter J. Eisenmenger, 32, Danville Steven L. Scaife, 32, Springfield Jamie A. Emery, 32, Moline Lance J. Welter, 32, MSA, Chicago FINANCE COMMITTEE BUDGET REPORT The Finance Committee proposes the following budget for the fiscal year for your consideration. The budget anticipates an excess of income over expenses of $1, The amount of income from per capita is based on $3.00 times the Fourth Degree members on the 15th of June each year - fiscal year just ended - which is billed in the following year. Estimated investment income is an estimate based on the previous year. The actual net cost of last year s Annual Meeting was $39, All budgeted amounts have been increased and decreased based on last year s actual experience.

58 56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, ANNUAL BUDGET Illinois Council of Deliberation May 1, 2014 to April 30, 2015 Ordinary Income/Expense Budget Income: Budget Actual Per Capita $ 46,500 $46, $43,500 Investment Income 4,800 5, ,800 COD Reimbursements 10,000 8, ,500 Supreme Council Reimbursement ,500 Total Income $ 78,754 72, , Budget Budget Actual Expense: COD Session Expense $30,000 39, ,000 Committee 1, Contributions 3,000 3, ,200 Miscellaneous 2,000 1, ,000 Secretary s Office 7,500 4, ,000 Seminars 10, ,500 Travel and Entertainment 5,000 2, ,500 Supreme Council Session ,000 Total Expenses $58,500 $50, $70,500 Income Over Expenses $2,800 $10, $1,800 Based upon 14,500 paid members Respectfully Submitted, Frank J. Roth, 33, Chairman Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33 Marvin L. Selock, 33 ILLINOIS DEMOLAY FOUNDATION REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Officers, and members, of the Illinois DeMolay Foundation, Inc., and Brethren of the Illinois Council of Deliberation: The Illinois Order of DeMolay is composed of several hundred young men between the ages of 12 and 21 years old enrolled in various chapters throughout the State of Illinois, assisted and fostered by Master Masons. Through programs in citizenship, morality, physical education, sportsmanship and others. These young men meet in brotherhood, similar to the ideals we practice as masons. One of the least heralded virtues of this group is the fact that over 50% of these young leaders become Master Masons at some point in their lifetimes and continue to impress their leadership in lodges and the appendant bodies of the masonry throughout our nation. To many, this organization is regarded as the training ground for future masons.

59 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 57 DeMolay "Alumni" continue to distinguish themselves in all walks of life, including local, state, and federal offices. The Illinois DeMolay Foundation was created twenty-nine years ago to raise sufficient funding to support the many programs of the Illinois Order of DeMolay. We are composed of a twenty-one man board consisting of three representatives of the Grand Lodge, Scottish Rite, York Rite; one representative from each of the five Shrine Temples in Illinois; and seven representatives from the Illinois Order of DeMolay. We meet in conjunction with major DeMolay/ masonic activities within Illinois. Our annual meeting will take place at the Illinois DeMolay Conclave. Our total net worth in the Illinois DeMolay Foundation thru June 30, 2014 was $258, Donations in excess of $ are deposited in the endowment fund, of which only its income is used. We feel that by raising our endowment fund to a level of $500,000.00, we will ensure that DeMolay can be sufficiently funded into the future. Our Masonic Family needs all of our help. What better way to promote our great fraternity! Your assistance will be greatly appreciated. These programs are financed by masonic contributions. We need your help. Remember - - Their Future is Our Future. Respectfully submitted, Respectfully Submitted, Gary D. Hermann, 33 Charles E. Hileman, Jr., MSA, 33 L. Milton McClure, 32 Representatives of the Illinois Council of Deliberation REPORT OF THE HOSPITALER Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Officers and members of the Illinois Council of Deliberation: This report covers the financial activity of the Hospitaler Fund for the period of May 1, 2014 through April 30, As has been the procedure in the past several years, the contributions collected at the Council of Deliberation Banquet are used for a specific purpose which is announced prior to the collection and are disbursed promptly thereafter. The collection at the 2014 Banquet amounted to $ and was presented to Illinois Council of Deliberation for use of the Almoner Fund. The Hospitaler fund therefore carries a balance of Zero as of April 30, Respectfully submitted, John W. Bracken, 33, Hospitaler

60 58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, REPORT OF THE MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD COMMITTEE Illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Officers and members, of the Illinois Council of Deliberation: The conferral of the Meritorious Service Award for the class of 2015 will be done as part of the Illinois Council of Deliberation banquet held at the Par-A- Dice Hotel Grand Ballroom. Following dinner, the red cap and jewel will be presented to the recipients with the dignity and decorum befitting this high honor. To become a member of this class, the presiding officers of each Valley s four bodies met to select the individuals. After submitting the names each nomination was reviewed, investigated, and approved. At the conclusion of the evening our Illustrious Commander-in-Chief will announce the names of the nominees to be honored in This committee will work to keep and maintain the high standards set forth by the Deputy. It is our hope the recipients and guests will cherish their memories of this year s conferral of the Meritorious Service Award. Respectfully submitted, Daryl W. Selock, MSA, 33, Chairman 2015 Meritorious Service Award Recipients Bloomington Chicago Danville Alvin E. House William E. Carlton Michael Lester Meier Brian G. Gaddy Burton K. Schorr, Jr. Ricky Kaye Casteel Freeport Moline Peoria Dennis R. Bussian Eric M. Nyod Harold I. Howerter Thomas L. Gipe David George Ziegler Elmer Fetes McIntosh Quincy Southern Illinois Springfield Kenneth Alan Brickman David E. Casson, Jr. Matthew R. Stolz James David Paar John H. Lowe, Jr. David MacDonna, III REPORT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP CHAIRMAN Last year brought our level of Brotherhood to new heights. With the approval to combine the various applications into a single one we were able to show to the public our level of unity between Masonic organizations. For those applying for multiple scholarships, they no longer have to experience writing out the same information over and over again.

61 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 59 Illinois AASR & Grand Lodge Scholarships Health Used Health Granted No change for Abbott Grand Lodge Perkins Kresin Williams Roger Aukerman Bloomington So Jr Lance Welter Chicago So Jr Peter Eisenmenger Danville Jr Sr Dennis Bussian Freeport Jamie Emery Moline Fred Eskem Peoria So Jr Tom Johnson Quincy Henry Haisch, Jr. So. Illinois Kraig Sullivan Sr. Springfield Noel Kalis Wilson Scholarship 3 approved for (maximum is 3) 3 approved for (maximum is 3) In amount awarded with each Illinois Grand Lodge scholarship is $2,000. NOTE: Valleys with an extra Abbott understand this is a one year only commitment. rd NOTE: One extra Perkins for four years is the year Illinois has been allocated $39,300 for Abbott Scholarships. 31 to be awarded at $1, for Valley of Bloomington to be awarded at $1,205. Illinois AASR: 2014 Illinois AASR: 2015 Health 343 $1,065 $365, $1,330 $ Perkins 10 $1,065 $10, $1,330 $13,300 Kresin 9 $1,065 $9,585 9 $1,330 $11,970 Williams 4 $2,130 $8,520 4 $2,660 $10,640 Wilson 3 $2,130 $6,390 3 $2,660 $7,980 $400,440 $500,080 Board Approved $400,000 Board Approved $500,000 Amount Count Divided Round D. Remainder Remainder amount goes to $38, $1, $1,157 $19 (31 * 1,157) + (2 * 1,166.50) = 38, : Bloomington $38, $1, $1,154 $18 (31 * 1,154) + (2 * 1,163) = 38, : Quincy $40, $1, $1,222 $29 (31 * 1,222) + (2 * 1,236.50) = 40, : Moline $39, $1, $1,190 $30 (31 * 1,190) + (2 * 1,205) = 39, : Bloomington

62 60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, We have a fresh brochure, which places Masonic emblems in high schools and homes across the state. More chairmen and committee members are making presentations at high school award assemblies. I describe this committee as contagious energy. These chairmen do much more than what s required. There s a difference between simply presenting a scholarship and that of delivering a scholarship experience. Thinking longer term, we must keep in mind the memories each recipient and family member carries with them once their years in college are in the past. Grand Lodge of Illinois continues to be a great scholarship partner. In the academic year each Valley will administrate 6 Grand Lodge Scholarships. This is an increase of one per Valley. The annual amount of each Grand Lodge Scholarship is being raised to $2,000. The Grand Lodge now has a separate scholarship program for Master Masons. These will be handled directly by the Grand Lodge. These scholarships will assist with accredited job training programs, junior college or university courses. If you desire to obtain more information, check it out on our website or call the Grand Lodge. Most Worshipful Grand Master Barry D. Weer We have awarded 456 scholarships for acedemic year: 343 Health Care Fields 10 Robert B Perkins 9 Sherwood & Evelyn Kresin Memorial 3 A. Colville Wilson 4 Louis L. Williams 33 Leon M. Abbott (Supreme Council) 54 Illinois Grand Lodge As a Brotherhood we are a positive influence in our communities. For me, it continues to be an honor to be involved with this program. Respect fully submitted, Roger F. Aukerman, MSA, 33, Chairman COMMITTEE ON APPEALS AND GRIEVANCES Please be advised that there will be No report for this year s meeting, as there was no business conducted. Respectfully Submitted Elliott R. McKinley, 32, Chairman Robert B. Wells, 33 Patrick E. Schlehuber, 32

63 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 61 GENERAL COUNSEL REPORT On behalf of the General Counsel Committee there is nothing to report.. Respectfully Submitted, Scott R. Ripley, 33, Chairman Danny J. Leifel, 33 COMMITTEE ON JURISPRUDENCE The Jurisprudence Committee reports that no matters were referred to the Committee for its attention or action. The Committee reports that no action was taken by the Committee. Respectfully Submitted, Irvin C. Slate, Jr., 33, Chairman Scott Sexton, 32 Edward J. Witas, III, 32, MSA INTRODUCTION OF DISTINGUISHED GUESTS REPORT To the best of my knowledge, there is no new news to report regarding the committee on the Introduction of Distinguished Guests. Respectfully submitted, Grady M. Birdsell, 33, Chairman Michael Fitzpatrick, 32, MSA Elliott R. McKinley, 32 VALLEY YEAR IN REVIEW REPORTS VALLEY OF BLOOMINGTON The Valley of Bloomington continues to have a lot to be proud of. After two years as Commander-in-Chief, every goal I set forth has been met, except for one. Discovering the Valley of Bloomington: Started two years ago to meet informally throughout our Valley, strengthening the bonds of fellowship at various locations. It gives us the opportunity to invite prospective members. This past year two standout events included the Murals and Museums in Pontiac and the tour of the Ewing Castle. Our own tour guide, Ill Dan Leifel, 33, brought history to life at the Ewing Castle. On the list of most liked repeated events, is Pie

64 62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Night at Busy Corner in Goodfield. It s hard to find something better than a good piece of pie. New Event - Cast and Crew Pizza Night: The one day Spring Reunion provided the opportunity to have an appreciation party the evening before. We met on the same stage as where the degrees would take place the following day. Our stage crew helped to set the mood by adding in a number of lighting effects. The buzz at the reunion was the desire to bring this back next year. Valley of Bloomington s Rite Connection: Another program now in its second year. Al Abbott coordinates the pizza with phone calls to follow. Calling members to make a personal contact has many rewards. Not one calling night has passed without being touched by spending time with members of this fraternal family. This is both fun and rewarding. It s an activity that should continue. Recognition: This past year Gordy Ropp and Kevin Clower received the Meritorious Service Award (MSA). This year this honor will be presented to Brian Gaddy and Al House. Then at the meeting of the Supreme Council, Jerry Starks will receive the 33rd degree. Cathedral News: This publication continues to be our top communication tool. Much appreciation goes out to our editor Dorian James and to our regular contributors. Ill Dan Leifel, 33 continues to provide biographic sketches of members. Brother Movie Quotes tests our movie knowledge. Duke, an old english golden retriever, helps keep things in perspective. Scholarship Reception: We tried something new this past year. Instead of a reception with a speaker, we served breakfast to our recipients and their families. It was well received and already rescheduled for this year. Director of Work: A special thanks to Denny Garigus, MSA for his high standards. This position is a lot more than selecting which degrees will be presented. If you have any doubts, watch Denny at a Reunion. He does what needs to be done to ensure we present meaningful degrees. He takes on speaking parts. He directs degrees. He coordinates with the staging. He is also there lending a hand to other degree directors. My Missed Goal: All goals I placed forward, except for one, were met. At the Fall 2014 Reunion I wanted to see a class of forty or more. I believe we have something great to share. I believe our leadership team can make this happen. In my heart I believed this was and still is achievable. We have the pieces to make this happen in place; we now need to bring them together. Next Steps: I ve been blessed to have a Consistory line of doers. Both Ill Andy Bender, 33 and Larry Raglan have been there for me. Without hesitation they both have been taking on various assignments other the past two years. I truly look forward to their leadership as they advance in the Consistory line. Teaming up with the other officer lines, office staff, past officers, and members our Valley has a positive future. Ill Roger F. Aukerman, MSA 33

65 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 63 VALLEY OF CHICAGO The Valley of Chicago is proud to return to ICOD with another year full of successes and accomplishments, centered around Ill. John Wm. McNaughton, 33 s mission statement "We will strive to be a fraternity that fulfills our Masonic obligation to care for our members." The year began in June with our golf outing at Bloomingdale Golf Club. An always popular event the members enjoyed low scores and high comradery including cigars after dinner. The year continued with a host of summer events including a day of horse racing at Arlington Park, the MS Bike-a-thon and the annual picnic. August closed with Learning Center & Scholarship Awards Night, as well as a DeMolay Honors Night. The Valley of Chicago awarded over 63 different scholarships to deserving youth. September hosted our Annual Back to the Right Night which featured a country style themed party at Toby Keith s Bar and Grill in Rosemont and kicked off the Valley s Fall Reunion Road Trip to Memphis. This night allows members a chance to reacquaint themselves with the Valley. Oktoberfest is an always popular annual event with German cuisine, musicians, dancing and entertainment featuring Muller Fasching and the Austrian Express from Milwaukee. The Valley of Chicago participated in a joint reunion with the Valley of Memphis. It was a great learning experience to see the Southern Jurisdiction degrees. But not to be outdone Chicago brought our signature 32º Allegory of Constans to Memphis and received standing ovations and many compliments. A road trip Reunion is only as good as the fun you can have along the way. Our members were treated to tours of Graceland, Sun Studios and the Gibson Guitar Factory. We even left a piece of Scottish Rite memorabilia at a local restaurant. Traveling together for a reunion builds a unique comradery that can only be found on the road. Our Valley will continue to occasionally embrace the Reunion Road Trip concept for many years to come as a way to build brotherhood. November started with a bang. The Valley of Chicago conferred the 4,7,16,24 & 32 degrees at our home reunion weekend before setting out the following weekend to Memphis. Most importantly the Valley of Chicago was able to welcome fifty eight new class members from across the area. These members constitute the crowning achievement in the efforts of many individuals from our Valley who work tirelessly presenting degrees and helping on various committees. Our members sacrifice their time and talents to put on a Reunion. I am thankful for everything they do, stated Ill John T. Phillips, 33º, Active Member of the Supreme Council for the Valley of Chicago. In December our annual Adult Holiday Party was held with live music and lots of holiday cheer including Stu the Piano Guy direct from the famous Red Head Piano Bar in Chicago. He played everyone s favorite songs and was a big hit. January started with a bang which included the Valley Awards night. This recognized our newest Thirty-third Degree, MSA, and membership achievement recipients.

66 64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, In February our stated meeting was accompanied by the Historic Degree presentation of the retired degree Grand Pontiff. Directed by Frank Winans MSA, 33 it featured an outstanding cast and a truly frightening Devil character. Historic degree presentations drive many members to come out and attend an event they otherwise might skip. The next week, members and their ladies enjoyed our Annual Dinner Theater at Drury Lane with a performance of West Side Story. In April the Valley hosted its 2015 Spring Reunion. This historic event was named in honor of famous Mason Winston Churchill. The Valley even flew in a special Winston Churchill impersonator to regale the membership with stories of his life. The Valley then presented the 4, 6, 10, 15, 17, & 32. The entire building was decorated for the occasion with British Flags and images from across the pond. May finished with Annual Meetings and election of officers which ended one of the most productive years in our history. Under the leadership of the Active and the Fraternal Officers the Valley has a firm commitment to to support our Members. VALLEY OF DANVILLE Year Summary Narrative We are pleased to present our yearly summary narrative for the Valley of Danville-AASR, arranged chronologically and highlighting the various Degree opportunities, events, meetings and activities for the year. The Valley of Danville Officers, Board and Membership continue to move forward with a committed, focused agenda, incorporating Supreme Council programs and initiatives to attract interest in Scottish Rite Masonry, receive new members, retain valued current members, encourage member participation, fraternal activity and Degree opportunities. We continue to work and further develop the Traveling Degrees concept. We publish our Valley Echoes newsletter that goes to all Members throughout the year. We are using social media in a more directed way with our Valley of Danville Facebook site, re-vamping our Valley website to be more streamlined and user friendly and developing better public relations with information on our Valley activity when appropriate. We continue to develop our Lodge Ambassadors Program and to be in support of Blue Lodge activity whenever possible throughout the Valley, most specifically with our Valley Ancient Craft Degree Team. We are working to develop an out-reach program to serve our Membership, especially those who are infirmed as well as planning a Knights of St. Andrew group within the Valley. We continue to work to develop our Temple building initiatives for efficiency, maintenance and restoration. New initiatives are being developed for ACH withdrawals for annual dues as well as programs for those seeking a Life Membership. Any questions or further inquiry regarding this summary may be directed to the Executive Secretary s Office, Valley of Danville-AASR. In June 2014, we welcomed our newly elected and appointed Officers, Board Member and in conjunction with our regular monthly stated meeting; a 32nd

67 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 65 Degree conferral was conducted with four candidates as well as accommodating two visitors for this Degree. Later in the month we held our 8th Annual Scottish Rite Golf Classic in Danville that continues to be a successful event and helps support the Children s Dyslexia Center of East Central Illinois. The Ancient Craft Degree Team traveled to Manteno Lodge # 636 to conduct a 3rd Degree. In late June, six Officers and fifteen Members attended ICOD held in East Peoria, Illinois. Brothers Earl E. Lomax & Michael E. Brucker received their MSA award and the 2015 nominees were announced. Brothers Ricky Casteel and Rolland Meier will be the MSA nominees in Ill. Brother Robert Jones received the Distinguished Service Award. There have been four Members from the Valley of Danville who have received this award since In July 2014, the monthly stated meeting was held in Danville, Illinois. Later in the month the Annual Valley Officers planning session took place in Indianapolis, Indiana mixing business and planning the coming year with good fellowship. In August 2014, the monthly stated meeting was on the road, hosted at Tuscola Lodge # 332 in Tuscola, Illinois. This is part of our ongoing effort to take the stated monthly meeting on the road three to four times yearly around the Valley so Members in those regions may attend and participate. Committee and Committee Chair assignments were given at that meeting. During the month, a DVD Degree Day was hosted at Watseka Lodge # 446 in Watseka, Illinois. Though we did not receive any new candidates, it was well attended and Members were able to view the Degrees and enjoy good fellowship. Late in the month a Traveling Degree night was hosted at Casey Lodge # 442 in Casey, Illinois. There were approximately thirty Members in attendance and the Valley received two new Members that evening. The Council line held their annual picnic with an invitation to all line Officers of the four Bodies. Additionally in August; our Valley Executive Secretary attended the Secretary Conference held in Lexington, Massachusetts. In September 2014, the stated monthly meeting was held in Danville, Illinois. The Danville Lodge of Perfection hosted the annual Feast of Tishri. A very nice presentation was given at this event, followed by a Thanksgiving style meal. Midmonth our Valley Membership Chairman and Vice-Chairman attended the two day Supreme Council NMJ Membership Conference in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Brother Michael Shirley of the Valley of Danville made a presentation at the Conference. The Valley also held a Membership Dinner late in the month hosted by Allendale Lodge # 752 for the benefit of our Members in that region. In October 2014, the stated meeting was held in Danville, Illinois. A Degree Day was hosted at Kankakee Lodge # 398 in Kankakee, Illinois. There were approximately twenty five Members in attendance and the Valley received in one new Member that day. The Rose Croix line hosted a dinner and silent auction held at the Gao Grotto in the late part of the month. In November 2014, the stated meeting was held in Danville, Illinois. Our Fall Reunion was held over two days. The Reunion was named in honor of Illinois DeMolay. Requisite Degrees and excellent presentations of Degrees were provided by each of the four Bodies. Announcement of our two 33rd Degree recip-

68 66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, ients, Brothers John W. McBride and Peter J. Eisenmemger was made. We had many Members in attendance and received in twenty one new Members during that time. The Children s Dyslexia Center of East Central Illinois held their comedy night in this month. In December 2014, the monthly stated meeting was on the road, hosted by Mattoon Lodge # 260. Follow-up letters went out to all 32nd Degree recipients of 2014, thanking them for choosing Scottish Rite and the Valley of Danville in particular. Information on the Valley was provided with those letters. In January and February 2015, the monthly stated meeting was held in Danville, Illinois. In February the Ancient Craft Degree Team participated in several 3rd Degrees held and hosted by Star Lodge # 709 in Hoopeston, Illinois. Team members from around the Valley were in attendance and excellent Degree work was given. In March 2015, the monthly stated meeting was held in Danville, Illinois. The Valley hosted the Feast of the Pascal Lamb in Danville. Our Executive Secretary and Membership Chairman attended the ICOD spring meeting held in Springfield, Illinois. Our Spring Reunion was held over two days. The Reunion was named in honor of the current Illinois Most Worshipful Grand Master Barry D. Weer. Requisite Degrees and excellent presentations of Degrees were provided by the four Bodies. There were some changes made to the format of the Reunion to include entertainment during the dinner on day two. We had many Members in attendance and received in fifteen new Members. Follow-up letters went out to all those 32nd Degree recipients, thanking them for choosing Scottish Rite and the Valley of Danville in particular. Information on the Valley was provided with those letters. In April 2015, the monthly stated meeting was on the road, hosted by Bridgeport Lodge # 386. The Valley again participated in the F.A.V.O.R. Golf program. The collective proceeds of those fraternal organizations participating with F.A.V.O.R. helps Veterans and community groups in and around the area and continues to be a good community out-reach. The Children s Dyslexia Center of East Central Illinois hosted its annual Chicken and Noodle Dinner late in the month with good success. In May 2015, our Valley Annual meeting was held in Danville, Illinois with regular business conducted, election of Officers and a new Board member. The installation followed directly after the meeting. The Valley of Danville received in forty three new Members and two affiliations in this year. The Valley of Danville continues to strive offering new and innovative ideas, programs, Degree presentations and events incorporating Supreme Council programs and initiatives into our plan. We want our Members to feel value for being a Scottish Rite Mason. The coming year is sure to be challenging, exciting and memorable as we continue to bring the Scottish Rite Experience to interested Master Masons and the continued support of our current Membership.

69 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 67 VALLEY OF FREEPORT The Valley of Freeport continues its long tradition to support all Masonic bodies and to support community events. Community Events: Many of our Community Events have become traditions that area residents look forward to. The Annual Adpix Awards were once again held in our auditorium in May. These honor high school students for work done in the performing arts. Other community events that are annual favorites include the Mayor s Hunger luncheon, Freeport Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner, Service Club Christmas Luncheon, FHN Holiday Gala and the Freeport Community Concert Series. Our Grand Ballroom is annually used for the dancing events; Moonlight Serenade and the Candyland Ball. We also host many local high school proms. The 13th Annual Freeport Scottish Rite Golf Outing was held in June and raised money for both the Shrine Children s Hospital in Chicago and the Children s Learning Center. Over the years, this event has raised over $18, for these two organizations. Our auditirioum continues to host many concerts. Continuing a trend that began last year, we hosted 3 large dance contest for national dance studios. These are weekend affair, utilizing our facility Friday through Sunday. Two of these groups have committed to returning in This year we added a full line of food and beverage concessions that are sold during these events. Profits from these concessions go directly to the maintenance and upkeep of our building. Masonic Events: Our Fall Reunion was held November 1st. We decided to once again to have a one day reunion; it seems to work well for our members and candidates. We had a small class this year, only five (5) candidates at this reunion and closed with a dinner with the ladies. The Freeport Chapter of the DeMolay continues to meet. They have taken over jewelry sales at the reunions and continue to meet twice a month. The Valley of Freeport s Spring 2015 Reunion was held in two parts. Saturday, March 21st the Valley of Freeport held the first half, by presenting the 4º, 14º, 16º & 26º. The second half of the reunion was held on April 18th at the Valley of Madison. At the Valley of Madison, we performed the 26º and were able to see 21º, 29º, & 32º. We welcomed seven more candidates into our membership during this reunion in two parts. As always, membership growth and retention is a concern in the Valley of Freeport. Members to the Valley of Freeport must find benefits to being a part of our fraternity. Our Activity Committee is reenergized and working to bring our members fun and informative programs and events. In February, the Activity Committee brought Brother Steven Harrison, 33º, to our Valley for a dinner and presentation about Oak Island. This event was well attended and we look forward to more events that our committee has planned.

70 68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, The Worshipful Masters of Lodges within our Valley continue to be recognized as they are installed in their lodge. They are presented with a certificate at, or shortly after their initiation. This program seems to be well received and we plan to continue to honor new Masters as they are installed. We have continued to allow new initiates to view the 4th, 6th and 24th degrees on DVD prior to our monthly Stated Meetings. This offers flexibility to our candidates and allows them to continue their Masonic journey into Scottish Rite Masonry when they want. Learning Center: Our Learning Center assists children diagnosed with dyslexia, at no expense to the families that it assists. Operating sole on donations, the Learning Center is now in its eleventh year of operation. As the result of a large three year grant secured two years ago, tutoring is done three nights a week. In May, 8 students graduated from this program. With the one-on-one tutoring provided, it is essential to keep student numbers low. VALLEY OF MOLINE Our year begins in May with the election and appointment of officers. In June several of our members and their wives attended the banquet at the Illinois Council of Deliberation. Brother Donald Peterson and Brother Thomas Podrovitz received the M.S.A. award. The 4th and 16th Degrees were presented following the September Stated Meeting. Several members with their wives and friends enjoyed a Dinner Cruise aboard the Celebration Belle and the 18th degree was presented following the Stated meeting in October. Our Valley website was completely rebuild with many new features to keep us abreast of the current needs if our members. The site better informas our members of our past, current and upcoming events. A video presentation of the 12th degree with an explanation was presented after the close of the November Stated Meeting. The 2014 Fall Reunion was held November 15th. The 32nd degree was presented. December brought about the Annual Christmas Party. Young and old were entertained by clowns, bouncing room, face painting, a magic show, and a visit from Santa. The 2015 Spring Reunion was cancelled, but we had a banquet and a public observance of the Feast of the Pascal Lamb was given for our deceasd Brothers. We held a Good Friday Fish Fry Fundraiser on April 3rd, 2015 at the Moline Cathedral. The event was well attended. Our year s activities came to its end at the April Stated Meeting.

71 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 69 VALLEY OF PEORIA This past year in the Valley of Peoria we have focused on getting out to the members in the Valley instead of hoping we have programs that will entice them to come to us. A prime example of this is the number of degrees we ve taken to lodges around the area. While the number of new candidates we ve taken in during these events has not been huge, we are adding new candidates at every lodge we do the degrees, and we see Scottish Rite members who we have not seen at the Cathedral in Peoria. From our perspective this makes the program a success. For our travelling degrees we almost always do the 4th and 14th degree with a cast and also try and show one of the video degrees. During the summer of 2014 we even did the 22nd degree in the "woods". One of the bonuses of these travelling degrees is we re getting new actors to begin learning parts and participate! In a number of the cases these men have been some of the same ones we did the degree for at their lodge in the recent past. With us taking out degrees we cut back our reunion to just one during the fall of 2014 and that will likely continue in the coming years. Like all Valleys we continue to lose some key members of our Valley to the Grand Architect of the Universe. You may notice that the Valley of Peoria does not have their two MSA candidates in attendance at ICOD. With dispensation, and Active Greg Clark making a special trip to Peoria we were able to confer the MSA degree on Elmer Mac Macintosh and Harold Howerter. Shortly after conferring the degree on Mac he sadly left this mortal coil, but his spirit is still found among the degrees he enjoyed participating in. Like many Valley s our building maintenance costs continue to rise and will continue to be a challenge. The good news is the board has taken advantage of funds the Valley s building foundation has made available and done some major repairs that were much needed. If you come to the Valley of Peoria, look down the halls alongthe side of the auditorium and you ll see solid walls of gleaming white along with pictures and frames of past members that have been repaired and updated. We also did must needed repairs on getting the bricks outside tuck pointed. A special thanks to Bob Gossmeyer MSA on his vigilance with these projects. We continue to hold regular events for members. We added a Halloween Party to our list, and for the first year it had a nice turnout. Members brought their families and grandchildren for an indoor Halloween parade as well as a magician. Everyone got a light lunch of hotdogs and chips and the kids got Halloween candy! Our Family Fest (aka Brat Fest) continue to see declining numbers but members still donate for the event, even if they don t come, so from a fund raising perspective, it is still a success. Our annual Fish Fry saw a nice turnout as did our annual East Egg hunt. This year we partnered with Mohammed Shrine on the Easter Egg hunt and we had a very full house! This year s Feast of the Paschal Lamb was said by many to be one of the best that s been done in recent year. We even had a number of new cast members participate. We also had a nice crowd which is good but also sad in that it says how many members we ve lost over the last year.

72 70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Our Learning Center was one of the jewels of the Valley. Sadly funding was cut by Supreme Council and the costs are too much for the center to continue with just Valley support. The committee worked hard during the past year to prevent this from happening but the last classes will be finishing up this summer. The board continues to work with some community organizations in the hope that they will be able to pick up the program as it is clear this is a much needed project for Central Illinois. The Valley also had a Civil War theme throughout the year. One of the valleys officers, High Priest Ron Kirchgessner, is an active Civil War re-enactor and he took on the challenge to share his historic knowledge to members during our fall reunion. He also managed a Civil War event held at the Cathedral during the fall that had a nice turnout. The theme continued to our annual Washington Day play that is open to the public. This year s play was the old Lincoln Degree. We were able to leverage Ron s authentic Civil War tents and he even had his wife and family join the cast clothed in their Civil War garments. This past year has been an active one and there is no question the Valley has challenges, but the current and future leadership remains committed to improving in 2015 and beyond. VALLEY OF QUINCY At our May 28, 2014, Annual Meeting, officers were elected. Consistory officers remained unchanged, but elected officers in the other 3 bodies were advanced in line. Some of the appointed officers, who demonstrated leadership potential, were moved to elected officer positions in their bodies. Top line officers for the year have been: Stanley L. Davidson, 33, Commander in Chief; H. Jay Sade, MSA 33, Most Wise Master; Donald D. Huston, Sovereign Prince; and Randall W. Baker, Thrice Potent Master. These officers guided our Valley this year. Twenty-nine of our members and ladies attended the Illinois Council of Deliberation Annual Meeting on June 28, at the Par-A-Dice Hotel in East Peoria. We were happy to see Brothers Edward E. Lefringhouse and Clif E. Weisinger receive their Meritorious Service Awards at that meeting. It was also announced that Brothers Kenneth A. Brickman and James D. Paar will receive that award at the 2015 ICOD Annual Meeting, on June 27, 2015, in Springfield. We had planned to attend a Quincy Gems Baseball Game on June 7, but it was rained out. A group of 32 members and families attended the rain-date game on July 15. The Mark Twain Riverboat Dinner Cruise continues to be a popular event for our Valley. On August 16, thirty members, their families, and guests enjoyed a delicious meal in air-conditioned comfort. After the meal, they were able to glide along the mighty Mississippi River on the upper deck of the boat. Twenty-two members and their ladies attended a Mystery Dinner Theatre at the Collver Winery, in Barry Illinois, on September 13, where they participated in "Murder at the Winery." There were 13 candidates in our fall reunion class, which honored Truman J. Conner, MSA. Some of those new members took part in degrees at our spring

73 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 71 reunion. That class was named in honor of Lawrence N. Weisinger, MSA, who had been our Class Marshall for 19 years. We are sorry to report that there were only 4 candidates in the class. However, they were the first candidates to experience the new 31st Degree, "My Brother s Keeper". It was well received by the members of our Valley. This year, for our family activities, we plan to go to a Quincy Gems baseball game on June 5, hold a Valley picnic on June 20, attend the Quincy Community Theatre production of "Mary Poppins", on July 19, take the riverboat dinner cruise on August 15, and to experience a shrimp boil at Hopewell Winery on September 19. Plans are being made for our Sesquicentennial Reunion on May 6 & 7, 2016, when our Valley will celebrate 150 years since our founding on March 16, We hope that other Valleys will be able to join us for that celebration. The Sovereign Grand Commander and Grand Master of the Illinois Grand Lodge have indicated that they plan to attend. Sincerely and Fraternally, Paul E. Mealiff, Executive Secretary VALLEY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS Membership: We remain focused on Membership, but it is difficult to identify ways to increase our membership. We believe that there has to be something more thtn juts more "Light in Masonry" to draw new members to the Scottish Rite. Our plan to address this point is by placing a larger emphasis on our Children s Dyslexia Center, showing what we do for the local community. Overall, our initiations have been steady, but NPD and Deaths have been increasing. Our Membership Chairman has his committee going to as many Masonic Lodges as possible to get the word out about the Scottish Rite. New Executive Secretary. After twelve years as Executive Secretary Gary Alves, 33 has retired. His replacement for the position is Michael Grafe, 32. Mike has been a member of the Valley of Southern Illinois for 28 years. Michael is also a past Potenate of Ainad Shriners of Southern Illinois. Children s Dyslexia Center: Our Learning Center continues to help children with dyslexia. We are celebrating the 13th Anniversary of our Center. Since opening we have had 14,000 tutoring sessions helping children from Southern Illinois overcome dyslexia. We have a class of eight scholars, all experienced special education teachers. This will allow the Center to serve as many as twenty children at a time. As always we are especially thankful to all of the supporters of the enter for their continued and generous support. Community Events: As in years past, the Valley has participated in many community and family events. We have hosted events for the local parks and recreation fundraiser, the Belleville Philharmonic production of the Nutcracker, The United States Air Force Band concert, and a concert by the Ainad Drum and Bugle Corps and the Belleville West High School Jazz Band. The money col-

74 72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, lected from this concert was donated to Shrine Charities, Belleville West Band Program, and our Dyslexia Center. We host a luncheon on Valentine s Day and Thanksgiving for our members and ladies that is always well attended. Reunions & Outstates: Through the efforts of our membership committee, officers, and members the Valley had very successful Spring Reunion, Fall Reunion, and our State Reunions initiated 39 new members. We are actively pursuing degree presentations throughout Southern Illinois. The Valley has begun presenting degrees at our monthly stated meetings for the convenience of our new members, and to increase attendance at the Stated Meetings. Status of Building: Even with all the positive things taking place at the Valley, our building continues to require significant effort to maintain. Our leadership has recognized this fact and determined that the best approach is to try and sell the property but in the meantime we know the building must be maintained. The members if the Valley of Southern Illinois have voted to do major repairs to our roofs, parking lots, and concrete stairways. This is our home and we should always be proud to invite new members into their new home. Fraternally Submitted, Michael H. Grafe, 32, Executive Secretary VALLEY OF SPRINGFIELD The Valley of Springfield term May 1, May 31, 2015 in review has been one of new vision with challenge. The Presiding Officers saw and felt the need to take a different direction for the future of the Valley. We wanted to progress in hopes of creating an atmosphere for our membership that would expand their participation. Thus, creating a built in retention program which could lead to increased membership. We have been successful in expanding this goal. Monthly Stated Meetings have been utilized to take in new Scottish Rite Masons. A degree presentation plan in conjunction with degrees on video each month makes this possible. We have also mixed in a variety of events displaying different interesting Masonic related Enrichment topics. These included showing an episode from the old Robin Hood television series where Masonic implications and overtones were portrayed throughout. A special historical presentation on Abraham Lincoln was also utilized. Our Valley members who have served in DeMolay throughout the jurisdiction came together and presented the DeMolay Degree. The inspiring presentation was enjoyed by all in attendance. As a result, our Stated Meeting attendance and participation has significantly increased. Which has also revived interest in members to become officers in the Valley. The Valley event chairman provided our members and guest with an enjoyable mix of social, philanthropic and fundraising activities, strengthening our brotherhood bond. The Scholarship Presentation Evening brought the youth of our communities and their families together to recognize our recipients. We identified them individually and heard from each. Refreshments closed the

75 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 73 evening. The annual Steak & Cigar Evening sponsored by our Consistory line took place in September again. The event has shown growth each year in raising funds for our Children s Dyslexia Center located within our facility. It is a cooperation of members and community business people who inspire to gather and enjoy a socially rewarding evening. In November we honored our Veterans with a relaxing social time. A very special presentation was experienced by all in attendance with a Veterans account of Iwo Jima. As we entered into the holidays our Valley conveyed its appreciation to its membership with the Adult Christmas Party. We celebrated the coming season in fine fashion with different activities that evening. Back to business the very next week with "Breakfast with Santa" which has become a standard for our members families as well as with a strong community attendance. Santa is there to take Christmas list for the little ones. The donations from the event go to our Dyslexia Center. Next we present the annual Valentines Ladies Evening with the playing of our rendition of the "Newlywed Game". The event is a wonderful chance to appreciate our ladies, while also entertaining all those in attendance with the joy of laughter. We finish the month with the annual Joe DeFrates Chili Cook Off & Daytona 500 fundraiser. The Valley with Ansar Shrine Temple s Arab Patrol put on the largest Cook Off fundraising event in the Midwest. All proceeds support the Shrine Children s Hospital and Scottish Rite Dyslexia Center s. The Valley in continuing its efforts to inspire and retain membership created a new Chapter of the Knights of St. Andrew. Thus, providing non MSA or 33 members the opportunity to meet and organize themselves as a service group in supporting the needs of the Valley. This has been an enjoyable addition. We have witnessed the inspiration within these members. They are able to contribute and take responsibility for growing our Valley. The Feast of the Paschal Lamb was conducted in observance of those members who have moved on to be with the Grand Architect of the Universe. Although it is with sadness we gather, the presentation provides us opportunity to remember our brothers and remind family they are not forgotten. The Valley instituted our new Reunion schedule this past Fall and Spring. In an effort to provide convenience as well as promote membership a new format was created. The Fall Reunion conferred only the 32, utilizing our excellent video degrees provided by Supreme Council to meet requirements. While the brothers conducted the business of the reunion our ladies were invited for a special program to enjoy and interact with each other. Everyone joined back together for dinner and social interaction. This was well received by all attending. The Spring Reunion provided a more traditional format of presenting numerous degrees. This was followed by an enjoyable afterglow period for reflection and brotherhood. The variety in the two reunion formats appeared to accommodatemembership as evident by the numbers in attendance. The Valley as part of the new direction improved communication to the membership. It is the 21st Century, so we have entered the social media world. We started a newsletter in magazine format, "The Valley Voice". It is published quarterly with the upcoming events as well as results from prior events. It increases access to officers of the Valley so members can connect with the activities. It

76 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, provides opportunity for other Masonic groups to publicize their upcoming events as well. Additionally, we have increased involvement of members by establishing a Facebook page. A Mobil app was created for the Valley to increase awareness. We are currently looking to expand this app to bring us closer to our future goals. The Valley website which had existed previously is now updated on a regular basis with current and past information for our member interest. All this in hopes to make it more convenient for our members to connect with the Valley and enjoy what we have to offer. The Annual Meeting elected our officers into new stations. A formal Installation was held with Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33 installing. Ill Loren I. Barnes, 33 was Installing Marshall. Additionally, the Valley honored our 50 and 60 year members with dinner and all members present enjoyed hearing these brothers talk about their Scottish Rite history. The Valley of Springfield will continue this new direction of bringing to our membership the best possible experience for them as Scottish Rite Masons. The Brotherhood Outreach program which entails a calling system reaching out to all members will continue to let them know "we care" and we are there for them. If we have inspired our members they will bring new members. This will strengthen our commitment to Masonic Charities, Children s Dyslexia Center s and our fellow Brothers. Fraternally Submitted, Gerry L. Williams, MSA, 33, Commander-in-Chief Springfield Consistory, AASR NMJ

77 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION REUNION DATES Valley of Bloomington April 23 March 4 November 4-5 November 3-4 Valley of Chicago April 8-9 March 31-April 1 November 4-5 November 3-4 Valley of Danville April 1-2 April 7-8 November November Valley of Freeport April 16 April 15 October 29 October 28 Valley of Moline March March October October Valley of Peoria November 3-4 November 4-5 November 3-4

78 76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Valley of Quincy May 6-7 March 31-April 1 November 3-4 Valley of Southern Illinois April 16 April 29 October 22 October 21 Valley of Springfield March 5 March 4 October 15 October 14

79 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 77 ONE HUNDRED FORTY SIXTH SESSION Banquet Saturday, June 27, :30 p.m. For the third and last time, would everyone please find their seats? And now that you have found your seats, can you please join me in giving the pledge? Pledge was given If you please remain standing, I ll call on Brother Joe Eby to give the blessings please. Brother Joseph H. Eby, 32, Prior: Let us pray. Supreme Architect of the universe, Your blessings abound in our lives and in this Fraternity. We pray Your special presence upon this special gathering this evening. Bless the fellowship around these tables, as we recognize theses who have received the Meritorious Service Award. May they continue in their service to the Fraternity and the community. God, we thank You for the food which You have provided, the hands which have prepared. It is a sign of Your providence and blessings in our lives from the bounty of Your land. Amen. Thank you and please be seated and enjoy your meal. We have piano music by Deb Watt. Interlude of music during the serving and enjoyment of dinner. I hope everyone has enjoyed their dinner. Please be seated, we will get started with the program here. Please join me in thanking and showing our appreciation to Deb Watt, our piano player during dinner. Deb we thank you. As a custom at this banquet I told the Commander, he s taught me this, for at every board meeting we have, he passes the collection plate around to the Board of Directors of our various corporations. So he has taught me this, but we have been doing it prior to his time. It is our custom to pass a collection plate around here at this banquet. All the funds collected will be placed in our Almoner s fund that we started two years ago. John Bracken and his group John where are you? OK. If your brethren will please proceed. You know, we are here amongst the fortunate, and I think, many times, we fail to remember

80 78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, that. But when you think about some of our Brothers that really have had some misfortunes in their lives out there, and really need some assistance. I think we need to remember when reaching to our pocket and make a donation. But for the grace of God, it might be one of us that really would need some assistance so, please remember that when you are contributing. While they are passing the baskets, I ll take this opportunity to thank everyone for the cards and the calls when I had my own illness this past winter. Such an illness certainly let you know right away how fortunate you are. Having had that major surgery with the good prognosis certainly convinced me that anyone, and I try to convince anyone, if you have any ailments that you question, you certainly want to get to the doctor or to the hospital and find out what it is and get it taken care of. Like I said with the prognosis I ended up with, I certainly was blessed and I encourage anybody if you have a problem, to find out what the heck it was. I am assuming that the good Lord above has some other functions for me to perform yet before He decides to haul me away. ILLINOIS EAGLE AWARD While they are proceeding with the collection, I think I ll go ahead and present an award. I want to recognize one of our Brothers for his membership efforts and it just so happens the same Brother was recognized last year. This is the Illinois Eagle Award and the recipient is Brother Mick Myers. Mick, if can you make your way to the podium here. This year he was top-line signor for eight petitions, which brings his total to, and I m assuming probably the highest in Supreme Council, but I don t know for sure and I don t know over how many years. Mick, how many years have you been a member? Since Not 81 years, Since 1981, Mick has top-line signed 229 petitions, so will you please give him a big hand. Mick, it is my pleasure to again present you with a certificate. From the Illinois Council Deliberation the Illinois Eagle Award. Ill Michael B. Myers, 33, Deputy Representative and recipient of the Illinois Eagle Award for 2015 Thank you. Congratulations again and thank you for all those petitions. Ill Michael B. Myers, 33, Deputy Representative and recipient of the Illinois Eagle Award for 2015 Commander McNaughton, Commander in Chief, Actives, Brothers and all. Thank you for this honor that you ve giving me. I don t want to offend anyone. Certainly it is not my thing to do, but I want to say that everyone is this room is capable of doing the same thing, everyone. And I would certainly be

81 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 79 happy next year to see someone else get this because it is not hard to do. I mean, the members are out there and I ve got a knack for it I guess. I used to be a small rural county sheriff. That was in my younger life and I since retired from most law enforcement. I still work a little part-time. You know, there have been tales and stories over the years that I ve got a good way to get new members. But, some of the members I deal with, certainly we don t want them to become Master Masons. I appreciate this award and again, I want to see someone up here next year making me wonder what do I need to do now? Thank you. Thank you very much, Mick. NORMAN BUECKER SCOTTISH RITE SERVICE AWARD Three years ago, and I mentioned this in our meeting, I established the Deputy s Distinguished Service Award for this Council of Deliberation. At our meeting today, I suggested to the membership that we change the name of it to the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award, and the Brethren overwhelmingly decided to do that. We now have this award to present to one of our Brothers. As I explained to the members there today, this award is based on service that a Brother has provided to the Illinois Council of Deliberation. The past recipients provided exceptional services. Not necessarily for their Valley, but for this Council of Deliberation. Today, we are going to present the first Norman Beaker Distinguished Scottish Rite Service Award. After looking around our Council and those people that have really provided a great service for us for many years, it wasn t hard to see who the next recipient should be. That is Brother Lee Bradley. I don t know where he is. He s probably back in the kitchen harassing the staff. Did we find him? Greg? Is Greg Klemm? Do you have an idea where he is at? Well, evidently he is not providing the service I thought. Norman? While we are waiting for Lee, please stand up, again. I think everybody here knows Norman Buecker, and the services he s provided to our Scottish Rite. Let s give him a big hand. For those that don t know, Norman is a past Grand Master. He was, an active member for over twenty-five years, and a Past Deputy, for the State of Illinois. He s certainly has been a fixture here for all types of Masonic services. Thank you, Norman. Yes, I see Lee now. Thank you. Lee I was just telling everybody how great a service you provide for this Council of Deliberation. How you are always here, counting the meals and taking care of the staff back behind the scenes and then we couldn t find you.

82 80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: I was tending to an emergency situation. See, so you missed my intro of yourself. Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: But I ll hear it on the recordings. There you go. You ve been selected to receive the new Norman Beaker Scottish Rite Service Award, you are the first recipient and if you will let me, Lee, I would certainly, with pleasure and honor to pin it on you. Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: Thank you, sir. Your certificate, Lee, and we do, sincerely, thank you for all the services you ve provided for this Council of Deliberation. Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: Thank you. Short speech. Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: Very short. Thank you very much for the recognition. Ladies and gentlemen, it is always a pleasure. Just stay up here if you will. Greg Klemm? Come up here, Greg, come here please. As everybody who s been around here for any time at all, Greg and Lee have worked together for as long as I have been around here. I meant to have you come here and help me pin this on Lee. I think we want to get for sure, I want to get a picture of you and Lee together. Why don t you get between us, sir?

83 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 81 Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: Oh no, we are good. Well, this is dangerous. Ill Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33, Secrtary of the ICOD: I know Greg, while we have you up here, I think we will present you with the same award. Again, for maybe the ladies and some of the Brothers that haven t been here many times, Greg and Lee just continuously have worked for this Council of Deliberation, setting up the seating and the placement at the tables and just Ill Gregory L Klemm, MSA, 33, and Ill Lee Bradley, 33, many things. We appreciate all the services you both have provided. Greg, one recipients of the Norman R. Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award and Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33 Deputy for Illionois. of the certificates that you did not bring was this one for you. Congratulations and thank you for the service, both of you. Ill Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33, Secretary of the ICOD & recipient of the Norman R. Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: Thank you. Ill Lee Bradley, 33, Recipient of the Norman Buecker Scottish Rite Service Award: Thank you. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Now, I ll call on Illustrious Brother Joe Lucas. We will present the Distinguish Service Award for the Illinois Council of Deliberation for the year. Joe? Ill Joseph W. Lucas, 33, Chairman, Distinguished Service Award: Thank you sir. Illustrious sirs, Illustrious Sovereign Grand Commander. Most Worshipful Grand Master, Brother Barry Weer, Illustrious Brother Ben Grisham, Commander in Chief. To the Actives of Illinois, to our Distinguished guests and our Distinguished East, Illustrious Brothers and all. Thank you Brother Ben, for allowing my committee to serve you in selecting

84 82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, this Distinguished Service Award recipient for the 2015 session of the ICOD. Several weeks ago, we contacted the Valley Secretaries, the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the committees to nominate a candidate for this Distinguished Service Award. We were very specific in noting that the candidate would be evaluated not only on his Masonic service and record, but additionally on service to his community, church, state and nation. We wanted to see about his service to the military, to civil organizations, to charities and fraternal and social organizations. We wanted to know about to his donation of time, money and energy to the organizations and charities in his community. Brother Hileman would you please bring our candidate forward. The candidates resumes were send to each of the members of my committee to be graded, and our selection for this year is Brother James F. Albsmeyer, MSA, 33 of the Valley of Quincy. Please come forward Jim. Congratulations sir! Just hang on a minute. I will now read a very shortened version of Brother Albsmeyer s resume: The Valley of Quincy Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite recommends Illustrious Brother James F. Albsmeyer, MSA, 33, for the Illinois Council of Deliberation Distinguished Service Award. Jim was born in Quincy, Illinois on April the 22th, 1930 and attended school in Payson. After graduating, he went to work on the family farm where he continues to this day. He married Joan B. Keal on April the 29th, 1950 in Payson where they reside to this day. They have four children: James, Jeffrey, Gerry and Judy Wright, along with seven grand-children and twelve great grand-children. Brother Albsmeyer is lifelong member of the Payson Congressional Church during which time he has been the Moderator, Trustee and Deacon of the Church. He also served on the Retreat House board. President of the Couples Club and served as liaison between the Church and the Boy Scouts in Payson. He is also a member of the Uncle Sam s Club for thirty years at the Good Samaritan House in Quincy. For 25 of those years, he has donated his time and heart to their Annual Pancakes and Sausages Breakfast as their fundraiser. He joined the Payson Masonic Lodge on March the 28th 1982, and served as Master for several years. He has held also the Office of Secretary and holds plural memberships in Quincy s Bodley Lodge No 1. He has served as the Master of Quincy Lodge No 296 for the years , and He is currently holding the following positions for the Grand Lodge; Academic Board, starting in 1994, Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master for the Western Areas and Certified Lodge Instructor. He has also held the following positions: District Deputy Grand Master in , and the Worshipful Grand Standard Bearer in 1993 and He joined the Valley of Quincy Ancient Accepted Scottish Rites and was an Officer in the Council Princes of Jerusalem and Sovereign Princes in 1996 and He received the Meritorious Service Award in June of 1994, and he was coroneted into the 33 in September of He served as a Deputy Representative in the Valley from 2001 to He joined the York Rite Bodies in 1987, and he served as their Eminent Commander, the Illustrious Master and their High Priest. He also belongs to the Saint-Edward Conclave Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine, and he received the Knight of the York Cross of Honor. He is also member of the Quincy Masonic High Twelve Club and served as a Shrine Temple Ambassador in 2000 to 2013; Past President of Quincy Shrine Club, the Quincy Skeeter

85 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 83 Patrol, and the Pipe County Chapter Number 20 Order of the Eastern Star. Jim we congratulate you. Benny Grisham, will you make the presentation? Congratulations, Jim. Move over here a little bit. It is my pleasure and honor to be able to present you with the Distinguished Service Award. Joan if you can, maybe, stand up here beside him to be in the picture. Help me put this on. Jim s got so many medals, we have a hard time find a place to put it. That s a dangerous place. Jim, congratulations again, to you and Joan. We have a certificate as well. Jim, would you like to say a few words? Jim, if you want to sit, if you need to sit down, don t hesitate. Ill James F. Albsmeyer, MSA, 33, Recipient of the 2015 DSA Award: They will be a few. All I can say is it has been a long ride. It s been a good one. You know, something like this you have not expected, it can get into your head but, I want to thank everybody that helped me through different times in Grand Lodge, York Rite and Scottish Rite. And I will never forget one Scottish Rite reunion. Brother Bob Ford was there and right before I went on Degree, he came to me up and told me I would be District Deputy. It kind of took me by surprise because I just finished as Master. I got on the floor to do my work and I couldn t say a word. Finally, I got the last line out, and Bob patted me on the back and laughed at me. He knew what he had done. It s moments like this you don t forget. Thank you again.. Thank you very much. Jim. Please stand and let s give Jim a big hand. We will get a picture of you, Jim. Ill James F. Albsmeyer, MSA, 33, Recipient of the 2015 DSA Award: There is just one other thing, we just celebrated our 65th wedding anniversary. Again Jim, we thank you for all the service you ve provided for the Fraternity in general. Ill Joseph W. Lucas, 33, Ann Albsmeyer, Ill James F. Alsbmeyer, MSA, 33, recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Service Award and Ill Bwnny L. Grisham, MSA, 33, Deputy for Illinois

86 84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, INTRODUCTIONS Ok, we are at a point where I have to recognize and introduce a few people. As I said in the meeting today, most of the time, everybody is aware of who is the person who is about to be introduced, but they deserve recognition at this meeting. So I ll certainly do it, but I ll do it very quickly. First off, the Illustrious Brother, Bill Shaner. We thank you for your service. Bill has been taking pictures now, I think, for three or four years, for us and does an excellent job and he does it cheaply for me. Thank you very much Bill. There s additional groups and individuals. First off, I would like all the Valley Secretaries to rise with their ladies. Let s give them a big hand for the service that they provide. They are hard workers out there and they are the continuity that we have in every Valley, so we do appreciate all the service you provide as well. And now the Deputy Representatives, if you will please rise with your ladies. Let s give them a big hand. They provide a big service to the Deputy by being my representatives in those Valleys where we don t have residing active members. I rely on them quite a bit and I appreciate the service. Ladies, I have to tell you, I appreciate the time that you let us have from your husbands, so thank you very much. As you know this past March, Illustrious Brother, Robert LaSurs, passed away and we certainly want to remember Bob and his family in our prayers. From those that maybe weren t close to Robert LaSurs, he was an active member for some twenty-five years. Bob always had a smile and a quiet joke for you. If you sat beside him at some activities, there was always a joke, maybe off color, but he always had a good joke. Bob was just a lot of fun to be around, and we will certainly miss him and his humor. Our Emeritus members that aren t with us: Phil and Jeanne Kenney are unable to be with us. Larry and Sandy Inglis are unable to be with us. Richard Swaney and Debra are on a fishing trip in Canada. We do miss them and wish they could be with us but sometimes you have to understand they just can t. We have two of emeritus members with us. We have Lee Lockwood and Janice. Thank you for being with us. And our Illustrious Brother, Norman Buecker. Norman hasn t been able to attend because, I don t know for the past seven or eight years. Maybe not that long. Five or six years but, certainly we are pleased that he could be here with us today. He was here last night and I got to enjoy his company a little bit. Norm, it is always good to have you here. Our active members, the Illustrious Brother James Tungate, Grand Secretary General of our Supreme Council, Illustrious Brother John Phillips, Associate Grand Chancellor of our Supreme Council, and Illustrious Brother Gregory Clark, Active Members of our Supreme Council. We are certainly honored to have a special guest and a friend of this Council of Deliberation and that s our Illustrious Brother Melvin Frierson, who s a past Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, and the Active Member and Deputy for the Orient of Illinois, United Supreme Council. Welcome to you. Melvin it s always a pleasure to have you visit with us and get to visit with you a little bit. We have just a wonderful relationship between our two Councils of Deliberations. Most Worshipful Driscoll, please stand. Most Worshipful Grand

87 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 85 Master of Prince Hall Masons in the State of Illinois. It is always a pleasure to have you with us as well. We thank you for taking your time to be with us today. SPECIAL GUEST KARNACK THE MAGNIFICENT And now, I think I have a special guest to introduce. Heaven has no brighter star than our next stellar guest. The omnipotent Master of the East. That famous sage. The all-knowing, all-seeing, all-telling, former gas station attendant: Karnack, the Magnificent. Karnack likes to make a beautiful entrance. Welcome once again, old great sage. I hold in my hand these envelopes, as even a child of four can plainly see these envelopes are hermetically sealed. They were placed in a milk jug on the front porch of the Treasurer s House this morning, as a matter of fact. You know how this game is played? Karnack the Magnificent, in his mystic ways, will tell us the answer before he opens the envelope and reads the questions. Amazing! No one, not even the Great Karnack, knows the contents of these envelopes. But, you and your mystical way, will divine the answers before you read the questions. Karnack? Karnack the Magnificent: Are you about done? Yes, just about. Are you ready for the envelopes? Karnack the Magnificent: Karnack ready. Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33, Commanderin-Chief: The first envelope. Karnack the Magnificent: I must have absolute silence here. A, b, c, d, e, f, g. Ill Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33, Commanderin-Chief: A, b, c, d, e, f, g? Carnak the Magnificient, a.k.a. as Ill John William McNaughton, Sovereign Grand Commander Karnack the Magnificent: What were some of the earlier forms of Preparation H? May the bird of paradise have his ways with your fur animals.

88 86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, The next envelope. Karnack the Magnificent: Envelope number two. Number two. Karnack the Magnificent: High rollers. High rollers. Karnack the Magnificent: That s what I ve said. I know... Karnack the Magnificent: Describe the Stone s bowling team. May the swami of Baghdad squat on your fez. Envelope number three. Karnack the Magnificent: Number three. Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road. Karnack the Magnificent: Is there an echo in here? What are the good directions to an urologist office? Envelope number four.

89 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 87 Karnack the Magnificent: Low fat. Low fat. Karnack the Magnificent:: Name a Chinese diet doctor. Envelope number five. Karnack the Magnificent: They get better. Hurry up! Hurry up? Karnack the Magnificent: What do you call a drink made with Seven-Up and prune juice? Karnack on a roll. Sounds like it! Envelope number six. Karnack the Magnificent: A thousand clowns. A thousand clowns. Karnack the Magnificent: A thousand clowns. A thousand clowns. Karnack: Who wrote the script today? I told you they would get better.

90 88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Envelope number seven. Karnack the Magnificent: Beethoven s fifth. Beethoven s fifth. Beethoven s fifth? Yes, ok. Karnack the Magnificent: What have made Ludwig blind as well as deaf? They get better. Karnack the Magnificent: May an evil genie spread saw dust on your bathroom tissue? You are a tough crowd. Envelope number seven. Karnack the Magnificent: Three dog night. Three dog night. Karnack the Magnificent:: What is a bad night for a tree? Envelope number eight. I think that s nine, actually. I think I ve miscounted. Karnack the Magnificent: Karnack needs all the help he can get. Ben-Gay Ben-Gay.

91 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 89 Karnack the Magnificent: Oh, Restless crowd tonight. Why didn t Mrs. Franklin have any kids? Karnack. Karnack the Magnificent: Tough crowd. The last envelope. Karnack the Magnificent: Got to get the whole deal here. This is the last one, so. It s a long one. Karnack the Magnificent: Big Foot, Loch Ness Monster, and a woman who only wants a practical gift at Christmas. Big Foot, Loch Ness Monster, and a woman who truly means it when she says she only wants a practical gift for Christmas. Karnack the Magnificent: Yeah, that s about it. That s about it. Karnack the Magnificent:: Name two unknown animals and something that doesn t exist. The great Karnack. Thank you, Commander. He s really used to that standing applause when he exits the room, but. Thank you very much, Commander. Everyone enjoyed it, I m sure.

92 90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, I have to tell you, I asked the Commander to speak tonight, and he said, No, let s do this, and not bore people with my talk. He didn t really say that, but he s a good sport and he does enjoy the Karnack routines. I ll get back to where I should be here. I was going to introduce Sherrie, but she s with Karnack. Maybe I don t want to introduce her after all. I ll introduce her when she comes back. MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND MASTER S REMARKS Lastly, before we do the MSA ceremony, I will call upon the Most Worshipful Grand Master, Barry D. Weer. Barry, would you just have a few remarks for the group before we proceed with the ceremony... Brethren, ladies and guests, Most Worshipful Grand Master, Barry D. Weer. Please rise brethren. Ill Barry D. Weer, 33, Most Worshipful Grand Master: Certainly that was a hard act to follow, and I don t want to spend too much time because we re here tonight for a very particular purpose. A purpose that is appropriate, not only within masonry, but within life. And that s to recognize men for service. We ve already done that in a couple of occasions this evening, but we re going to have the opportunity to welcome on this stage a group of men who have been designated as Meritorious Service recipients from their peers. The men in their Valley. Those who work with them and appreciate their service to Freemasonry, and particularly service to the Scottish Rite. And all of us, I think, would benefit from the fact that if we were to look around at those men in our lives that have made a significant difference, a real contribution to helping us achieve the best we are, the best that we can be, not only within our fraternity but beyond that and into their communities. And that they should be recognized, exalted if you will for what they bring to us, and through this, our Freemasonry, to the service of mankind. It s a delight to be with you. It s a delight to have the opportunity to be a part of recognizing men who merit recognition. And I thank you for not only your acceptance of me and assistance with me as Grand Master of Masons in Illinois, but of all our Grand Lodge Officers, and what they do every day in order to move our fraternity forward. And we look to you for your continuing support and encouragement as we do indeed progress into future. Thank you again. It s a pleasure to be with you. Most Worshipful Bro. Barry D. Weer, Grand Master of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons for the State of Illionis Thank you again, Most Worshipful Grand Master. We do appreciate you and appreciate the kind words that you always have ready to offer to us. I really do appreciate it. Thank you.

93 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 91 CONFERRAL OF THE MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD At this time I m going to ask the recipients and their ladies, the 2015 MSA recipients, to please exit, and we will introduce you as we come back in. And for everyone else, we ll take about a five minute break, and then we ll start the ceremony. After five minute break Ok, if we can have everybody be seated again, we ll try to get started. I don t want to delay the ceremony too much. Ok, if we can have everybody s attention. We have the candidates ready with their ladies. I will call on Illustrious Brother Jim Tungate to read the names. No? Ok. Greg Clark s in charge here. Ill Gregory L. Clark, 33, Minister of State: As we begin this ceremony, I just want to share a couple things with you so that you can be prepared as we move through it. It seems like in the past there s been some reluctance by some to take pictures. We want to recognize these people and in just a few minutes, we re going to be announcing the names of the candidates. They re going to be coming down this middle aisle. They re going to greeted by our Sovereign Grand Commander, Illustrious Brother John William McNaughton, 33. Our Deputy for the state of Illinois, Illustrious Brother Benny L. Grisham, 33 and his wife, Sherrie. So when I hold my finger up number one, that s your first chance. That doesn t mean I m going to be leaving. So that ll be your first chance. The second chance will be at the end of the ceremony. After we all go through, you will be given an opportunity to take as many pictures as you want after the pictures are taken by our photographer, Bill Shaner. So kind of wait for him, and we ll get that going, so. Tonight we are here to recognize, honor and celebrate with the brethren who have not only heard the call to action but have responded. I ll ask Illustrious Brother James Tungate to approach the podium, and announce the names with the assistance of the Meritorious Service Awards committee, present those brethren and their guests who have been elected to receive this year s Meritorious Service Award. Illustrious Brother Tungate. INTRODUCTION OF MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENTS Ill James L. Tungate, 33, 1st Lt. Commander: Brethren, Ladies and Friends, it is my honor to introduce to you the 2015 Meritorious Service Award candidates and their ladies. First, from the Valley of:

94 92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Bloomington Chicago Danville Alvin E. House William E. Carlton Michael Lester Meier Brian G. Gaddy Burton K. Schorr, Jr. Ricky Kaye Casteel Freeport Moline Peoria Dennis R. Bussian Eric M. Nyod Harold I. Howerter Thomas L. Gipe David George Ziegler Elmer Fetes McIntosh Quincy Southern Illinois Springfield Kenneth Alan Brickman David E. Casson, Jr. Matthew R. Stolz James David Paar John H. Lowe, Jr. David MacDonna, III Illustrious Brother Clark, I present you the 2015 Meritorious Service Award candidates. Ill Gregory L. Clark, 33, Minister of State: Thank you Brother Tungate, thank you very much. Brethern you may be seated. You will note up here, as Brother Tungate has already alluded to, we have two MSA candidates who are missing tonight. One, because of health. The other, well in fact we actually did the conferral some time ago, because the Valley of Peoria, from which both of these gentlemen are members of, or were, requested an early conferral because of health reasons. Now Brother Howerter has been able to progress, but not well enough to attend. On the other hand, Brother Macintosh was only just a few weeks after we were able to do the conferral, passed away and is no longer with us, and his portrait is up here. But he went to his grave knowing he had received Meritorious Service Award. I will ask at this time, will all of those members out here who have received the Meritorious Service Award, would you please stand? And let s recognize them for what they have done. The Meritorius Service Award was presented to the Class of 2015 Thank you. Let s show our appreciation to Greg Clark for the beautiful job he has done tonight. Very good, Greg. Thank you very much. Someone dropped a Lowes merchandise card. If it was you, I don t know that s good, bad or indifferent, but at least there is one. If it was you, certainly, I want you to receive it back. To the MSA recipients, I too again, offer you my congratulations. If there s anything I can do to assist you in your future endeavors, please let me know, and I appreciate all you have done for the Fraternity thus far and will do in the future. Thank you. Earlier I started to introduce my wife, and I didn t get the job done because she was out of the room, so Sherrie, will you please stand and be recognized? My wife Sherrie. She took on the decorating job for the banquet hall and the ladies luncheon. Just a wonderful supporter and I don t know what I d do without her, really. Thank you, Sherrie. Appreciate it very much.

95 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 93 To all of you, I hope you ve had a good time at this Council of Deliberation. I told the men earlier if they thought there was something we can do better, they just let me know. We ll certainly try to accommodate and make this the best event we can. So thank you all for being here and taking the time to be with us. ANNOUCEMENT OF THE 2016 NOMINEES I thought you were done. He s still in charge. Thank you, Greg. I appreciate it. John Phillips, would you read next year s recipients. Thank you, Greg. Gosh, I don t want to get away without that. I m searching. Do you have a list. This is worse than Karnack. Thank you Greg. Ill John T. Phillips, 33, 2nd Lt. Commander: This is the list: For Meritorious Service Award to be awarded in 2016 Bernard E. Maharg, Valley of Bloomington Lance N. Lowery, Valley of Bloomington Jeffrey T. Henson, Valley of Chicago Joseph W. Pegoraro., Valley of Chicago James Daniel Beebe, Valley of Danville Graham Paul Houser, Valley of Danville John H. Knebel, Valley of Freeport Donald L. Hoyle, Valley of Freeport Elmer Lee Elliott, Valley of Moline P. Mike Nuske, Valley of Peoria James M. Scott, Valley of Peoria Timothy Allan Eifert, Valley of Quincy Edward Charles Short, Valley of Quincy Michael Grafton Chandler, Valley of Southern Illinois Karl Stewart Forrest, Valley of Southern Illinois Merle Taylor Fox, Valley of Springfield John Jack Teeters, Valley of Springfield. Thank you John. You d think I was in a hurry to get out of here or something and pass that up, I tell you. I will now call on Brother Joe Eby for the benediction.

96 94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [June, Brother Joseph H. Eby, 32, Prior: Please stand for the benediction. Supreme Architect of the universe, again we thank You for this weekend together, for this time of fraternal fellowship, for this time to remember the cause to which you have called each of us, to serve humankind. Thank You and bless You. We recognize those who have received this special award this evening. Grant that each of us leave here today with travel mercies into our Valleys to serve in your name. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and grant you His peace. Amen. Ok, the hospitality room will be open. So I hope to see everybody there. And enjoy yourselves for the rest of the evening. Again, congratulations to all of our recipients. Fraternally yours,, MSA, 33 Attest: Benny L. Grisham, MSA, 33 Illustrious Commander-in-Chief Deputy for Illinois, MSA, 33 Gregory R. Klemm, MSA, 33 Secretary

97 2015 MERITORIUS SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENTS 2015] ILLINOIS COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION 95