‘Have dinner with the Masonic Society’

    

I’ve been remiss in touting the Masonic Society’s annual dinner next month during Masonic Week. That’ll be Friday, February 10 at 7 p.m. in the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. The dining fee costs $60 and when registering, you’ll see a choice of entrées.

Robert Dupel

The keynote speaker will be Robert Dupel, who is both Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec and the Grand Master of Canada’s Allied Masonic Degrees. He will present “It’s About Me,” which, I’ll guess, may be rich in Masonic motivation.

Sorry to say I won’t see you there. It’s our fourteenth event at Masonic Week (because we missed 2021 when the pandemic pre-empted Masonic Week) and I’ve attended all but one, but I don’t see myself joining in Masonic Week any further. My first was in 2002, and I guess I simply have had enough.

That’s the Masonic Society’s current events, but there is a lot more news that was announced recently by President Oscar Alleyne.

New Treasurer and Secretary

The Society has a new Secretary. The mighty Nathan Brindle has retired after serving since our launch in 2008. Nathan was both Treasurer and Secretary, and I can tell you that, having been a Board member and an officer (2008-22) myself, he had a lot of work! Administering all the membership needs, from enrolling new members to creating the patents to invoicing for dues; handling the finances, from depositing dues to getting the tax returns filed; webmaster, including the TMS store; generating the reports the Board needs to see; and a lot more. And that’s on top of his myriad other stations and places in the fraternity. And, oh yeah, his family and career. We were lucky to have you, Nathan, and I salute you, sir! Former President Jim Dillman has taken over the Treasurer’s desk. That’s good luck for us too.

The new Secretary is Shamus Driver. I don’t know Shamus, but if the Board elected him, then he’s right for the job. Plus, he’s in Indiana, which is important, as that has been our headquarters where all the hospitality suite libations are stored.

New Vice Presidents

I regret to see the departure from the First Vice Presidency of Greg Knott who resigned recently. We’ve lost Vice Presidents before. The recently deceased Rex Hutchens was one of our inaugural veeps, but he had to step aside because the TMS workload was more demanding that he expected, and he already had tons to do elsewhere in Freemasonry of course. (The Masonic Society is not a place to just receive a title and loaf around. There’s a lot of work to do.) And we lost another VP several years later. Literally. At the mall.

I was looking forward to seeing Greg become President next year, knowing he possesses the talent and temperament to steer our quirky and diverse team. Maybe he could return some day. So, Mark Robbins is elevated from Second Vice President to First; and Mason Russell moves from our Board of Directors to the Second Vice Presidency. Congratulations!

The Journal is coming

You wonder why you haven’t received a Winter issue of The Journal of the Masonic Society. It is because a double issue of Freemasonry’s pre-eminent periodical is in production and will reach you soon. Having adhered to the tradition of our Past Presidents not meddling in the decision making, I do not know the particulars of that, but as the Masonic Society nears its fifteenth anniversary (May 1), things are as lively as ever.