Thursday, September 22, 2011

Coroneted a 33° Mason

At the end of August, as Hurricane Irene was laying siege to the East Coast, I, along with my wife Marian and a handful of Brothers & their wives from the Valley of Syracuse took the last train heading west towards Chicago, IL.

The purpose of the trip was to attend the Supreme Council session of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. It was my trip to the Annual Session and it was extra special because it was there, on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 that I was Coroneted a 33° Mason along with over 160 other Brothers from the NMJ.

In the photo are half of the Brothers from New York who were in the class with me. They are (front l-r) Piers A. Vaughn (Valley of New York) and Donald R. Magill (Valley of Binghamton); (back l-r) Ronald C. Edmonson (Valley of Schenectady); myself; Robert M. Tyrrell (Valley of Syracuse) and Yves Etienne (Valley of New York). Also from New York, but not in this photo, were Daniel L. Clark (Valley of Utica), M. Donald Darrohn III (Valley of Rochester), Peter J. Van Elzakker (Valley of Rochester), Glenn F. Gaskill (Valley of Buffalo), Jeffrey M. Williamson (Valley of Buffalo) and William M. Winchester (Valley of Jamestown). Brother Robert M. Getschel from the Valley of Rockville Centre didn't escape the hurricane in time and could make it. He will be included in next year's class. Congratulations everyone! It was a great time and one of the most memorable days of my life.

Brother Chris Hodapp of Freemasons for Dummies fame was also a member of our class and he has a nice write up here and a nice piece on the 33° ring. Check'em out! It was great to see him out & about again.