Who are Scottish Rite Masons...

The Scottish Rite is an appendant body of Freemasonry in which a Master Mason may proceed after he has completed the degrees conferred in Blue Lodge. The Scottish Rite confers 29 degrees. The 33 degree is an honorary degree that is conferred by the Supreme Council for outstanding work in the community or Rite.

When we meet...

Our Valley meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month with the exception of June, July and August, at the Masonic Center at 521 North Street in Tumwater Washington, and have a program either at dinner or just prior to our meeting. Ladies are invited to all dinners. We invite all sojourners to visit and enjoy good Brotherhood. we have a dinner at 6:30 with the meeting to follow at 7:30 PM.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

What’s happening in the Valley of Olympia

by Kris Graap

February 11 – Dinner at 6:30, Fourth Degree
February 25 – Dinner at 6:30, Fourteen Degree

Since February honors our US Presidents, try this little quiz. As a note, some names are used more than once. If you get 100%, you deserve a Doctorate in History – Good Luck! (Answers below)

1. I was the only President who was made a Mason on Sight. As a hint, I also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after serving as President.

2. I was the only person to serve as a US Senator after serving as US President.

3. I am the only President who was also a King.

4. I was also a Senator after serving as President, and in fact I served two non-consecutive terms as President. As a hint, I also served as Governor and US Representative, but from a different state as I represented as a Senator.

5. Only President who served as Master of his Lodge while serving as President.

6. I assisted in the cornerstone laying of the Smithsonian Institution.

7. I was the first Honorary Grand Master of Order of DeMolay.

8. We both also served as Honorary Grand Masters of the Order of DeMolay.

9. I ran with a Brother on one ticket, and ran against a Brother on another ticket.

10. I was a US citizen and known as Father of my Country, but never as President. I was Secretary of State at the time of my death.

11. I legally became a Mason prior to age eighteen.

12. I was a Mason but never a Master Mason.

13. We were both Grand Masters.

14. I was the only President who served as Master of his Lodge while serving as President.

15. I was the only President of the US who never married.

16. These two Brothers were both assassinated while serving as President.

17. For which twenty consecutive years was the President a Mason?

18. We are the only two 33° Masons.

19. 19 years passed between my EA and MM degrees.

20. I was a charter member of Harmony Lodge.


For the Good of the Order

• Don’t forget our new website, at www.olympiascottishrite.org Add it to your “Favorites”.

• If you’re able to get away for a few days during the first weekend of April, the reunion at Guthrie has always been tremendous Masonic experience! Several Brothers have already committed to this event.

If the timing for Guthrie doesn’t work, or you’d like to see the work of another Orient, our Sovereign Grand Inspector General William R. Miller suggests another reunion from April 15-18. The combined Orients of North and South Carolina will sponsor a 29 Degree Reunion in Charlotte, NC. Charlotte is a pretty easy trip from Seattle and the degrees will be done under the auspices of the Supreme Council's ritual committee. SGIG Bill will be there and would love to have company from Washington.

Quiz answers: 1. William Howard Taft; 2. Andrew Johnson; 3. Gerald R. Ford (name at birth Leslie King); 4. Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas (Gov. and Rep of Tennessee, Senator from the State of Texas); 5. George Washington; 6. James Knox Polk; 7. Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1934; 8. Harry Truman and Gerald Ford; 9. Theodore Roosevelt (ran with Wm. McKinley and against Wm Howard Taft); 10. Stephen F. Austin (not a President, but Father of his Country); 11. James Monroe (at the time there was no age designating manhood); 12.Lyndon Baines Johnson; 13. Old Hickory (TN) and Harry S Truman (MO); 14. Not a trick, it’s still George Washington – you needed some extra credit anyway! J 15. James Buchanan; 16. James A. Garfield, Wm. McKinley; 17.1933 through 1953; 18. Gerald Ford and HST (As a note, FDR was slated to receive the Honor, but passed on prior to notification.) 19. Warren G. Harding; 20. When the North Carolina Lodge became Harmony Lodge #1 of Tennessee, Andy Jackson was a member.

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