Latest / Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries / Episode 25. James D. Cole, Sovereign Grand Commander

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Episode 25. James D. Cole, Sovereign Grand Commander · Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries

• 0:00
  We are back here at the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota.
• 0:07
  I am, uh, joined today by some very special guests.
• 0:11
  They're always special guests, but this one's actually very, very special guests.
• 0:15
  It is indeed.
• 0:15
  We, uh, we have with us Jim Cole from the Scottish right of the Southern jurisdiction, which I just discovered is a heck of a lot more than I thought.
• 0:26
  Jim Cole's a sovereign grand commander.
• 0:28
  We also have Mark Anderson who runs the museum, At the, Masonic Heritage Center in Bloomington and Marcus Mueller, who is our development associate for the northern part of the state.
• 0:39
  But we suck him into the rest of the state as well.
• 0:41
  Right.
• 0:42
  And I, Jim, also proud to be a Scottish Wright, Scottish Wright member.
• 0:45
  Yes.
• 0:46
  So Jim, thank you for joining us.
• 0:48
  Thank you.
• 0:48
  Uh, we got to, to, to meet a little bit over lunch and.
• 0:52
  You know, just tell us about your Masonic journey.
• 0:55
  You've, you've, you've come a long way.
• 0:57
  One, one might say, uh, yes.
• 0:59
  What compelled you to become a Mason in the first place?
• 1:03
  Interesting story.
• 1:04
  Uh, I, uh, reached the age of 25 and literally was at my, uh, mother's house for Sunday dinner.
• 1:13
  Uh, a couple of days later and she said, I think it's time you join the Masonic Lodge.
• 1:18
  And I said, what's the Masonic Lodge?
• 1:21
  Oh, come on.
• 1:22
  And, and I said, we're relatives members of this?
• 1:26
  And she said, no.
• 1:27
  Oh.
• 1:28
  And she said, but, uh, all of the good men in this community, and all of the good men in the community where I grew up, where she grew up, were Mason.
• 1:41
  And she said the two men that worked with her, a father and son, she was an insurance agent and the father and the son, and my mother owned this insurance agency.
• 1:53
  So she said, I think it would be good for you to join the Masonic Lodge.
• 1:59
  And I said, Okay.
• 2:01
  And she rattled off.
• 2:02
  What does that mean?
• 2:03
  Yeah.
• 2:03
  And she, she said, I don't know what it means, but I know it's, it, it, it is good men working in the community.
• 2:11
  And then she rattled off the names of most of the deacons at the Baptist church where, where we had started and rattled off the names of several of, of, of my Sunday school teacher among one, uh, when I was, uh, a teenager.
• 2:26
  So I said, well, sure, let me know.
• 2:29
  You know, tell me what to do.
• 2:31
  So she calls me the next day and says, stop by my house.
• 2:34
  And I did.
• 2:35
  And there was a petition.
• 2:37
  Everything was filled out.
• 2:38
  She had filled it out.
• 2:40
  She filled out everything.
• 2:42
  And on the back there were two vouchers and she said, you just signed here.
• 2:47
  And I said, well, there's a check that's, that's, uh, paperclip to this.
• 2:51
  And she said, yes.
• 2:53
  They signed, they.
• 2:56
  Paid all of your fees for the first year.
• 2:58
  No kidding.
• 2:59
  And all of your initiation fees.
• 3:01
  Wow.
• 3:02
  Uh, and this was, I didn't have that.
• 3:04
  This, this was a father and son.
• 3:06
  Um, uh, dear friends of ours, you know, and, uh, the son was actually, uh, three years, four years earlier, had talked me into going into accounting as a major in college.
• 3:20
  Okay.
• 3:20
  Cause he was a cpa.
• 3:23
  So he was, he was sort of my professional mentor and I didn't know he was a Mason.
• 3:27
  I didn't know what this Masonic Lodge stuff was.
• 3:31
  So I joined, well, I, I went, uh, another part of the story.
• 3:37
  Uh, The Tyler of the Lodge was also the grand senior warden of the Grand Lodge of Virginia at the time.
• 3:44
  Okay.
• 3:45
  Uh, he became my first Masonic mentor and, uh, two years later, before I had even served as Worshipful Master appointed me as a district education officer, which in Virginia is someone who goes around and, and teaches Masonic education as opposed to.
• 4:05
  And I really wanted to be a ritualist.
• 4:07
  That was my goal, was to be a ritualist.
• 4:09
  After the, as I went through the degrees, when I went through my first degree, I, at the end of it, uh, I asked my former Sunday school teacher, who was the worshipful master when I joined the lodge, how cool.
• 4:26
  I, I said, bill, it, it was just, it was really neat.
• 4:30
  Everybody had memorized everything, but then they stood up.
• 4:34
  In the very last statement they made to me, they read from a book, because in Virginia the charge given to the candidate, the final charge, same here, says it is to be read to all who are, uh, brought in as an interpr into a lodge holding under the Grand Lodge, Virginia.
• 4:55
  And I said, why did they read that?
• 4:57
  And he said, well, I guess because that's what the Grand Lodge says in its resolution that we're supposed to.
• 5:04
  And I said, well, I, I'd like to memorize that part.
• 5:08
  And so at before I was a fellow craft, there was another brother going through the sergeant in the Air Force, Joe Forster.
• 5:18
  Joe was going through sort of behind me.
• 5:20
  And in those days we could only do one at a time.
• 5:23
  So, Uh, came in like a week later.
• 5:29
  Well, I was, at that point I was ready to stand my examination, but they were doing his first and that sort of thing, so I would have to wait another week.
• 5:39
  But, uh, they allowed me as an EA to come in.
• 5:43
  Witness his EA and give him the charge.
• 5:46
  Wow.
• 5:47
  Wow.
• 5:47
  And, and from that point, what a memory.
• 5:50
  So you've been an overachiever for a long time.
• 5:52
  Well come on from, from, from that point, for the next 25 or six years, every charge that was given to every candidate of, of.
• 6:03
  EA fellow crafter Master Mason was recited by me.
• 6:06
  That is really cool.
• 6:07
  Great.
• 6:07
  So, and you know, the, the, when the guy became Grand Master, that was our Tyler, he, uh, appointed me education officer, but he also put me on the finance committee.
• 6:19
  Then he recommended me as a member of a planning team for another Grand Master, a future grand Master, uh, Bob Dean, who was Grand Master in 92.
• 6:30
  Bob introduced me to the guy who was Grand Master before him, who made me the chairman of the Grand Lodge Finance Committee because they were, they were, they needed a dues increase.
• 6:41
  Oh, what's, what is that like?
• 6:42
  Yeah.
• 6:43
  And they, I heard of that and, and they needed, Uh, to adopt a budget that was realistic as opposed to what they had been adopting.
• 6:51
  What is that like?
• 6:52
  So they asked me to do the job and I told'em the only way we can fix this problem is if you allow me to go around and do educational seminars around the state for five years.
• 7:04
  In other words, you're gonna have to reappoint me five times.
• 7:06
  Cuz in Virginia you're in office once a year.
• 7:08
  Yep.
• 7:09
  So we came to Grand Lodge in 91.
• 7:13
  And the budget was it, it, this was, I was supposed to become chairman the next day of the Grand Lodge Finance Committee.
• 7:22
  I was not on the finance committee at that time.
• 7:25
  I had been relieved of, of that position by, by a Grand Master two years earlier because we had disagreed on what he needed to report to the irs.
• 7:35
  Oh geez.
• 7:36
  And so he fired me.
• 7:38
  Uh, so I.
• 7:39
  You know, I was a 20, whatever, six year old, 27 year old, uh, has been at that point.
• 7:46
  But I was going in as chairman the next day.
• 7:48
  So they, they voted the, the Deputy Grand Master, they voted him into office, so he was Grand Master Elect, and then they refused to adopt his budget.
• 7:59
  They voted down the budget by a vote of about three to one.
• 8:02
  Wow.
• 8:03
  Oof.
• 8:03
  It wasn't even.
• 8:05
  And they denied the dues increase of$1.
• 8:09
  Oh my,$1.
• 8:12
  And so, uh, they, he was just, it, it was just beside himself.
• 8:19
  And, and he went down off the stage.
• 8:21
  I was out in the crowd and they sent for me and they said, Frank, the grand master elect is hyperventilating, and he was demanding that you come and talk to him.
• 8:34
  So I went, I never will forget.
• 8:36
  It was in, in the, in the ballroom of the Hyatt, and I went up to him.
• 8:41
  I put a hand on each shoulder and I said, Frank, it will be okay.
• 8:46
  What do you want me to do?
• 8:47
  I'm just not going to do anything next year if they don't want me.
• 8:50
  You know, they don't wanna approve a budget.
• 8:52
  I said, well, look, we're going to approve a budget.
• 8:55
  I said, you talk to the current Grand Master and you have him appoint me to a committee and we'll go work on it during lunch and we'll come back after lunch and I'll handle it.
• 9:08
  And we came back after lunch and, uh, during lunch I took the guy who had been the Tyler at my lodge, who was now a past grand master.
• 9:17
  And, and he was very beloved by, by people.
• 9:21
  And anyway, and I.
• 9:24
  Uh, the Deputy Grand, the the new incoming Deputy Grand Master and myself, and we went in the room and we whittled on the budget a little bit, but basically I got all the information so I could answer some questions.
• 9:36
  And we went back in at one o'clock and I stood, I told him, uh, grand Master gave me permission to speak, and I told him, I went up to the east and I said, I will answer every question that you have on this budget until you're.
• 9:51
  And we did that for about 45 minutes.
• 9:56
  And, uh, it was, it was adopted by about a two to one majority at that point.
• 10:02
  And you were in your twenties doing this?
• 10:04
  Yeah.
• 10:05
  And then, and, and, and, and probably the, the greatest point of pride in my life was that the budget from there on while I was chairman, was adopted by unanimous.
• 10:18
  Wow, nice.
• 10:20
  For six more years and in your twenties.
• 10:22
  Yeah.
• 10:22
  That's not only is that bold and had to have taken some courage to, to, to, yeah.
• 10:28
  I was 28 maybe something around there.
• 10:31
  Yeah.
• 10:31
  So, so, so then, so then after I was chairman of the Grand Lodge Finance Committee, uh, I was approached a couple years before that.
• 10:46
  By the Grand Master in 92.
• 10:49
  We were going to a golf tournament, a charity tournament, and we were walking, we we'd just stretching our legs before we got to the golf club and we'd stopped at a mall just to walk around and, and he said, I need to, he said, I want to walk around.
• 11:03
  I need to talk to you.
• 11:04
  He said, he said, uh, someone is going to nominate you into the grand.
• 11:10
  And I said, well, well, well, that's good.
• 11:12
  I mean, you know, he goes, how old are you?
• 11:15
  And, and that would've been, and this was like two years later, so I think I was, uh, 30 or 30, something like that.
• 11:24
  Okay.
• 11:25
  And he goes, uh, and I said, well, you know, I mean, the way I've got my retirement planned, you know, I 55, I can retire at Virginia Tech and that, that, and he, and he started, he just stopped and started laughing.
• 11:38
  He goes, no, no, no.
• 11:39
  Some either next year or the following year.
• 11:42
  Oh my gosh.
• 11:43
  So, uh, and it was, uh, anyway, I went through the line and became Grand Master, uh, at the age of 42.
• 11:52
  Holy cow.
• 11:53
  It was the, uh, third you.
• 11:55
  A guy by the name of John Marshall beat me out.
• 11:58
  Uh, when you mean the right before he was Chief Justice?
• 12:01
  The Chief Justice, yeah.
• 12:02
  At 1791 he was aged 38.
• 12:05
  And so you're in good company.
• 12:07
  Yeah.
• 12:07
  And then a guy named Palatan Stark in 1858 was actually 34 or 35.
• 12:13
  They're not sure.
• 12:15
  But he was, he was the youngest, uh, reason I know that because it was in Grand Master in 1858, a hundred years before I was born.
• 12:22
  Wow.
• 12:23
  So I can just remember the number on.
• 12:25
  But it, um, and the year before I was Grand Master, I was Deputy Grand.
• 12:31
  When I was Deputy Grand Master, we hosted one of the Scottish Rite workshops, and I was, I was also had a consulting practice on the side.
• 12:42
  Okay.
• 12:42
  A lot of financial consulting.
• 12:44
  So this, uh, I, I was walking to, uh, this breakout session about investments.
• 12:51
  And rounded a corner and bumped into the S G I G, Dave Krueger and this big tall, white-haired guy by the name of Fred Klein Connect.
• 12:58
  Okay.
• 12:59
  Who I'd never met, and I was a Scottish rock mason at the time, but, but I was Scott.
• 13:07
  Yeah.
• 13:07
  You stayed in your lane and, and he said he reached out his hand and they introduced him to, and he forgot.
• 13:15
  That a few years earlier in 1991, I had been in a statewide class and I was the, I was the first, uh, candidate to receive the revised Pike ritual for the fourth degree.
• 13:31
  Okay.
• 13:31
  And it was done in front of him.
• 13:34
  And he had visited, he just, and he had come up on the stage and met me, but he didn't remember that.
• 13:40
  But he always remembered.
• 13:42
  When I met him at the investment presentation, cause I was outside the door.
• 13:47
  Well the S G I G said to him, well he could probably teach this session cause this is the stuff that he does.
• 13:54
  And so then Fred started asking me these questions.
• 13:57
  Well, we stood outside this poor guy's presentation and he could see us and I'm out there answering questions to the grand.
• 14:05
  Until his presentation was completely over with.
• 14:08
  So we, he, you know, just made a note of my name, I guess.
• 14:15
  And about a two years later, uh, the S G I G called and said, you need to come to Washington.
• 14:23
  Uh, commander Klein Connect wants to continue the discussion that you had in Williamsburg.
• 14:29
  And so I went up there.
• 14:30
  I had to, I'd never been to the building.
• 14:34
  I had never been to a, the only session I ever attended a Scottish Rite at that point was in 2001.
• 14:41
  When I as Grand Master in Charleston, I got to receive my 33rd down there, but I'd never been to a biennial session.
• 14:50
  And I'd never been to the building, so I had to get directions to the building and all of this.
• 14:55
  So I get in and I'm, and he sets me down beside his desk.
• 14:58
  And the S G I G hasn't got there yet.
• 15:00
  He's running late in traffic.
• 15:03
  And he looks at me and he goes, do you know why you're here?
• 15:06
  And I said, well, I thought we were going to continue talking about investments.
• 15:11
  And he goes, you don't know why you're here.
• 15:13
  And I said, okay, I guess I don't.
• 15:15
  And he laughed and he.
• 15:17
  You're on a short list to be the new deputy in Virginia.
• 15:21
  And I said, you're kidding?
• 15:23
  And he goes, no.
• 15:25
  What do you think about that?
• 15:26
  I said, are you asking me to be the deputy?
• 15:28
  He said, well, forget the list.
• 15:29
  Do you wanna be the deputy?
• 15:30
  I said, are you really asking me right now to be the deputy?
• 15:34
  He goes, yes.
• 15:35
  I said, okay.
• 15:37
  And about that time, a knock on the door and the S G I G came in and sat down.
• 15:42
  And Fred looks at him and he goes, Dave, it's done.
• 15:44
  It's done.
• 15:45
  He's the new deputy.
• 15:46
  Yeah.
• 15:46
  Thanks for showing up on time.
• 15:48
  Mission accomplished.
• 15:49
  So that, that was, that got me, okay.
• 15:52
  That got me to the council.
• 15:54
  And then, um, about, about a year later, okay, that was in August of 2002.
• 16:02
  I was officially named January one.
• 16:05
  And then in, um, October, uh, went to the session, um, came, uh, got there the first day, picked up my materials.
• 16:16
  Never heard a word about anything.
• 16:17
  Went downstairs.
• 16:18
  I had met Ronnie Seal, uh, at, at the one meeting that I attended as a deputy, which was a membership workshop in, in Dallas.
• 16:28
  And so I knew he was lieutenant and I figured Fred was close to his age.
• 16:34
  Uh, aging out.
• 16:35
  So came down the elevator, went around.
• 16:37
  I talked to a couple of the SGI Gs and they were all congratulating me on being there and everything.
• 16:43
  And I thought, well, well, that's nice.
• 16:45
  I'm, I'm a deputy.
• 16:45
  I'm supposed to be here.
• 16:47
  So I said, Hey, did Ronnie get elected?
• 16:49
  And they said, yeah, you haven't been told anything.
• 16:52
  And I said, no.
• 16:53
  I said, they didn't even tell me where to go.
• 16:55
  I had to figure it all out on myself.
• 16:57
  So I saw Ronnie outside the door.
• 17:00
  So I go out there and I said, Hey, Ronnie, congratulations.
• 17:05
  He goes, well, congratulations to you too.
• 17:08
  And I said, for what?
• 17:10
  And Jack Rek from Montana was standing beside him, and he's like, Ronnie, he hadn't been told me.
• 17:16
  Oh, no.
• 17:17
  Yeah.
• 17:17
  So I was elected, um, at that session, one of the big things was to, to finalize.
• 17:26
  Um, uh, there was a financial question before the Supreme Council and it got deferred until 2005.
• 17:33
  So in 2005, I show up at, at now, my third session, and, uh, we went into executive session and, and I asked the grand secretary if I could sit near his.
• 17:47
  And he said, why do you wanna sit all the way over here?
• 17:49
  I said, well, number one, I can hide behind the standard, and number two, I'll, I can ask you if I don't know anything.
• 17:56
  So I went over and sat down.
• 17:58
  Well, the guy, when they brought this financial issue to the floor, the Grand Treasurer was standing out there talking about, and he goes, I bet, I bet Inspector Cole can answer some, some of y'all's questions.
• 18:08
  So he brought me out into the floor of the executive chamber and I answered the questions and they wanted a committee to work on it over.
• 18:15
  And bring back a report.
• 18:16
  Well, I got tasked with doing that and, and then the next week after we went home from session, Ronnie calls him and he goes, These, these guys want me to put you on the finance committee.
• 18:28
  And I said, I thought that was like for the senior members of the council.
• 18:33
  And, and he said, well, it used to be not anymore.
• 18:36
  He said, you, you're the junior member of the council and you're going on the finance committee.
• 18:40
  Wow.
• 18:41
  And then it kinda rolled ahead.
• 18:44
  I became, Grand treasurer of the following year.
• 18:48
  And then, uh, uh, let's see, that would've been in oh six.
• 18:53
  I became grand treasurer between sessions.
• 18:56
  Then in, uh, then on, uh, the day that they did the, uh, memorial service for Fred Klein Connect.
• 19:07
  I was up to have a meeting with Ronnie about some investment things the following day, and I didn't get there in time for the memorial service.
• 19:15
  I got stuck in traffic on 95 and got there just after it was over.
• 19:21
  And, uh, Ronnie said, let's go, let's go, uh, sit down and, and talk.
• 19:27
  And I said, okay.
• 19:28
  So we sat down to talk and that's when he asked me.
• 19:33
  If I'd be willing to be lieutenant and that he would like then later one day to nominate me to succeed.
• 19:43
  So that was on December.
• 19:46
  I told him I'd give him the answer the next day, which was December 7th, 2011, the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
• 19:53
  Oh wow.
• 19:54
  Yeah.
• 19:55
  So, uh, anyway, I did that and, and you took over the role.
• 20:00
  Four years ago.
• 20:02
  Yeah.
• 20:02
  I was, uh, on, on August 19th, 2019.
• 20:07
  Okay.
• 20:07
  I was elected and installed as the 19th, uh, grand Commander of Scottish Rock and is the Southern jurisdiction before we started.
• 20:18
  Yeah.
• 20:18
  I had no idea how vast the southern jurisdiction was, of course, as kind of a novice.
• 20:25
  Um, you know how you mentioned you like to have people around you to answer questions that you might not be able to answer?
• 20:32
  Yeah.
• 20:32
  That's why I've invited these two fellas.
• 20:34
  They are far more fluent in Scottish Wright and Masonry than I am sure, but I'm much smarter than they are when it comes to philanthropy and plan giving.
• 20:44
  So let's just set that record straight.
• 20:46
  What is Ron doing now?
• 20:48
  Ron has moved to Louisville where his daughter lives.
• 20:51
  Okay.
• 20:51
  With, with his oldest.
• 20:53
  Uh, and, and she has his oldest, uh, grandchild there, Morgan.
• 20:58
  Um, they, uh, are are just completely retired.
• 21:02
  He is really, uh, working more at, he loves to teach Sunday school.
• 21:08
  Oh, cool.
• 21:08
  So he's actually teaching a couple Sunday school classes, uh, and, and he's a ham operator, ham radio operator.
• 21:15
  Okay.
• 21:15
  So he is doing that.
• 21:16
  He, he has finally started coming to a couple of the Scottish, he, he didn't want to, you know, be a shadow and all of this.
• 21:24
  So, um, he fi we finally convinced him to come to a couple of the Kentucky Scottish Wright events.
• 21:30
  So he is, been to a couple of those and had, has had a great time.
• 21:33
  Neat.
• 21:33
  So he is doing well health wise.
• 21:35
  They're both doing well.
• 21:36
  Um, We either email, text, or, or talk on the phone every couple weeks and, and Sonny and Maryanne talk, uh, at least weekly.
• 21:47
  Okay.
• 21:47
  Yeah.
• 21:48
  So now I remember where we were at Southern jurisdiction, how vast it is.
• 21:52
  Yeah.
• 21:52
  For the, the, the, the brothers that are listening to this that aren't as familiar with how.
• 21:58
  How the Scott write Southern ju tell us about your, uh, your jurisdiction seems to be pretty, uh, pretty wide.
• 22:05
  Yes.
• 22:06
  We cover two thirds of the world's time zones.
• 22:08
  We, we go from, well, well first of all, we have all the United States and its possessions plus the District of Columbia, except for 15 states, which were, we issued a.
• 22:23
  In, uh, 1815 for what is now referred to as the Northern Masonic jurisdiction.
• 22:30
  So the 15 states in the northeast quadrant of the United States.
• 22:35
  Okay.
• 22:35
  Continental are part of the Northern Masonic jurisdiction.
• 22:38
  The rest of the states, all the west, all the south, the District of Columbia, uh, Hawaii, Alaska plus, Puerto Rico.
• 22:47
  And.
• 22:48
  Plus cause of sort of world history and world wars and some things like that.
• 22:55
  South Korea, Japan, Okinawa, uh, Taiwan, and then going into Europe, the NATO bases.
• 23:04
  We actually have NATO bases.
• 23:06
  Uh, that where we have valleys, uh, well, those are operated as clubs under the Valley of the District of Columbia.
• 23:13
  So we have a presence in Germany and Italy.
• 23:17
  No kid.
• 23:17
  Did you guys know that?
• 23:19
  I did not.
• 23:19
  Of course you did.
• 23:20
  Mark.
• 23:20
  Oh my god.
• 23:21
  I'm sorry.
• 23:22
  I had no clue.
• 23:23
  And so the northern jurisdiction.
• 23:27
  I mean, from a GE geography perspective?
• 23:30
  Well, from a geography perspective, we were not gonna disparage those people.
• 23:33
  No, no.
• 23:33
  But the, but the, but the joke is that back in the, uh, in the mid 19th century when, uh, when the deal was struck that we would allow that, you know, we'd issue a charter up there and, and so forth, uh, that everybody said, well, they, they got the better, uh, piece of the deal.
• 23:51
  Cause, you know, at that time, If, if you overlay that over what the United States was at that time, you're like, wow, they really did.
• 23:59
  But in truth, we grew West and we grew in the South, and then we grew in the Pacific.
• 24:06
  And, and so cause of that, the Southern jurisdiction ended up, of course, much larger.
• 24:11
  But the, uh, again, a lot of ironies when, uh, when the, the, what was then called the Charleston Council.
• 24:22
  Sent its Grand Treasurer General to, uh, to the, uh, to New York to determine which of three then existing Supreme Councils should be the one to obtain the charter.
• 24:37
  Uh, and, and literally went up there.
• 24:41
  One had kind of fallen the into a distant third place, but it came down to the one that we ultimately selected and the erno based group.
• 24:51
  And then later they joined, uh, in the latter part of the 19th century, they actually joined, uh, under the banner of the existing Northern Masonic jurisdiction.
• 25:02
  Okay.
• 25:03
  Which is also one reason they have a different, uh, organizational structure.
• 25:08
  In part, they.
• 25:10
  66 active positions.
• 25:13
  We only have 33 active positions.
• 25:15
  Active meaning sovereign, grand inspectors, general?
• 25:18
  Yep.
• 25:18
  We have 39 geographic orients, but we only have 33, uh, active member positions.
• 25:28
  In other words, if you go in the executive chamber, there's only 33 chairs if you count them.
• 25:33
  Okay.
• 25:34
  There's 13 on the side and then the officer's chairs.
• 25:37
  Um, but the northern jurisdiction, when they merged two councils, that's why they ended up with a, with a different number than we, uh, we had.
• 25:48
  So I always think that people become masons for one of three reasons, and I always break it down into brotherly love relief or truth.
• 25:57
  If you're interested in the fraternal side of it and the friendship side of it, that's one.
• 26:02
  If you're interested in the esoteric stuff, the ritual, that's another thing.
• 26:06
  What draw what drew me to, uh, to masonry was the relief part.
• 26:10
  The, the, the charitable part of it.
• 26:12
  Mm-hmm.
• 26:13
  And, you know, as a person who works for Minnesota Masonic Charities, obviously that's what I, I kind of.
• 26:19
  I just, frankly, am the most interested in, you have the privilege of, of seeing charity throughout all of the, your jurisdiction.
• 26:28
  Tell us about some of the, the, the charitable endeavors that you've encountered that you think, uh, You know, our, we'll, we'll move the needle as it relates to the fraternity.
• 26:37
  Sure.
• 26:38
  Well, uh, uh, keep in mind, one of the things I started doing in 2019 is reporting to our membership that the extent of our philanthropic effort, the, um, under the auspices of Scottish Wright, throughout the Southern jurisdiction, charitable efforts, uh, total.
• 27:01
  Almost exactly$1 billion every byum.
• 27:06
  So a half a billion dollars a year.
• 27:09
  Now that includes, we've got a hospital in, um, actually with, with multiple locations in Texas.
• 27:16
  The Texas Scottish Ride Hospital.
• 27:18
  Yeah.
• 27:19
  Uh, we've got 177 uh, right care programs, which is.
• 27:26
  Children language disorder programs throughout our jurisdiction.
• 27:31
  Um, and, and right now, and, and one of the things I've been emphasizing because my background is in is, is in a fundraising foundation.
• 27:39
  That's what I did at Virginia Tech and that's what my consulting was in, was, was fundraising and supporting nonprofits.
• 27:47
  So, We started pushing and emphasizing the scholarships we have, uh, seven and getting ready to announce that we already have the money for two more endowed scholarships, uh, all at the level of 50,000 up to about 250,000 each.
• 28:08
  Um, so we have national scholarships.
• 28:11
  We have the Sovereign Grand Commander Scholarship, and as of this week we closed applications for those scholarships.
• 28:17
  We had 577 students apply for our national scholarships, and we had 129 apply for this, uh, grand Commander Scholarship.
• 28:30
  So we are reaching hundreds of, I I like to point out to the staff, we're reaching hundreds of.
• 28:39
  Because when you're applying for a scholarship, you know, you, you are, you are building a little bit of a relationship with that organization.
• 28:46
  Whether you win the scholarship or not, you have identified with that organization.
• 28:51
  So we are touching 600 lives and 600 families and potentially 600 communities.
• 28:59
  And then we d we deal with thousands of children through our language disorder services.
• 29:05
  Uh, you know, And, and each of those, again, you're not just touching the child, you're touching.
• 29:12
  I mean, I have had both my son and a grandson, uh, receive, successfully receive and go through, uh, speech therapy at a young age, and he has made.
• 29:27
  And marvelous difference in both of their lives.
• 29:30
  And, and so I'm a big advocate of that, but I, but I'm also an advocate, not just of our charitable endeavors, but as you point out people, you know, we're in this for a lot of different reasons.
• 29:43
  Uh, I mean, I seem to have gotten here cause, uh, you know, people brought things.
• 29:50
  That did interest me, but then I continued and, and we all have the potential for pursuit and that is that we can pursue something in this organization.
• 30:02
  I mean, a lot of you have a background in, in, in charitable endeavors as I spent.
• 30:08
  40 years in it all together, really.
• 30:10
  Uh, it and therefore it's easy for you to pursue that.
• 30:15
  There are people, I started out as a ritualist, you know, I really wanted to be, and I got diverted cause they said, Hey, you could do this and we need you over here.
• 30:24
  And, you know, So generally I've sort of been a, a guy answering a call, so to speak, um, you know, to help this or to solve that or to fix this.
• 30:33
  Uh, so you've, we've got that as well.
• 30:36
  You know, we've got those kind of members throughout Scottish Wright.
• 30:40
  I, I mean throughout the, the entire family of Freema, I, I talked about that family of free masonry exhibit we want to do in our building.
• 30:49
  And that's what Freemason read.
• 30:51
  You know, it allows us to, to shed light on ourself and then, and then by turning that around and, and using our enlightened cells to help others.
• 31:03
  We can do it through charity.
• 31:04
  We.
• 31:04
  And then within charity, you know, we're helping a lot of kids in Scottish Wright, helping a lot of kids', families.
• 31:10
  We're helping a lot of kids with scholarships as well.
• 31:15
  We're helping kids.
• 31:16
  The hospital is just amazing.
• 31:17
  If you're ever in Dallas, Texas, just just go over there and say, we.
• 31:22
  You know, I, I'm a Scottish right member, can I come and, and just get a tour of the hospital and they'll be happy to do it.
• 31:28
  So I want to bounce something off you.
• 31:30
  Yeah.
• 31:30
  Are you familiar with the new scholarship program that we have in Minnesota?
• 31:34
  Uh, no.
• 31:35
  Okay.
• 31:36
  So I'm very proud of the fact that, you know, uh, the Minnesota Masonic Charity Scholarship Program is the largest scholarship program in the state of Minnesota privately funded scholarship program.
• 31:47
  And I've had the privilege over the.
• 31:49
  Going to all of these scholarship presentations and Oh, yeah.
• 31:53
  At all these high schools.
• 31:54
  And what's unique about our scholarships is they tend to be the largest scholarships that are presented at, at these scholarship nights.
• 32:02
  Right.
• 32:02
  Right.
• 32:02
  But what I also discovered is that the people that get our scholarships, because they're highly academically based, tend to get all of the scholarships.
• 32:09
  Right?
• 32:10
  Right.
• 32:10
  So what we did this year, and uh, we're, we're testing it, and I just would like to have you react to this.
• 32:16
  And see if, uh, if this rationale makes any sense to you.
• 32:20
  Um, we decided to create a new scholarship program and we have branded it the Selfless Scholar.
• 32:26
  And the way that this scholarship program works is instead of applying for a scholarship, we invited, we, I, I had my son, who is a student at, uh, St.
• 32:34
  Thomas, have, uh, nine of his baseball, uh, teammates during the month of January.
• 32:41
  Call every single high school in the state of Minnesota and tell'em about this scholarship program.
• 32:45
  The way that it works is instead of applying for the scholarship, you would nominate a peer.
• 32:50
  Right?
• 32:50
  Right.
• 32:50
  And tell them, tell, tell about their story of kindness.
• 32:54
  And what's unique about this scholarship is if that story is one of the stories that's selected, the scholarship gets split between the person who does the nomination and the person who gets nominated.
• 33:05
  Yeah.
• 33:06
  And the idea behind it is I find it to be a very Masonic scholarship in the spirit of meeting on the level.
• 33:12
  You know, you don't have to be an academic achiever to achieve one of these scholarships, right?
• 33:17
  You don't have to be an athletic achiever to get one of these scholarships.
• 33:20
  And it encourages people to think beyond themselves and look at the people around them, those people that make others feel like they matter.
• 33:28
  And what's been really fun is.
• 33:31
  We launched it on, uh, February 1st, and we only kept it open for a month, and we got hundreds of stories, and some of the stories would give you absolute goosebumps.
• 33:43
  Um, a lot of them had to do with, you know, coping with, uh, with, uh, the, the covid years and how important this person.
• 33:51
  To the, the, the friends that he had in school.
• 33:54
  And I just wanna tell you one quick story.
• 33:56
  One of the nominations, uh, came on behalf of a, and the reason I'm telling you this is I, I, I, I feel like this is something that more states should be doing.
• 34:07
  Mm-hmm.
• 34:08
  Um, It was, uh, written on behalf of a student with Down Syndrome at North St.
• 34:14
  Paul High School, and it was written by the principal of the school.
• 34:17
  Mm-hmm.
• 34:17
  And the principal of the school said that at the, uh, early in the, the first semester, I had a student come into my office and say, I don't want to take any more math classes.
• 34:26
  I'm sick of math.
• 34:27
  I don't need math or what I want to do in the future, I'd like to do something during third hour.
• 34:32
  Kid happened to be captain of the hockey team.
• 34:35
  And the principal said, I judged a book by its cover.
• 34:37
  And said, sure, Nick, what do you got up your sleeve?
• 34:39
  And he said, I would like to spend some time working with those kids in the special needs classroom.
• 34:45
  I feel bad that they seem isolated.
• 34:47
  I wanna get to know those kids and I want them to get to know me.
• 34:50
  Mm-hmm.
• 34:50
  And my friends.
• 34:52
  So over the course of this first semester, those, those hockey players became connected with those kids in the special needs classroom.
• 35:00
  And there were two, uh, additional documents that came with the, the, the nomination.
• 35:05
  One was from the mom of Andrew, who's the, the, the student that was, that was part of the nomination process, said, I've got a 16 year old son who has never had a play date with a non-special needs kid.
• 35:17
  Until Nick came into his life.
• 35:20
  In addition to that, they sent some photographs and so Nick would, Nick and his friends would pick up Andrew and his buddies, and they'd go bowling.
• 35:29
  They'd go to movies, they'd go to sporting events and all this other stuff.
• 35:32
  But the greatest part of this whole thing, you know how pictures are worth a thousand words.
• 35:36
  It was pictures of these kids clearly with Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder at varsity hockey games, cheering on their buddies with signs, and then there were pictures of those kids, the hockey players at the adapted, the special needs sporting events.
• 35:52
  Cheering on their buddies with the signs.
• 35:54
  Oh.
• 35:54
  So you see that and you know, we talk about, you know, oxytocin and, you know, the, that happiness hormone.
• 36:01
  And I just feel like one thing that we should be thinking about is Masons is owning that kindness space.
• 36:08
  When you see a Masonic Lodge, what is, what is the Masonic Lodge?
• 36:11
  What are, what are they known for?
• 36:13
  And I just think that we are in a position in our world where, Could be the, the, the place that people think about kindness and 600 high schools in the state of Minnesota became aware of Masonry through this kindness scholarship.
• 36:27
  Mm-hmm.
• 36:27
  They've always known that we've done these great big scholarships for academic purposes, but I just kind of feel like this has kind of put us in a completely different category.
• 36:37
  Yeah.
• 36:37
  And what we're gonna do with those stories is, Um, we're gonna curate the way that they were written, and we're gonna go to these scholarship nights, and we're gonna have one camera on the person who did the nomination, and they're gonna read the nomination, but they're gonna kind of leave the punchline as to who it is until the end.
• 36:54
  And then we're gonna have a secret camera on the kid that's getting the scholarship that was, that was nominated.
• 36:59
  And kind of watch them go through the, are they talking about me?
• 37:03
  Yeah.
• 37:03
  And I just think from a, a viral, uh, social media perspective, the, the juxtaposition of the nomination and this person discovering, I think that there's some, uh, they'll say a lot.
• 37:14
  Yeah.
• 37:15
  So Yeah.
• 37:16
  Absolutely.
• 37:16
  Go tell people about that.
• 37:18
  Well, I mean, I think it's a wonderful idea.
• 37:20
  We, we too often, even within our lodge settings, we too often tend to, Uh, to, to try to sympathize with the, with the negative instead of celebrating the positive.
• 37:34
  Yep.
• 37:35
  And I mean, for instance, we have sickness and, and distress reports.
• 37:41
  Why don't we have a celebration report?
• 37:44
  Instead of saying, well, Joe's been in hospital for three weeks and he's doing better.
• 37:49
  Why don't we say Joe's granddaughter just, uh, graduated Magna Cum Lati, uh, at, at, at so-and-so university or, uh, they, they just got married, or John just had, you know, I mean, our, our, uh, newest member just had a, a, a three year, uh, you know, a, a brand new, uh, baby or something positive instead of.
• 38:17
  Uh, look it, I mean, we should sympathize and we should empathize, but it, it, it's looking at the glass as more full than empty.
• 38:27
  Absolutely.
• 38:28
  And it's calling on, I mean, we can all feel sympathy for someone who's going through a sad situation.
• 38:37
  But a lot of times that's all we do is feel sympathy, but if instead, instead of just feeling sympathy, if we could celebrate with the person, absolutely.
• 38:50
  If we could pass a card around instead of saying Get well soon instead.
• 38:54
  Congratulations on, on your new baby.
• 38:57
  And then the wife sees that opens the mail and she's the one in, in two thirds of the cases we found that writes a check for the dues.
• 39:05
  Well, guess what?
• 39:06
  Next time, next time the dues note is come, she's gonna go, well, didn't they send you a card when?
• 39:12
  When, when little Sally was born and he's gonna say, oh yeah, the did.
• 39:16
  And she's gonna say, well, I already got the check in the mail.
• 39:18
  It is, it's such a, it's, it's more of a proactive approach than a reactive approach.
• 39:22
  Yeah.
• 39:22
  Now I've stolen a lot of the oxygen.
• 39:26
  Mark, Marcus, do you guys have any, I'm sure that you have questions.
• 39:32
  I could dial back to one, uh, point.
• 39:34
  Yeah.
• 39:35
  Uh, you made about the, the family of Masons, the Masonic fraternity and the exhibition to celebrate us as a large family.
• 39:46
  And that's something where Mark can, uh, come, come in as well as, uh, being at the Heritage Center.
• 39:53
  What can we in Minnesota do for you?
• 39:56
  Oh.
• 39:56
  Would love with respect to the exhibition?
• 39:59
  Uh, yeah.
• 39:59
  What can we contribute?
• 40:01
  Yeah, I would love that.
• 40:02
  What, what we're doing, I have, uh, directed our staff, uh, and they're working on it right now.
• 40:08
  They've already put up some of the shelving and some of the display cabinets.
• 40:12
  We are taking a room at the house of the temple in Washington, DC and devoting.
• 40:18
  Celebrating the family of Freemason.
• 40:20
  So in that room, we want to have, uh, artifacts, items of interest from all aspects of the Masonic family other than Scottish Wright, because the, the whole building obviously has Scottish Wright memorabilia.
• 40:38
  But we want, uh, we want the, the Shrine and the Tall Seeders and the Eastern Star and the ENT and, and, and the youth groups.
• 40:46
  We've already got several things from DMA Lay.
• 40:48
  We, we've got a couple things from Joe's daughters, and then I want to have a place in there where basically we just have a one page, you know, eight and a half by 11 size discussion of each of those different groups so that when someone comes into Scottish.
• 41:08
  They know that one of our biggest attributes, if I have anything to say about it, is that we celebrate the family and we celebrate whether, whether, as I said to the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment last weekend, York, right, Scottish Wright, it's all right.
• 41:29
  And I want the opportunity to put those things in there.
• 41:33
  So, so if you.
• 41:35
  It doesn't have to be a contemporary piece, it doesn't have to be an historic piece.
• 41:40
  It could be either or, but it's something that says that simply says, this is this particular body.
• 41:48
  This is Shum, this is, uh, I mean, it might be a, a, a picture of, of, as I already mentioned, we've got, I've got a F in there where mm-hmm.
• 41:59
  We've got, uh, we've got a, uh, a couple things from, uh, Knight's Templer in there, but I just want to, we've got a coin collection for instance, from, uh, uh, Royal Arch.
• 42:11
  So I just want to get something that, uh, maybe you go in there and you are a member of Knight's Temple and, and you haven't seen that.
• 42:23
  So it, it draws your interest for several reasons.
• 42:25
  First of all, it's, it's Knight's Temple, and I'm one.
• 42:29
  And oh, I, that's an historical whatever, and a piece of memorabilia, and you say, that's interesting, and then suddenly you're in that, and then as you draw away from it, you suddenly realize that you're in the Scottish Rock building.
• 42:43
  And so I want the message to be, this reminds me of this piece of the family that I'm involved.
• 42:51
  So anything like, Be it his, be it historic.
• 42:55
  Uh, it doesn't, and I'm not, I'm not looking for it to be gifted.
• 42:59
  I mean, we certainly would welcome that, but we can put it, we can take it on a loan.
• 43:04
  Uh, and, and we would attribute the loan.
• 43:06
  You know, this is from, uh, ABC Museum, uh, on loan.
• 43:10
  We very much appreciate, you know, uh, those kind of things.
• 43:14
  And so we're, we're building.
• 43:16
  I want this ready, I want this ready by session.
• 43:20
  And these guys, these guys are sweating.
• 43:22
  Cause I'm like, look, we gotta, we gotta get these display cases up.
• 43:26
  And what we've done is we've repurposed display cases that in, in, in some instances we're his, are historic to the very building.
• 43:36
  So I've said, look, We've got display cases sitting around with nothing in there.
• 43:41
  So let's just move these, we're gonna remount them in this room.
• 43:45
  We're gonna put some good lighting in the room.
• 43:48
  We're gonna put in some wifi connections to the room and, and we're going to make this a display.
• 43:54
  And, and, and my direction is get this thing open by, uh, August 20th.
• 44:00
  So everyone is under the gun right now about that.
• 44:05
  Thank you for sharing that.
• 44:05
  And now if we take it from, That has embraces all the rights and all of the Masonic family.
• 44:12
  There's one question I need to ask you.
• 44:14
  Yeah.
• 44:14
  That not only Minnesota's, uh, Scottish right.
• 44:16
  Nations are interested in, but I bet everywhere else as well, what is your favorite Scottish right?
• 44:22
  Degree.
• 44:24
  Okay.
• 44:25
  The, I, I get asked this, I gotta ask this in Minneapolis, as a matter of fact.
• 44:30
  Hmm.
• 44:30
  Um, And, and I have to, I have to split in, in part the, the degree that, uh, is, is most sentimental to me is the fourth degree.
• 44:43
  Mm-hmm.
• 44:44
  Because I, I was supposedly the first guy that, uh, they put this on.
• 44:49
  When they revised the, the fourth degree and it, it had the grant commander and, and 10 or 12 SGI gs, I didn't even know what they were at the time, sitting in the front row statewide class named in honor of the only man who has ever been lieutenant Grand Commander from Virginia.
• 45:09
  Uh, I asked Graham master, uh, who was, uh, raised, uh, just a couple miles from where my wife was raised.
• 45:18
  I mean, there's a lot of small.
• 45:20
  So fourth degree is my sentimental favorite, the degree of all of, uh, Scottish, right?
• 45:27
  That means the most to me is the 14th degree.
• 45:31
  Um, as I say, properly done.
• 45:36
  And, and by that I mean, uh, even his grand commander.
• 45:40
  I'll have to tell you, I don't necessarily agree with all of the changes that sometimes occur as we, as we try to improve our virtual, but.
• 45:49
  Particularly the discussion of, let's just say the relationship with, with our God.
• 45:58
  Uh, and that's so, 14th is my favorite, but my sentimental choice has to be the fourth because I, I did it, you know that I was the thank you for sharing that.
• 46:11
  Thank you.
• 46:12
  Interesting that, uh, the family of Free Mason was perfect.
• 46:16
  So many of us have been trying to get that across and it's, well, I'm only about this, or I'm only about that.
• 46:23
  Right.
• 46:24
  And you are right.
• 46:25
  In particular, there's so many side organizations, you're, you're know, oh yes.
• 46:29
  And.
• 46:30
  The depth that we could put out there for your display.
• 46:35
  Right.
• 46:35
  Almost endless.
• 46:37
  I know.
• 46:37
  And I have a question as to who are you having coordinate this?
• 46:42
  Is it Larisa Art?
• 46:44
  Art De Hos.
• 46:45
  Okay, good.
• 46:46
  Yeah.
• 46:47
  You have talent in your Uh, I do.
• 46:50
  I've got, I, I, you know, I mean, that knows all of this stuff.
• 46:53
  I know our retirees are, are, uh, you know, uh, when you got Brent on the bench and you.
• 47:00
  Like Ronnie Seal is a retiree from the council and, and Bill Miller, uh, you know, has such a background in York, right?
• 47:08
  I mean, but on the council, you know, we've got, you talk about all of these other bodies.
• 47:13
  I mean, think about how many of them at Joe Manning has been head of Ingo Christ family.
• 47:18
  Good.
• 47:19
  You know, so, uh, but we've got, we've got such strength there and, and such a relationship with a family of free Basery.
• 47:26
  So when I brought this up to guys and says, I'm gonna do this, Don't mind.
• 47:31
  And they're, and they kind of look and then they're like, well, why didn't we think of this before?
• 47:36
  So, but it's, it's exciting to me.
• 47:39
  It really is.
• 47:40
  And you're right, there's so many, I mean, last weekend, uh, well, a week ago today I spoke at the Red Cross of Constantine.
• 47:49
  Uh, breakfast and I'm a intended general at large there.
• 47:54
  Yes, you are.
• 47:55
  And, and, uh, a past essence.
• 47:58
  Uh, and, and another small story I don't wanna take up from time to No.
• 48:02
  Take it.
• 48:03
  But so, so they give a little history of, uh, the, the Saint Simeon, uh, conclave.
• 48:11
  Conclave, which was the one one where I was speaking.
• 48:14
  That's the one in dc So he said they were originally named St.
• 48:17
  Thomas.
• 48:18
  And then, Dark and when they came back they became Saint Simian Beau and, and they gave some reasons for that.
• 48:24
  They didn't.
• 48:25
  They discarded, this ain't Thomas name.
• 48:27
  So I said, well, that's interesting.
• 48:29
  Probably had some doubts because in the nineties, pretty good in the nineties, one of our past grand masters in Virginia, Tom May, Thomas Frederick May, uh, wanted to start another Red Cross.
• 48:46
  He was a member of Red Cross, but he wanted to start another conflict.
• 48:49
  Near in the Chesapeake region, there was only one in the state, and they needed one in the Chesapeake region.
• 48:54
  It was a very populous region.
• 48:55
  Mm-hmm.
• 48:56
  So they started, they called it, and of course he, they said, well, we've got some older names.
• 49:00
  And he goes, oh, St.
• 49:01
  Thomas, obviously we need to have that one.
• 49:03
  So, and I was a pleasant sovereign of St.
• 49:07
  Thomas.
• 49:07
  That's where I came into Red Cross.
• 49:09
  And so here I am speaking to this group who, unbeknownst to me until right before they introduced me, used to be Saint Thomas.
• 49:18
  Well, I'm.
• 49:19
  Uh, it's, you know, it, it, it, I can't imagine that the, uh, the S G I G for a jurisdiction also is the Grand Master at the same time.
• 49:28
  Oh, yeah.
• 49:28
  So we are, uh, you know, I've gotten to know Tony over the last, uh, couple of years and, you know, we couldn't be in better hands.
• 49:36
  Uh, the Scottish Wright is gonna be in great hands for a long time.
• 49:40
  I know.
• 49:41
  Uh, you know, we have, uh, a hope.
• 49:44
  Continue to, uh, play a significant role with Minnesota Masonic Charities.
• 49:47
  But the fact that you, you know, were able to make it here, we're all very grateful.
• 49:51
  It makes us, you know, Minnesotans, we kind of have an inferiority complex cuz it's so cold and so dreary.
• 49:57
  And when, you know, people are willing to come and, and visit with us, we, uh, we find a special place in our heart.
• 50:04
  For those of you.
• 50:05
  To have a willingness to come and, uh, share some time with us.
• 50:09
  Thank, thank you.
• 50:09
  Thank you very much.
• 50:10
  Thanks, John.
• 50:10
  I appreciate that.
• 50:12
  I think we've got some legislation that needs to be addressed.
• 50:15
  We do indeed.
• 50:15
  All right.
• 50:16
  Well, thank you very much.
• 50:17
  Thank you very much.
• 50:17
  And, uh, thank you.
• 50:18
  Enjoy the rest of your stay.
• 50:19
  Thanks.