June, 1969
The North Carolina Mason
Page Five
FROM THE
GRAND
SECRETARY
The Grand Master has advised
that he will not present 26-Year,
50-Year or 60-Year Awards at the
District meetings this year, so
please do not request these awards
for presentation at his meeting in
your District.
Please note that the Grand
Lodge adopted several proposed
amendments to THE CODE at the
Annual Communication this past
April, including the amendment
proposed by the Grand Secretary’s
office to amend Regulation 54-01
(1) by adding subsection (A) to
read as follows:
“A. A lodge shall be exempt
from the payment of dues and as
sessments to the Grand Lodge on
all members who have received the
Fifty-Year and/or the Sixty-Year
Service Awards.”
This means, brethren, that we
no longer have to elect our mem
bers who have received the fifty
and sixty year awards to Life
Membership in order to exempt the
lodge from the per capita dues on
them. When a member receives a
fifty or a sixty year award, the
lodge is automatically exempt from
the per capita dues on him from
that time on.
Regulation 87-01 was amended
or restored to its former wording
which v/as in effect prior to the
amendment adopted in 1966. “A
lodge may now make a member a
Life Member only for outstanding
and meritorious service to Mason
ry, and the lodge shall not be ex
empt from the payment of dues
and assessments to the Grand
Lodge on Life Members.” (Except
on 50 and 60-Year members who
are already Life Members).
The proposal to amend Regula
tion 21-01 by adding subsection (3)
and (3A) was not adopted. Action
on this proposal was delayed for
further study by the Committee on
Masonic Jurisprudence. This pro
posed amendment had to do with
the holding of stated communica
tions during the Annual Communi
cation of the Grand Lodge.
Also, the proposal to amend Reg
ulation 51-01 (1) by adding subsec
tions (3) and (3A) prohibiting the
holding of a stated or an emergent
communication on a day that a
District meeting is being held in
that District, was not adopted.
This proposal was also delayed for
further study.
Action on the proposal to amend
Regulation 35-08 to divide the
State into areas, requiring the ap
pointment of Area Lecturers from
the Certified Lecturers, was also
delayed. This proposal was refer
red to the Board of Custodians for
further study.
All other proposals listed in the
pamphlet sent out by the Code
Commission under date of October
29, 1968 were adopted. We presume
the Code Commission will prepare
inserts of these changes at an early
Festive Honors Paid Our Grand Master
On Tuesday, May 13, at 6:00 P.
M., James B. Green Lodge No. 7.'!5,
Raleigh, honored M.'.W-'-Bro. Wil
liam A. Hooks, Grand Master, at
a buffet dinner in the Recreation
room of the Millbrook Masonic
Temple. The menu for the feast
consisted of such delectables as
roast beef, baked ham, turnip
greens, green beans, potato salad,
cole slaw, pie (choice of apple of
blueberry) and hot Mocha-Java
coffee or iced Celon tea.
At 7:30 P.M., the Stated Com
munication was opened, with W.‘.
Brother Paul Etheridge, Jr., Mas
ter, presiding, and all other offi
cers in their several stations and
places.
W.'.Brother J. Frank Maddry,
D.D.G.M., 25th Masonic district,
introduced the following past mas
ters: W.‘.Brothers Dee 0. Line-
berry, William G. Hill No. 218;
Lacy Thomas, (also D.D.G.M.
27th); Floyd Stewart, C. D. Hooks,
all of Fellowship No. 84, Smith-
field; Vernon Wilson, of No. 1184,
Endicott, N. Y.; Paul Scott, and
George W. White, Millbrook No.
97; Harrison Kauffman, Hiram
No. 40; and James S. Johnson, Jr.,
of 735 (also P.M., of Raleigh No.
500).
W.‘.Brother James S. Johnson,
Jr., introduced W.‘.Brother J.
Frank Maddry, D.D.G.M., and W.‘.
Bro. R. Gage Smith, D.D.G.L., of
the 25th Masonic district.
W-'-Bro. J. Frank Maddry then
presented M.‘.W.'.Brother Robert
date. In the meantime, if you need
a copy of these proposals, we will
be glad to send one upon receipt of
your request.
Perhaps the amendments to Reg
ulation 72-01 and 85-01 were
among the most important that
should be brought to the attention
of the Masters and the Secretaries
of our lodges at this time.
Re,,ulation 72-01 was amended
to read that “On and after Janu
ary 1, 1970 no lodge in this state
shall confer any of the Symbolic
degrees in Masonry for less than
fifty dollars.”
Regulation 85-01 was amended
to read that “From January 1,
1970 each lodge shall fix in its by
laws and shall collect such annual
dues from its membership as may
be neccessary to enable it to main
tain itself and discharge all of its
duties and obligations; provided,
that no lodge shall fix such annu
al dues at less than seven dollars
and fifty cents.”
Many lodges in North Carolina
are going to have to amend their
by-laws before the end of this
year in order to conform to these
amendments. The Grand Secretary
will be most happy to prepare a
resolution to amend one or both of
these articles in your by-laws if
you will tell us the amounts you
propose to fix in Article 9 for
the fee for the degrees, and/or Ar
ticle 10 for the annual membership
dues. If you will follow Article 24
of Regulation 60-01 of THE
CODE, it is an easy matter to
adopt amendments to the by-laws.
—Charles A. Harris
N. Bass, Jr., P.G.M., of the Grand
Lodge.
The M.‘.W.'.Grand Master of
Masons in North Carolina, Broth
er William A. Hooks, was received,
with W-’.Bro. J. Prank Maddry
acting as marshal. He was escorted
to the East, given private Grand
Honors, and seated the lodge.
W.‘.Brother Etheridge told that
in the late summer the lodge would
visit our Home in Greensboro in a
body, with a small personal gift
for each guest, but added that he
felt the personal visit would mean
more to our guests than the gift.
He then explained plans by lodges
in the 24th, 25th and 26th Masonic
districts to carry out the celebra
tion of St. John’s Day, as follows:
June 21 (Saturday) all three dis
tricts meet in Raleigh’s Masonic
Temple at 2:30 p.m., with William
G. Hill Lodge No. 218 as host, con
ferring the third degree by a team
composed of members of all lodges
in the three districts (places being
drawn by lot rather than as
signed) , with full-uniforms of Hi
ram. Lodge No. 40 being used in the
second section. Dtgree work to be
completed by 5:30 p.m., so that
each brother could drive home and
pick up his family, returning to
the Masonic Temple by 6:30 for a
chicken supper to be served by the
brethren of William T. Bain Lodge
No. 231. Each lodge was encourag
ed to make its own plans for church
attendance in a body on June 22,
with James B. Green Lodge No.
735 to attend Trinity United Meth
odist Church, in Raleigh (home
church of the Worshipful Master).
It was announced that the Junior
Past Master, W.‘.Bro. Alex Holder,
Jr., who now lives in Tennessee,
had recently suffered a broken leg
in a fall.
The Master called attention to
the election of Brother J. C.
Knowles (who served No. 736 as
Chaplain for the past three years)
as a member of the Raleigh School
Board, and that he was being in
stalled as president of the P.T.A.
of Emma Conn School this even
ing.
M.‘.W.‘.Brother William A.
Hooks, who was recognized as
Grand Master, and instructed
Brother Tom Green to present
Brother Raymond Walter Catlette
before the altar. Brother Hooks
presented a 25-year Certificate and
lapel pin to Brother Catlette and
had Brother Green pin the lapel
pin on Brother Catlette, noting
that he was raised to the sublime
degree of Master Mason in Stuy-
vesant Lodge No. 745, New York
City, on April 6, 1940.
W.‘.Brother James S. Johnson,
Jr., presented Brother George L.
Stockstill, Chaplain, at the altar.
After prayer at the altar by W.'.
Brother Paul Etheridge, Jr., the
Grand Master presented a 50-Year
Masonic Certificate and lapel pin
to Brother Stockstill and had him
conducted to the east where Broth
er George M. Stockstill (his son)
pinned the lapel pin on his father,
noting that he had been Initiated
March 2, 1919, Passed April 5,
1919, and Raised May 11, 1919, in
Carriere, Lodge No. 6, Carriere
Well Tempered Truth
“Good will ultimately predom
inate over evil” is but one way of
saying optimism as we hear every
one talking it today.
Everyone encourages optimism,
and there is no question about the
competent merits of a sincere opti
mism. However, exactly like every
other thing, either good or bad, it
can be overdone. We can be too op
timistic.
It is true that if we really look
for it, we can find some thing good
and worthwhile in everybody and
everything, but is it always best to
look only for the good in the every
thing? Shouldn’t the bad . . . the
short-comings of things be taken
into considerations?
A coach fields a ball team with
the idea of winning. He is opti
mistic about the appearance of the
players but he never allows his op
timism to run rampant. He looks
deeper into the actual merits of
each player.
A good coach is never so optimis
tic that he will believe that appear
ance will make a ball player.
Surely, if we are going to be fair
and honest, we must admit that
sometimes all the good points go
ing for a thing are not sufficently
strong enough or important enough
to justify our losing sight of its
bad points. All too often the scales
are balanced too far in the direc
tion of those deficiencies.
Optimism, like so many of the
other ingredients that are essential
to successful living, must be realis
tic. With what has become an obses
sion for an optimistic approach to
our daily existence, we must never
allow ourselves to forget that, as
Brethren, we should ever circum
scribe our thoughts and our actions
with the reality and good judgment
of a tempered truth. —Exchange
No man can cash in on the satis
faction he gets out of revenge.
Mississippi. Brother Hooks pointed
out in his brief remarks of presen
tation that the Grand Lodge and
James B. Green Lodge No. 735
were jointly presenting the emblem
of love to signify a half century of
mutual love.
Brother Stockstill responded with
a few words, saying he felt some
what like a freckled-faced country
boy on the last day of school who
was supposed to deliver a speech,
and when he walked out on the
stage barefooted and clothed in
overalls, he finally got out “Dog
gone it—I’ve forgotten it.” He did,
however, say that it was wonderful
to be a Mason, and that he had
memories of a very long time ago
when a man rode a hores to lodge
meetings, then came back and
spent the night (at least, what lit
tle was left of it) at our house. Ad
ditional remarks revealed that the
man to whom he referred was his
father. He expressed appreciation
to the Grand Master for being
present making this event most
meaningful. He expressed appreci
ation to all of the brethren for
their presence.
Timely remarks by other breth
ren contributed to the greater good
of Masonry; and the Grand Mas-
closed the Lodge in Ample Form.