The
NORTH
CAROLINA
MASON
Official Publication of The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons of North Carolina
VOL. XCVI, NO. 3
Oxford, North Carolina 27565, March, 1971
ONE DOLLAR A YEAR
Traveling with the
GRAND MASTER
My last report closed with the resume
of the special meeting with Mt. Pleasant
Lodge No. 573 held on December 8,1970
On Thursday evening, December 10,
1970 W.'.Brother Bill Owen, one of the
officers of my home lodge and I drove
down to Salisbury, N.C. to attend the
Annual Awards Dinner of Andrew Jack
son Lodge No. 576. The meeting got
under way promptly at 7:00 p.m. with
a bountiful meal after which I presented
several twenty-five
year awards to
the Brethren and
three Fifty Year
Veterans Awards.
I was pleased to
see and talk with
my good friend,
M.-.W.-.J. Giles
Hudson, P. G. M.
Also W.'.Bros. J.
F. Bame D.D.G.M.
and E. Rayvon
Maurice E. Walsh Curran, D.E.C. of
the 44th District.
The meeting was excellently planned
and arranged. W.'.Bro. Ken W. Beck,
Master, the officers and brethren of
Andrew Jackson No. 576 are to be com
mended for the way and manner they
are conducting the affairs of their
Lodge.
On Friday evening, December 11,
1970, my long time friend and Brother,
W.'.Tam L. Shumaker and I motored to
Durham, N.C. where we were met by
my son, Steve. We attended the Twenty-
first Anniversary and Ladies Night
Banquet of Fellowship Lodge No. 687.
This was an excellently planned and ar
ranged meeting. W.'.Brother Lyman M.
Johnson, Master, the officers and breth
ren of Fellowship Lodge were hand
somely rewarded for their years work
by the attendance at this meeting. It
was good to see and greet so many of
my friends of many years: Cabel B.
(Continued on Page Two)
Bro. Thomas R. McCrea
Former Editor, Passes
Brother Thomas Russell McCrea, the
first editor of The North Carolina Ma
son, was found dead in his bed Friday,
March 5, 1971. Brother McCrea had
apparently been dead two days. Death
was attributed to natural causes.
Funeral services were held Sunday,
March 7 in Jones Funeral Chapel, Jack
sonville, N.^ C., with the Rev. Gerald
Davis officiating. Masonic burial rites
were held in the Fountain family ceme
tery, Richlands. Brother McCrea is sur
vived by two sisters, Mrs. R. C. Belfour
of Thomasville, Ga., and Mrs. W. R.
Pierce of Palmetto, Fla; three brothers,
W- W. of Atlanta, Ga., J. S. of Jackson
ville, Fla., and H. V. McCrea of Thomas
ville, Ga.
Tom McCrea was born July 21, 1901,
in Tifton, Georgia, a son of Dr. John
Arch McCrea and Pauline Warnell Mc
Crea.
After graduating from Tifton High
School, he entered Georgia Tech in the
fall of 1921 to study Chemistry.
On January 28, 1924, he transferred
to North Carolina State University,
where he immediately became active in
the literary and musical organizations,
his humorous art work being in high
demand for the college annual.
Upon graduation, he was employed by
the North Carolina State Board of
(Continued on Page Three)
NOTICE
Grand Lodge Meeting Place
Changed
The annual communication of the
Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. originally
scheduled to be held in Winston-Salem,
has been changed to Raleigh, April 20-
2L 1971.
The sale of the Robert E. Lee Hotel in
Winston-Salem has made this change
necessary.
Greensboro Lodge No. 76
Has Sesquicentennial
By Earley W. Bridges, Historian
Troy G. Robbins
Steak “Old 76’’ style with all the ex
tras was the delight of the members
and their wives and many visiting
guests on Monday night, March 1, in
the Greensboro Temple dining room.
Brother John Herman Cass, Master
of Old 76, presided over the festivities
beginning with that appropriate yarn,
“You didn’t get your religion in this
church”, with Brother George Bennette
as'the victim.
Brother Henry Bridges, North Car
olina State Auditor and brother of
Earley W. Bridges, Treasurer of the
Lodge, gave a very interesting history
of the Lodge listing highlights through
the years from 1821 since Old 76 was
constituted on March 1, of that year.
Baxter Westmoreland, Conductor of
the Greensboro Chapter of Barber Shop
Society, along with 40 of his singers,
(Continued on Page Six)
Raleigh Lodge No. 500
Has 71st Annual Banquet
By R. Gage Smith
Raleigh Lodge No. 500 held their 71st
Annual Banquet on Saturday evening,
February 6, in the Confederate Room,
Balentines Cameron Village, Raleigh,
with Bro. Joe Harrington, S.W., as
Master of Ceremonies. Invocation was
by Bro. Hubert Cross, Chaplain, after
which the buffet line was buffeted by a
double line of members, ladies and other
guests.
Brother Harrington started off his
program, but was interrupted by “Miss
Minnie Pearl” who gave a full and com
plete report of recent happenings in and
around Grinder’s Switch. Diligent in
quiry later revealed that Mrs. Jean
Hobby, of Angier, was the double for
the well-known radio and TV person-
(Continued on Page Five)