M.W.
LOUIS R. SOLOMON
MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND
MASTER
To the Right Worshipful
and Worshipful Grand Lodge Officers, Past Grand Masters, Worshipful Masters,
Pest Masters, Wardens and Brothers of the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge, F. &
A. M. of the State of Washington and Jurisdiction, Visiting Dignitaries and
Visiting Brothers,
Greetings:
It is with a deep sense of
humility and gratitude that we at this time extend to you, one and all, our
most sincere, cordial and fraternal welcome to this, our sixty-fifth annual
communication, and it is our hope again that we shall spread the cement of
brotherly love end affection whereby that, when our deliberations are
concluded, each of us may express our sincere pleasure for having been here.
The honor of being Grand
Master comes to only a Few, with it lies a tremendous responsibility to do
that which will, create, promote and maintain progress and harmony within
the craft. As we end this masonic year, we recognized the aid and the
support of the Grand Master of the Universe, without his guidance, as we all
know, all our efforts would have been in vain.
Today, we as Prince Hall
Masons, must take stock of the fact that every facet of our lives, in this
great nation of ours, is expanding and changing so rapidly that we are, as a
group, apparently unable to keep up with the ever changing conditions. This
nation of ours is expanding, in terms of productivity, the lone awaited
development and practice of human rights, the level of opportunity, each of
these is at a level that did not exist as recently as five years ago.
Masonry must move with the times. It must also show advancement in the
application of its principles. The framers of the Constitution of these
United States did a remarkable job, yet they could not vision the
interpretations which have evolved or the many complex situations to which
it has been applied; yet it is still the foundation of American life and
generations have built upon it to make this the greatest nation on earth.
Prince Hall, our founder, was a man prominent in the issues of his time,
particularly with respect to men of color. Even in today’s time, he would be
considered very modern and progressive. I use these examples to emphasize
that although we as Prince Hall Masons have basic tenants to which we must
adhere, we also must develop in harmony with the world around us or Masonry
will whither and eventually die upon the vine,
NECROLOGY
“As we are born, that
moment, also we begin to die.’’ In conformity to ancient Masonic usage, we
here are assembled in the character of Master Masons with deep heart—felt
sincerity and affection, to recall the passing of many brothers with whom we
have labored and loved in the pursuit of our avocation.
Although we have assigned
each in his turn to the grave, in truth we realize that in the spring time
of the early morning beyond this veil of tears surely we shall meet again.
The Supreme Grand Master
has with care selected twelve of our faithful and beloved brothers to drop
forever the working tools of life since our last annual communication. We
shall now call upon our Grand Chaplain to offer up prayer for the living in
solemn memory of our departed brothers…AMEN.
STATE OF THE CRAFT
For the third time you
have honored me with this most honorable office of Grand Master and I have
considered it a distinct privilege and pleasure to have served you. This
year we have been faced with a tremendous amount of challenges and problems.
We have been called upon to make many decisions and we have traveled more
than 20,000 miles in our efforts to fulfill the many assignments that are
required of this office.
We are happy to report to
you that our Masonic brothers are continuing to make some progress in almost
every part of our jurisdiction. We are sad to report that we had to have
our District Deputy Grand Master of District #3, R.W. Charles L. Bridges, to
journey to Great Falls, Montana to pick up the charter of Electric City
Lodge #48, Thereby closing that lodge for all Masonic purposes, We must
report that many of our lodges are continuing to experience the lack of
attendance at their meetings and therefore are hampered in their efforts to
carry out full and meaningful programs.
Our finances and
investments have improved this year, as shall be reported to you by the
several departments. Our membership in most areas either improved or
remained the same.
FRATERNAL RELATIONS
We can state,
categorically, that we enjoy fine relationships with all the jurisdictions
of the Prince Hall Family and to the Ninth degree with our Adoptive Rite,
the Order of Eastern Star, as well as with all the concordant bodies in this
jurisdiction. We again enjoyed the opportunity and the pleasure of
attending the Conference of Grand Masters of Prince Hall Masons that was
held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, May 2-4, 1968. Most of the Prince Hall
Grand Masters and many other present and past grand lodge officers were in
attendance. Conference discussions were centered around “Building Model
Lodges For This Modern Age.”
THE GEORGE JORDEN EPISODE
You will all recall that
we reported to you during our last annual’ communication that our Grand
Treasurer, George Jorden, had misappropriated a large sum of the Grand
Lodge’s money. At that time I promised that as soon as all details and
particulars were known to me that I would inform you of the decision and
actions that were taken concerning that matter. That I have done. Also,
you will receive other information relating to that subject from the
appropriate committees during this session.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
We have spent many many,
many hours of time in conference and meetings during this year, in the full
circle of community life, fraternal, civic, church, business, education,
etc., all in our efforts to equal life’s chances for the Blacks Man.
CONFERENCES - AFFAIRS - HONORS
We find space too limited
in this message to attempt to bring to you the great many conferences,
affairs and meetings that were attended by us during this Masonic year;
therefore, we shall say that we enjoyed the honor of being invited and the
pleasure of attending.
GRAND LODGE VISITS
Once again we enjoyed the
good fellowship and the opportunity of visiting our sister jurisdiction in
its eighth annual communication, the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge, F. &
A.M., of Oregon. It convened in its annual meeting, Monday, June 24, 1968
in the City or Portland. Oregon at 9:00 A. M. with the M.W. Grand Master
Robert H. Dillard presiding. We are very pleased to note that this grand
lodge is moving rapidly ahead in all of its Masonic programs. The entire
communication was held at the Holiday Inn.
NEW LODGES
May 11, 1968 our Grand
Lecturer, R.W. Brother E. A. Douglas, our Grand Trustee, R.W. Isiah Simon
and I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska for the purpose of creating a U. D.
lodge out of a Masonic Club. A Past Master Willie W. Martin was given the
special assignment to formulate and organized this Masonic club. Brother
Martin performed that task with a display of skill, ability and Masonic
knowledge that is certainly a credit to this jurisdiction. May 12 we
journeyed to Eielson AFB, along with the Worshipful Master of Midnite Sun
Lodge #51, Worshipful Brother Herman L. Smith, the officers of his lodge and
a number of his brothers.
Under the brilliant
leadership of W.M. Smith the several degrees of Symbolic Masonry were
executed in such a manner that any Master Mason would have been proud to
have observed--and Arctic Lodge was born.
SPECIAL AFFAIRS
During the last annual
communication of this Grand Lodge R.W. Brother A. E. Pendray was awarded two
very special honors. 1. Received the high honor of a life membership of
this Grand Lodge. 2. Was the first brother in our jurisdiction to receive
style and title of Honorary Past Grand Master. During the month
of March, 1968 and affair
was held at the Epicure Restaurant, Seattle, Washington in honor of M.W.
Brother A.E. Pendray. During this occasion Brother Pendray received his
certificate of Life Membership and the jewels and apron of an Honorary Past
Grand Master, along with many beautiful gifts.
The tremendous success of
this affair was due primarily to the hard work and diligent efforts of Past
Grand Masters Johnny Allen and Joseph I. Staton. Thanks, Most Worshipful
brothers, for a job well done.
December, 1967 the lodges
of Districts No. 1 and 2 joined together, along with several chapters of the
Order of Eastern Star and the Heroines of Jericho in the ceremonies of
public installation of officers. These ceremonies were held in the Chamber
of Commerce Building, Seattle, Washington. This affair as the largest and
most outstanding of its kind that has ever been held in the Pacific
Northwest. Your Grand Master was the installing officer and we also
received a large number of financial gifts. The huge success of this
occasion was due entirely to the brilliant leadership and the tireless
efforts R.W. James W, Davis, D.D.G.M., #1 and R.W. Carlton B. Tucker,
D.D.G.M., #2.
SPECIAL SESSION
We convened our Grand
Lodge in special occasional session on the following occasions; July 18,
1967 we had the sad duty of convening our grand lodge for the purpose of
performing the last rites for our departed Worshipful Brother R. R.
Lawrence, Vancouver, B. C., Canada.
August 26, 1967 we again
had the sad duty of convening our grand lodge in Bremerton, Washington to
perform the last rites for our Worshipful Grand Bible Bearer, The Rev.
Brother Anthony Modisett.
BUILDING FUND ASSESSMENT
During the last session of
this grand lodge we enacted into law a regulation requiring each brother to
pay a $100.00 Building Fund assessment over a period of three years, with a
specified amount to be paid each of the three years. Since July, 1967 we
have sent to the member of this grand lodge three memorandums and numerous
letters to the individual lodges in an attempt to explain the purpose, need
and the terms of this assessment as passed by the grand lodge. In addition
we have visited the several lodges in the state on two on more occasions to
personally explain end answer questions pertaining to this matter. Our
building program, which will emerge from this assessment, will become the
best thing that this grand lodge has ever accomplished. Other information
and details will be furnished by committees during this session.
GRAND LODGE OFFICERS
We shall take this
opportunity and privilege to extend our gratitude and personal thanks to all
of our Grand Lodge Officers for the wonderful spirit of cooperation that
they have displayed this fear. They have been called upon many, many times
and they have responded to the best of their abilities. We are proud to have
had the pleasure of working with such a wonderful staff.
RECOMMENDATIONS
We offer the following
recommendations for your consideration:
