Dear Brethren and Friends,

Our Fall Reunion concludes on Friday, 18 December with the Special Rendezvous of Benjamin Franklin Consistory, 32°.

The Degree to be presented that evening will be the 32° Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The meeting will be held in Gothic Hall, but following the close the Brethren are asked to retire to Corinthian Hall on the second floor of the Temple.

The evening begins at 6PM in the Lower Level Banquet Room with a buffet dinner selected by our Valley's 'First Lady,' Mrs. Linda Melson. Lady Linda hopes you'll love: Selected Salads, Marinated Pepper Steak over White Rice, Broiled Tilapia, Homemade Baked Ziti, Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes, Broccoli Spears and Ice Cream to finish. The cost per person is $20 with the exception of the Class.

Reservations for dinner are required and are very easy to make. Just call 215-563-1814 or email to phila.aasr@juno.com and you're done! 

Reservations MUST be made by or before, Thursday, December 10, 2015. No reservations will be accepted past that date. NO EXCEPTIONS!

During dinner we will present the 33° jewel and cap to Illustrious Brothers: Rick S. Freedman, William A. Klosz, Michael D. McKee. Edward J. Neilson, Daniel R. Scheetz, Gerard R. Sealy and Thomas F. Toscani, 33°. The red MSA cap will be presented to Valley Brothers, Michael C. Bauerle and Russell B. Combs, 32° MSA. Congratulations Brethren!

The Ladies of the Valley will have a very interesting program, “Eleanor Roosevelt” presented to them by actress, Linda Kenyon.

After the conclusion of the Degree, the Brethren and Ladies will be welcomed into Corinthian Hall for our salute to our Veterans, featuring an address by General and Brother, Wesley Craig, U. S. Army (Retired) and special appearance from the Color Guard of the First City Troop. As per our Commander-in-Chief, our Veteran Brethren are welcome and encouraged to wear their ribbons/medals to this meeting. We want to be able to recognize you!

Parking for the evening is in the Convention Center Parking Facility, 1324 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. This is only garage we have chasers/validations for! Park elsewhere and you are on your own.

As always the dress code is tuxedo for the Officers, business suit or sport coat and tie for the members.

Hope to see YOU there!

Steven A. Morrison, 33°
Valley Secretary

Dear Brethren and Friends:

Good Morning everyone and welcome to Monday! Yeah, I know I did that again, get over it.

The 15° Cast rehearses this evening at 7PM in Gothic Hall. Parking is at the Convention Center Parking Facility, 1324 Arch Street, and as always the dress code for the Masonic Temple is coat and tie.

This coming Thursday, 12 November is our Reservation Deadline! That's right, for dinner on Friday, 20 November! Came up pretty fast huh? Guess what? So's Christmas! I know, shocked me too.

If you haven't made your reservation yet; lets get it done by this Thursday. Again to our Recommenders & Mentors, there's still a number of Candidates I haven't heard from. Please touch base with them and ensure that they know that they must let us know if they're planning to attend and most importantly, if their lady will be accompanying them. We almost take it for granted that 'he' is coming as he is a Candidate, but if they fail to call and then bring their lady, she is not in the dinner count.

The 18th Degree Cast rehearses this Wednesday night, 11 November at 7 PM in Gothic Hall. Parking is, well you know by now.

Tomorrow is the Marine Corps birthday and I will recognize that important event then, but I wanted to wish all of our Valley Devil Dogs a great day today as well; and as it's Veterans Day week, to all of my Valley 'comrades in arms,' Thank You again for Your Service!

Have a great day everyone and an even better week ahead!

Dear Brethren and Friends:

Good Morning everyone and welcome to Friday! Yes, you made it.

So what's going on and coming up? Glad you asked!

First off, this coming Monday night, 9 November, the 15° Cast will hold their first rehearsal in preparation for their presentation at the Special Convocation. The rehearsal starts at 7PM in Gothic Hall. Cast members are reminded to park in the Convention Center Parking Facility, 1324 Arch Street; and as always, the dress code for the Masonic Temple is business suit or sport coat and tie.

Just spoke with our Commander-in-Chief, Ill. Clay Melson, 33° MSA and he has informed me that our Valley's First Lady, Linda is Bryn Mawr Hospital.  Lets all keep her in our thoughts and prayers for a full and speedy recovery.

Next Wednesday night, 11 November, our 18° Cast has their first rehearsal in Gothic Hall at 7PM. Parking and dress code rules still apply!

This coming Thursday, 12 November is the deadline for dinner reservations for the Special Convocation and Special Assembly. If you haven't made a reservation yet, get it in now. Avoid the delay and more importantly avoid forgetting! No reservations will be accepted past that date.

Special note to our recommenders and our mentors: Please check with your Candidate/Mentees to see if they've check in yet. As of right now I have a large number of candidates NOT heard from. I send them a letter reminding them to call in upon receipt of the letter, you'd think that would work, but it doesn't always.

Be sure to talk to your lady about coming too. The Ladies welcome former 6ABC consumer reporter Amy Buckman as their very special guest that evening. With the approaching holiday shopping season on the horizon, maybe Amy will have some advice to lower the bruising on your credit card or bank account!

I have to apologize, sort of. I put an order form in the November issue of THE DOUBLE EAGLE for Christmas in Hershey tickets. At the time of preparation we still had tickets; I went to print, then we had a run on tickets. I am now returning checks to those ordering tickets as we are SOLD OUT again. Well, to be completely honest, we're not totally sold out. we have 1 ticket left. If you've ordered tickets previously and need 1 more, give me a call.

Congrats go out to our Family Life Chairman, Ill. James Rae, 33° MSA on another sell out. Yet another great job Bro. Jim in planning a Valley Family Event!

This Sunday evening we say farewell to Valley Brother, Skip Leopold, 32° MSA. The viewing is on Sunday evening, 5 to 7PM at St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 2147 E. Cumberland Street, Philadelphia. There will be a Masonic Service at 7PM.

This is going to be a tough one, not that any of them aren't. Bro. Skip served our Valley from the moment he received his 32°. He was active in the Degree Casts, on our Marshals Committee, Stage Managers, pretty much anywhere he saw a need to get involved. He was also Santa for the kids at the Children's Dyslexia Center each year at their Holiday Party. The Celestial Lodge has received a 'squared away' new Brother.

If you're going, I will see you there.

On Monday morning at 9AM to 10:30AM there will be a viewing and memorial service at the Church and then our Brother and retired United States Navy Chief Petty Officer, Robert 'Skip' Leopold, 32° MSA will be laid to rest at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery. Fair winds and following seas my Brother and Shipmate. Save me a seat in the heavenly mess decks.

Next Friday, our Valley Hospitaler, Bro. Norman Greene, 32° MSA, has surgery to repair the tear in his retina. Norm tells me that following that procedure, his Doctor tells him that he will have better vision and can expect to give up his specs for a single contact lens! Best wishes Bro. Norm on your upcoming procedure. Thoughts and prayers continue.

And finally Congratulations go out to our By-Laws Chairman and one half of the 4° and 32° 'opening act,' Valley Brother, Leonard Altieri, 32° on his big win in Tuesday's elections. Our Brother was a candidate for the Marple Township School Board. Vote early. Vote often. Vote Altieri! First the Marple School Board. Next 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! Great job Leonard!

Well, that will do it for now. Get your dinner reservation in, if you didn't. If you did, Thank You! Call your Candidate and remind him to get his in. If you did, Thank You! Good luck to our 15° and 18° Casts for great rehearsals! Get Well First Lady, Linda Melson! Good Luck Bro. Norm! God Bless Bro. Skip.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dear Brethren and Friends:

 I've been ignoring this for awhile but thought I'd better say something.

In the Valley's email each day I receive requests from some of you asking to be added to the "Valley's Linkedin network." We DO NOT have a Linkedin account and we never have. I have no idea how we got posted on Linkedin or why. But please understand that I am not ignoring your requests to 'link' you. I am ignoring the emails from Linkedin; as a matter of fact I've reported them several times as spam.

The Valley, as you know is on Facebook and Twitter (@PhilaScotRite), we have a website and a blog site (http://www.philascottishrite.blogspot.com/), but we are not on Linkedin and as far as I can forecast, we won't be anytime soon.

Thank you for your understanding and I apologize to anyone who sent link requests to our 'account.'

We're still in need of Brethren to volunteer to be mentors for the 2016 Spring Class.

Yes, it's early but, you will need to be trained as to what is expected.

This is a great opportunity for anyone (except the Fall Class mentors that is) to take a starting leadership role in the Valley; and who knows, you'll probably learn something along the way too.

Sign up today by calling 215-563-1814.

They say that 1 is the loneliest number and if that's true we have 1 lonely ticket remaining for Christmas in Hershey. If anyone who previously ordered tickets and needs one more let me know.

For those that missed out, we've got a GREAT Family Life program lined up for Spring 2016: 1776, the Musical at the Media Theater.

The show is scheduled for Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 2PM. Tickets are $15 per person and we have 100 of them! Don't miss this fantastic show, order your tickets NOW!

Missed out on Christmas in Hershey tickets? Don't fret. There's still a GREAT way for you to add some Scottish Rite flavor to your Holiday Season!

Don't forget the Valley's Holiday Party on Saturday, 28 November at the Lazaretto Ballroom in Essington.

Click on the FILES tab above to download a ticket flyer or check the October or November issue of THE DOUBLE EAGLE.

It's going to be a GREAT night! Don't miss it!

Don't forget our BIG VALLEY TRIP!

Next August 27-31, 2016 the Valley of Philadelphia will be traveling to Niagara Falls and Toronto, Ontario, Canada! This is normally the time of the year that Supreme Council would be meeting, and of course our 33° members would be going on that trip. Since Supreme has now moved to biennial sessions, our Commander-in-Chief, thought, "Hey, lets have a Valley trip that EVERY member of the Valley could go on." Great idea!

The package is excellent! This is going to be a spectacular trip! I've shared the flyer outlying the details of the trip for you. PLUS it will appear in every issue of THE DOUBLE EAGLE prior to the date.