Good Morning everyone! Happy Earth Day!
Great meeting last night! The Degrees were fantastic.
The 15° Cast led by our Sovereign Prince, Ill. Harry Rutter, 33° was perfect. The scene with Bros. Yasser AlKhatib,32° MSA and Lawrence Hicks, was really great. You wouldn't know it to see but Bro, Yasser wasn't able to attend any of the rehearsals (because of his work commitments) but he and Lawrence did their scene seamlessly in my opinion. Great work Brethren! It was good to see Ill. Robert Burns, 33° back and involved as well. As many of you know Bro. Bob is currently serving as the Most Excellent Grand King of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania, so his time is obviously limited. But he was there for his Valley last night. And, how can I sing the praises of the 15° Cast without mentioning Bro. Louis Krass? Bro. Lou was a member of our Fall Class and he's done a speaking part in the 4° and now the 15°! He's on his way, stay tuned! I can't forget Bros. Joe Robert and Glen Tyson too!
The 15° Cast led by our Sovereign Prince, Ill. Harry Rutter, 33° was perfect. The scene with Bros. Yasser AlKhatib,32° MSA and Lawrence Hicks, was really great. You wouldn't know it to see but Bro, Yasser wasn't able to attend any of the rehearsals (because of his work commitments) but he and Lawrence did their scene seamlessly in my opinion. Great work Brethren! It was good to see Ill. Robert Burns, 33° back and involved as well. As many of you know Bro. Bob is currently serving as the Most Excellent Grand King of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania, so his time is obviously limited. But he was there for his Valley last night. And, how can I sing the praises of the 15° Cast without mentioning Bro. Louis Krass? Bro. Lou was a member of our Fall Class and he's done a speaking part in the 4° and now the 15°! He's on his way, stay tuned! I can't forget Bros. Joe Robert and Glen Tyson too!
Again this Degree was directed by our Valley Organist, Bro. Jeffrey Lees, 32° MSA, Past Sovereign Prince. This was his directorial debut. The Cast's performance is an example of Jeff's leadership. He has already expressed an interest in coming back to direct again. That's great news for our Valley. We've been searching for new Degree Masters. We've added two new ones this Spring with Bro. Jeff and Bro. Russell Combs, 32° MSA, who directed the 9° in March. Great work Brethren!
The 18° conferral as explained by Ill. Bud Garvey, 33° was quite a hurdle with Bros. Norman Greene III, 32° MSA and Bro. Brian Skoff, 32° being out with health concerns. But their teammates picked up for them. Plus, how nice was it to see Ill. G. Kent Hackney, 33°, back out there for the Story of the Cross? You can't beat having that story told by someone that was ACTUALLY THERE! I'm kidding of course, he tells me he was born two days later. Ill. Philip Janusz, 33° MSA, Past Most Wise Master, didn't miss a step since he left the line. Our Most Wise Master, Ill. Bill Klosz, 33° as always did perfect work! Bro. Leonard Altieri, Esquire, stepped up to cover for parts for which we had missing Cast members and he did a great job. Speaking of great jobs, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the EXEMPLARY work presented by Bros. Jon Solheim, Rick Santella, Dean Jones, Tim Curran and Thomas J. Brotherton III. We could have had another missing Knight last evening, as Bro. Tim was experiencing the pain of sciatica but, hey, he's a Marine, they're tough dudes and Tim was no exception out on the floor doing his part and not showing he was hurting. Way to go Bro! Hope you're feeling better today.
Personally, I want to thank the guys on 'my team' for their help last night. We were missing Bro. Norm on one of our Stewards tables, but thanks to Bros. Thomas J. Brotherton III, Frank J Lorine, Rick Santella and new Valley Brother, Samuel Justice Morrison, 32°, everything ran smoothly. Morrison? Hmm why does that name sound familiar? Yes, everything ran smoothly, but that doesn't mean we don't need you back Bro. Norm! Get well soon Brother!
Also a huge, THANK YOU goes out to everyone who attended last night! Without your support, what do we have? You, are what makes us, 'Pennsylvania Freemasonry's Best Kept Secret.' God Bless you Clay.
My most sincere apologies go out to Illustrious Rick Freedman, 33°. It appears one of my fingers wasn't paying attention when I gave it a downward depression and it hit the 2 instead of the three and as a result our Illustrious Brother is shown in the 4° Cast listing as a 32° instead of his much deserved, 33°. Again, my apologies my Illustrious Brother. I own my mistakes!
To all those hard working dedicated Brethren that will attend our Annual Worker's Night this evening (a reward for their efforts) I'll see you there! Thanks to our Thrice Potent Master, Bro. Joel Wolfert, 32° and Lady Barbara for all their work in putting this evening's festivities together. Want to go to Worker's Night next year? Get involved!
Have a great Saturday everyone!
