Newsletter from the Grand Secretary
Hollis G. Dixon, Grand Secretary
January 2007
Death of a Former President: Just in case you were not aware of it, GERALD R. FORD, JR., the 38th President of the United States of America, was a 33° Mason. His Masonic Record is included in the Memoriam below.
Secretaries Workshops: On Saturday morning, January 20, 2007, we will hold a Workshop for Lodge Secretaries at Maine Lodge No. 20, in Farmington. We will start with coffee and donuts at 8:00 a. m. and open the workshop at 9:00 a. m. Then, on February 3, 2007, we will hold a Workshop for Secretaries at Liberty Lodge No. 111, in Liberty. Liberty Lodge will serve breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and the workshop will start at 9:00 a.m. The major focus of this workshop will be on Brother Tom Heath’s presentation to train Secretaries to access their lodge records directly on the Grand Lodge Server via the Internet.
We plan to continue holding Secretaries Workshops throughout the state with the hope that we can eventually authorize every interested Blue Lodge Secretary in the state to access the Grand Lodge Server for the purpose of maintaining his records directly and providing him with the means of generating reports, mailing labels and other useful information.
Annual Returns: As you are aware, the Annual Returns are due as of February 1, 2007. You should have recently received two sets of the Annual Return Forms and a third set to be used as a Worksheet to record information for next year. If you have not received the forms, please contact the Grand Secretary’s Office right away.
Once you have completed the forms you should submit them with the Abstract and a check in the amount necessary to cover your per capita tax, assessments and insurance. Should you need assistance with the forms, please call the Grand Lodge office and speak with one of the girls that process these forms. They will do everything they can to assist you with that process.
Insurance Surveys: Recently Liability Insurance Survey Forms were sent out to all District Deputy Grand Masters, who were directed to present them to each of the lodges in their district and to ensure that they are completed and returned prior to January 15, 2007. These questionnaires call for information pursuant to the use of the lodge building by the lodge and other entities that might from time to time rent the hall.
Whether your lodge owns the building or rents from a Masonic Building Corporation, the information called for in the survey is still needed. This is part of an ongoing process being used by our new Insurance Committee in order to upgrade the Grand Lodge Liability Policy, which covers all lodges, so that it will cover all activities taking place in the Masonic building. Our present policy, which expires on March 31, 2007, covers only activities during an open Lodge meeting. It is therefore, imperative that you complete the form and return it within the deadline.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Hollis G. Dixon
Grand Secretary
IN MEMORIAM
PRESIDENT GERALD RUDOLPH FORD, Jr.
[July 14, 1913 - December 26, 2006]
38th President of the United States of America (1974-1977)
MASONIC RECORD:
Initiated: September 30, 1949, Malta Lodge No. 465, Grand Rapids, Michigan, along
with his half-brothers Thomas Gardner Ford(1918-1995), Richard Addison Ford (1924-)
and James Francis Ford (1927-).
The Fellow Craft and Master Mason Degrees were conferred by Columbia Lodge No.
3, Washington, D.C., on April 20 and May 18, 1951, as a courtesy to Malta Lodge.
Ill. Brother Ford was coronated a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33°, and
Honorary Member, Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Northern Jurisdiction at the Academy
of Music in Philadelphia, on September 26, 1962, for which he served as Exemplar
for his Class.
Brother and President Ford was unanimously elected an Active Member of the Inter-national
Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay and its Honorary Grand Master, at its Annual
Session held at Orlando, Florida, April 6-9, 1975; Brother Ford held this post
until January 1977, at which time he became a Past Honorary Grand Master, receiving
his Collar and Jewel on October 24, 1978 in Topeka, Kansas, from the Hon. Thomas
C. Raum, Jr., Grand Master, Order of DeMolay.
Brother Ford was a Royal Arch Mason and a Cryptic Mason, having received those
degrees while serving as President; he was also a Shriner.
In 2003, he was presented with Michigan's 50 Year Award by the Grand Master of
the Grand Lodge of California, M. W. Bro. M. William Holsinger.
A number of years ago Gerald Rudolph Ford retired to Rancho Mirage, California
and died there aged 93 on December 26, 2006.
Requiescat In Pace
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