Report From Salt Lake City

The Masonic Society’s 2011 Semi-Annual Meeting held last Saturday in Salt Lake City was a tremendous success by any measure. Before I delve into a recap of the TMS meeting, I’d like to offer a few comments about the Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference, which preceded the TMS portion of the weekend. I hesitate to speculate as to how many brethren attended the RMMC since I never set foot inside the conference room. Suffice it to say that there was a very strong contingent of brethren from the Rocky Mountain States in attendance.

Thursday evening I ventured over to the Salt Lake Masonic Temple, where the Utah brethren had been giving tours of the building to conference attendees. I was too late for a tour, but was able to spend some time meeting some of the brethren, including Grand Master of Utah John Liley. After spending an hour or so there, GM Liley, a very personable fellow, took me on an hour-plus tour of Salt Lake City. For those who have never been there, I encourage you pay a visit to the city, which is certainly one of the cleanest and most beautiful in the entire country. The city lies in a valley about 4300 feet above sea level and is surrounded by the Wasatch mountains, several of which peak at over 10,000 feet. The highest peaks are still snow-covered even though the summer temperatures routinely reach well into the nineties. We then stopped by the RMMC hospitality room in the Embassy Suites and I had a chance to meet and chat with many of the brethren in attendance.

On Friday morning, I arrived at the Embassy Suites early to set up The Masonic Society’s table just outside the RMMC conference room. Our table was right next to one that Bro. Cliff Porter had set up to sell his current book, The Secret Psychology of Freemasonry. I had forgotten that Bro. Cliff and I had met previously at York Rite Week in Alexandria, VA a couple of years ago. It was nice to renew acquaintances and to spend some time chatting about Freemasonry, the great work that Enlightenment Lodge in Colorado Springs, CO is doing, and his trip to the Middle East that he had returned from only a few hours prior to hopping a plane to Salt Lake City. Bro. Cliff was selling and signing books at a very steady pace.

There was a lot of interest in The Masonic Society and I kept quite busy speaking to the RMMC brethren about the mission of TMS both before and after the session and during their several breaks. I ultimately signed up twelve new TMS members over the course of the day. I had discussions with and handed out brochures to many more.

On the opposite side of our table, Bro. David Heathcoate, one of the RMMC presenters, was selling Masonic jewels and books. Bro. David hails from Cheshire, England and has one of the largest Masonic jewel collections in the world. He is a frequent visitor to Salt Lake City as a result of his friendship with PGM of Utah Glen Cook, who owns a home in Scotland that he visits regularly. Bro. David’s lovely wife Carol manned the table during the sessions and was great company while the meeting was in progress. All of the proceeds from Bro. David’s sales go to Masonic charities in England.

Bro. Tom Jackson, former Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania was another one of the presenters. Bro. Tom was in great spirits and looked healthy and rested. This comes as a great relief to many of us who saw him at York Rite Week in Alexandria last February, when he was just out of the hospital and a long way from being recovered from a serious illness.

I regret not slipping inside the door to hear any of the presentations, particularly Bro. Cliff Porter’s. As noted above, Bro. Cliff was already doing quite well hawking his new book. The power of his presentation, however, became apparent to me when the RMMC brethren made a beeline for his table the moment the conference adjourned for a break. There were easily a couple of dozen attendees lined up to buy the book and the comments on his presentation were glowing. I estimate that not more than a handful of brethren walked out of the building Friday afternoon without a copy of the book. I look forward to reading the book as well. Congratulations to Bro. Cliff.

Bro. Chris Hodapp, whom you all know is recovering from surgery for stomach cancer and was scheduled to address the RMMC, sent a brief video that was shown in the RMMC meeting. I was bombarded by brethren who inquired after Chris and wanted to extend their wishes to for a speedy recovery to him. Chris, you were greatly missed by all of us and we look forward to seeing you back in action very soon.

After the RMMC adjourned, I hustled back to the hotel to join the TMS officers and directors in a conference call, during which TMS President Michael Poll conducted our regularly scheduled board of directors meeting. After the meeting, Bros. Ken Davis, Jay Williams, Pete Normand, and I headed downtown for a late dinner at the Market Street Grill. We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of fresh halibut with Bernaise sauce. Those of you who know Pete also know that he is quite the storyteller. Ken and Jay, both PhD’s, are extremely bright men, not the least bit pretentious, and delightful dinner companions. In my book, there are few things on earth more enjoyable than great food in tandem with engaging company and I was blessed with an abundance of both. After dinner, Bro. Reed Fanning, who I swear knows everyone in the city, gave Pete and I a little taste of the Salt Lake City nightlife as we retired to a local microbrewery for a drink and a cigar before calling it a night.

On Saturday morning, the newly-chartered Utah Mark Master Lodge met to confer the Mark Master degree in the Salt Lake City Masonic Temple. I had hoped to attend, but at 6:30 A.M., my body was still crying for more rest, so I decided to sleep in. My understanding is that a good contingent of brethren showed up to witness the conferral. Ken, Jay, and I arrived around noon to begin setting up for the TMS meeting. We were treated to a quick tour of the building by one of the Utah brethren prior to the meeting. The Salt Lake City Masonic Temple is home to several lodges and appendant bodies, including the Scottish Rite. The building has a number of themed lodgerooms, such as the Moorish Room and the Egyptian Room and has been wonderfully maintained. One of the most unique features is the highly-polished cork floors in several areas of the building. The building is a must-see if you ever get to Salt Lake City.

Bro. Jay Williams led off the meeting with a fascinating presentation on Navajo culture and the similarity between Navajo architecture and that of Freemasonry. All Navajo dwellings are arranged according to a specific plan in which certain household functions are to be carried out in the East, West, North, and South portions of the structure.

Bro. Glen Cook, PGM of Utah, then took the floor and offered a riveting dissertation on the some of the history concerning the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and its relationship with Freemasonry, particularly with the Grand Lodge of Utah. I’m hopeful that we can convince Bro. Glen to submit his presentation in the form of an article for the Journal of the Masonic Society.

Bro. Ken Davis proffered an interesting new perspective on the much-explored relationship between Tarot and Freemasonry. As those of us who know Bro. Ken have grown to expect, the presentation was well-researched and presented flawlessly. Bro. Ken, in concert with TMS member David Naughton-Shires of Ireland, who is a talented illustrator, is working on a Masonic Tarot deck of cards that will feature images of historically prominent Freemasons on the cards.

Bro. Pete Normand closed out the day with an examination of the history Royal Arch degree. Bro. Pete challenged several of the most popular foregone conclusions about the degree by asking some compelling questions, urging the audience to apply common sense, to take into account the historical context of the times in which the degree was written, and apply all of this to the concept of higher degrees of Freemasonry. Bro. Pete has an easygoing, folksy manner that will captivate any audience and his great sense of humor always shines through. His ability to incorporate his talent for speaking with his vast knowledge of his topic is the reason he is one of the most sought after Masonic speakers in the country.

Once the meeting was concluded, we retired to the Alta Club for our banquet. The Alta Club is a private club located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City just off Temple Square. The club was founded in 1883 and has recently undergone renovations costing several million dollars. The room where we held our banquet could not have been more perfect. It was intimate without being crowded and we all enjoyed a wonderful meal of prime rib or chicken with all the trimmings. Grand Master of Utah John Liley provided a few brief, but appropriate words on the current state of Freemasonry. It was a nice wrap-up to a fabulous weekend.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time to commend our hosts for their warm and gracious hospitality. Grand Master of Utah John Liley, who serves as President of the Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference, personally took the time to see that I had transportation from my hotel to events in other parts of the city and on the brink of a very busy weekend with a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, ushered me around the city in his personal car for over an hour so I had the opportunity to see some of the local sights before returning home. Thank you, Bro. John. I had a great time on the tour of the city and will remember the view from the top of that mountain forever.

PGM Glen Cook, the Chairman of the 2011 Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference, generously allowed The Masonic Society to use his name to procure the Alta Club as the venue for our banquet. He was always available whenever I needed to pick up the phone and ask a question about arrangements at the RMMC hotel or at the Alta Club.
Only a few people know that this meeting came within forty-eight hours of being cancelled. Just three weeks before the deadline, we had only five members signed up to attend and two of those were TMS officers. I e-mailed both Bro. John and Bro. Glen and advised them that it looked hopeless and that we were probably going to have to cancel the entire event in couple of days. Both brothers responded by asking me to give them some time to go out and promote the event and promote it they did. The registrations began rolling in and before it was all over we had forty registrations paid in full. This happened for one simple reason. Bros. John and Glen asked and the brethren of Utah responded. I will be eternally grateful for the assistance of Bros. John and Glen and to the brethren of Utah for responding in such rapid fashion. I hope that The Masonic Society fulfilled your expectations on every front and that you feel like you got your money’s worth.

My own expectations were exceeded far beyond what I ever could have imagined. The hospitality extended to me was second to none anywhere. I made many new friends and had the chance to catch up with a couple of old ones. Thanks, Reed, for being my after-hours host. I had a great time.

Thanks once again to all of our presenters, who were the real heroes of this weekend. We came to Salt Lake City with hopes of adding illumination to the pathway of the craftsmen, to share in Masonic fellowship, and to promote the mission of The Masonic Society. I think we succeeded.