The Grand Secretary/Recorder’s office will be closed September 6-10.

The office will re-open on Monday, September 13th.

Please join with the Companions and Sir Knights of north central Florida, for the District 8 Meeting on Saturday, October 2nd.

The meeting will be held at R. T. Shafer Lodge No. 350, 2505 NE 9th Street, Gainesville (map).

Lunch – 12:00 p.m., Meeting and Ladies Program – 1:00 p.m. For more details, you may download the District Meeting Flyer.

We hope to see you there!

Please join with the Companions and Sir Knights of the panhandle of Florida, for the District 9 Meeting on Saturday, September 18th.

The meeting will be held at Harmony Lodge No. 3, 3024 North Jefferson St, Marianna (map).

Lunch – 12:30 p.m. (Central Time), Meeting and Ladies Program – 1:30 p.m. (Central Time). For more details, you may download the District Meeting Flyer.

We hope to see you there!

Please join with the Companions and Sir Knights of the metro Orlando area of Florida, for the District 5 Meeting on Saturday, September 4th.

The meeting will be held at Sanford Lodge No. 62, 212 N Park Ave, Sanford (map).

Lunch – Noon, Meeting and Ladies Program – 1:00 p.m. For more details, you may download the District Meeting Flyer.

We hope to see you there!

Please join with the Companions and Sir Knights of the Tampa Bay area of Florida, for the District 10 Meeting on Saturday, August 7th.

The meeting will be held at the Tampa York Rite Center, 4210 W Oklahoma Ave, Tampa (map).

Lunch – Noon, Meeting and Ladies Program – 1:00 p.m. For more details, you may download the District Meeting Flyer.

Hotel accommodations are available at:
La Quinta
4620 W. Gandy Blvd
Tampa, FL 33611
813-835-6262
http://www.lq.com/lq/properties/propertyProfile.do?ident=LQ277&propId=277&IATA=99020571
Reservation for Fri. Aug. 6. Deadline for reservations is Tuesday, Aug. 3.
Ask for York Rite rate of $74.99 + tax.

We hope to see you there!

Please join with the Companions and Sir Knights of the western panhandle of Florida, for the District 10 Meeting on Saturday, July 24th.

The meeting will be held at the Pensacola Masonic Center, 189 W. Airport Blvd, Pensacola (map).

Lunch – 11:00 a.m. CDT, Meeting and Ladies Program – Noon CDT. For more details, you may download the District Meeting Flyer.

We hope to see you there!

2010 marks the 73rd anniversary of the Great Smokies Summer Assembly of York Rite Masons in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. This year’s events will be held July 11, 12, 13.

This year’s keynote will be given by Most Worshipful Brother William Dill, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of North Carolina. Also scheduled to speak are:

Christopher Hodapp, Past Master
Author of: “Freemasonry for Dummies”

Dr. Rex R. Hutchens, PGM of Arizona
Author of: “Bridge of Light”

A complete listing of the events can be found at the Assembly web site: http://www.yorkrite.com/nc/GSSAprogram.htm — and you may register on-line at http://www.yorkrite.org/nc/GSSAeform.htm.

As always we hope that Florida will be providing a large contingent for this most amicable and fun-filled gathering in the heart of the Smoky Mountains.

Today, May 11th, is the last day to register for the SE Regional York Rite Conference in Greenville, SC.

If you have not done so, please, get your hotel and attendance registrations completed today!

The Annual Banquet for the 2010 Grand York Rite Session was held on Friday evening, April 16th, at the Marriott Lake Mary Hotel. In addition to the awards presented by the General Grand Chapter, General Grand Council, and the Grand Encampment to the presiding officers for their service to the Craft, the following awards were presented:

General Grand Council Cryptic Mason of the Year
Companion Les Whitman, of Crestview Council No. 33 was presented the award during the Grand Council Annual Assembly on Friday morning.

General Grand Chapter Bronze Award
Excellent Companion Corbin Elliott of Jacksonville Chapter No. 12 was presented the General Grand Chapter Bronze Award by Most Excellent Companion James Wall, PGHP, Director of the Royal Arch Research Assistance Foundation.

General Grand Chapter Sweetheart Award
Ladies Lorraine Brown (Lady of Most Excellent Companion Virgil Brown, PGHP) and Sonja Piasecki (Lady of Sir Knight Fred Piasecki, REPGC) were presented with the General Grand Chapter Sweetheart Award.

Companion of the Temple
Sir Knight Terry Plemmons, Right Eminent Department Commander for the Southeast Department presented the Companion of the Temple award to Lady Judith Ann Baldoni for her outstanding service to the Grand Commandery.

The Banquet was very enjoyable, and started and finished on time!

Companions and Sir Knights,

This is to thank all of you who have pre-registered for the convention. This has been a monumental task to keep up with, but I have enjoyed working for you so far. For those of you who have not pre-registered, you may register at the convention. There will probably be a few Lunch Tickets (both Men’s and Ladies’) as well as a few Breakfast tickets available, but, I have to give the Hotel a final tally on Monday the 12th. I am happy to report that we are setting up for 238 people to attend the Banquet and as of 6:00 PM 4/8/2010, there are only 10 tickets left. I also have to give a count to the Hotel for this on Monday. The last 10 tickets will be on a first come, first served basis. You may email me at: dr.smith2@comcast.net if you want tickets.

Thank you again and I hope to see you at the Convention.

Denny Smith
Convention Coordinator

The proposed budgets for 2010-2011 for the Grand Chapter, Grand Council, and Grand Commandery, are now available for your review.

These proposed budgets will be presented for approval at the upcoming Grand York Rite session that starts on April 15th.

• Grand Chapter Proposed Budget
• Grand Council Proposed Budget
• Grand Commandery Proposed Budget

I want to thank all those who have registered already and to remind those of you who haven’t that the Grand Convention starts one month from today. Yesterday, I received a list of those who have reserved rooms at the hotel and found that there are over 40 who have registered at the hotel who have not sent in their registration with the Grand Sec/Rec or Convention Coordinator. I just want to impress on you the necessity for pre-registering so the proper arrangements can be made. If you plan to attend the Grand Banquet, you must pre-register to insure that you have a place to sit.

Should you have any questions, please contact me. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Denny Smith
Convention Coordinator

Dencel R. (Denny) Smith, MIPGM
2913 Joyce Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32303-2247
(850) 508-4424, 850-562-2678
dr.smith2@comcast.net

Due to the inclement weather the degrees that were to be conferred at the Box Ranch have been moved from the Box Ranch on Kanner Highway to Ft Pierce Lodge in Fort Pierce. The degree schedule remains unchanged.

The address for Ft. Pierce Lodge is:
4590 Oleander Avenue
Ft. Pierce, FL (map)

April is right around the corner and we are hoping to see most of you at Lake Mary. It’s a time when the outgoing can reflect on a job well done and the incoming can refine their plans for continuing the progress.

The ladies have tried to plan something just a little different this year. We will have the traditional hospitality room (all donations welcomed), basket (inexpensive) auction and used book sale. For odd moments we will have a game room open. Whether you like the solitary jigsaw puzzle or group games, we will have something for you. There will be prizes for some of the games. Our own Ann Ridgeway will be your charming hostess.

Don’t forget to bring your best looking pj’s. Remember how tough it is to get up and dressed for an early breakfast? We’re going to relive our youthful times. Our breakfast is a slumber party!! Slippers and curlers are welcome! We’re taking fun up a notch this year.

Please come and join our fun. We’ll be looking for you!

Sincerely,
Gail Gilmore

PS – The schedule for the Ladies Events can be found on the GYR Session page.

Companions,

At the moment there are only 75 rooms reserved for the York Rite Session in April. Be advised that the “cutoff” date for the rooms is March 15th.

If you plan to attend please make your reservations quickly.

Reservations must be made with the hotel directly. Their phone numbers are (407) 995-1100 or (800) 380-7724. The code for our session is GNDGNDA, which will obtain a rate of $88/night.

For additional session information, please see the GYR Session page on our web site.

The 2010 Southeast Region York Rite Conference will be held June 11-12 at the Embassy Suites Hotel Resort and Conference Center in Greenville, SC (map).

There will be a sundae social on Friday evening and the conference will begin on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. and conclude at 5:00 p.m. A final closing dinner will be held from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. A special guest at the session will be Most Worshipful Brother Barry Richman, Grand Master of South Carolina who will speak at the opening Joint Session.

Reservation deadline is May 11th, for both the hotel, and the conference. A Registration Form, and a Conference Flyer are available for download and contain additional information.

We hope to see you in Greenville!

The District Meeting for District 10 was rescheduled due to the storm that was affecting the panhandle when the meeting was originally scheduled.

The new date for the District 10 Meeting is Saturday, January 30th and the day’s schedule is as follows:

• Registration 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• Lunch 12:00 p.m.
• Meeting 1:00 p.m. Ladies to remain in fellowship hall / dining area.

The meeting will be held at Naval Lodge No. 24, 221 S. Navy Boulevard, Pensacola (map).

For more details, or to make reservations, please contact Richard A. Gilman DDGHP (850) 474-3885 or ragilman@cox.net or Ronald L. Parks DDGC (850) 453-8276 or skraprl@cox.net. Lunch reservations are needed by January 28th.

The final District Meeting for the 2009-2010 year will be held on Monday, February 8th at Jackson Lodge No. 1 in Tallahassee.

Registration will begin at 6:00 p.m., dinner will be at 6:30, and meeting (with a Ladies Program) will start at 7:30 p.m.

Reservations are a must, and should be make with John C. Babski, DDGHP – (850) 545-0589 – jbabski@embarqmail.com.

For more details, including local lodging, download the flyer from our web site.

The latest edition (Volume 3, Issue 4) of the Florida York Rite Mason Magazine is now available online and for download!

If you look in each of the four sections of our web site, you will see a new menu items:

• Chapter Convocation Calendar
• Council Assembly Calendar
• Commandery Conclave Calendar
• Festival Calendar
• Events Calendar
• Honorary & Invitational Bodies Calendar

These will show you all the meetings (starting 1/1/2010) for 45 days (from today’s date).

Or, if you’d like to see a calendar that displays all the calendars together check out the Combined Meeting Calendar.

But that’s not all — if you use the Google Calendar, 30 Boxes, Sunbird, Windows Calendar, Windows Live Calendar, iCal, or any other calendar that supports the iCalendar format, you can “subscribe” to each of the calendars and add them to your own.

There are links on every page to help you do this, but, if you just want the direct addresses, they are:
webcal://ics.flgyr.org/chapter.ics
webcal://ics.flgyr.org/council.ics
webcal://ics.flgyr.org/commandery.ics
webcal://ics.flgyr.org/honorary.ics (Honorary & Invitational Bodies)
webcal://ics.flgyr.org/festival.ics (YR Degree Festivals)
webcal://ics.flgyr.org/events.ics (Other YR events, i.e., Homecomings, District Meetings, GYR session, etc.)

We hope that these will help anyone planning on visiting the Florida York Rite bodies along with our other recent additions. (And, yes, we have validated that these calendars meet the Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification.)

The Grand York Rite proceedings for 2004 and 2005, plus the Grand Council proceedings for 2009, are now available for download from our web site.

You may find all these in our Forms and Files page, in the Proceedings section.

Companions and Sir Knights:

The members of your Grand York Rite Souvenir Program Committee are pleased to announce that we have begun our efforts early this year to sell ads for our 2010 Souvenir Program. We have 3 objectives to accomplish:

1. To increase the ads from previous years.
2. To publish a more enticing, professional and informative Souvenir Program.
3. To financially help offset a grand portion of the Grand Convention expenses.

In order for us to meet our objectives, we need the help and assistance of all our Companions and Sir Knights in Florida.

How can you help?

First: Have your York Rite Bodies purchase an ad.

Second: Have the Companions become boosters and purchase a name line which will be included in the program.

Third: go out and sell, sell, sell. Sell ads to your local Blue Lodges, Appendant Bodies, Masters & Wardens Associations, Masonic brethren that are business owners and local businesses in your area. Target business leaders with whom you may have some influence. We need to go beyond the box to make this a success.

A word of caution, NO AD WILL BE PUBLISHED THAT IS NOT PAID FOR.

So before you send those ads back to the Committee Chairman’s mailbox, make sure the ad layout, form and payment are included. Donations / contributions are not tax deductible as Charitable Contributions as the Grand York Rite Bodies are not a “501(c)(3) Corporation”; however, the Donation / Contribution may be deductible as an ordinary business expense. Sponsors are urged to consult with their tax advisor.

For more information, please refer to the Souvenir Program Booklet available for download from our website.

You can now find information on the 2010 Florida Grand York Rite Session, which will be held April 15-17, on the GYR Session Page. Information on hotel reservations, session registration, and a tentative schedule are all included.

We hope to see you in Lake Mary, Florida in April 2010!

The latest edition (Volume 3, Issue 3) of the Florida York Rite Mason Magazine is now available online and for download!

On Friday and Saturday, October 2-3, District 6 hosted a York Rite Festival in Melbourne, at the Harbor City Lodge.

There were participants from Florida Keys to St Cloud, Miami, West Palm Beach and Brevard County.

• 31 new Companions exhaulted in Chapter
• 32 new Companions greeted in Council
• 35 new Sir Knights knighted in Commandery

A special thanks to:
R.E. John Paniccia, member of Melbourne YR Bodies, current IM & EHP, for coordinating the food for the whole weekend and doing much more behind the scenes.

E. Henry A. Adams EGSW, member of Melbourne YR Bodies, current EC, getting all the candidates registered and collecting the information.

M.I. Chuck L. Hollinger MIPGM-2001, member of Melbourne YR Bodies, leading our local Degree Team and helping setting up the paraphernalia.

M.I. Paul W. Friend MIPGM-1996, member of Fort Pierce YR Bodies, kept the Degree Teams moving like clockwork and right on schedule.

M.E. Steven Q. Steele MEPGHP-2002, Grand Secretary/Recorder, major help in the Degrees & Orders, and helping setting up the paraphernalia.

All participants in the Degrees and Orders, without your help this could not have been possible.

Congratulations to all for an outstanding job. This raises our total number of knightings in the Grand Commandery of Florida for the year to 190 (last year 133).

Today marks the first anniversary of the new and expanded Grand York Rite of Florida web site, which we officially launched with our first article on the Grand High Priest’s Homecoming on September 10th, 2008.

So, some 75+ articles later, new calendars, meeting finders, videos, smart phone support, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media integration, we have put together a great web site of which we can be proud.

I wish to thank all the Companions and Sir Knights who have contributed ideas, pictures, and articles, and helped us to make this the best web site in the York Rite.

As the fall season is upon us, and many events are filling up the calendar in September, we thought it might be easier if we published one article to provide a “one-stop” shop for all the upcoming events in September. For more information, please click the title of the event.

• Tuesday, 1st – District 8 Meeting – Gainesville
• Saturday, 12th – Table Council – Bradenton
• Saturday, 12th – Florida College SRICF – Tallahassee
• Saturday, 19th – Mystery Dinner Theater – Tampa
• Saturday, 19th – Grand Commandery Officers’ Retreat – The Villages
• Thursday, 24th – District 5 Meeting – Orlando
• Saturday, 26th – Orlando YR Bodies One-day Class – Orlando

If you have an event you would like to see included, please contact the webmaster.

The latest edition (Volume 3, Issue 2) of the Florida York Rite Mason Magazine is now available online and for download!