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DECEMBER/JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019-2020 Rhode Island freem aso n Grand Lodge of Rhode Island Established 1791 Volume Forty-Five, Issue Three th Freemasonry and the 50 Anniversary of the Lunar Landing See Article on Page 3 Page 2 December/January/February 2019-20 _________________________________________________________ Grand Master’s Message Matching Grant Program…For those of you who are not aware of this program, Grand Lodge Charities is giving up to $1,000 per lodge for a charity event they host. I must say that I am a little disappointed that we have left money on the table this past year, which runs from November 1 to October 31. If your lodge had a charity event and did not take advantage of this generous offer, shame on you. Don’t fret, this program is not going away this year and I hope that every lodge will take advantage of this between now and October 31 of next year. Automated External Defibrillator (AED)…Last year, M∴W∴Carlson had hoped to have this device in every Lodge building with an equal hope that it is never needed. I agree with M∴W∴Carlson on this initiative, so from now until the end of my term, up to $1,000 will be given to those lodges who install this device. All you need to do is: • Buy the device. Brother Kenneth F. Poyton • Have it installed in your lodge. • Have training on how to use it. This would make for a very Most Worshipful Grand Master good program at your meetings. The more brothers who know how to use is a good thing. Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master, Most Worshipful Past Once you can prove that you have done the three requirements, Grand Masters, Brethren all, Grand Lodge will then send you a check. I can’t think of any time in my life that I have been this busy. Masonic Assistance…As you know, the Officers Forum for each Between work, my duties as Grand Master, and the wedding of our district is on Masonic assistance. As of today, we have already had son, I am constantly doing something. Some days the demands of two presentations by W∴Melvin Silverio along with guidance from life can be a little hectic, however, when I leave the office and go Brothers Cate and Sholes. The purpose is to make sure the to a Masonic event, all that seems to go away. There are so many Wardens and Secretary (at a minimum) know how it works. events to attend as Grand Master such as Table Lodges, Annual Masonic Assistance is not something we do very often, which is Communications, Ladies Events, interesting programs at lodge why training is so important. meetings, and anniversary celebrations are just a few to mention. Unfortunately, I am not able to attend every event. Much of my time is going to meetings of the various Grand Lodge committees. Every committee from the Board of Managers, Public The Grand Marshal and I are looking forward to our travels the Relations, Building, Investigation, and Leadership has been next six months, as we travel to other Grand Jurisdictions, but working very hard to help manage this Grand Jurisdiction. Thank more especially as we travel this Grand Jurisdiction, to be with our you for your continued dedication to the Craft and this Grand brothers. Lodge. Is the word “this” or “that”? This past six months, the Assistant Grand Lecturers under the direction of the Right Building Repairs…I am pleased to report that contracts have Worshipful Grand Lecturer have held two meetings to discuss been signed to begin work on this Grand Lodge building as soon what is going on in their respective lodges. I have been to one of as possible. The work will be done in stages and since most of it them and have heard nothing but enthusiastic reviews! They have will be done outside, the weather will dictate when much of the more meetings scheduled as their Masonic light gets brighter and work will be done. brighter. Investigation Committee…The Senior Grand Warden has been I wish to congratulate R.W. Brother Kaufman on his election as the th working with his committee to review their Investigation process. I 165 Grand Master for 2020 – 2021 and to W∴Silverio as you will attended some of their meetings and like the direction they are (continued on page 5) heading. Your Grand Lodge can help you with the process, but ultimately it lies with the investigation committee along with the brethren from their lodge to convince the perspective member that Rhode Island FREEMASON they are the right fit. Wardens Workshop…Under the direction of Most Worshipful (USPS 366-750) Iacobucci, the committee has been working very hard to come up with a meaningful presentation. It has taken more time than I Published by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island thought, but it is a testimony to the brethren putting it together. 222 Taunton Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914 Published in March, June, September, and December. Protocol & Constitution…We are in the third month of reading sections of Grand Lodge Protocol and the Constitution, selected POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: by me. Sometimes it can be long but that is our Constitution. You can have a short paragraph in the Constitution, but have a number The Grand Lodge of Rhode Island of decisions which must also be read. If you have a suggestion, 222 Taunton Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914 please let me know. Periodicals Paid in Providence, RI ________________________________________________________________ Rhode Island Freemason Page 3 Freemasonry and the 50th Anniversary New Concord, Ohio, and eventually served as a prominent United States senator and as a presidential candidate. He also came out of the Lunar Landing of retirement to fly on a space shuttle in 1998, in part to conduct By: Brother Mark Dreisonstok research on spaceflight and aging; he currently holds the record for being the oldest person ever to fly in space, being 77 years of (Originally published in the September/October 2019 issue of the Scottish Rite age at the time of flight. Journal Southern Jurisdiction, reprinted by permission of S. Brent Morris, Managing Editor.) Ill. Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., 33 member of Carbondale Lodge No. 92 of Carbondale, Colorado and the Orlando (Florida) Scottish Rite, piloted the “Faith 7” spacecraft on a 22-orbit mission which concluded Project Mercury in May of 1963. Cooper followed up his flight in August of the same year, commanding the two-man Gemini V mission. During Gemini V flight Brother Cooper, like Brother Aldrin six years later, carried a Masonic flag in his personal possessions during the mission. Brother Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, 32 was another Mason involved in the American space effort. Grissom piloted the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft on July 21, 1961 during Project Mercury and later commanded the Gemini 3 mission. Brother Grissom came to represent heroism and bravery of the men who served as NASA’s early astronauts. Grissom and two fellow astronauts were tragically killed on January 27, 1967 by a flash fire during a launch “All must hope that someday America would penetrate the pad training session on the then-new Apollo I spacecraft, an event deepest secrets of that mysterious orb, the moon,” wrote Jules which led to extensive redesign of the launch vehicle and its safety Verne in his 1865 novel From Earth to the Moon. A little more than systems, upgrades for which Grissom himself had advocated prior 100 years after Verne published his science fiction adventure, to the accident. Grissom was a member of Mitchell Lodge No. 228 and the Valley of Orlando. Americans achieved this dream with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. who set foot on the moon on July 20, Lt. Col. (and Brother) Donn F. A Constituted Lodge 1969. What might not be widely known are the Masonic links to the Eisle was command module In the Moon’s moon landing fifty years ago and the early years of the NASA pilot on Apollo 7 on October Sea of Tranquility manned space program. 11, 1968; this was the first Ill. Aldrin 33, the second man to step on the moon’s surface in the manned space mission of the Apollo program. Eisle’s lodge Apollo 11 lunar landing, was a member of Clear Lake Lodge No. was Luther B. Turner Lodge 1417 of Seabrook, Texas, as well as a member of the Scottish Rite No. 732 in Columbus, Ohio. bodies. Relatively unpublicized is the fact that Brother Aldrin Ill. Walter M. “Wally” Schirra, carried a double-headed eagle banner of the Scottish Rite, with an insert square and compasses and Grand Commander’s emblem, Jr., 33 also flew on Apollo 7, as well as on earlier Mercury on his space journey. Through the auspices and acting under and Gemini missions. He was special deputation of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of a member of Canaveral Albert Mackey writes in his Lexicon Texas, Tranquility Lodge No. 2000 was founded in the Sea of Tranquility, though “meeting in Texas until a proper lodge room is Lodge No. 339 at Cocoa of Freemasonry that “the Lodge is Beach, Florida and of the a representation of the universe, constructed on the moon.” (see sidebar) where, as the sun rules over the Orlando Scottish Rite bodies. Because of the day, the moon presides over the Like Brother Schirra, Ill. night.” Little could Mackey imagine historic feat of in writing these lines in the 1800s Brother Aldrin and Thomas P. Stafford, 33 also flew in the Gemini missions that one day the moon “which his fellow crew presides over the night” would be members, it would before serving as the host to a Masonic Lodge! In the first be easy to think of commander of the lunar- lunar landing, astronaut Buzz him as the one orbiting (but not landing) Aldrin, 33 established in the stead Apollo 8.

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