168Th Grand Master Table of Contents Meet the Maxwells ------4 Let Them Eat Cake ------19
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
January 2015 Connecticut’s 168th Grand Master Table of Contents Meet the Maxwells ------------------ 4 Let Them Eat Cake ----------------- 19 Grand Historian’s Corner ----------- 5 St. Alban’s Lodge No. 38 ----------- 21 George Washington’s Journeys ----- 6 Hospitality Lodge No. 128 ----------23 Volume - 10 Number - 7 William Lee Breed Pierpont Award --- 7 Village Lodge No. 29 --------------- 24 Publisher Lest We Forget -----------------------8 Inside the Door ---------------------25 THE GRAND LODGE OF CONNECTICUT AF & AM Grand Chaplin’s Corner ------------- 9 Ivanhoe Lodge No. 107 ----------- 26 Publications Committee John A. Birdsell Pierpont Award –-10 Fayette Lodge No. 69 -------------- 26 Theodore J. Nelson Chairmen Frank Way Editor An Example For Us All ------------- 11 Bro. Stephen B. McPherson --------28 Margret Steeves Marketing Jean P. Maheu Sales A Hidden Gem ---------------------- 13 Timing is Everything -------------- 29 Carl Anderson Called by the Grand Architect ----- 15 What’s Behind One Mason’s Support Robert Dorr James R. Case Award ---------------16 of Masonicare ---------------------- 31 Correspondent Michael L. Castroll Coastal Lodge No. 57 Awards ------ 17 Shepherd Salem Lodge No. 78 -----31 Design Masonic Family Day Coming ------- 18 Die Zauberflöte --------------------- 32 Kate Mertens Connecticut Freemasons is the Boosters ---------------------------- 33 Contributors official publication of the Grand Lodge JOHN A. AMARILIOS of Connecticut AF & AM. All original STEVEN J. ANGELO articles are subject to editing. All checks for payments and donations should be BRUCE R. BELLMORE made out to Grand Lodge Publications Letters and advertisements may JOHN A. BIRDSALL and mailed to the Grand Lodge office be sent to the Editor Frank Way at DAVID R. BLYTHE, SR. at PO Box 250, Wallingford, CT 06492. [email protected] or 860-659-7426. BILL BREED All submissions are required by the THOMAS A. BURKE Connecticut Freemasons (USPS 025- 15th of the month prior to the next MARJE CHICK 514) is published monthly, except August issue. Please note: The Grand Lodge The Grand Lodge AF & AM of AF & AM of Connecticut, does not DAVID COLE Connecticut, 69 Masonic Avenue, P.O. endorse any of the products or services JAMES W. D’ACOSTA Box 250, Wallingford, CT 06492-0250. contained herein nor imply any war- RICHARD F. DENNO Periodicals Postage paid at Wallingford, ranty of the goods, services, or claims JASON ANDREW DOLCE CT and additional mailing offices. advertised. While every effort is made ROBERT G. FITZGERALD POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ensure the accuracy of all advertise- to Connecticut Freemasons, ments, Connecticut Freemasons will CHARLES B. FOWLER, JR. c/o The Grand Lodge AF & AM of only be liable to reprint, at no charge, RYAN HOWARD Connecticut, P.O. Box 250, any correction due to typographical PAT KALINAUSKAS Wallingford, CT 06492-0250. error. GARY A. LITTLEFIELD STEPHEN B. MCPHERSON EDWARD C. PAGE JOSEPH J. PORCO ADAM RAIDER JIM WILSON 2 CT Freemason • January 2015 Connecticut’s 168th Grand Master Thomas M. Maxwell by Francis G. Way On a cold and rainy November Saturday, Brother Thomas McCauley Maxwell II was installed as the 168th Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Connecticut, A.F.& A. M. At 11:30 a.m. on November 1, in the anteroom adjacent to the lodge room of Manchester Lodge No. 73, Brother Simon R. LaPlace, Most Worshipful Grand Master, opened a special com- munication of the Grand Lodge assisted by Brother Bradley K. Cooney, acting as RW Grand Senior Warden, Brother Theodore J. Nelson, RW Grand Junior Warden, Brother Robert G. Fitzgerald, RW Grand Secretary acting as RW Grand Senior and Junior Deacons, and Brother F. Matthew Heinrich, Jr., acting as Grand Tiler. Following an opening prayer, the Lodge No. 57. MW Brother Yohe then outlined his plans, hope and intentions Grand Lodge was called from labor presented the new Grand Master with for the coming months. He wrapped on the Master Mason degree to the Grand Master’s collar. up his remarks by thanking all present refreshment, after which they retired With the installation ceremony nearly for attending, and then, after asking all to the lodge room where 100 brethren complete, Installing Marshall MW non-Masons to be excused, he called the and guests waited for the installation Brother Read made the proclamation in Lodge from refreshment to labor on the ceremony to begin. the South, West and East. This was met Master Mason degree. Most Worshipful Grand Master with extended applause from the Craft. Brother Charles W. Yohe, MW Past LaPlace, presiding in the East, pre- MW Grand Master Maxwell made Grand Master, led the Craft in Grand sented the gavel of his authority to the brief remarks, relating how honored Honors to the new Grand Master. Installing Most Worshipful Past Grand he was to be installed, and remarking With no other business on the agenda, Master, Brother Charles W. Yohe. on the support he had received from Grand Master Maxwell closed the Most Grand Master LaPlace then retired to a his wife, Nancy, the brethren of Hiram Worshipful Grand Lodge in Ample standing ovation from the Craft. Lodge No. 18 and the members of the Form. The installing suite consisted of Past several Rites to which he belongs. He Most Worshipful Grand Masters, with Brother Charles W. Yohe as Installing Installation Speech as M.W.G.M. Master, Brother Robert W. Read as November 1, 2014 Installing Grand Marshall, and Brother Gail Nelson Smith as Installing Grand Manchester Lodge, No. 73 altered and is of great concern to me Master. As your 2014 Grand Master, I am and to many of you. Under my lead- The installation of the Grand Master, truly honored to serve you in this ership as your Grand Master, YOUR Brother Thomas M. Maxwell followed capacity. I believe that the leadership Grand Lodge will listen attentively to the usual ritual. He was conducted to and decisions of the Grand Lodge of YOUR voices and honor YOUR con- the altar for the purpose of prayer and Connecticut must include and reflect cerns. We will restore and emphasize was then obligated. His lady, Nancy the values, desires and opinions of the two-way communication, compassion, Maxwell, was escorted to the center of Craft. It is YOU who will shape the harmony, trust, fairness, tradition, the lodge room to present the new Grand destiny of our Grand Jurisdiction. I truth and brotherly love between YOUR Master with his hat and gavel. She, in trust that we will use this opportunity Grand Lodge and the Craft as a whole. turn, was presented with a bouquet wisely to chart the future of the Craft. We will work together as one team to of red roses by Brother Kenneth S. The internal calculus of harmony restore our valued traditions and spirit Bickford, Worshipful Master of Coastal in our Grand Jurisdiction has been Continued on p age 21 CT Freemason • January 2015 3 M.W.G.M. Thomas M. Maxwell, II And His Lady Nancy by Michael Castroll concurrently pursued and earned two Thomas McCauley Maxwell was Master’s Degrees in counseling and born on September 29, 1940 in San educational psychology from Fairfield Marcos, Texas. He was the oldest of University. three children born to Jeanette and In the fall of 1972, Tom moved out Thomas Maxwell. His brother James of the classroom, becoming a full and his sister Mary Evelyn rounded out time adviser in Wilton High School’s the family. Counseling & Psychology Department. Tom’s father served our nation as a His work involved personal crisis pilot in the Army Air Force during the intervention and emphasis on college Second World War in the European testing and strategic planning. He was a Theater of Operations. Upon his return member of the National Honor Society home, he brought his family to nearby Advisory Board, and he was an adviser Waco. There Tom grew up. for special education, and liaison to all He joined the Cub Scouts at age military branches. He was made an seven and it was to have a profound honorary member of the Class of 2001 impression on him. Scouting became a by the United States Naval Academy part of his life, and still is today. Tom at Annapolis, Maryland. Tom retired graduated from Waco High School, from Wilton High School in 2006. and went on to Texas A. & M. where he M.W.G.M. Thomas M. Maxwell In 1974, Tom began a counseling and His Lady Nancy earned his Bachelor’s Degree. practice, which is still active today. Tom entered the American Foreign At one point, Tom was adopted by a Tom’s love for scouting is well known Service for a tour of forty months as Hindi family. Between his tour in the and well documented. He is an Eagle an American Peace Corps Volunteer Peace Corps and the trek back home Scout, and has received the Order in 1963. It was an eye opening expe- he covered over thirty countries, and of the Eagle. He acknowledges that rience. He received his training at the logged enough miles to circle the world scouting helped him survive in his days University of Northern Illinois and three times. Tom felt all of that would in the Peace Corps, as well as the trek the University of Hawaii At Waipo make anyone feel very humble, as well across three continents. Still, one event Valley on the Island of Hawaii. Tom as very good inside. stands out. was entered into the survival program. He also was an eye witness to many An unfortunate, and nearly tragic From there, Tom was sent to Viet of the atrocities of the world. Many event occurred on May 29, 1994, that Nam, Cambodia and Thailand. He was of the countries that Tom visited are vaulted Thomas Maxwell into the deployed in Malaysia and Nepal, where among those underdeveloped nations public eye and earned him a pres- he taught math and physics at Sekolah where a caste is a dead end street for tigious award for heroism.