The following was read on behalf of WBro. Davis at the 2018 Annual Meeting of The Masonic Society on February 9, 2018, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Brethren and guests,
I regret that treatment for prostate cancer prevents my attending this meeting, but I know I am leaving it in good hands.
In October 2015, my predecessor, Jim Dillman, called and chaired a board retreat in St. Louis, Missouri, to set strategic goals for The Masonic Society. We were one vote short of a quorum, so the gathering was not an official board meeting, but several of us attending said that the meeting was one of the most productive we had ever participated in. At the meeting, we set three initiatives for the next two years, and distributed them to the members for online discussion.
I subsequently, before taking office at Masonic Week 2016, talked with each board member separately, as well as other key members of TMS, and learned their own priorities and commitments.
Our first initiative was an annual TMS conference, and indeed we had TMS’s first two annual conferences, a small but excellent one in San Jose, California, in October 2016, organized by board member Gregg Hall, and a larger one in Lexington, Kentucky, in September 2017, organized by board member John Bizzack. Chris Hodapp, editor emeritus of the Journal of The Masonic Society, called it “one of the very best and most useful Masonic symposiums I’ve attended in a long time.”
My own hope is that TMS Conferences will attract and serve not only Masonic leaders and researchers, as Masonic Week does so effectively, but also more and more of the many Masons who have, perhaps only recently, become interested in the history, philosophy, and symbolism of the Craft. If they attend only one national Masonic event, I hope it will be ours.
But conferences are expensive, and require an extraordinary amount of planning and preparation time, so our now-available funds and volunteers may not be able to support an annual conference. Increasing our membership may allow us to continue annual conferences, but for now at least, we may be able to hold conferences only biannually.
Our second initiative was a TMS School. So far, the school has offered one course, in the history and philosophy of Freemasonry, created and conducted online by Michael Poll, editor of our journal. The board has begun discussing another TMS School program, an educational tour of Masonic sites in the UK, organized by board member Greg Knott.
Our third initiative was a TMS Scholar program, to offer financial support for a major project by a selected Masonic researcher, who in turn would be available to speak to lodges of research and other Masonic organizations during his or her term of service. Planning for this initiative is ongoing.
And I know that many of you share my view that under Mike Poll’s editorship, The Journal of the Masonic Society continues to be Freemasonry’s leading periodical.
My personal highlight during my term as president occurred a year ago, at Masonic Week 2017, when board member Greg Knott and his lodge brother Todd Creason arranged for past president Jim Dillman and me, representing TMS, to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, at Arlington Cemetery. We did so, in full Masonic regalia. I was especially honored to be allowed, as a veteran, to render a hand salute to our fallen heroes.
In conclusion, it has been an honor for me to serve as The Masonic Society’s president during the last two years. It has been a pleasure to know and work with my brother directors and officers, as well as many other TMS members. I am very optimistic about the society’s future.
Again, I’m sorry I can’t be among you tonight. But I know you’ll proceed to meet on the level, act by the plumb, and part on the square.
Fraternally and sincerely,
Ken Davis, President, The Masonic Society