One From The Archives: A Few Fun Facts About Famous American Freemasons

by Midnight Freemasons Regular Contributor

Todd E. Creason, 33°

published 2007 by Moon & Son Publishing

It's hard to believe it's been 20 years.  I started the Midnight Freemasons in about 2006!

The blog was called "The Midnight Freemason" in the beginning, because it was just me.  I was researching and writing my book "Famous American Freemasons" at the time. That book was published in 2007 (and still available at booksellers everywhere).  But I researched the book and wrote in the evenings after a full day of work.  I was often working on it well after midnight (which is where the title of the blog came from).  But the Midnight Freemason blog was originally created to post interesting facts and stories and research that I didn't wind up using in the book--and I just hate wasting good material!  That's not changed, I have a pastor's blog I'm in the process of doing the same thing with, using it to post stuff I didn't wind up using in the sermon!

It's not very fancy now, and it certainly wasn't any fancier then. This article was one of the first blogs I published.  I still love stuff like this.  Back in the 80s we called them "factoids": 

Here's a few interesting facts you may not know about Famous American Freemasons: 

 

General George Washington

-Although George Washington seemed reluctant to accept the commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, he had done very little to try and stop the nomination, and had taken to wearing his buff and blue military uniform every day when the Second Continental Congress met.

John Philips Sousa

-As a boy, John Philips Sousa accompanied his father to Gettysburg with the Marine Marching Band, where he witnessed Abraham Lincoln give his famous speech. He would later grow up to conduct that same band, and would spend his life writing patriotic marches.

Roy Rogers & Trigger

-Roy Roger's famous horse Trigger had a job even before he met Roy.  He was horse ridden by Olivia de Haviland in the Errol Flynn classic film Robin Hood.  Back then, Trigger's name was "Golden Cloud."

Harry S Truman

-Harry S Truman cheated on his eye exam in order to qualify for military service. He once joked that his weak eyesight had always been a problem, in fact, he was unable to play baseball as a boy until his teammates found him a job he could do that didn't require good vision--umpire.

John Wayne

-John Wayne's nickname "Duke" came from his boyhood when he used to run around around town with the family dog--a giant Airedale.  The local firemen used to call the two "Big Duke" (the dog) and "Little Duke" (the boy).

Now wasn't that interesting?

~Todd E. Creason






Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is the award-winning author of the Famous American Freemasons series.  He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL) and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He currently serves as Secretary of St. Joseph-Ogden Lodge No. 970 (IL).  He formerly served the Grand Lodge of Illinois as the State Education Officer. He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research (FMLR) and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville. 

The Little White House

by Midnight Freemason contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

In November 1946, President Harry Truman, who had been in office just over a year and a half, was exhausted. He had seen the end of World War II, made the excruciating decision to use atomic weapons, and soon would have to prepare an election campaign where the odds were stacked against him. Brother Harry, a member of Grandview Lodge 618 and former Grand Master of Missouri, told his doctor, Wallace Graham, he was fatigued. Dr. Graham ordered Truman to take a vacation in a warm weather climate. The president elected to go to Key West Florida, which had a nearby naval station. The area also had an ideally suited house. Originally serving as an officers' quarters, it later became the home of the base commandant. Truman stayed in the house and fell in love with the place. He designated it as his southern White House and made several more visits there during his presidency.

The location, just a three-hour flight from Washington proved to be ideal not only as a vacation hideaway, but was also a popular meeting place where staff and dignitaries were eager to visit during cold weather. Truman regularly made visits every November-December and returned each February-March. The "Little White House," as it became known, was the home of many important presidential decisions including the initial crafting of the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, a temporary cease-fire in Korea and the recognition of the State of Israel. It was also here Truman wrote his fourth Civil Rights Executive Order requiring federal contractors to hire minorities.

On a recent trip south, I visited the place and discovered a few more interesting facts and surprises:

The first surprise was visitors are not allowed to photograph anything inside. The guide explained this is a security measure owing to the fact that any Internet search for "White House" also brings up information about the Key West location. I thought the sanction to be a bit overdone, but reluctantly complied – no secret phone shots.

Harry Truman was good at a lot of things. Relaxing and taking his mind off of work was not one of them. It was supposed to be his staff's job to see to it that Truman used the time in Key West to relax. On the other hand, Truman was concerned about his staff members and wanted them to relax and enjoy their stay. On many occasions, the president sat in his living room looking calm while he was busy at work with his presidential duties, writing memos, letters and speeches. Across the room, his staff members tried to look at ease while they were busy managing Truman's schedule and running the show. No one got much relaxing done.

The master bedroom contains two twin beds. It was designated as Mrs. Truman's bedroom. On occasion their daughter Margaret slept in the second bed. The president had separate sleeping quarters. It was, at the time, the policy that, even in the White House in Washington, DC, the president and first lady had separate bedrooms. In other words, you might be the president of the United States, but you can't sleep with your wife. This policy remained in effect until Brother Gerald Ford became president. It wasn't Ford who ended the policy, but his wife Betty, who described the arrangement as… to use a euphemism... bovine excrement.

Truman loved to play poker. One of the changes he made in the furnishings of the Little White House was the addition of a poker table. There, he would sit for hours and play poker with his staff and even national and world leaders who visited. The existence of the poker table was kept secret, the thinking being that the general public would consider poker playing to be scandalous.

On one occasion, the bevy of reporters accompanying the president cooked up a prank to play on Truman. Deciding the president, being a Democrat, must be fond of donkeys, they somehow got past security and smuggled a burro onto the grounds. They hid the animal in the president's detached bath house. The next morning when Truman went to take his shower he was greeted not only by the animal, but also by a large pile of donkey poop. The Secret Service was not at all amused and launched an investigation into the matter. Truman laughed off the incident and stopped the investigation.

The tour made no mention of Truman's Masonic activities. I asked the guide if he knew anything about that and he told me the president did, in fact, visit Masonic lodges in the area and on occasion participated in Masonic events. Knowing about Truman's love for the Craft, that didn't surprise me at all.

Since Truman's presidency, other presidents and leaders have continued to use the Little White House for various purposes. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter all stayed there. The last presidential visit was a 2005 weekend retreat for Bill and Hillary Clinton. In 1987, the house became the property of the State of Florida, which restored it and opened it as a state historic site and museum. Today it is open to the public and offers several daily tours – no photographs, please.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33° , is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.

My Visit with Brother Harry

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bill Hosler, PM

Several months ago we had to visit Saint Louis for a business trip. We had a great time seeing the sites, visiting museums (and eating barbecue). On the way home I was asked where I would like to visit.

It was a hard decision. There are so many places we could have visited. I finally decided on a destination. I want to visit Brother Harry Truman in his hometown of Independence, Missouri.

The drive to Independence was fun. Missouri got to “show me” much of their state on that day. I regretted my health wasn’t better during that trip so we could have stopped in Fulton, Missouri and seen a museum dedicated to another one of my boyhood heroes, Brother Winston Churchill.

In 1946 Churchill visited the tiny little Westminster college in Fulton after being invited to speak there by the college’s president and Harry Truman. It was in this speech Churchill first used the term “Iron curtain” when referring to the Soviet Union and the other countries which made up the Eastern block. The college has a small museum dedicated to Churchill and that historic day. I would have also liked to have visited the graves of Ray and William Denslow.

After checking into our hotel (and eating more barbecue) the next morning we traveled west to the Harry S Truman Presidential library.

This was my second visit to the library. When I was in high school we visited the library on the way to Kansas City to attend the National FFA convention in 1982. At that time I was young and although I was a lover of history when I was 16, the trip, while interesting, didn’t have the impact on me at the time that it’s memory had on me as I learned about the man throughout my life, reading such books as "Truman" by David McCullough and "Brother Truman" by Allen Roberts.

The library has lots of wonderful exhibits. From his birth through his life and presidency all the way through his later years. We really enjoyed the many multimedia exhibits that I’m sure wasn’t there during the early eighties.

I was very excited to see they had an exhibition containing Brother Truman’s Masonic history and included such possessions as his Masonic apron (I know. I wondered why the apron wasn’t with Harry too. The exhibit didn’t say.) His Shrine fez and lots of photographs of the mans Masonic career were on display.

Once done touring his artifacts we went into the garden and paid our respects to the Past Grand Master of Missouri and the 33rd president of the United States and his wife, Bess. I was surprised that Truman’s daughter Margaret, is also now buried there along with her husband, Clifton Daniel.

After our visit (and even more barbecue), we decided to drive by Harry and Bess' home which is near the library. I wanted to tour the house but, much like in Fulton, my health wouldn’t allow it then. We were surprised how “normal” the house was. Just a common home for a common man who just happened to become president of the United States.

It’s interesting to note Harry was never the actual owner of the house. The white Victorian home was owned by his wife Bess' family, (Bess' father,  David W. Wallace was once Grand Commander of Knights Templar in Missouri).

Politically Harry and I couldn’t be more different. But I can admire a man who came from nothing and kept working until he became the most powerful man in the world. All the while, speaking his mind and standing by the principals he believed in. And doing so leaving us many powerful (and some very funny) stories to remember him by.

Now that I have read my friend and Brother (and most importantly fellow Hoosier) Steve Harrison’s book “Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi”, I have realized there is so much more for the “Show me state” to show me!

Luckily Brother Harrison has just released a new book entitled Masonic Memoranda of Frederick L. Billon. Billon was a pioneer in Missouri in the 1800’s and kept a Masonic journal about what happened within the Craft in a time where much of the Fraternity’s history has been lost or destroyed. This should be an interesting read.

From Brother Mark Twain, Harry Truman to Frank Land and many other famous Masons, some world famous and others who are famous only to Masons that called Missouri home (including the first grand master of my mother Grand lodge, Alexander Buckner), I plan on visiting the state again! I hope you will consider visiting it too!

~BH

WB Bill Hosler was made a Master Mason in 2002 in Three Rivers Lodge #733 in Indiana. He served as Worshipful Master in 2007 and became a member of the internet committee for Indiana's Grand Lodge. Bill is currently a member of Roff Lodge No. 169 in Roff Oklahoma and Lebanon Lodge No. 837 in Frisco,Texas. Bill is also a member of the Valley of Fort Wayne Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Indiana. A typical active Freemason, Bill also served as the High Priest of Fort Wayne's Chapter of the York Rite No. 19 and was commander of of the Fort Wayne Commandery No. 4 of the Knight Templar. During all this he also served as the webmaster and magazine editor for the Mizpah Shrine in Fort Wayne Indiana.

True Or False? The Legend Of Harry Truman's Silver 33rd Degree Ring

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason

There has always been a rule that 33rd degree rings are to be made ONLY of gold.  It caused quite a stir when Frank S. Land, the founder of Demolay, had a ring crafted of silver.  And he wore it! There's no question about it--that's absolutely true.

But years later, a rumor started that Harry S. Truman, after he received his 33rd degree, was seen also wearing a silver 33rd ring.  As a Past Grand Master of Missouri, and a former President of the United States, the idea he would have worn a 33rd degree ring made of anything other than gold caused quite a controversy amongst Scottish Rite Masons.  Some said it simply wasn't true--that Truman never owned or wore anything other than a gold ring.  Others claimed the ring he was seen wearing was actually Frank Land's ring--they were friends.  But Harry's silver ring never turned up, so as time went on most people believed it was probably just a rumor--a myth.  

When I received my 33rd degree in 2011, I asked one of the active members of the Supreme Council about the rumor that Harry S. Truman wore a silver 33rd ring.  I was told very curtly that it never existed.  I was also reminded that in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, 33rd Degree Masons were to ONLY wear the ring they were given.  I wasn't to even think about buying one of those flashy 33rd rings with the lacquer and diamonds.  There were rules about such things after all.  And there was absolutely no evidence what-so-ever that Truman ever owned, wore, or had a ring like that made.  

Case closed.  It's false, right?

Well guess what turned up last December?  That's right.  A silver 33rd degree ring.  Harry S. Truman's silver 33rd degree ring no less!  And we even know now where it came from.  In hindsight, it makes perfect sense.  It was inscribed inside to  Harry S. Truman . . . a gift from Frank S. Land.

The Missouri Lodge of Research's 2016 Truman Lecture will mark the first time that both of those silver rings will be exhibited together.

But what's really odd is just about the time that ring surfaced, something else vanished!  That article I wrote some years ago claiming that ring was most likely a myth because there was no evidence it ever existed.  Odd, huh?

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33°, FMLR is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.  He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is the author of the From Labor to Refreshment blog.  He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754, where is currently serves as Secretary.  He is the Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.  He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR) and a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D.  You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org 

Historical Accuracy

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

RWB. Michael H. Shirley

I’m a bit obsessive about accuracy in historical writing, and have been known to get testy when writers are careless with their facts. That’s an occupational hazard of an historian, to be sure, and one common to most people who care about history. I know it’s true of  Todd Creason, and it was true of a Mason more eminent and historically knowledgeable than both of us combined: Harry S. Truman. He was a stickler for accuracy, and one little known anecdote illustrates the importance he placed on getting things right.

In 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, when he was far busier than it seems possible to credit, Truman took the time to write to a publisher of a Masonic history about that publisher’s treatment of Andrew Jackson:

“I notice where you say that Andrew Jackson received his degrees at Greenville Lodge, Greenville, Tennessee in 1851. Andrew Jackson was Grand Master of Tennessee long before that, and it is not known exactly where he received his degrees, but it is recorded that he received them in North Carolina.

He was born in 1767. You gave the date of his birth in 1808, and the place Raleigh, North Carolina. He was born in Wax Haws, and it is doubtful whether he was born north or south of the State line. There has always been a controversy between North and South Carolina about the location of the State line at the time of his birth. I don’t know where you got those figures, but you certainly ought to make a correction on them.

For your further information, if my dates are correct, Andrew Jackson died in 1845, so he couldn’t possibly have received his degrees in 1851.”

As President Truman later and famously said, “I don’t give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they think it’s Hell.” Past Grand Master Truman seems to have done the same thing, and, while some might think it was a small matter, he would doubtless have disagreed. After all, he was a good historian. 

~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M, as Leadership Development Chairman and Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern Area. A Certified Lodge Instructor, he is a Past Master and Life Member of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and a plural member of Island City Lodge No. 330, F & AM, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He currently serves the Valley of Danville, AASR, as Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix; he is also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the York Rite, Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Eastern Star, Illini High Twelve, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.You can contact him at: m.h.shirley@gmail.com

Acheson and Truman

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

RWB. Michael H. Shirley

Any discussion of “greatest in history” about, well, anything will produce some debate. In part, it’s because it’s nearly impossible to agree on a definition of “greatness,” and in part, it’s because greatness varies with the field of endeavor. I can, and have, spent hours in amiable discussion with friends on various of our “ten greatest players” in sports without coming to much in the way of a definitive list. I’m sure my list of greatest major league ballplayers by position is different than yours, although there will likely be some overlap, and we can agree to disagree (that said, if your list doesn’t include Ernie Banks, you need to rethink your position). So it’s generally more interesting and less heated to talk about “favorites.” We can argue all day long about “the greatest president in history,” but a discussion of favorites is more subjective. Anyway, as anyone who’s read this blog for a while already knows, my favorite president is Harry Truman, but I don’t think he’s the greatest president in history. I would argue, however, that he embodied greatness, and at least one eminent American agreed with me.

Harry Truman’s best friend in his later years was Dean Acheson, who served as his Secretary of State from 1949-1953. They respected each other without reservation, visited each other when possible, and wrote to each other regularly until Acheson’s death in 1971. At a dinner in 1953, Acheson presented Truman with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award. His remarks on that occasion probably meant more to Truman than the award did:

“I hope that it will never be thought of me that I approach the matter of doing honor to the President Truman with an open mind. On the contrary, it is with unshakeable convictions [that I do him honor], one of which is that no honor which can be conferred on Mr. Truman can equal the honor which he has won for himself…. I suppose Mr. Truman would like no description of himself better than, in the words of a Seventeenth Century writer, as ‘An honest plain man, without pleats.’ That indeed he is, but we cannot let him escape with that. In my prejudiced judgment we must bring in a word which is very much abused and which I fear may annoy him a good deal. But he will testify that I have always told him the truth as I saw it—and this is no time to stop. The word is ‘Greatness.’”

Acheson was an extraordinary public servant, and was well suited to make that proclamation. A lawyer and long-time diplomat, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1970 for his memoirs, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department. He was a patrician from his brigadier’s moustache to his highly polished shoes, and might be expected to have had some misgivings about the plain man from Missouri. But Acheson and Truman both took things without much in the way of prejudice. His first meeting with Truman was two days before Truman became president on Roosevelt’s death, and his impression was immediately positive: “He is straight-forward, decisive, simple, entirely honest. He, of course, has the limitations upon his judgment and wisdom that the limitations of his experience produce, but I think that he will learn fast and will inspire confidence.” Acheson was right. 

In his summation of Truman’s presidency, performed near the end of his life, Acheson wrote, “Today no one can come to the Presidency of the United States really qualified for it. But he can do his best to become so. Mr. Truman was always doing his level best. …His judgment developed with the exercise of it.” 

It is those qualities that Acheson saw in Truman that made it possible for him to become a great man. The judgment of whether someone is “great” depends on that person’s accomplishments, and those accomplishments cannot occur unless ability meets opportunity, and it is ability that Acheson saw in Truman. Blessed with an extraordinary memory, enormous stamina, and a keen mind, Truman read widely and deeply in history and biography from the time he was a boy.  He set himself a course of study throughout his life, learning as much as he could about history, society, and human nature, and it was that invariable habit of learning that led him to the White House. Learning was not sufficient to achieving greatness, but it was entirely necessary.  When the opportunity to excel presented itself, as it did again and again, he had made himself ready to seize it. 

Harry Truman’s entire life was spent in a prudent and well regulated course of discipline that enabled him to make the best use of the talents with which he’d been blessed, and so enabled him to achieve all that he achieved. The uncompromising excellence with which he lived his life is example of what a Mason can be if he pays full attention to his obligations.  Not everyone is cut out to rise as high as Truman did, but all of us can live to our fullest potential if we act as Truman acted. In our own small and varied ways, we can achieve greatness.

~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M, as Leadership Development Chairman and Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern Area. A Certified Lodge Instructor, he is a Past Master and Life Member of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and a plural member of Island City Lodge No. 330, F & AM, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He currently serves the Valley of Danville, AASR, as Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix; he is also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the York Rite, Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Eastern Star, Illini High Twelve, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.You can contact him at: m.h.shirley@gmail.com

Truman's Study

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley

“He that loves reading has everything within his reach.”

William Godwin

Truman Home

One of the things I’d always wanted growing up was my own library. I made stabs at it over the years, and once managed to put 2000 books on metal shelves in a 9X12 room (it was laid out like a maze, and didn’t look great, but I had my books on shelves, which is what mattered). Still, my library was really only a dream until we moved into our current home. In the old dining room, we had floor to ceiling shelves built, and I scored a rolling library ladder on eBay (complete with a sign hanging from one rung: “For Staff Use Only. Please Ask For Assistance”). We finally managed to get the right furniture (my wife is a Black Belt in Craigslist), and lately we’ve been spending at least an hour every morning reading in our favorite chairs. And it was there, the other day, that I found myself thinking of Harry Truman.

Truman, reading in his late years.

A couple of years ago, I was in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for a teaching military history course, and found myself with an unscheduled weekend. Since Harry Truman is my favorite president, and his presidential library and home were nearby in Independence, Missouri, I decided to have a Truman day. 

I started at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. I’d never been to a presidential library, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleased to see it was on a human scale, with changing exhibits on American history, and permanent ones on President Truman’s life and career. Curiously, my favorite room wasn’t the oval office replica, or any of the galleries, but Truman’s own office, which he designed, and where he worked on his various projects and received visitors after he left the White House.

Truman's office

It’s a thoroughly satisfactory room, with a big wooden desk, leather armchairs, a massive globe, and bookshelves along the walls. It’s on display behind glass, and looks just as it did when he worked there. The books aren’t just for display. He read at that desk, but his primary reading was done at his home, where I drove next. It’s maintained by the National Park Service, and is much as it was when Truman and his wife Bess lived there. They had lived there from the beginning of their married life, but only inherited it from Bess’s mother, Madge Gates Wallace, in 1952. It’s a stately and handsome house, but, like the Library, is very much human in scale. The tour was excellent and informative, and the whole house was interesting, but I had only one room that I truly wanted to see: the study. It was Truman’s favorite room, lined with books and furnished with his and Bess’s reading chairs. If any word can describe Harry Truman, it’s “reader.”

Truman's Reading Chair 

Truman’s reading habit began early. In a letter to Dean Acheson in 1962, he wrote that, when he was a boy, “Our public library in Independence had about three or four thousand volumes, including the then encyclopedias. Believe it or not I read 'em all….” He read mostly history and biography, because it interested him, and he was sure that it was his reading that made him what he was: “Readers of good books,” he wrote, later in his life, “particularly books of biography and history, are preparing themselves for leadership. Not all readers become leaders, but all leaders must be readers.”

My reading room.

I fancy myself a reader, too, and that may be part of what draws me to Truman and drew me to the rooms in which he spent so much time: a sense of kinship, an understanding of the importance of a good chair in a room laid out just so, with the comfort of reading the primary aim of its design. As I sit in my own reading chair, in my home library, my current book open in my lap, I sometimes think of him, and the other readers of my acquaintance, and feel grateful for those who understand what it means to lose oneself in words. I confess that I don’t understand people who don’t like to read. Thomas Jefferson once wrote to John Adams, “I cannot live without books.” Neither could Truman. Neither can I. No reader can. And why would we want to? We have the world within our reach.

~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M, as Leadership Development Chairman and Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern Area. A Certified Lodge Instructor, he is a Past Master and Life Member of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and a plural member of Island City Lodge No. 330, F & AM, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He currently serves the Valley of Danville, AASR, as Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix; he is also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the York Rite, Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Eastern Star, Illini High Twelve, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.You can contact him at: m.h.shirley@gmail.com