York Rite Meetings.

Ames York Rite held its first meeting after the summer recess. We had a great turnout tonight.

The Ames York Rite is beginning to come back after several years of limited activity. We have always done some things but we have not been growing and the meeting attendance left something to be desired.

We vest all of our heads of the three bodies in one person and meet together for efficiency. I remember when I first joined the Rite we would open and close three bodies and do three separate business meetings and cover mostly the same business three times. Reason has prevailed and we now work much more efficiently.

High Priest, Illustrious Master and Commander David Baker has gone a great job leading us this year. He announced that he had attended the Grand Chapter and Grand Council meetings in August and that we were one of eleven (11) Chapters in the state to receive the Chapter of the year Award.

For the past sixteen years Ascension Commandery returned the most per capita in the state for the Knights Templar Eye Foundation Campaign for twelve (12) of those years. Last June at Grand Commandery we were proud to have received this distinction once again.

We also changed our by-laws tonight so that we will meet on the fourth Wednesday instead of the third Wednesday. This will enable us to visit back and forth with Corinthian Chapter, Alpha Council and Temple Commandery in Des Moines which meets on the Third Wednesday.

Excellent Companion Doug Petty (right) was installed as Grand Royal Arch Captain at Grand Chapter this summer. Joshua Chapter is very proud of his service to Grand Chapter. Doug is an active Mason. Not only does he serve in this office he is a Past Master of Arcadia Lodge, Chairman of the Trustees of the Lodge, serves on the Property Management Board for the Lodge and is active in the Scottish Rite. He also holds offices in all three York Rite Bodies in Ames. Not only that he works a job that is demanding and requires a lot of time. Congratulations Doug, We are proud of you!