2006-12-30

Not just "any" President!

By John Ratcliff
President Gerald R. Ford
was Initiated in Malta Lodge No. 465 in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 30, 1949. Columbia Lodge No. 3, District of Columbia, conferred the degrees of Fellowcraft and Master Mason on Brother Ford as a courtesy to Malta Lodge on May 18, 1951. Brother Ford's father, Gerald R. Sr., a 33rd degree Mason presented the lambskin apron.

He received the Scottish Rite degrees in the Valley of Grand Rapids in 1957 and created a Sovereign Grand Inspector General Honorary 33rd degrees, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, in 1962. This is the highest honor that can come to an honorary member of the Northern Supreme Council of the A.A.S.R.

::Joined Saladin Shrine Temple, A.A.O.N.M.A.S. in 1959.
::Member of Court No. 11, Royal Order of Jesters.
::Honorary Member, DeMolay Legion of Honor.

Brother Ford is also ...
::A member of Saladin Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., Grand Rapids, Michigan
::American Legion
:: Veterans of foreign Wars AMVETS

MASONIC RECORD -- Initiated: September 30, 1949, Malta Lodge No. 465, Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with his half-brothers Thomas Gardner Ford (1918-1995), Richard Addison Ford (1924-) and James Francis Ford (1927- ). The Fellowcraft and Master Mason Degrees were Conferred by Columbia Lodge = No. 3, Washington, D.C., on April 20 and May 18, 1951, as a courtesy to Malta Lodge.

Brother Ford was made a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33°, and Honorary Member, Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Northern Jurisdiction at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, on September 26, 1962, for which he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class.

Brother and President Ford was unanimously elected an Active Member of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay and its Honorary Grand Master, at its Annual Session held at Orlando, Florida, April 6-9, 1975; Brother Ford held this post until January 1977, at which time he became a Past Honorary Grand Master, receiving his Collar and Jewel on October 24, 1978 in Topeka, Kansas, from the Hon. Thomas C. Raum, Jr., Grand Master, Order of DeMolay.
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