Des Moines Consistory: 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year

A small but appreciative group said good bye to 2007 in the library on the afternoon of December 31, 2007. An enjoyable time was had by everyone.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

December 31. Happy New Year!! We would like to invite all SR Masons to stop in at the Scottish Rite on December 31st. We will be hosting a “happy hour” from 2 pm to 5 pm for SR Masons to take a break from the work day and start the New Year a bit early. We will have snacks and libations for anyone who wishes to stop by.

Obama at Scottish Rite

December 27. Late last week the SR office was contacted by the campaign committee of Senator Barrack Obama about the possibility of holding a campaign event at the Consistory. Your SR office staff and Rex Kehoe 32° KCCH met with the campaign staff, the US Secret Service, the DM Police Dept, and finally the fire marshal to coordinate this historic event. This morning Sen. Obama spoke to a crowd of 300 plus in the Grand Banquet room of our Scottish Rite. In addition, CBS news conducted their interview for tonight’s evening news in the Scottish Rite Library.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

The Jerry Marsengill Christmas Dinner 2007

The Des Moines Consistory Kitchen where preparatios for the dinner began yesterday.
This was the 23rd Annual Christmas Dinner. The idea for the dinner was started by Brother and Most Excellent Companion Jerry Marsengill who wanted a place where anyone who would be alone could come for a Christmas dinner. You did not have to be a Mason or even in need. Just a person who wanted to come and share in the fellowhip and have a good meal.

The driving force behind the dinner today are M.W. "Bud" Erickson, Bryce Hildreth and Kris Erickson. They are the organizers (although Bryce says they are somewhat disorganized) who keep the dinners going each year.

Drivers deliver meals to folks who cannot make it to the Consistory. Dick and Doug worked all day delivering meals and also they and others picked up folks who called in and needed a ride to the building.

There were even "take home" bags for folks as they left with a sandwich and apples and oranges in the bags.

Click here to see the rest of the pictures.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Installation of Officers & Christmas Party

The Grand Old Man of the Consistory - George Carr, 33 GC

The Officers await Installation

Master of Kadosh, Brian; Installing Officer George; Venerable Master, Shane

Kay and John

Dutch

Always good food!

And Entertainment, of course. Another grand time at the Consistory.

All of the pictures I took are on line at a Kodak Slideshow album and if you click here you will be taken to see them.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Meet Brian Pappaducus

Brian Pappaducus was installed as Master of Kadosh of the Des Moines Consistory on December 12, 2007

Brian joined Acanthus Lodge #632, Des Moines in November of 1997. He served as Worshipful Master in 2005 and is still and active participant in the Degree work,

He is a member of the Scottish Rite and was in the Fall, 1998 class He joined the York Rite in 2004. He was appointed Junior Warden of the Lodge of Perfection in January 2001. He received the KCCH honor in 2003.

He is also a member of Ascalon Chapter, Za Ga Zig Shrine and the Royal Order of Scotland.

Brian is the manager of tax and financial analysis for Iowa Telecommunications Services, Inc. He is a member of Iowa Taxpayers Association and a "de-facto" member of Iowa Telecommunications Association. (He is working with them on a committee dealing with property tax legislation).

Brian is a member of the 34th Army Band, Iowa Army National Guard, since April, 1986. He currently serves as the Woodwind Group Leader and Drum Major and is the senior E-7 (SFC). He plays the saxophone.

Brian and his wife (Michelle) and son (Nikolos) live in Ankeny. Michelle is a Program Manager for ITA Group (Incentive Travel Association). So, she does a significant amount of travel to exotic locations with her clientele. Unfortunately, it's more work than pleasure. She is also becoming more active in church (praying for Brian’s redemption, probably) and is an active scrap booker.

Their son, Nikolos, (the spelling is the Greek version - goes along with the last name) is a 2nd grader at East Elementary. Brian says he is very outgoing, and is involved in multiple sports. He is in his 2nd year as a Cub Scout (Michelle is his assistant den leader). Michelle and Brian let him participate in most any activity he wants to try, letting him figure out which activities/sports he wants to continue in the future. Kind of keeps them busy.

Brian says “When we have (make) free time, we do enjoy travel, camping, sports, and boating. Try to spend quite a bit of time out on the lake when we can. We have done most of our boating on Saylorville and Rathbun. Think it would be fun to run on Red Rock, but hear it's dirty.

Brian was born December 30, 1967 and was raised in Ottumwa. His father, Bob, is a member of Olive Branch Lodge #21 in Agency and is also a member of DSM Valley AASR. He is retired from the clothing business where owned a store in Ottumwa for about 20 years. (This is probably why Brian is always so well dressed.) His mother died in 1997.

Incidentally, when Brian was raised in 1998, Brian’s father was the one who raised him (didn't do the ritual, just the raising), which was pretty meaningful.

I asked Brian about his plans for 2008 and he writes:

“As far as plans for 2008, our organization has made some significant strides over the last several years. Our SGIG decreed that the DSM Consistory was to be the premier Masonic building in the state of Iowa, and we determined that our organization should work to be the premier Masonic organization.

We have progressed toward this, and my job during 2008 will be to ensure we continue that progress. We are a stronger organization now, but we cannot be satisfied with where we are or become complacent in our current position. Our members know this, and I believe we will continue to only become better.

Our successes in the past have been due to the hard work and efforts of our membership, and it will be through our membership that we will continue to be successful in the future.”

Brian is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.