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David Von Bima, 33o Personal Representative of the SGIG
Richard Fonseca, 32o Venerable Master, Lodge of Perfection
Ron Welsh, 32o Wise Master, Chapter of Rose Croix
Paul Stathatos, 32o Eminent Commander, Council of Kadosh
Chris Best, 32o Master of Kadosh, Consistory
Larry L. Schmidt, 33o General Secretary
Paul Stathatos, 32o Treasurer
John Robert “Bob” Gale, 32o, KCCH Prelate
Jack LeFevre, 32o, KCCH Almoner
The Bodies of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish
Rite sitting in the Valley of Santa Rosa, in the
Orient of California, acknowledge the authority and yield their allegiance to the Supreme
Council (Mother Council of the World), to the Inspectors General, Knights Commander of the
Temple of Solomon for the 33º of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for
the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States
Of America.
Santa Rosa
Scottish Rite Bulletin Orient of California
July/August 2020 Volume 29/Number 4
Valley of Santa Rosa - Official publication of the Santa Rosa Valley Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
PO Box 2125, Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Phone: (707) 539-6355 - Fax: 707-539-5739
[email protected] - www.santarosascottishrite.org
Frank Loui, 33o
SGIG- Supreme
Council in Ca
David Von Bima, 33o
Personal Rep. of the
SGIG
James D. Cole, 33o Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council
ATTENTION!!
Volunteer needed for the Scottish Rite
Children’s Speech Therapy to oversee
coordination of intake to discharge of clients.
They will be working with the Program Director
and families. Two to Seven hours per week.
Requires general computer skills. Training will
be provided.
Email to [email protected]
An Incredibly rewarding experience.
Trust means to do something based on a
belief and it is an important part of faith.
Like faith, it is based on things we cannot
see or touch.
There is a quote from President James A.
Garfield, “I believe in God, and I trust myself
in His hands.” This affirmation could have
been made by Noah and thus was the un-
derpinning of achievements in his life.
The name Noah means “rest”. He was the
son of Lemech, the grandson of Methusaleh
and the 10th on descent from Adam in the
line of Seth. Noah showed trust in God in
two steps. The first is he obeyed what God
wanted him to do in an era so corrupt that
God intended to end the whole human race,
leaving only Noah’s family. The second is
that Noah undertook this time-consuming
project of building the ark on God’s declara-
tion that it was necessary. Each step means
Noah had faith and trust.
The first step was the hardest. Today, with
so many good people, it is difficult enough
to live a God fearing life. It must have been
doubly hard in Noah’s time when he was
the only one who deserved to be spared.
He must have had a great amount of faith
and trust in God.
Next, Noah showed faith in a physical form
by building the ark as God directed. This
was a difficult project. In the Bible, Genesis
5-10, it says the ark was 300 cubits in
length and 50 cubits wide. A cubit is about
18 to 25 inches long. The ark would have
been 450 to 525 feet long. Prior to the 21st
century it would have been considered un-
believably large. By comparison, Nelson’s
flagship at Trafalgar, the HMS Victory, was
186 feet long. This underscores the chal-
lenges of building a craft with only his three
sons and the tools available at the time. The
M A R K ’ S M A S O N I C M I N U T E - N OA H & T R U S T
physical size, however, is small compared
to its physical importance.
In the Masonic degrees, Noah appears in
the Royal Arch and in the Scottish Rite in
the 22nd degree. He is honored for rescuing
the human race. This labor, the construction
of the ark, is an example of a physical act of
faith, which is the highest act of worship. It
illustrates a Masonic lesson that labor is
noble and an honor, which elevates a la-
borer to the status of a king.
Fraternally,
Mark Rose, 32o, KCCH
Please Make a Note of our contact
information - it has changed!!
New Website!! - check it out
Santarosascottishrite.org
Our New email address
Mailing address is still
PO Box 2125
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Our phone number is still
707-539-6355
Our fax number is still
707-539-5739
If you would like to get your
bulletins faster and in color,
please subscribe to our email
list. It saves time and money!
Contact Larry Schmidt at
707-539-6355 or
Thanks!!
How are you and your families doing? I
hope that this finds all is well with you and
yours. I have not heard of any Masonic or
regular friends who have come down with
this scourge. Madalynn and I are fine other
than going a little stir crazy. All in our family
are doing well.
If you are able, will you donate to "The Dis-
tressed Worthy Brother Relief Fund" from
the Grand Lodge of California? You proba-
bly have received e-mails about the fund or
read about it in the "May - June California
Freemason" magazine. The Grand Master's
Executive Message is about giving to the
fund. It is easy to give. If you are a member
of the Grand Lodge of California, just go to
masonicfoundation.org and Give A Gift will
be the first thing you will see. Try it, you will
feel so good. And if you need help, do not
hesitate to apply. That is why the fund is
there. At least one of my lodge members
has been helped by it. If you are a California
Mason call (888) 466-3642. If you are not a
California Mason and need help, please call
me at 707-539-6355 and I will put you in
touch with our almoner.
The purchase of a new building is on hold
because of the pandemic. We do have a
committee headed up by our Venerable
Master, Richard Fonseca. We are having a
few meetings with the leadership of the Val-
ley. It is taking place on the computer
through ZOOM. The program works very
well. Supreme has made ZOOM available
to each valley. I have signed up for it for our
valley and it costs $20.00 a month. We can
have up to 300 computers on each meeting
and use it as much as we need.
The degree conferral scheduled for the first
weekend in June at the Oakland Scottish
Rite has been cancelled. This would have
been an opportunity to see all 29 Scottish
G E N E R A L S E C R E T A R Y
Page 3
Rite degrees performed. Until last summer,
I had not had this experience. I had just
seen the five mandatory ones; the 4th, 14th,
18th, 30th and 32nd. We have three candi-
dates and I have sent them letters informing
them that they will have to wait until fall to
receive their degrees at one of four valleys,
Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco or
Burlingame.
The last bit of news is that the Scottish Rite
office is no longer in our computer/sewing
room. I have moved the office to a vacant
office at Santa Rosa Luther Burbank Lodge
#57. We also are moving our stated dinners
and meetings there. Margie Schultz and
Madalynn were getting very tired of having
to go to Sebastopol twice in one day to
decorate for the dinner and then back that
evening for dinner and the meeting. Both
Madalynn and Marilyn Thomson are glad
that the office has moved.
Take care, be safe and I look forward to
seeing you very soon at a Masonic event.
Sincerely & fraternally,
Larry L. Schmidt, 33°
Philanthropy is an essential part of Freema-
sonry. In helping others, each Mason puts
our Craft's key principles of brotherhood
and service into action. Every Blue Lodge
has an Almoner's fund to help the needy,
and every Appendant Body of Freemasonry
provides charitable outreach, often focusing
it on a specific need.
The Knights Templar serve children
with strabismus or cross-eyes.
Job's Daughters supply aids for the
hard of hearing.
Tall Cedars of Lebanon support muscu-
lar dystrophy research and treatment.
The Grottoes of North America offer
dental services to the handicapped.
The Masonic Service Association or-
ganizes disaster relief and hospital visi-tation programs for veterans.
The Prince Hall Masonic Youth Fund
provides camps for urban youths.
The Shrine finances 22 specialized hos-
pitals for burns victims and crippled chil-dren.
These are only a few of the hundreds of
Masonic philanthropies serving the young,
elderly, handicapped, and needy throughout
America. As recently as September 1994, a
new era began in Masonic service to the
nation when Ill. Robert O. Ralston, 33o,
Sovereign Grand Commander of the North-
ern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish
Rite, U.S.A., announced the addition of a
fourth charity to that Jurisdiction's existing
philanthropic efforts. Now, in addition to
providing for schizophrenia research, youth
scholarships, and the Masonic Museum of
Our National Heritage at Lexington, Massa-
chusetts, the Brethren of the Northern Ma-
sonic Jurisdiction will dedicate themselves
to creating Childhood Learning Centers in
cities throughout the 15 states of the North-
ern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United
States.
V E N E R A B L E M A S T E R - R I C H A R D F O N S E C A , 3 2 O
This major step forward for Masonic philan-
thropy follows the path blazed by the South-
ern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite of Free-
masonry as early as the 1950s. It all began
with the need of one child in Denver, Colo-
rado. The young widow of a Brother had
two small children. The youngest had a
problem with his speech. At school, neither
his teachers nor his peers could understand
him. Local community services were not
available at that time. Language and learn-
ing disorders in children were just beginning
to be understood.
The widow appealed to the Brethren of
Denver's Scottish Rite Bodies. Judge Has-
lett P. Burke, 33o, then Sovereign Grand
Inspector General in Colorado and Lieuten-
ant Grand Commander of The Supreme
Council, 33o, Southern Jurisdiction, called
the Brethren of Denver's Consistories to-
gether. Unanimously, it was decided to
raise Scottish Rite dues by $2.00 annually
and to dedicate that money to the local Chil-
dren's Hospital in support of the study and
treatment of aphasia.
Today, we know communication disorders,
like aphasia, where the child cannot con-
nect verbal and written words with actions
or objects, affect one out of every ten chil-
dren in America. Among other forms of
childhood language and learning disorders
are dyslexia, stuttering, delayed learning,
attention deficit, hearing loss, and many
more. Often the cause is unknown. Always,
it is treatable.
Affected children are usually of normal or
even superior intelligence. Yet they cannot
communicate at the level of their peer
group. Remedies may be, on occasion,
hearing devices or surgical procedures.
More often, however, remediation, even
total elimination of the problem, can be
Page 5
managed by the child receiving therapy individually or
in small groups from a certified Speech Language Pa-
thologist.
In sessions that appear more like fun than lessons, a
child can learn to speak and understand. The earlier
the intervention, the more effective the treatment. Left
untreated, a child with learning and communication
problems becomes withdrawn and unhappy. He or she
slips behind academically. Disturbed by the inability to
communicate adequately, the child becomes frustrated
and, often, disruptive. Left untreated, these conditions
can permanently damage a child's development and
severely diminish chances for a fulfilling life as a pro-
ductive adult.
Often local school systems and social services are
strapped for funds and cannot provide the treatment
necessary. This fact was evident in the first case ac-
cepted for Masonic assistance in Colorado in the
1950s, and it remains so today. To meet this need, the
Brethren of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern
Jurisdiction, established and gradually expanded a
Childhood Language Disorders Program which now
serves thousands of children in clinics, centers, and
programs throughout 35 states and the District of Co-
lumbia.
In our nation's capital, for instance, there is a state-of-
the-art center adjacent to the Scottish Rite Temple.
Dedicated by Mrs. George Bush on June 23, 1989, the
$3 million dollar facility is only one of the 110 clinics,
centers, or programs throughout the Southern Jurisdic-
tion as of late 1994. And, responsive to local needs and
support, the program continues to grow and evolve.
Aside from direct therapy for children and training for
their parents, there are such diverse programs as vol-
unteer-directed videotapes to remedy dyslexia, Com-
puter Assisted Language Therapy (CALT) where the
child uses interactive media for self-teaching, and mo-
bile diagnostic clinics which visit schools for on-site
evaluations and referrals.
The Southern Jurisdiction's flagship philanthropy in-
spired the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish
Rite to follow suit. Already, two Children's Learning
Centers are in place in Newtonville and Lowell, Massa-
chusetts. In addition, a summer program of a similar
nature is sponsored by the Brethren of the Scottish Rite
Valley of Marquette, Michigan, at Northern Michigan
University. These are the first three links in what is in-
tended to become a chain of Scottish Rite Children's
Learning Centers throughout the Northern Jurisdiction.
As complements to the already existing network of clin-
ics, centers, or programs in the Southern Jurisdiction,
this new Scottish Rite philanthropic endeavor will bring
needed services to children who might otherwise go
untreated wherever they may be throughout America,
including Alaska and Hawaii.
Brother J. Philip Berquist, 33o, is the founder of the first
two centers in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He
will lead the new program with the assistance of Ill.
Drew W. Washabau, 33o, Ill. James W. Salmons, 33
o;
and the overall guidance of Sovereign Grand Com-
mander Ralston. Similarly, in the Southern Jurisdiction,
Sovereign Grand Commander Kleinknecht will continue
to provide leadership for that Jurisdiction's rapidly ex-
panding program, while Brothers Thomas M. Boles,
33o, Director of Development, and J. Howard Rodman,
Jr., 32o, Assistant Director of Development, provide
general guidance for fundraising.
The programs of both Jurisdictions are deeply rooted in
the needs of local communities and the local Valley's
response to those needs. Thus, while provided with
jurisdictional seed money for new centers, continuing
financial assistance for existing facilities or programs
and an effective public relations effort by the Supreme
Councils of both Jurisdictions, all local clinics, centers,
or programs are strongly dependent on grassroots sup-
port by the Brethren.
Respectfully,
Richard A. Fonseca, 32o
Continued from page 4
Name - please print
Signature
Name - please print
Signature
I respectfully petition the Scottish Rite Valley for membership
Scottish Rite Pocket Petition
Date of Birth
Name (First, Middle and Last)
Place of Birth
City, State, Zip
Address
E-mail address
Mailing Address
My employer information
Occupation
Employer
Retired yes or no?
Contact Information
Cell phone
Home phone
Blue Lodge City/State
Other Information
Blue Lodge name and number
Wife’s name
Signature
I certify the above to be true to the best of my knowledge.
Application fee for the 2020 Class is $200.00 For more information, please phone 707-539-6355
Return this petition along with a check for the application fee to:
Santa Rosa Scottish Rite
PO Box 2125
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Recommended by
Recommended by
May it be his portion
To hear from Him
Who sitteth as the
Judge Supreme:
“Well done, good and faithful Brother!”
Virtus junxit - mors non separabit
Warren R. Lofftus February 4, 1941 - April 1, 2020
Julius Verebely June 3, 1933 - January 26, 2020
RiteCare Childhood Language Centers of California
A Message from the Chairman of the Board
THANK YOU! Your support of the Keeping Kids Connected campaign made it a huge success!
Thank You for coming together to help us surpass our $30,000 goal! With your support and a very generous matching gift, we raised a total of $37,344 to help keep kids connected to desperately-needed therapy during this period of social dis-tancing!
There is nothing more I’d like than to thank each of you per-sonally, for words alone cannot convey our gratitude! We can’t thank you enough for opening up new worlds and end-less possibilities for all the children receiving teletherapy to improve their speech, language, and literacy impairments, scholarships to college students in pursuit of their degrees, and services to our California veterans who are having diffi-culty transitioning from active military life! Services that are provided at no cost thanks to your generosity! You are a hero who is changing lives and helping to create miracles in these difficult times! Our hearts are full and grateful for YOU! Thank YOU for making it happen! Hope you continue to stay well - we are most certainly getting through this together! Frank Loui, 33o
Page 7
To Our Readers:
On these pages you will see business cards of some of our members who would like to inform you of their services.
Their support of this publication through advertising is necessary to help defray its cost. Please support our members
- and when you do patronize them, please thank them for their continuing contribution to the Santa Rosa Scottish
Rite Bulletin
Thomas J. Tessier, CPAThomas J. Tessier, CPAThomas J. Tessier, CPA A Professional CorporationA Professional CorporationA Professional Corporation
www.tessiercpa.comwww.tessiercpa.comwww.tessiercpa.com
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Bookkeeping Payroll Business Consulting IRS Audits
Tax Consulting Estates & Trusts
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Santa Rosa, CA 95403 707-545-0701
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PO Box 2125
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
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