APRIL:
Don't miss Grand Master Baldwin's Easter message and greeting on and the wonderful Easter message from Grand Prelate Cave of the Grand Encampment, then two more Easter offerings to brighten your remembrance of Christ's Resurrection are included. Check out Sir Knight Fischer's excellent article concerning modern medical miracles that are happening because of your support of the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. There's much news from Commanderies in this issue and several articles dealing with subjects that are of interest to all Sir Knights and Brother Masons, so check out each page and enjoy!
CONTENTS

• Grand Master's Easter Message
  
• Grand Prelate's Easter Message
  
• "New Life" by Reverend Doug Ridley
  
• A Time to Look Ahead by SK Donald C. Kerr
  
• The 39th Annual Voluntary Campaign-Message
  NEXT FIVE (3) LINKS - PLEASE USE the "BACK BUTTON" to RETURN
  CENTER SECTIONS - STATE SUPPLEMENTS - ARTICLES
  KTEF SHOPPING MALL
  
• Time to Tuck-point? by SK George J. Harrison
  
• The Golden Fleece and the Hiramic Legend
  By Brother C. Bruce Hunter
  
• Brother Powel Crosley, Jr. Queen City Entrepreneur, Industrialist, and Sportsman
  by SK Ivan M. Tribe
  
• Another Ode to the Skull by SK Rex R. Hutchens
  
• Editor's Journal
  
• On the Masonic Newsfront
  KTEF Fund Raising Items,
  Knight Voices

The Order of the Temple teaches us the lesson of immortality, by means of telling the story of the last days of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Easter is special to every Templar as it gives us the gift of HOPE. It further gives our lives meaning by the assurance that through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ our sins can be forgiven and we may:receive at His hand the gift of eternal life. Think of it; at the end oflife's toilsome journey our lives are not at an end but at the beginning! Easter alone gives us this promise!

As we revisit the end of the Greatest Story Ever Told, let us a1so remember that we have been blessed that Jesus Chrlst passed our way and gave us the rare gift of Hope for a better World and a happier tomorrow.

I hope that you will be able to join with me and the officers of the Grand Encampment as we celebrate Easter for the 77th time in Alexandria, at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. It is a wonderful event and I'm sure you'll find it rewarding, if not this year, then at some time in the future. It's a very special time when you and your fellow Templars may join together to celebrate this special day.

As Grand Master, I wish for you and all those you love a Happy Easter!

Cordially and fraternally

Sir Knight Richard Burditt Baldwin
Most Eminent Grand Master
2006 - 2009

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Sir Knight and Reverend Robert J. Cave, Right Eminent Grand Prelate of the Graond Encampment, Knights Templar of the United States of America, presents the message below at the 77th Annual Easter Sunrise Memorial Service at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 8, 2007.
A general invitation was extended by Most Eminent Grand Master, Richmd B. Baldwin, to the Sir Knights and their families and friends to join the grand officers and their Brother Christian Masons at the traditional Easter Service. For those who are unable to attend the Easter ceremony in Alexandria or who wish to read the message in addition to being there. here we share it with you.
Reverend Cave resides at 137 Glen. Drive,. Ridge, NY 11961.

       Back in the late 1800's, the great pulpit master, Charles Hadley Spurgeon, entered the chancel on Easter Sunday morning where an empty bird cage sat on the pulpit of the great Metropolitan Tabernacle where he preached. "Let me tell you about this bird cage," Spurgeon began his sermon. He said that he had been walking the streets of London the day before,deep in thought when he saw a young boy carrying an old, bent bird cage. Inside the cage was a tiny field sparrow. Spurgeon stopped the boy and asked him what he was going to do with the bird. "Well" said the boy, "I will pIay with it for a while, and when I am tired of playing with it, I will kill it". Spurgeon, having compassion for the bird, asked him how much he wanted to sell it to him. The boy responded, "You don't want this bird, mister. It is onIy a bleeding field sparrow." But when the lad saw that Spurgeon was serious, he said he could have him for two pounds. Two pounds was a great deal of money in those days, well over one hundred dollars today. Spurgeon paid the price and then opened the door and let the bird fly free. After Spurgeon recalled the story about the boy, the bird, and the empty cage; he said to his congregation: "That is what Christ has done for us." He said evil had caged us up, but Christ sacrificed himself to set us free.
      This is what Easter is all about. Evil had caged humanity, but Christ sacrificed himself to set us free. And because of what Christ has done in his life, death, and resurrection; we are free for a new and glorious Me now and into eternity, and we see this played out in the Jives of the first Christians. Because of this we, and all Christendom, have gathered the world around to celebrate Easter this morning.
      After the Crucifixion we are told that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus' body in the grave. It was a courageous act for, even though they had Pilate's permission. the religious leaders made it a risky thing to do. Nonetheless, they removed Jesus body from the cross, wrapped it in linens, and placed it in the tomb.
The women had been watching this and so, noting the location, they knew where to go to see the body on that first Easter morning. It was early in the morning, just after daybreak, that they went on their sad, sorrowful, agonizing journey. Going to the grave would just prolong their grief.
      There are many modern parallels to this existential grief. Some years ago when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain a terrorist planted a bomb in a conference room where government meetings were held. The bomb exploded, and even though Margaret Thatcher survived the explosion, some cabinet members were killed.
      Margaret Thatcher regularly attended Sunday morning worship, and so she went to church the following Sunday. However, that Sunday was different. As she sang the hymns, listened to the sermon, and looked at the stained glass windows; she began to weep. She wept because everything around her seemed to have changed because of the death of her friends. All that was fami1y had now changed. She knew that not only would she miss her friends but also the good times they had had together. And so Margaret wept.
      If we are able to feel Margaret Thatcher's grief maybe we can understand and feel the grief of the women on that first Easter Sunday morning. It is a grief that many of us have felt at some point in our lives. Maybe you have stood beside the grave of a loved one; a mother, father, brother, sister, wife, or husband; and felt that your whole world has changed and that your life will never be the same. That is how the women felt as they journeyed to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. And so they trudged on in silence, thinking their own thoughts, mired in sadness and despair, to mourn their beloved Jesus on that Easter morning.
      But they didn't remain that way long. Soon their trudging, heavy steps were turned into energized. running leaps. They came away with a sense of exaltation. Matthew's Gospel uses such words as joy and rejoicing. You see. the women had gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body with burial spices. but now earthshaking events came upon them with lightning swiftness. The stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away, an angel appeared, the body was gone, and then came the announcement that Jesus had risen. As a result, Matthew tells us, the women ran from the tomb with great joy. Then Jesus, the Risen Lord. met them and told them to rejoice.
     In an instant" with Jesus' Resurrection, we see the victory of heaven over hell, love over hate, hope over despair, forgiveness over sin. and life over death. The women were the first to experience Easter joy, and now we with them can share the joy of the Easter promise, which is ultimate victory over all that negates life.
     You see in an instant they were set free just as Spurgeon's sparrow was from the vicissitudes of life and even from the last enemy death. They were set free for new and exciting possibilities in this world and the next. Ultimately the disciples and we become participants with Christ in the Resurrection, and this carries with it hope. The Easter Resurrection Day celebration is a rock solid hope to which hurried and harried people can turn.
     A Risen Christ means that our time, our life, is set within the parameters of eternity. No longer do we have to anguish about life's difficulty alone, suffer alone, worry alone, or be discouraged alone for we have the assurance that Christ walks with us daily just as God wa1ked with Enoch daily. And because he walks with us, we have the certainty of victory, and with this certainty there is no end to the possibilities that await us in life.
     Perhaps, the most poignant illustration of this is Saint Peter. Jesus gave Peter the name "Rock," but this was not a description of his character for he was volatile, impulsive, and likely to fail on occasion. We see this especially on the occasion of Jesus' trial. Peter had promised to follow Jesus always. But after Jesus' arrest Peter followed him only to the High Priest's house. It was there that he denied any acquaintance with Jesus when a young woman accused him of being a follower of the Lord. Peter denied this and then disappeared, perhaps slinking into the crowd, fearful for his life, leaving Jesus all alone except for a few women who watched the crucifixion from afar.
      The turning point in Peter's life came when he became a witness to the Resurrection. He was then ready to do whatever Jesus instructed him to do. He became a leader in the early Church. He feared not the authorities but acted boldly and bravely and, as legend has it, suffered martyrdom, perhaps in Rome. All this happened because of the Resurrection of Jesus. He had a new hope that resulted in new possibilities, and he lived with the certainty of victory in this life. We can live such a hopeful and victorious life as well.
      Even death is no barrier to that hope. While we cannot deny the reality of death for ourselves and our loved ones and the resultant grief that comes with it, we know that life does not end in the grave, and that is a hope that we can cling to even in the darkest of times.. We have that promise from Christ who said, "Because I live, you shall live also."
      When George H. Bush was Vice President, he represented the United States at the funeral of Leonid Brezhnev of the former Soviet Union. Since the U.S.S.R. was officially an atheistic country the funeral was cold and militaristic. There were no hymns, prayers, nor any mention of God. Vice President Bush was close to the casket, and he saw what Mrs. Brezhnev did when she walked up to take one last look at her husband in the casket. She reached over and traced the design of the cross on her husband's chest. Even in the midst of an atheistic state, cold and militaristic, and the grief of losing her husband; hope came to Mrs. Brezhnev because she believed in the Resurrection of Christ and the promise of eternal life for all who believe in Him.
       There is no silence on the other side of the grave. There is the assurance of encountering the living Christ and this is what Easter is all about.
       And so we celebrate Easter this morning. Easter is about life and death and victory over death. It is about going from trudging through life with head hung low to running and jumping joyously and being alive with new possibilities. It is about glorious hope in life because of Christ and having the assurance that there is life beyond the grave.
       Because of this we can echo the words of the great hymn: we can "Sing with all the saints in glory, sing the resurrection song. Death and sorrow, earth's dark story, to the former days belong." Easter means that we have a future, a bright future here and now and after death because of Christ.
       Take this faith to your heart now, this morning, and live triumphantly.

R.E. Grand Prelate Robert J. Cave; KCT, P.G.C. and Grand Recorder of New York, and a member of the Commuttee on Religious Activities; resides at 137 Glen. Drive,. Ridge, NY 11961

"Retinoblastoma is the most common cancer of the eye in children. As the tumors grow in the retina, pieces may break off and grow as additional small tumors that float in the vitreous within the eye (vitreous seeds). This complication usually requires enucleation or removal of the eye. Metastatic retinoblastoma, especially when the brain is affected, is usually fatal. Our laboratory studies new approaches to treating retinoblastoma and its complications, that will allow preservation of the eye of children with vitreous tumor seeds and treatment of patients with metastatic disease. Using a common cold virus modified to be harmless to humans as a carrier, potentially therapeutic genes that are cytotoxic to specific cells can be delivered. We have developed a mouse model of vitreous seeds and have used the model to show that this virus can be used to treat this complication of retinoblastoma. We used the same virus construct in a preliminary clinical trial, and the treatment appeared to be effective in treating vitreous seeds in children. Our laboratory is now developing additional treatment strategies using virus technology to prevent and possibly treat metastatic retinoblastoma. With our mouse model of metastatic retinoblastoma, we have shown that this therapy prevented the spread of retinoblastoma to the brain, Importantly, the treatment was not toxic to the animals. These new treatment strategies target tumor cells only and have the potential to be more effective and less toxic than current therapeutic options for these complications of retinoblastoma."

Dr. Hurwitz received one of our KTEF grants several years ago, and this is the result: another medical miracle, which your efforts made possible! Another grant has been awarded to a young lady who works in his laboratory. She is working on another step forward in this battle against cancer of the eye in children.
Kenneth B. Fischer
Past Grand Master and Past President and Trustee, KTEF
Sir Knight Kenneth B. Fischer resides at 5138 Shady Oaks, Friendswood, TX 77546.

The Golden Fleece and the Hiramic Legend
by Brother C. Bruce Hunter
What do the Golden Fleece and the Hiramic legend have in common? Nothing, really. But putting them together helps make a point. Most people think the story of the Golden Fleece is a myth, but it isn't. It's a legend. The difference, of course, is that one doesn't have an historic basis, while the other does.
The real golden fleece
In this case the historic basis is the fact that, according to many historians, the ancient people of the Caucasus (to the east of the Black Sea) had a secret process for extracting gold from their rivers. They placed a sheepskin in the river and weighted it down to keep it from floating away. Since river sand didn't stick to the fleece but gold did, the sheepskin eventually became laden with gold dust. It literally became a golden fleece, from which a
significant amount of the valuable metal could be extracted.
The legend named for this technology recalls efforts by the ancient Greeks to learn the secret process for their own benefit. And since the Hiramic story is generally regarded as a legend, it may well have a similar historic basis. Indeed, apparently it does. It is set at the time of the building of King Solomon's Temple and tells of a Tyrian architect who came to Israel to build the temple and who brought with him a secret, which some of the local workmen tried to extract from him. The point to remember is that the architect was from Tyre, while his workers were presumably Israelites. This may seem a trivial distinction in the legend's history, it goes without saying that Masonic legends operate on more than one level, and one of the levels on which this legend operates is purely historical. By King Solomon's time, Tyre had become a world trading power. It had been in business for about two centuries and had acquired considerable wealth. And along with its wealth, it had developed considerable skill in a
variety of arts and crafts, not the least of which was architecture. Meanwhile, Israel was still a largely agricultural society. Its tribes had only recently united under a single king, and they were just beginning to turn their attention to acquiring the necessities and benefits that go along with being a nation.
At the time, Israel lacked many of the things a people need if they want to call themselves a nation. For example, it didn't have a national temple, and this is one thing its third king, Solomon, meant to rectify. The problem was that another thing Israel didn't have was anyone who knew how to build a temple large enough and grand enough to serve all the people. Fortunately, Tyre did.
        This is why Solomon imported an architect from Tyre, and it may well be the "historic" reason some of the workers tried to extract his secret.
Hiram's historic secret
Undoubtedly a Tyrian architect would know a number of trade secrets stemming from his country's architectural heritage, which at the time was far ahead of Israel's. And it is quite reasonable to assume that some in Israel would pay a great deal to have those secrets-or more precisely, they believed they would be paid a great deal if they had them. Trade secrets are, after all, a valuable commodity, and Israel was on the move. It was developing rapidly, and its people must have been envious of-and eager to acquire-a share of their northern neighbor's relatively advanced culture.
        We should have no trouble believing that the Israelites, like the Greeks with the golden fleece, were keen to ferret out a few of their neighbor's "tricks of the trade" for their own benefit. If so, the early Masonic ritualists probably knew the scenario they were creating was plausible on historic as well as symbolic grounds. In fact, it may well have been the "historic" grounds that suggested the legend to them in the first place.
Consequently, it seems the central Masonic legend, which operates on other levels as well, also contains more of an historic foundation than we might have thought.

Brother C. Bruce Hunter is a member of
Biltmore Lodge No. 446, Asheville, North
Carolina. He is a co-author with Andrew
Ferguson of The Legacy of the Sacred
Chalice. You may correspond with him at
P.O. Box 2038, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2038

Brother Crosley in the 1920s
The youngster entered the University of Cincinnati's engineering school and then switched to law, but he was too restless to stick with either. Automobiles were his first love, and it was said that he dropped out of college to take a chauffeur's job just so he could drive one. He worked at a variety of other jobs and built his first car, called the "Marathon Six" in 1907, but the financial Panic of 1907 ended his hopes to put it into production. Powel planned to enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 but had to drop out when he broke his arm. Starting a firm called the American Automobile Accessories Company, he made and marketed a number of byproducts and accessories that included a gasoline fortifier called "gastronic," a radiator cap that doubled as a flag holder (very popular during World War I), and a device to help keep the car back in line after it had hit a rock in a bumpy road that he termed "the litl shofur." By 1920 the company was also making phonograph cabinets, canoes, and printed advertising. Meanwhile in 1910, Crosley married Gwendolyn Aiken on October 17, and the couple had two children, Powel ill and Martha. Mrs. Crosley died in 1939, and the widower eventually married two more times and was widowed once more.
Powel Crosley began his Masonic journey in 1917 in College Hill Lodge No. 641. He was initiated on September 27, passed on November 15, and raised to the Sublime degree of Master Mason on December 20, 1917. Powel Crosley, Sr., had previously been a member of Kilwinning Lodge No. 356 in Cincinnati but had demitted and affiliated with College Hill Lodge about the same time the son was taking his degree work The father remained a member until his death in 1932 and the son until his death in 1961. He also joined the Valley of Cincinnati, A.AS.R., com:pleting his work on May 22, 1919, and became a member of Syrian Shrine Temple on May 24, 1919.
Meanwhile, Powel Crosley found a new interest, one that would provide him with his greatest fame, success, and wealth. Radio became a new fad, and young Powel III wanted one. The father shopped around a bit but found that they cost at least one hundred dollars. Thrifty by nature, he spent 25 cents on a booklet called The ABCs of Radio, then bought some parts, and built one for less than twenty-five dollars. As Henry Ford was then doing for the automobile, Powel Crosley soon did the same for radio. He built and marketed a radio that the masses could afford and made himself a multimillionaire in the process.
     By the beginning of 1922, Crosley was selling many radios, and in March 1922, so his buyers would have something to hear, he started station WLW. Within a decade this station became known as "the Nation's Station," and, with 500,000 watts of power, 700 on your AM radio dial had become the most powerful broadcasting outlet in the world It was said you could hear the station over barbed wire fences and the metal fillings in your teeth! While Crosley himself did the first broadcasts from his home, once the station really took off, Crosley left most of the day-today management to others. Many programs that originated from there eventually made it big on the networks: including Moon River, Midwestern Hayride (first known as Boone County Jamboree, Plantation Party, and the long running soap opera, Ma Perkins. Under Crosley Broadcasting and its successor Avco Corporation (after 1945), such regional and national stars developed as Doris Day Rosemary and Barbara Clooney Red Skelton, Ruth Lyons, Paul Dixon, Bob Braun, and Phil Donohue.
      In addition to radio manufacturing and broadcasting, Crosley's corporation turned out other products. Perhaps the most successful was the refrigerator known as the "Shelvador,'" the first refrigerator to contain shelves on the inside of the door. Powel Crosley offered the inventor a twentyfive cent royalty for each one sold, but the man insisted on a $15,000 cash payment instead. Crosley paid the $15,000 and came out ahead on the deal. Other products in the Crosley line included the "Roamio, '" the first car radio in 1930; "Koolrest, " an air conditioner; _Icyball," a portable refrigerator; "Tredkote,'" a tire patch; "Driklenit," an auto polish; and "X-ervac," a scalp massage. Some of the products were a bit ahead of their time and not really successful until later, but they demonstrated the man's love for innovation and tinkering. Some of these products were his own, and some were bought from others.
In 1934 Powel Crosley purchased the controlling interest in the virtually bankrupt Cincinnati Baseball Club Company at the urging of General Manager Larry McPhail. He was not a dedicated fan, but he did want the franchise to remain in the Queen City area. With McPhail's guidance he made improvements to Redland Field, renaming it Crosley Field, and installed lights. On May 24, 1935,more than 20,000 fans watched the Reds defeat the Phillies in the Major League night game. That contest and six others helped boost team attendance. Four more years elapsed before the Reds, under the management of Brother Bill McKechnie, brought home league pennants in 1939 and 1940, with a World Series win over Detroit in the latter year. The authors of the authoritative team history, Redleg Journal, described the club's longtime owner: "a private man, Crosley preferred to remain behind the scenes as club owner and gave his general managers control of personnel decisions." He did, however, inaugurate Shrine Night at Crosley Field.
        Brother Crosley still dreamed of bringing an inexpensive, compact automobile to the masses. In 1939 he was ready to launch his Crosley car through department store outlets. His
original plan for the Crosley auto was for it to sell for $325 and get fifty miles to a gallon of gasoline. World War II intervened before he could have much success. By September 1944, it appeared that the War would soon be winding down, and as WLW historian Dick Perry phrased it, "Mr. Crosley dusted off his dream and started all over again." Accordingly, in 1945 he sold WLW for sixteen million dollars to Aviation Corporation (which ironically had once manufactured another legendary car, the Cord). In 1947 this company became Avco Broadcasting. Powel Crosley still owned the Reds, but for six years he turned over the presidency to Warren Giles. He then could concentrate virtually all of his efforts on Crosley Motors.
The auto manufacturing plant was located in Marion, Indiana. Initially, things started off well enough. To again quote Dick Perry's Not Just a Sound, "at the end of the first official sales year (July 31, 1947), more than sixteen thousand of the little cars had been sold at $888 each, and Crosley Motors showed a profit of $476,065. The next year thirty thousand of the little things were sold." Crosley Motors had two more good years. Then came the Korean War and a scarcity of material which increased steel prices along with a sharp jump in labor costs.
Sales dropped to 4,000 in 1951 and to just under 2,000 in 1952. After three straight years of annual million dollar losses, the Crosley auto died. The Marion plant closed and was sold to General Tire for $60,000. Ironically, before the fifties ended, the German import Volkswagen made a hit with American consumers, suggesting that the Crosley may have been just a decade ahead of its time.

After Warren Giles became National League President, Brother Powel Crosley resumed the executive position with the Cincinnati Baseball Club Company, a position he retained for the rest of his life. The Reds had fallen into the second division in 1945, where they remained for a decade although they did provide their fans with some exciting moments. One came in 1947 when long, lanky sidearm pitcher, Ewell "the Whip" Blackwell (a Mason) had his phenomenal 22-8 season. In the mid-fifties the team produced a number of powerful hitters typified by the muscular Ted Kluzewski, and also including such long ball hitters as Gus Bell, Wally Post, and future Hall of Famer, Frank Robinson. In 1956 the Reds proved to be not only a strong contender but also amassed a team record with 221 home runs. They also became the first Reds team to draw over a million fans at home. Crosley continued to remain in the background in that era with Gabe Paul as General Manager and Birdie Tebbetts as the most successful field manager in that period.
One of Crosley's last acts as club president and principal owner was to hire William O. "Bill" DeWitt (33º in the Valley of Cincinnati, 1972) as general manager on November 8, 1960.
Brother Crosley died unexpectedly four months later, but the leadership of DeWitt and manager Fred Hutchison brought the Reds the league pennant in 1961, their first in twenty-one years. Crosley's daughter and heir, Mrs. Stanley Kess, subsequently sold her stock to DeWitt.
        After Crosley Motors died in 1952, Powel Crosley lived on for another nine years. Although of retirement age, he remained active as Reds' president and as a member of the board of directors of the Fifth Third Union Trust and of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Some years after Gwendolyn's death, he married again to Eva Brokaw, but she died in 1954. Two years later, at seventy, he wed a third time to Charlotte Wilson, who would survive him. He also served on hospital boards and spent time on his two farms, in Indiana and Georgia, and owned other homes in Canada and South Carolina in addition to his residence on Kippling Avenue in Queen City; he maintained an office in the Carew Tower. An avid yachtsman, he also kept close tabs on the Reds. Powel Crosley III preceded his father in death, so daughter, Mrs. Stanley Kess, was his only surviving child when he passed on March 28, 1961, just as the team was ready to go north. Later a mural was unveiled at Crosley Field, highlighting major events in the life of the forty-three year member of College Hill Lodge who had contributed so much to the Queen City of the West. Crosley Field was replaced by a new park in 1970, but forty-five years after his death his legacy continues. WLW remains as a major radio station and the Reds still take the field for 162 games each season.
NOTE: The major source for the life of Powel Crosley is Dick Perry's Not Just a Sound: The Story of WLW (Prentice-Hall, 1973), along with several books on the Cincinnati Reds. Ill. Brother George Braatz, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, supplied his Blue Lodge records, Harry Carpenter of the Valley of Cincinnati his Scottish Rite records, and the staff of Syrian Shrine Temple for the AAONMS.
Thanks also to Sir Knight Norman Lincoln of Eaton, Ohio, and Sir Knight Roger E. Van Dyke, who proofread the manuscript.
Sir Knight Ivan M. Tribe, KCT, KYCH, 33º, and a professor of history at the University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Ohio, is a Past Commander of Athens Commandery No. 15, Athens, Ohio. He resides at 111 East High Street, McArthur, OH 45651-1111.