At a recent dinner in Buena Vista, local York Rite Masons and their wives honored their statewide leader. The York Rite is a body of Masons that offers historical degrees past the three original Blue Lodge degrees. These ceremonies are concerned with the building of King Solomon’s Temple, its dedication, destruction, and rebuilding after the Jewish people returned from Exile. The statewide leader is the Most Excellent Grand High Priest (MEGHP). General and district level officers under him use the designation Right Excellent. Men without an office are companions. Those pictured, using the ME and RE abbreviations, include (front row) Right Eminent Scott Lyons Fielding, grand commander, Knights Templar of Virginia; RE Joey Martin, district deputy grand high priest (DDGHP) for the Roanoke area; ME James Fields, past GHP; ME William R. Owens, grand high priest, Royal Arch Masons of Virginia; RE Timothy Thorman, local DDGHP and host; RE Thomas Lee Varner, grand master of the First Veil; Companion Ron Strum, Waynesboro; (back row) ME Lee Arritt, past GHP; RE Eric Swortzel, Waynesboro; RE Glen Bryant, Clifton Forge; ME Russell Snodgrass, past GHP; RE Torbin Pederson, Lexington; Companian Jimmy Hogg, Clifton Forge; Excellent Mark Bryant, HP of Lexington; and RE Steve Young, Waynesboro.
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