by Aaron » Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:51 pm
Brother, Noble and Jester
Gerald Rudolph Ford, 33o
The 38th President of the United States ,
Born 1913
Called Home by the Grand Architect December 2006.
GERALD RUDOLPH FORD(1913-2006 )
Thirty-eighth President (1974-1977)
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'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 degree at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia , on September 26, 1962, for which he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class., Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, in 1962. This is the highest honor that can come to an honorary member of the Northern Jurisdiction, Supreme Council of the A.A.S.R.
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 as well as being an Honorary Member, DeMolay Legion of Honor.
Noble Ford joined Saladin Shrine Temple , A.A.O.N.M.A.S. in 1959.
Jester Ford became a member of Court No. 11, Royal Order of Jesters.
But his first services to Freemasonry came well before this when he was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriners East West Crippled Children game at San Francisco . This was on January 1, 1935. He was a member of the University of Michigan 's undefeated national championship football teams and in 1934, played in the Shriners East-West Crippled Children's benefit classic in San Francisco .
Taking life a quarter mile at a time .... [img]