TempleLive Abruptly Closes; Operated Former Masonic Temples in Four Cities

by Christopher Hodapp

A bold vision to try and save historic Masonic temples has tragically failed, apparently. Or at least struck a sizeable reef. News sources in Cleveland, Ohio reported last week that TempleLive, the company operating the Cleveland Masonic Temple and several other landmark Masonic theater venues, seems to have folded. Shows have been canceled, performers have been unable to get responses, and the company isn't answering phone calls. The company website is also down. 

If they really have folded, it's a sad setback for the historic Masonic temples in Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio, along with Wichita in Kansas, and Ft. Smith in Arkansas, all recently renovated by TempleLive to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. But TempleLive wasn't owned or affiliated with the two or three mega-promotion companies that monopolize the concert business in the U.S. Squeezed out of the most lucrative acts in show business, they have fallen into the economic reality of trying to do things independently.

Cleveland Masonic Temple

The company was started several years ago by Lance Beaty's Beaty Capital Group and Rob Thomas, who had two goals for their venture. One was to preserve, renovate and operate theaters, specifically in endangered Masonic halls. Like so many of us, they realized these incredible, one of a kind temples built by our brethren a century or more ago needed to find new life in order to be saved from the wrecking ball. Their secondary notion was to serve smaller towns outside of the usual lineup of big cities for touring music, theater, comedy and other entertainment acts. Their first purchase was the 1928 Fort Smith Masonic Temple, and all of the venues they took over had large stages and auditoriums built originally for fraternal productions. Our forefathers also intended for these beautiful theaters to be used by their communities, not just a couple of annual events for Masons only.

Fort Smith Masonic Temple

An extended story in Crain's Cleveland Business on Monday quoted an Arkansas interview with the company's founder, Lance Beaty, who placed a lot of blame on being in independent concert promotor in a world dominated by a few massive, monopolistic corporations who control the business:

BCG CEO Lance Beaty told Arkansas news outlet Talk Business & Politics (TB&P) over the weekend that TempleLive operations are being shuttered in short order. This follows Beaty previously indicating just a few days prior that owners were looking at ways to keep the concert promoter going.

“We determined it was best to be definitive so the decision was made to pull down the remaining shows,” Beaty told the outlet.
Beaty cast blame on a mix of factors for TempleLive’s apparent struggles, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a ticketing system that can put independent promoters at a disadvantage. 

“We are simply an outsider in an insider’s business,” Beaty told TB&P. “No matter how much money you throw at it or how creative you think you are, if you’re not on the inside, you’re not in.”

The Columbus Athenaeum was built in 1899 as a Masonic temple. 

After an expansion in 1913, it was claimed to be the largest specifically-Masonic building in America (a mantle that was soon surpassed in the fraternal building craze of the 1920s).

Wichita Scottish Rite

The article continued:

According to the 2025 State of Live report from the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), 64% of indie venues did not turn a profit in 2024.
“Their survival is threatened by inflation, monopolistic pressures, and predatory ticket resale practices,” NIVA writes. “Yet their economic footprint is vast, their community impact is undeniable, and their importance to the national economy is backed by hard data.”

A debt collection complaint has been filed against BCG by Arkansas’ Partners Bank for an alleged default on a $1.5 million line of credit, according to Phillips County Circuit Court records. That related promissory note was signed in October 2023 and matured on May 2, 2025.

BCG established its TempleLive subsidiary upon acquiring and renovating a Masonic temple in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 2017. This set a blueprint for TempleLive for purchasing similar Masonic auditoriums in other markets, improving them and opening them as concert and event venues.

As it expanded, TempleLive’s footprint grew to include additional venues in Cleveland and Columbus as well as Peoria, Illinois and Wichita, Kansas.
The Masonic Auditorium at 3669 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland was purchased by TempleLive in March 2017 for $725,000, according to county property records. In the years since, upwards of $14 million has been pumped into renovating the space over at least a couple of phases of redevelopment. Plans at the site also at one time included a vision for a massive adjacent hotel, the project for which was estimated to be around at least $60 million.

Upstate New York Masonic Temple For Sale

by Christopher Hodapp

If you ever wanted to own your own impressive Masonic hall, head for upstate New York. It’s not every day a nearly-110-year-old, castle-like Masonic Temple with bowling lanes, a ballroom, an organ, and movie-ready tech hits the market for under half-a-million smackers.

The massive former Masonic Temple in Little Falls, NY has just gone on the market for just $499,900. (If it looks familiar, I also wrote about it in 2017, the last time it went on the market: 'When The Profane World Protects Treasures We Toss') It’s not just one lot, either—it comes with four parcels bundled together. That definitely seems like a steal for what you’re getting, as long as you're ready to relocate to Little Falls, which definitely has its charm. After all, it's the home of the Yogi Berra Museum.

Built in 1914, this imposing building perches majestically at the corner of Prospect and School Streets, offering killer views of the Mohawk River and valley hills. Designed by architect William Neil Smith in the French-Medieval style, the building is brick, stone, half-timber, and cement stucco, all rolled into one. The lodge room is intact along with a Templar Commandery drill hall/banquet room (we served "banquets" then, not cold spaghetti on paper plates with plastic sporks).

The current owners have clearly treated this gem like their playground. On the main level, they installed a slick bar just begging for soirees. They plopped a $150K full-motion projection system (yes, movie nights in the castle!), draped it with custom ballroom curtains from France, and added a partial but gorgeous custom kitchen. There’s even living quarters with soaring ceilings, two bedrooms, and killer views. Bonus: they’re leaving behind stacks of building materials for whoever's next to bring the vision home. 

Even the former Commandery's glass-front uniform lockers are still there in the Armory. All still preserved, but now with a new living space, bedroom, and modern kitchen on one floor. It is artistically beautiful, and architecturally unique. 

And it all used to belong to us. 

It doesn't anymore.

The New York Masons were building for the Ages. William Moore thought this Temple noteworthy enough to mention it in his book, Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes. Out here in the Midwest where we make our human sacrifices to the Corn Gods, the modern-day choice of Masonic hall construction is pre-fab steel pole barns that might as well be a swine barn, soybean warehouse or veterinarian's office. 

In 1995 as the lodge suffered from declining membership, they sold the building to a prominent local couple who turned it into their own private home and pottery business. They allowed the Masons to continue meeting in their original lodge room for several years. The local Little Falls lodge moved out in 2004 when they consolidated with a lodge in Dolesville. At its height, this was home to 350 Masons and 173 Order of Eastern Star members. Over the years it’s been a nursery school, pottery and art studio, a dance and music venue.

This place is enormous—16,960 square feet (about 12,000+ square feet inside). Think cathedral ceilings, epic entertaining spaces, and enough room to get wildly creative. The lower level once had its own bowling alley with two huge lanes—accessed from School Street. The first floor social and club rooms are accessed through the main entrance through a charming tower at the street corner. The second floor features a kitchen, a ballroom complete with a bar and stage, plus a foyer leading to mezzanine dressing rooms, coat rooms, and lockers. 

For this much updated epicness, the price is pretty amazing at $499,900, which breaks down to roughly $29 per square foot, and I'll make a bet you couldn't build a new steel pole barn architectural eyesore in a corn field for that today.

Texas PGM Reese Harrison Passes Away

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED: Texas Past Grand Master Reese L. Harrison has passed to the Celestial Lodge Above. A post on the Grand Lodge of Texas Facebook page from Grand Master Reader this afternoon says he actually passed on August 29th, and was laid to rest at a private ceremony today, September 4th.

It would be nearly impossible to accurately recount the vast Masonic resumé of PGM Harrison. His longstanding devotion to the fraternity and its many appendant bodies over the decades is unmatched.

It can often be thought that Freemasonry is the be-all and end-all for someone whose private and professional life is somehow empty or unfulfilling. Reese Harrison was not one of those men. His obituary appeared today after the private service, and I reprint it here. What we see as Masons is but a tiny portion of a man's life, and many may not have known Reese's complete background. (Details and other information may be seen on his obituary page HERE.)

Reese Lenwood Harrison, Jr. quietly passed away at his home on August 29, 2025, at the age of 87 following a short illness. Reese was born on January 5, 1938, in San Antonio, Texas, to Ruth Fischer Harrison and Reese L. Harrison, Sr.

Reese graduated from San Antonio’s Breckridge High School in 1956. He attended Baylor University and graduated in three years with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1959 and later with a Master of Science degree in Economics in 1965. He attended law school at Southern Methodist University where he received a Juris Doctorate degree in 1962.

Reese married Judith Karen Scott on October 9, 1964. They made their home in San Antonio where their two daughters, Judith Karen Scott Harrison, Jr. and Tiffany Farrah Lynn Harrison, were born. While being an attorney, Reese, with his sister Janice, operated the Bar H Ranches Partnership, Ltd., a cattle ranch in Bexar, Wilson, and Caldwell Counties, Texas. Active in the community, Reese was selected Outstanding Young Man in San Antonio for 1973, receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the San Antonio Junior Chamber of Commerce of which he was not a member. He was a Life Director of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition and Rodeo, a former Vice-President of the San Antonio Charity Horse Show, and a Director of the Miss Rodeo Texas Pageant among many other civic activities too numerous to mention. Over the years, Reese held a number of leadership positions in the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the Alamo Area Council of Governments. He was active in the Democratic Party at the County, State and National levels.

Reese was admitted to the practice of law in September 1962 and would spend his career practicing law. Reese was appointed an Assistant US Attorney in the Western District of Texas and served from 1964 through 1972. He entered private practice in 1972 as a partner in the firm of Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison, and Tate. Reese continued to practice law as senior counsel when the firm merged with Clark Hill and its predecessor firms in 2011 until his passing.

Initially admitted to the bar in Texas, Reese was also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the four US District Courts of Texas, several US Courts of Appeals, and other US Courts including Armed Forces, Federal Claims, International Trade, and Tax Court. He was an active member of numerous professional organizations including the San Antonio Bar Association, Texas Bar Association, American Bar Association, International Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, and Judge Advocates Association. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law and was a frequent lecturer in continuing legal education courses and seminars on topics related to litigation matters. Over the years, Reese has been recognized by various legal organizations in recognition of his valuable and meritorious service to the community, state, and nation.

Reese enlisted into the Texas Air National Guard in June 1963 and received his basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base. He would serve as what was then known as an “Air Policeman” with what is now the 149th Fighter Wing in San Antonio, Texas. In 1966, he was granted a direct commission into the US Air Force and received an appointment as a Second Lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard where he became the commander of his Air Police unit. As a licensed attorney in 1968, then Second Lieutenant Harrison, was appointed as a Captain in the Texas Air National Guard and began twenty-five years of service as the Staff Judge Advocate for the 149th Fighter Wing. He was promoted to Colonel in 1994 and served as the Staff Judge

Advocate for Headquarters Texas Air National Guard and was assigned to the Judge Advocate General’s Department Reserve with the US Air Force until his retirement on January 3, 1998. The governor of Texas promoted Colonel Harrison to Brigadier General (Brevet) in 2005.

Reese served on active duty during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and was assigned as the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas. He received the Major General Paul D. Straw Trophy in 1991 as the Airman who best exemplified overall unit excellence and outstanding civic participation and in recognition of superior contribution to the community and to the nation. Reese’s distinguished military career is embellished by numerous awards including the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, the Lone Star Distinguished Service Medal, Texas Outstanding Service Medal, Texas Medal of Merit, the Adjutant General's Individual Award, and the Texas Faithful Service Medal.

At the age of 16, Reese joined San Antonio’s Albert Pike DeMolay Chapter in January 1954, where he served as an officer. His service to DeMolay continued as an adult on the local, state, and national level. Active in Freemasonry, Reese petitioned Albert Pike Masonic Lodge No. 1169 at the age of 21 where he received the degrees of Freemasonry and served as Worshipful Master in 1969-1970. He affiliated with several other Masonic Lodges where he served as an officer. He served on several committees of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas. He was elected to serve as the Grand Master of Masons in Texas during 2004.

Reese was active in the appendant Masonic Bodies on the local, state, and national levels including the Scottish Rite, York Rite, and Shrine and the invitational or honorary bodies of each. He has served as the presiding officer of most of his local Masonic bodies plus the presiding officer of at least four major state and eleven national organizations. In the York Rite, he was a Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Texas and a Past Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Texas. In the Scottish Rite, Reese was coroneted a 33rd Degree Inspector General Honorary in 1979 and was invested with the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 2013.

Reese was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Janice Lee Harrison Tipton. He is survived by his wife, Judith Karen Scott Harrison, and his two daughters Judith Karen Scott Harrison Brown (Scottie) and husband Dr. Jared Brown of Aurora, Colorado, and Tiffany Farrah Lynn Harrison of Houston. He is also survived by his grandson Hadyn Brown, granddaughter Poppy Brown, and nephew Neal Tipton.

In accordance with his wishes, Reese was laid to rest in a private graveside service at Mission Burial Park South in San Antonio on September 4, 2025. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Grand Lodge Library and Museum of Texas, P.O. Box 2366, Waco, TX 76703.

His column is broken and his Brethren mourn. RIP

Philippines: Catholic Priest Suspended For Blessing Masonic Marker

Photo: Yeng Abinales for Daily Tribune

by Christopher Hodapp

A Catholic priest on the island of Leyte in the Philippines has been temporarily suspended from performing his duties after blessing a Masonic marker at a dedication ceremony in August.

Rev. Fr. Libby Daños has been suspended from performing his priestly activities, pending an investigation by the appropriate ecclesiastical authorities.

On August 9th, Fr. Daños was part of the dedication ceremony and unveiling of the large brick marker. It was erected on the outskirts of town by the local lodge to welcome visitors to Ormoc City. According to the Ormoc Lodge Facebook page, this is the first of a total of three such markers that will be placed at the three main roads into the city.

Photo: ELITE/Ormoc Lodge 234

According to an article by Elmer Recuerdo on the Daily Tribune website ("Catholic priest suspended for blessing Masonic marker,") published Monday, September 1st:

Rev. Fr. Luigi Kerschbamer, OAD, Prior Provincial of the religious order, stated that the Catholic Church has maintained for centuries that Freemasonry is fundamentally incompatible with Catholic doctrine.

Fr. Kerschbamer said that in November 2023, with the approval of Pope Francis, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirmed that Catholics are strictly forbidden from joining Masonic associations because their principles remain “irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church.”

“The Order of the Discalced Augustinians categorically upholds this teaching and rejects any association with or endorsement of Freemasonic activities,” Fr. Kerschbamer said.

Fr. Daños (photo above), recognized as one of the pioneers of OAD’s mission in Asia with nearly 30 years of service, clarified that while he joined the blessing of the Masonic marker, he was not fully aware of the ceremony’s nature.

The religious order, however, said that the action, regardless of intent, “contradicts the clear and consistent teaching of the Catholic Church regarding Freemasonry and has caused scandal among the faithful.”

The full official statement from Fr. Kirschbamer is posted below. Click the image to enlarge.

Freemasonry has been incredibly popular there for a very long time, in spite of the fact that the country's citizens are predominantly Roman Catholic. At least from a casual observation, ecclesiastical smackdowns between the Catholic Church and Freemasonry seem to erupt in the Philippines more than anywhere else in the world. There have been recent stories about deceased Catholic Masons being refused burial rites by the Church over their membership.

The Masonic fraternity first came to the island in the 1760s when the largest Western navies and traders began playing in the Asian countries. The island nation of the Philippines became a Spanish possession, and their colonial government absolutely enforced the various papal decrees and orders that excommunicated Catholics from the Church for membership in Masonic lodges. The Spanish government just outright banned the fraternity from the vast chain of the Philippine islands in 1812. 

After Spain began losing its iron grip on their Pacific island colonies, the first officially chartered lodge there was established in 1856 with a warrant from the Grand Lodge of Portugal, followed by a German lodge. Masonry back home in Spain was chaotic at best while hiding out from the dreaded Spanish Inquisition, and when it did organize enough to establish grand bodies, bickering resulted in at least four Spanish grand orients simultaneously duking it out by the late 1870s; in another ten years, there would be two more! 

In the 1880s, four Filipino lodges were established with charters from one of the six grand orients back home. As in so many other colonial regions, their 'founding father,' José Rizal, became a Mason and led the rebellion against Spanish rule, which came to a close with the Spanish-American War in 1898. After that, Masonry grew in the islands by leaps and bounds. The Grand Lodge of California issued charters for Filipino lodges, as did the Grand Orient de France, the Grand Lodge of Portugal, and the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

The Grand Lodge of the Philippines was finally formed in 1917 with the consent and cooperation of many of these foreign lodges, and today there are almost 300 lodges at work in the country. 

It seems that clashes between the fraternity and the Catholic Church in the Philippines will continue to occur. In my personal experiences (yes, I know... anecdotal observations are not facts), I have found that Filipino Masons are unquestionably the most openly enthusiastic and joyful brethren you will encounter anywhere in the world. And almost every one of them I've questioned about it say they are also enthusiastic Catholics, and that they believe there is absolutely no conflict between the two institutions. As far as they are concerned, the Vatican and Canon Law are just plain wrong, and that the Church bases its condemnation of the fraternity on misinformation, innuendo and error. That's heady stuff for a faith that insists on the doctrine of papal infallibility when the pontiff is ruling on ecclesiastical matters.

Given what happened, the most ironic statement I've seen all week came at the end of the dedication address, which concluded with the following plea: "May this marker be sanctified by the Great Architect of the Universe, under whose guidance we labor. May it stand the test of time - enduring sun and storm - as a symbol of peace, fraternity, and truth. We dedicate it not only in the name of Freemasonry, but in the name of unity - among all people of goodwill."

It's a damn shame the Augustinians somehow missed that message.

2026 Masonic Week Feb 4-8: Registration Now Open

by Christopher Hodapp

Registration is already up and running for next February's Masonic Week at the Crystal City Double Tree by Hilton in Arlington, Virginia. Mark your Masonic calendar for February 4th through 8th. 

Held continuously around the Washington DC area ever since 1938, Masonic Week (or more officially known as AMD - Allied Masonic Degrees - Week) is an event that brings together numerous small, generally invitational, Masonic organizations for their annual meetings, officer elections, award presentations, and degree conferrals. Yes, those do go on, but there are also lunches, banquets and lectures, and one of the best Masonic marketplaces anywhere. It's a chance to meet brethren from all over the world who converge here, to make new friendships and rediscover old friends you only see annually.

While the AMD is the largest of the groups meeting in February, there's also the Commemorative Order of St. Thomas of Acon, Sovereign Order of Knights Preceptor, Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests, the Masonic Order of Athelstan, Masonic Order of Pilgrim Preceptors, York Rite Sovereign College, Knight Masons, the Chevaliers Bienfaisant de la Cité Sainte, the Worshipful Society of Free Masons, and the Rough Plaisterers and Bricklayers (the Operatives). Some groups have come and gone over the years — the Masonic Society is now defunct, sadly, and the Rosicrucians have their own annual gathering in Louisville now each November — but there's still loads going on.

Even if you're not part of any of the bodies that meet there officially, there's lots to do, and the organizers will be offering a half-hour Orientation program every morning for newcomers, so you won't feel lost or intimidated by all this. Master Masons can attend meetings and the banquet for the Philalethes Society (the oldest Masonic research organization in America), where there's always a speaker, the Society of Blue Friars (an invitational body of noteworthy Masonic authors that inducts a new friar each year who must give a presentation), the Grand College of Rites (publishers of Collectanea, which publishes and preserves some of the most obscure Masonic-related or derived degree rituals and materials from over the last 300 years). IAnd i you've got the itch to leave Washington with a couple of new degrees under your Masonic apron, there's the Grand Order of the Sword of Bunker Hill (appropriate this year, as it's the 250th anniversary of that famous battle), and it's the 100th year of the Annual Cellar of Ye Antient Order of Corks.

It's also a great opportunity to visit the countless sites, museums and memorials around the Washington DC area. Masons should take advantage of the chance to visit both the Scottish Rite SJ's magnificent House of the Temple (which will be open on Friday, February 6, from 10 AM to 4 PM) and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (open from Thursday, February 5, to Sunday, February 8, from 9 AM to 5 PM). With some advance planning,  communication and permission, you might even try to visit a meeting Thursday or Friday night at an area Masonic lodge in DC, Virginia or Maryland. 

Visit the Masonic Week website HERE for registration and hotel information. 

Seasoned attendees note that this is a venue change this year. The Crystal City Double Tree by Hilton is located at 300 Army Navy Drive in Arlington, just south of the Pentagon, on the other side of the interstate, which is still only about a 5 minute Uber drive from Reagan National Airport. I'm not seeing much in the way of walking distance restaurants, but that may be deceiving.

I'll add a shameless plug for one of my books here, only because Masons traveling to Washington find it to be extremely helpful when seeking out Masonic-related sites in Washington. Solomon's Builders has descriptions of the lodge halls and important Masonic-related buildings and sites in the Washington area. It's a little dated now (it was published in the Dan Brown Mania period when the whole publishing world wanted to cash in on the post-Da Vinci Code craze), but the historical and geographical information hasn't really changed.

G. Washington Masonic Natl Memorial Wraps Up Major Exterior Restoration

by Christopher Hodapp

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria has been undergoing a major (and painstaking) exterior restoration project for the last eleven years. The monument to Brother George was built over a century ago and suffered from increasing water damage, limestone degradation, and even cracks from a 2011 earthquake. Work started on the iconic 9-story tower in 2014 and has at long last been completed.

An article in the local Zebra publication two weeks ago written and photographed by Brother Shawn Eyer detailed the work that was being done.

Cracks in the stone were sealed with epoxy. All of the original mortar was “raked out,” and each joint was repointed with a long-lasting mixture that allows moisture to escape rather than remain and go through freeze-thaw cycles. Weather-capping was installed. New LED lighting was installed to allow for the tower to be lit in many colors. Efflorescence—lime deposits often visible from the ground—was chipped away. In certain places, significant structural damage was repaired using steel rods. . .

For the last several years now, the work has neared completion with the scaffolding located behind the building, along the outer wall of the Memorial’s theater. Finally, the restoration of the temple was completed last month when workers lowered a newly-carved “Dutchman’s repair” into a niche where the 2011 earthquake had caused the coping to split. Now, that damage is completely invisible, and the integrity of the building is restored from top to bottom.

For the first time in a generation, it is possible to see the building in as stately a condition as that when it was first erected: a beautiful beacon of light with a positive and inspiring message.

 Thanks to Paul Keegan and his crew at Hibernia Masonry.

MW Thomas Watson, Grand Master of South Carolina, Passes Away

by Christopher Hodapp

Most Worshipful Brother Thomas 'Tommy' E. Watson, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AFM of South Carolina, passed away unexpectedly at his home on Monday. A message was forwarded to members yesterday by Deputy Grand Master A.C. "Acey" Flora, IV. 

Brethren are asked to keep his family in their prayers.

Grand Master Watson was elected in 2025. Presumably, DGM Flora will now assume the duties of the office until the next annual meeting of the Grand Lodge. 

(NOTE: This story has been corrected. It previously stated GM Watson was elected to a two-year term of office. South Carolina's tradition is that a GM is elected for one year, and generally re-elected to a second consecutive term. I regret my misunderstanding.)

From GM Watson's biography on the Grand Lodge website:

Thomas Evans Watson was born November 17, 1952, in Greer, S.C. to the late Rev. Choice and Grace Watson of Duncan, S.C. He has one sister, Peggy, and two brothers, Billy and Bradley.He has four children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

He was educated in the public schools in New Orleans, La. and in Spartanburg County District Five. He graduated from James F. Byrnes High school in 1971. He attended the Baptist College of Charleston (Charleston Southern).

He served in the United States Air Force from 1972 to 1976 during the Viet Nam era where he was an electronics technician on the B-52 Stratofortress. He was promoted to the rank of Sgt in 1974.He was named Base Airman of the Month at Lowery AFB in January 1973. He was stationed at Robbins AFB in Ga. and Anderson AFB in Guam.

He entered law enforcement in 1977 with the Duncan Police. In 1981 he was appointed Chief of Police for the Town of Lyman. In 1983 he became Director of Public Safety for the town of Lyman. In 1990 he was hired as the Chief of Police for the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, where he served during the 9-11 crisis. He retired from Law Enforcement in 2011. He served as the President of the South Carolina Police Chiefs’ Association in 2002.

He was trained as a grief counselor with the National Organization of Victims assistance in early 2001 and was deployed to Ground Zero in September 2001 to assist the NY-NJ Ports Authority Police.

He was elected Mayor for the City of Wellford in 2011 where he served one term.

He was initiated, passed, and raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason in 1978 at Irving Southworth Lodge #350 in Lyman South Carolina. He served his Lodge as Master in 1984 and 2016. He Was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the 21st Masonic District by Most Worshipful Grand Master Ron Mitchum in 2006 and was re-appointed by Most Worshipful Grand Master Gerald Carver in 2007. He served as Masonic Education Committeeman for the 19th 20th and 21st Masonic Districts from 2012-2017 and Grand Marshal from 2017 to 2019.He was elected Junior Grand Warden in April 2019, Senior Grand April 2021, Deputy Grand Master 2023, and was Elected Most Worshipful Grand Master in 2025.
In 2017 he was presented with the second highest award in masonry in SC, the Fredrick Dalco certificate of Merit, by Most Worshipful Brother Michael D. Smith Sr. In 2019 he received the Albert Gallatin Mackey Medal, the highest masonic award in South Carolina.

He received his degrees in the York Rite of Free Masonry and was knighted as a Knights Templar on September 10. 2007. He is a member of Chicora Chapter # 33 where he served as Excellent High Priest in 2013, Blake council # 19 where he served as Illustrious Master in 2014 and Spartanburg Commandry #3 where he served as Eminent Commander in 2015. He was appointed District Deputy Grand Commander for the 4th District in 2016.

He is a member of the Spartan Council #153 AMD where he served as Sovereign Master. He is a member of the Sam Womack chapter # 20 of the Knight Masons, Piedmont York Right College #84, and Super Excellent Master of Aiken Council # 23. He was inducted into the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine in 2017.

Tommy is a member of the Lyman Chapter of the Order of the Eastern star where he served as Worthy Patron.
He received the Royal Order of Scotland in 2016.

He received his degrees in the Palmetto Forest No. 206 Tall Cedars of Lebanon of North America in 2017.

Tommy is a Noble of the Hejaz Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He served as President of Mid-City Shrine Club in 1986.

He received the Masonic Order of Althalstan on June 22, 2019.

He received his degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in 1985. He was honored with the Rank and Decoration of a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor in 2009 and was crowned as a 33rd Degree Inspector General honorary in 2015. He served Spartanburg Valley in many capacities, but his favorite was being the Americanism Chairman, where he ensures that the ROTC and JROTC awards are given with Pride and dignity.
​
He was inducted into the South Carolina South Carolina College Societas Rosicruciana In Civitatibus on October 29, 2022.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

His column is broken, and his brethren mourn.

Requiescat in Pace

Albert Pike's Masonic Statue To Be Reinstalled in Washington D.C.

by Christopher Hodapp

The National Parks Service has announced it will restore and re-install the iconic bronze statue of Scottish Rite sage Albert Pike on its former plinth in Washington, DC's Judiciary Square. On June 19, 2020, the statue was toppled by rioters, covered in paint, doused with lighter fluid, and ignited, a victim of the national Confederate-related statue-toppling mania that went on in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

According to a press release from the NPS issued yesterday,

Micro-abrasive cleaning of the Albert Pike statue to remove corrosion 

and paint in order to review the conditions of the bronze prior to repairs 

NPS photo

The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate pre-existing statues.

Originally authorized by Congress in 1898 and dedicated in 1901, the statue honors Pike’s leadership in Freemasonry, including his 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry. The statue has been in secure storage since its removal and is currently undergoing restoration by the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center.

This action supports both the Executive Order on Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful and the Executive Order on Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which direct federal agencies to protect public monuments and present a full and accurate picture of the American past.

Site preparation to repair the statue’s damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints, and mounting elements. The NPS is targeting October 2025 for completing the reinstallment of the fully restored statue.

Upon the announcement, Washington D.C.'s longtime non-voting delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, announced her intention to introduce a new bill in Congress to prevent its reinstallation and to, instead, donate it to a museum, saying, "a statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C."

Before its toppling, detractors had long objected to the statue on the grounds that Pike had owned several slaves when he lived in Arkansas, and served for just five months in the Confederate Army as a Brigadier General before resigning in disgust, making it the only statue of a "former Confederate soldier" in the District. There has also been a longstanding, unsubstantiated allegation that Pike had been a founder of the post-war Ku Klux Klan, claiming he had written their original rituals. And, oof course, there's a whole raft of conspiracy theories about Pike, topped by the absurd notion that he was a Luciferian whose rituals turned Freemasonry into Satanic ceremonies.

Pike was a complex, intellectual and deeply profound man in his day, and attempting to portray him as a "racist and a traitor" ignores just how complex he really was, reducing his lifetime to just two misleading adjectives. And wrapping up such a superficial judgement with lies and conspiracy theories is a deliberate attempt to rewrite history to win likes and clicks.

(See Scottish Rite SJ Grand Archivist Arturo DeHoyos' statement from 2020 about Pike's real writings and activities HERE.)

Pike's statue had first been erected by the Scottish Rite SJ across from the location of their original 'House of the Temple' headquarters. For thirty years, protesters and the press characterized Pike's sculpture as a "Confederate monument," despite the fact that it was never anything of the kind. His statue was not erected by pro-Confederate veterans groups, or by alleged Ku Klux Klan members (it predated the 1920s resurgence of the KKK by many years). The statue was originally erected on a tiny sliver of land between two diverging diagonal streets. The streets and the statue were moved slightly when a new highway on-ramp was built there in the 1950s. The 11-foot tall bronze sculpture by Italian artist Gaetano Trentanove was erected in 1901 and donated to the city by the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction to commemorate their own 100th anniversary. 

Out of their first 90 years, Albert Pike had served as the AASR-SJ's Sovereign Grand Commander for 32 of them—over a third of the Supreme Council's entire lifespan at that time. The original House of the Temple held their headquarters, their auditorium for putting on degrees, their vast and growing library, and Albert Pike lived and died there. So did his TWO successors. That made this particular corner historically significant.

The sculpture did NOT depict Pike as a Confederate soldier, nor did it commemorate or celebrate the five months in which he served as a general in the Confederate army. It was a Masonic representation of Pike's lifetime accomplishments as an author, philosopher, orator, lawyer, historian, polyglot, and a soldier (not only in his brief stint in the Confederate army, but also in the Mexican-American War). He wasn't atop a horse; he had no sword dangling from his belt; there was no declaration of heroship, and no phony bromide about 'healing a divided nation' that are the hallmarks of Civil War statues. Pike stood there with a book in his hand and the inscription Vixit Laborum Ejus Super Stites Sunt Fructus. "He has lived. The fruits of his labors live after him." Yet few - if any - who tore it down had any interest in actually looking up what the fruits of his labors really were.

There were no references to the Confederacy, only that Pike had been a "soldier" and the banner in the hand of the Grecian figure is not a Confederate flag or symbol, but a Scottish Rite one featuring the double-headed eagle. It was purely a Masonic statue and an homage to his life's many accomplishments. Nevertheless, it was felled by the mob and hauled away to an unspecified location by the District's Parks Department.

This morning, an NPR reporter sent me an email asking for a comment about the statue's restoration. Unfortunately, I returned her call too late for her deadline. The last thing any Freemason wants is for this whole controversy to bubble up again and used to fling mud on the fraternity. I've never been of the opinion that Pike needed to be beatified by Masons, and he didn't either, if his own writings were any indication. He once wrote: “When I am dead, I wish my monument to be builded only in the hearts and memories of my Brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and my name to be remembered by them in every country, no matter what language men may speak there, where the light of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite shall shine, and its oracles of Truth and Wisdom be reverently listened to.”

Besides, Washington Masonic sites get enough vandalism from the lunatic crowd without giving them another one. But I despise it when the hysterics go out of their way to spread lies about the fraternity, especially when the truth is easily discovered.

For more than you'll ever want to know about Pike and the statue, see Albert Pike, Statues, History and Hysteria from back in 2017. In the 1980s and 90s, it became something of a crusade for perennial presidential candidate and famed nutcase Lyndon LaRouche to demand its removal.

Every time this particular subject arises, I always add the same post script. In February 1993, the Philalethes magazine published a piece about the Pike statue controversy that was raging back then. It was written by the Reverend Howard L. Woods, a Christian minister who served for ten years as the Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Arkansas F&AM. In 1991, he had been invited as the Lecturer for the Philalethes Society, the first Prince Hall Mason ever asked to do so, and still many years before Prince Hall recognition became widespread. GM Woods wrote before more recent scholarship has brought to light more of Pike's writings and verification that Pike did indeed provide his revised Scottish Rite rituals to help the Prince Hall aligned Scottish Rite.*(see note)

The Reverend Grand Master Woods' perspective in 1993 deserves to be repeated now, both for our own members and the general public. It still rings true 32 years later.

The Albert Pike Statue: Let It Stand

There is no love lost between Prince Hall Masons and the memory of the late Albert Pike, Masonic Historian, writer, alleged ritualist for the Ku Klux Klan, but, if Freemasonry is to remain the bulwark of free-thinking people, then, "Let the statue remain!"

Like the natures he wrote about, Albert Pike showed the light and dark sides of his own soul, when with one breath he spoke of his willingness to give up his Freemasonry rather than recognize the Negro as a 'Masonic Brother' and with another breath, declared that every man should be free, for a free man is an asset, while a slave is a liability. Mankind is that way, and as long as the statue stands, America and Freemasonry will survive.

Let the statue be torn down and America and Freemasonry will be in jeopardy, for one would have to wonder, "What would be next?" As a Prince Hall Mason, an African American and supposedly free-thinker, I can see a higher power than the mortal mind of Albert Pike guiding his pen as he wrote such beautiful words of life without an occasional helping hand from someone "bigger than you or I."

Let the statue stand, even if it is proven that Albert Pike did write ritual for the Ku Klux Klan; more ignoble deeds have been done by others without sacrifice of their historic heroism.

Let the statue stand as a reminder that the good and evil of men are in equilibrium within us, and we all should strive for perfection now and in the future, not in the past. Let the statue stand!

 --Rev. Howard L. Woods, Grand Master, Prince Hall Masons of Arkansas.

*NOTE: Between 1887 and 1891, Albert Pike happily shared personal, autographed copies of his Scottish Rite Masonic degree rituals with his counterpart, Thornton A. Jackson, in the parallel Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction for black Prince Hall Masons, in order to assist their fledgling organization. Pike's correspondence has not survived, but in writings of the period, Jackson described Pike as his friend. Later comparisons of their two sets of rituals confirmed that the Prince Hall AASR-SJ today remain very close to those Pike wrote in the years before 1887.

Post-riot photos by Brother Efrian Olujimi Dalle