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Scottish Rite Clubs in Virginia

You have arrived at the Web Site of the Orient of Virginia, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which is one of the 35 Orients in the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America. We hope that you will enjoy your visit and will return often to view the information which is frequently updated.

This site was last updated: Monday, January 21, 2008

The Supreme Council, 33º of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Southern Jurisdiction, USA, which is the Mother Supreme Council of the World, celebrated its Bicentennial Anniversary in October 2001. The first Supreme Council was established in 1801 in Charleston, SC. In 1915, the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction moved to the newly completed House of the Temple located at 1733 16th Street, NW, Washington DC, where it resides today. This web site is dedicated in recognition of 200 years of Scottish Rite Masonry and is provided to inform the public on the activities of the Orient of Virginia.

House of the Temple
Washington, DC

Our Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Virginia

Ill. James Dean Cole, 33_

Illustrious James Dean Cole, 33º, was appointed on December 2, 2002, by Grand Commander C. Fred Kleinknecht to succeed Illustrious David Kruger, 33º as the Deputy of the Supreme Council in Virginia. His appointment was effective January 1, 2003. During the Supreme Council Biennial Session on October 7, 2003 Illustrious Brother Cole was elected by the Council to serve as an active member of the council and as the Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Virginia.

Illustrious Brother Cole is a member of the Scottish Rite Valley in Roanoke and served as the Grand Master of Masons in Virginia in 2001. He was elected a Knight Commander of the Court of Honour in 1997, and Coroneted a 33º Inspector General Honorary at the Bicentennial in Charleston, SC in October 2001.

A graduate of VPI, he holds both a Bachelor's and Master's degree and served the Virginia Tech university for 17 years as a CPA in various administrative and financial positions. In 2002, he accepted the position he currently holds as the Director of Development at the Masonic Home of Virginia.

Illustrious Brother Cole and his wife Mary Ann live in Shawsville, Virginia. They have a daughter and a son.

Scottish Rite Masons Helping
Children Communicate

Virginia Scottish Rite Masons are proud to play an integral role in the wonderful efforts of our Order’s RiteCare Childhood Language Program. Beginning in the early 1950s in Colorado, Scottish Rite Masons initiated this program to help children who face challenges in speech, language, and learning. The success of these initial efforts led to the establishment of a network of RiteCare Clinics, Centers, or Programs. Today the supportive efforts of RiteCare are carried on in more than 165 individual facilities and programs, some located in or near Scottish Rite Centers, across the Southern Jurisdiction.

Five (5) of these are located in the Orient of Virginia. These Centers, staffed by speech-language pathologists and other trained personnel, as well as Masonic volunteers, provide diagnosis and treatment of childhood speech and language disorders and associated learning disabilities.

Many stories of success have arisen from these efforts. Families, having struggled alongside their children who faced these challenges, have been uplifted when their child learned to speak his or her first words. In many cases, children who have benefited from our efforts have gone on to college and then, in turn, have given back to society by becoming personally involved in careers in communication studies.

Through RiteCare Program, Scottish Rite Masons help children communicate. We open doors to the world that might otherwise have remained closed forever. These new doors help the families of the children. Improving family life enhances the communities in which these families live. Better communities make for a better world.

Virginia Scottish Rite is proud of the RiteCare programs supported in the Commonwealth. A year-round program, for instance, is operated by the Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center at Richmond, Inc., and located in the Earl H. Wicker Building at the Scottish Rite Temple in Richmond. Detailed information on the Richmond Center is located on their website.

Richmond Clinic Website

Scottish Rite Childhood Language
Center at Richmond, Inc.

In addition to the Richmond Center, Virginia Scottish Rite funds three (3) programs each summer which are located at public universities throughout the Commonwealth.

The first program is the Scottish Rite Summer Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders, located at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.

The second program is operated at the Scottish Rite Childhood Speech and Language Center, located at Old Dominion University’s Child Study Center in Norfolk.

The third program is the Scottish Rite Summer Language Clinic, located at Radford University in Radford.

The latest charitable efforts of Virginia Scottish Rite fund the Mobile Clinic, which provides speech and language services to children who live in rural areas of southwest Virginia and who might otherwise be unable to obtain help. The following article provides more details of this wonderful outreach effort.

An Artist view of the The College of Integrated Science and Technology James Madison University

Home of the Summer Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders

The Role of Scottish Rite Clubs

With only 8 Scottish Rite Valleys in Virginia, each one has members who live many miles from the site of the Scottish Rite Temple to which they belong. To ease the time required, inconvenience, and unlikelihood that these members can attend meetings and special events, a system of "Clubs" is in effect in most Valleys.

Scottish Rite members living in these more distant areas form organized clubs to cultivate a social relationship among the members and wives in the area, and to promote Scottish Rite.

Each club has a charter issued by the parent Valley, a slate of officers, a regularly scheduled meeting (monthly, quarterly, or other), yearly dues, and various social activities.

An important part of a club's success is the support it receives from the members who live close to the Valley's Temple. A visit to a club's meeting - usually including a dinner with wives - by a group of 6 to 12 who have traveled from the "home base" is a strong stimulus to club members.

In turn, club members and their ladies become more aware of, and interested in, Scottish Rite matters. Members become more inclined to attend Valley meetings, reunions, and special events. They encourage other Masons in their areas to become Scottish Rite members. They also provide further support of the Childhood Language Disorders Program.

Here is a rundown of Virginia's clubs, by Valley:

Alexandria has two clubs --

(1) the Shenandoah Valley Club was begun in 1979. It alternates its monthly dinner/meetings between Blue Lodge facilities in Woodstock and Front Royal.

(2) the Blue Ridge Club began in 1990, and alternates its monthly dinner/meetings between Culpeper and The Plains.

Please send your inquiries or
comments to jcanard(at)cox.net

This is the official Web site of the Orient of Virginia, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America. This information is provided as a public service only and is not intended to be used for commercial purposes. Reproduction of the material displayed on this site for other than Masonic purposes requires the written permission of the Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Virginia.

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