~ Masonry in the News ~

Former Union resident elected Grand Master of S.C. Masons
by ANNA BROWN
Tuesday September 8, 2009
Reprinted from Union Daily Times in Union, SC

An invitation from a friend 33 years ago led former Union resident Barry Rickman to an association with the Masons that recently capped wi th him being elected Grand Master of Masons in South Carolina.

Rickman was elected when the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina held its 272nd Annual Communication in Mt. Pleasant. More than 800 Masons from around the state attended the two-day meeting.

“I have a theme,” Rickman said. ‘Our Focus is on Quality.’”

Rickman, who now lives in West Columbia, is the son of Jessie C. Rickman and the late C. Bruce Rickman. He and his wife, Gail, have two daughters and a granddaughter.

In 1966, Rickman moved with his family to Union after his father was named the first manager of Kimbrell’s Furniture, originally known as Eagle Furniture. He graduated from Union High in 1970 and ran track while he was a high school student. The family attended Fairforest Baptist Church. The family moved from Union directly after Rickman’s graduation.

Rickman worked as a gas engineering specialist with South Carolina Electric and Gas of Columbia and retired in 2007. During his 34 years of employment, he served the board of the SCE&G Good Neighbor Fund for two consecutive terms and was elected as its president. He served several years on the board of Lexington County’s Vocational Rehabilitation Center in West Columbia, including serving as co-chairman where he helped decide curriculum for drafting students retraining for the job market. He was a professional member of the American Design Drafting Association of Rockville, Md.

He was 24 when he became a Mason.

“A friend approached me, his father-in-law was a Mason and I had a relative or two who was a Mason,” Rickman said. “My friend said, ‘I am going to join, why don’t you join with me?’ I joined in Columbia.”

Rickman said there are four areas he intends to work to improve during his term as Grand Master.

“One is our degree work — making it better,” he said. “Another is our dress. Society has become somewhat casual in dress. I would like to see our dress at lodge meetings improve. The third is improvement of ourselves — trying to raise the bar on us as individuals, making ourselves a better person. The other is our candidates for Masonry — with our new members coming in we are looking for quality people. We want to make sure people coming in are good, honest and true. You want people who will promote the fraternity through the years.”

Two Masons from Union County received appointments to positions at this meeting. Roger Gregory was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the 12th Masonic District, which covers most of Union and Newberry counties, and Dean Tollison was named Senior Grand Deacon of the Grand Lodge of AFM of South Carolina. Both Gregory and Tollison are members of Union Lodge #75.

The following facts about Masons were provided by Rickman:

• The first Masonic lodge in South Carolina was Solomon’s Lodge #1 in Charles Town, chartered in 1735.

• The Grand Lodge of South Carolina was chartered in 1737 with John Hammerton as the first Grand Master.

• There are 51 Grand Lodges in the United States, one in each state and one in the District of Columbia.

• Each year in February, the Grand Masters of Canada, Mexico and the United States gather together for a meeting.

• There are 41,597 Masons in South Carolina as of Dec. 31, 2008.

• There are 304 lodges in South Carolina divided into 30 districts.

• The Grand Lodge building in South Carolina is in Lexington.

The Grand Lodge will celebrate its 275th anniversary in 2012.

• The Grand Lodge website is www.scgrandlodgeafm.org.