11/08/2020
On this day in 1959, Ill⸫ Frank Sherman Land, 33° G⸫ C⸫ passed to the Celestial Lodge above. “Dad Land” as he was known to millions of young men, was the founder of the Order of DeMolay. The Scottish Rite has from the beginning played a vital role in the development of the DeMolay program. Ill⸫ Brother Land was employed by the Valley of Kansas City, MO when he was asked to assist a young man, Louis Lower, whose father, a member of the Scottish Rite, had recently been killed in a hunting accident. As a result of that meeting, Louis and eight of his friends from high school met with Brother Land in his office at the Scottish Rite to discuss the possibility of forming a “boys club”. In searching for a name for the “club”, Dad Land told the story of Jacques DeMolay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templars and his tragic death at the hands of Philip the Fair and Pope Clement V. The DeMolay ritual was written by Dad Frank Marshall, a member of the Valley of Kansas City and the first Grand Master Councilor was Ill⸫ Alexander G. Cochran, 33° and Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the Orient of Missouri. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Valley of Tampa was the original sponsoring body of Paul Revere Chapter in Tampa, FL, the oldest existing DeMolay Chapter in the state of Florida.
Also on this day, millions of active and Senior DeMolays around the world will pause for a moment in their busy day and thank the Grand Architect of the Universe for the guidance of Dad Land and the Masonic fraternity.
