Our Grand Master

For many DeMolay Members, advisors and parents we know that there is a DeMolay Grand Master.  When you joined DeMolay he signed your membership patent, or signed the thank you letter for being a DeMolay Adult Volunteer, or he signed the "Welcome to DeMolay" Packet that your son received.  While the DeMolay Grand Master tends to be an older, more rotund, and jolly gentleman he is not Santa Claus and he is not able to be at every DeMolay event from Knights of the Sun Chapter in Maine to Walt Disney Chapter in California, or Alaska Chapter to our brothers in Uruguay. Not to mention our brothers in Australia, the Phillipines, Germany, Italy or Romania. For many of us he remains merely a signature on a piece of paper.

Yet, for those of us who have the pleasure of meeting our current DeMolay Grand Master there is a great deal of pride that should come from knowing that a man of such excellent quality serves as the chief executive officer of our beloved order.  In the Chevalier Degree that "Dad" Land personally wrote he talked about rededicate us to love of God, Love of Family and Love of Home.  You need not go any further than Albuquerque New Mexico and meet DeMolay Grand Master Wes Thornton. He exemplifies the teachings of DeMolay and the tremendous success of our program.

You can read his full bio here:
http://www.demolay.org/organization/isc_officers.php

Though a blog allows me more than 420 characters I could write volumes about what a great guy our Grand Master is. Here's my top five list:

1) He's a Senior DeMolay. At age 16 he joined the order of DeMolay by taking the same obligations we did and he moved up the leadership positions to eventually becoming the head of the order.  Think about it, the young men who joins your chapter today could be Grand Master in 50 years. But this also means he has a love for this order in performing the ritual, he know the trials and tribulations of leading a DeMolay Chapter, and he knows the work it takes to share our great order. This is a man who worked so hard to lead his chapter that together they earned the PMC-MSA in addition to the Blue Honor Key, the Representative DeMolay and many other honors and awards.

2) He's a DeMolay father in addition to being a "Dad".  Many of you will say that you will get your son involved in DeMolay in the next quarter century. (you know after you get married etc)  It's a simple mathematical fact that a majority of our members do not share DeMolay with their sons. (Otherwise we would have geometric growth). Yet, "Dad" Thronton did exactly that. His older son Brian and younger son Andrew joined the same order as their father. They went on to lead their chapter and eventually the Great State Of New Mexico as State Master Councilor.  Not only does "Dad" Thronton get DeMolay because he lived it, he gets DeMolay because he saw his sons learn and grow up in it. Imagine the pride at seeing your son become your brother, seeing him learn a new ritual part, get installed as State Master Councilor. All of these are great things.  He also knows the efforts and sacrifices that DeMolay parents make to support their young men because he and his very lovely wife "Mom" Robin have been there and done that.

3) He's a proud patriot. The Seventh Candle burns especially bright for "Dad" Thronton.  He took the time out of his youth to go and serve our beloved country in the United States Air Force. Many of our DeMolay brothers feel this strong sense of duty and patriotism for our country by serving actively in our armed forces.

4) He's an entrepreneur:  One of the great things about the United States is the opportunity to do free enterprise. However, we should never confuse "opportunity" with "easiness."  Owning your own company or practice is an incredibly hard task not only having to compete within an often confusing regulatory environment, but also competing for businesses and clients.  Our Founder, "Dad" Frank Sherman Land, knew something about an entrepreneur, he owned a restaurant, he had the vision to start DeMolay. "Dad" Land knew first hand the importance of innovation and good business practices.  Yet, "Dad" Thronton has done just that with a tremendously successfully CPA practice. The skills he learned in creating his own firm have helped him as a Grand Master to promote, enhance and develop DeMolay. He has done this through ideas, appointing strong and visionary executive officers and setting forth a vision for DeMolay.

5) He's a devout worshiper at the Shrine of Faith. I'm paraphrasing the ritual here, but love of God is represented in so many different ways.  "Dad" Thronton and his family are active members of their Church and there is within our Grand Master a deep personal love of God and soul.  Yet, while some may be tempted to manifest this virtue like the Pharisee in Luke Chapter 17, "Dad" Thornton represents that humble reliance on the blessings of God and the love that a created being has to his creator.  Like the seventh candle and the first candle the second candle burns brightly in our Grand Master.

Many of us may never get the chance to meet our Grand Master, soon to be Past Grand Master, but we can take pride in knowing our order is led by the kind of man that we would be proud to call "Brother."