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Grand Master's Biography
A native and life long South Carolinian, Barry Albert Rickman was
born in Columbia, on March 2, 1952. He is the only child of Jessie Pearl
Carter Rickman and the late Clarence Bruce Rickman formerly of the Sandy Run
community in Calhoun County. Barry attended public school in Spartanburg and
Greenville Counties and graduated in 1970 from Union High School in Union.
He is a graduate of Palmer Junior College and Midlands Technical Education
Center both of Columbia.
Barry is married to the former Gail Marlene Turner of Cayce and they have
two daughters Lauren Elizabeth and Jennifer Lynn and a granddaughter Breanna
Leigh Mack. Barry was ordained a Deacon at West Side Baptist Church of West
Columbia where he also taught Discipleship Training to young teens and
assisted with children’s Bible Drills. Barry and Gail are now members of
Broadacres Baptist Church of Cayce. He is retired from South Carolina
Electric and Gas Company of Columbia beginning his career in 1973 as an
Apprentice Draftsman and retired as a Gas Engineering Specialist. During his
thirty-four years of employment, he was on the Executive Board of the SCE&G
Good Neighbor Fund for two consecutive terms and served as its president. He
served several years on the Board of Lexington County’s Vocational
Rehabilitation Center in West Columbia and served 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, Maryland. At home, Barry enjoys reading
biographies, dabbling in genealogy and collecting all manner of Masonic
memorabilia. The Rickman’s reside at 814 Jefferson Drive in West Columbia.
Brother Barry was raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason in Cayce
Lodge No. 384 in 1976 presided as its Worshipful Master in 1983 and has been
awarded a Life Membership in his lodge. Over the years, he has also been
granted several honorary memberships to lodges within our Grand
Jurisdiction. From 1984 through 1986, he served as President of the Masters’
and Wardens’ Club of the Eighth Masonic District and later served as its
Chaplain. He was a founding member of the Square and Compass Club of the
Midlands.
A member of the Valley of Columbia Scottish Rite Bodies, he is a Past
Venerable Master of Aleph Lodge of Perfection; Past Wise Master of Will
Chester Plant Chapter, Knights Rose Croix; Past Commander of Kadosh of
Barron Council, Knights Kadosh; serves as an officer of Columbia Consistory
and served as Class Director for two years. He is also a member of the Royal
Order of Scotland and the Scottish Rite Research Society. He serves on the
Valley of Columbia Board of Directors for the E.C. Singleton Rite Care
Center. In 2001, he was invested with the Rank and Decoration of Knight
Commander of the Court of Honour and in 2009 was Coroneted a 33°, Inspector
General Honorary by the by The Supreme Council, Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA.
Brother Barry is a member of Columbia Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons;
Union Council No. 5, Royal & Select Masters; and Columbia Commandery No. 2,
Knights Templar of the Columbia York Rite Bodies having also received the
degree of Super Excellent Master. He served as Sovereign Master in 2008 of
Columbia Council No. 157 Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a member of the South
Carolina College SRICF, Palmetto York Rite College No. 70 and South Carolina
Council No. 20, Knight Masons, USA.
He is a member of Fort Jackson Chapter No. 184, National Sojourners, Inc.
and was Commander of Mordecai Gist Camp, Heroes of ’76 in Columbia. He is a
member of Hejaz Shrine Center in Greenville, Newberry Shrine Club, Cayce
Chapter No. 260 Order of the Eastern Star and The Masonic Brotherhood of The
Blue Forget-Me-Not. A Charter Member of the South Carolina Masonic Research
Society, Brother Barry served as its Charter Treasurer and later as its
fourth President in 1993, receiving the Society’s Fellow in Masonic Research
award that same year. He also served as Chairman of the Editorial Committee
and Editor for the Society's publication
Transactions. He was a founding member and Chapter Dad of the Granby
Chapter Order of DeMolay in 2009 was Invested with the Degree of Honorary
Legion of Honor. . He is a former member of the Grand Executive
Committee for the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in South
Carolina, served as Assembly Dad for West Columbia Assembly No. 36 and the
Supreme Assembly of Rainbow in 1996 invested him with the Grand Cross of
Color.
Brother Barry served the Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of South Carolina
as Junior Grand Deacon in 1985; Masonic Services Association for the 6th,
8th and 10th Districts in 1986; and District Deputy Grand Master of the
Eighth Masonic District in 1987 and 1988. Through the years, he has been on
a variety of Grand Lodge committees including Fraternal Relations and served
as its Chairman. In 1992 he was appointed Grand Representative for the Grand
Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Utah and was bestowed an honorary
membership in that Grand Lodge in 1993. He was made an honorary Past Grand
Senior Warden in 1995 in the Grand Lodge of Saskatchewan, Ancient, Free and
Accepted Masons. He also was appointed in 2008 as Grand Representative for
the Grand Lodge of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Ancient Free & Accepted
Masons. At the 2009 Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America
he was elected to the Planning Committee for the 2010 conference that will
be held in Arlington, Virginia in conjunction with the 100th
Anniversary of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
He was elected Junior Grand Warden in 1993 and 1994; Senior Grand Warden in
1995 and 1996; and in 1997 was elected to the station of Deputy Grand
Master. In 1998, at the Annual Grand Lodge Banquet, the Grand Master awarded
Brother Barry with the Albert Gallatin Mackey Medal Award. On the following
day, he declined re-nomination as Deputy Grand Master and stepped down from
the elected Grand Lodge line. Five years later in 2003, the Craft chose to
re-elect him as Junior Grand Warden and has continued to advance him through
the Grand Lodge line stations.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina
held its 272nd Annual Communication at Omar Shrine Center in Mt. Pleasant,
South Carolina. At this event, on Friday, April 24, 2009, Brother Barry A.
Rickman was elected and installed Grand Master of Masons in South Carolina. |
Grand Master's Message at the conclusion of Grand Lodge
My Brethren,Most Worshipfuls, Right Worshipfuls,
Worshipfuls, Wardens, Brethren, Ladies, Gentlemen and Friends:
One year ago, the Brethren of this Grand Lodge elevated
me to the highest station within its power, that of Grand Master of Masons
in South Carolina. Today, you have done likewise and I am humbled by your
continued confidence in me. As in my previous year, I will try to do my best
to serve and represent you throughout our Grand Jurisdiction and those
beyond in the coming year.
We will stay the course this year with our theme "Our
Focus is on Quality" in an effort to have better candidates, to dress more
appropriately at Masonic functions, to use only the South Carolina ritual
and to always be ready to better ourselves as men and Masons. As I continue
visiting and representing you around our Grand Jurisdiction, I will be
persistent in bringing these four items into focus. We have made headway
this past year with these goals and if we will continue to follow this path,
I am certain we will improve with even greater returns.
We must not turn a blind eye at this point in time. Let
us focus forward with our sights set high, a steady gaze, with a vision that
we will achieve our goals and with all this a renewed awareness,
uncompromised principles and a steadfast hope that together we will
accomplish our designs placed upon the Trestleboard. Our Fraternity has been
left to us by our Brethren of the past to take care of it. It is our
responsibility, Brethren, to make sure the future of our Honorable
Institution is secure and upright long after we are gone from this earth. I
invite you to join an ever growing number of Brethren in doing all we can to
make our great Fraternity even greater. This we must do for the good of
Freemasonry.
So mote it be.
Grand Master's Message
Our reason, our mission, our purpose as Freemasons is
given to us in the Entered Apprentice Degree. In this degree, we are taught
very early to learn to subdue our passions and we are to improve ourselves
in Masonry. That is it. Simple in words, short and to the point. As a matter
of fact, it is so simple and short, I feel many Brethren miss it all
together. Either they do not grasp the enormity of the instruction or worse,
somehow for some reason, they feel it is not enough, that it is too simple
or too insignificant, that it is lacking. They feel Freemasonry needs more.
I have heard said, "This can't be all there is." It is an inquiry as well as
a statement. I once heard a Brother rather emphatically state, "The Lodge
needs a purpose." Well...it has a purpose. The delivering of food baskets,
doing fund raisers, granting scholarships, building language centers,
helping the blind to see, helping the cripple and burned child and the like
are all high, commendable and laudable undertakings. They are, however,
above and beyond our main purpose of what we are here to do, that of
subduing the human passions within us and improving ourselves in our
Honorable Institution.
The first part of our purpose is to subdue our
passions. Can you imagine what effort this takes? Can you imagine learning
to master anger, lust or pride? I would dare to say most of us could not
even come close to mastering even one of our desires and passions.
Nevertheless, as Freemasons we are to try. Subduing our passions is a
lifelong endeavor that we will never fully complete. It is a job always in
progress.
In the second part of our two-part purpose, we are told
to improve ourselves in Masonry. We need to study all aspects of our great
Fraternity. If we will take the time to educate ourselves just on the Three
Great Tenets and the Four Cardinal Virtues, our lives would be much richer.
So many times they are merely glossed over in the lecture of the degree and
we never return to them until the next candidate makes his entry into
Masonry. Far too many Entered Apprentice Masons only hear the tenets and
virtues one time and only then if they are presented as a part of the
lecture. I regret to say in some cases, they are not included.
Let us take a brief look at the Three Great Tenets of
Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. By the exercise of Brotherly Love, we
defeat bigotry and prejudice. We look into the person and not at them. We
see them for who they are and not as they appear. Relief comes in many
forms. Yet, it is so often thought about in only monetary terms. Many times
a broad smile, an understanding heart, a quiet tongue and a listening ear
can be just the relief a person needs. James Russell Lowell once said, "The
greatest homage we can pay to Truth is to use it." A Mason's word should
carry weight. When a Mason speaks he should have the confidence and respect
of the people around him.
Now let's look at the Four Cardinal Virtues composed of
Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. Temperance is restraint or
control. It is the moderation of an act without its complete abstinence. A
person is said to have Temperance or self-control who can control that which
seeks control of them. Fortitude is that strength of mind that carries us
through when everyone else is saying, it cannot be done. It gives us courage
and perseverance and gets us through those tough times. To be good stewards
of our resources is what Prudence teaches us. We can either take care of
what we have or lose it. Then there is Justice. Fair decisions and judgment
define this virtue. Doing our best to treat all others as we ourselves want
to be treated.
These are our Three Great Tenets and Four Cardinal
Virtues. I believe the Entered Apprentice Degree is instructing us to
improve ourselves with constancies such as these. "Our Focus is on Quality"
and our main purpose as Freemasons is not to improve our fellowman. No! Our
main reason, mission or purpose as Freemasons is to make ourselves better
today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today.
May God continue to bless America and our great
Fraternity and may the blessings of Heaven rest upon you and your families.
Fraternally,
Barry A. Rickman
Grand Master
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