Ill. David Kruger, 33°, Honored By Old Dominion University

On December 20, 2001, William H. Graves III, Dean of Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University (ODU), Norfolk, Virginia, made a special day-long trip to the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. His purpose was to make a personal expression of appreciation to Ill. David Kruger, 33°, Grand Secretary General of the Supreme Council and S.G.I.G. in Virginia, for the outstanding Scottish Rite support of the university's childhood language and communication programs. Dean Graves wished to thank Dr. Kruger for his leadership of the Scottish Rite Foundation of Virginia, which supports the clinic at ODU and provides fellowships to three graduate students majoring in the field of Speech Pathology and Communication Disorders. He also noted that the Scottish Rite's program extends similarly to other Virginia universities and that its outreach helps hundreds of children around the "Old Dominion" State. Pictured above, as Dean Graves presents a token of appreciation to Dr. Kruger, are (l. to r.), Ill. Walter S. Downs, 33°, G.C., Personal Representative, Valley of Alexandria, Virginia; Dean William H. Graves III; Ill. David Kruger, 33°; Ill. William G. Sizemore, 33°, G.C., Grand Executive Director of the Supreme Council; and Dr. John W. Boettjer, 33°, G.C., Managing Editor, Scottish Rite Journal. Later, Grand Commander C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°, joined the group during a luncheon celebrating the memorable event.

Photo: Bro. Dean R. Alban, 32°

Bro. Charles H. Waldron, 32°, K.C.C.H., An Ageless Warrior In The Fight To Improve Childhood Communication Skills

Bro. Charles H. Waldron, 32°, K.C.C.H. (pictured right), was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 1914 and raised a Master Mason in Albert Pike Lodge No. 303, Wichita, Kansas, in 1945, the same year he became a Scottish Rite Mason. In 1965, he moved to Columbus, Mississippi, to continue his business career. Throughout a long and productive life, Bro. Waldron has applied the counsel of Hippocrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, who noted, "Time is that wherein there is opportunity, and opportunity is that wherein there is no great time."

During his very successful and interesting business and civic life, Bro. Waldron served in many capacities, including the position of Director and CEO of a railroad company, as a board member of a bank, and as regional manager of a large building manufacturing company. Following his retirement, he has continued to serve the Scottish Rite and Masonry in general, but he has intensified his efforts to improve childhood communication skills in the Columbus, Mississippi, area where he resides.

For instance, Bro. Waldron helped organize the Lowndes County Scottish Rite Association and the local Scottish Rite Foundation in 1997. The Foundation works to improve childhood communication skills with a multifaceted approach.

To reach more children in need of essential testing, Bro. Waldron developed a partnership agreement with the local Scottish Rite Foundation and the Mississippi University for Women, utilizing facilities of the University's speech and hearing clinic.

He was also instrumental in organizing and sponsoring an effective dyslexia training program, operated by the local Scottish Rite Foundation in conjunction with the Greater Columbus Learning Center. In 1998, Bro. Waldron coordinated the area's first Dyslexia Symposium in concert with the Outreach Leaders from the Luke Waites Child Development Center in Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, Texas. Over 200 educators and leaders from the Mississippi Legislature attended this symposium.

In 1999, the local Scottish Rite Foundation began a cooperative effort with the juvenile court system. Under Bro. Waldron's leadership, children with special learning needs who are housed in the juvenile detention center have been given specialized instruction and training with the approval and direction of the youth court judge who administers the system.

All of these activities are ongoing, including Dyslexia Symposiums that were held in 1999, 2000, and 2001 for teachers working with children from kindergarten to grade 12. The Lowndes County Shrine Club, as well as other Appendant Masonic organizations, has been supportive of these activities.

Now entering his 88th year, Bro. Waldron is still going strong. The example he sets in the way he lives is an inspiration to all who know him and illustrates a valuable lesson that serves all men well: that the effective use of the time allotted to each of us is a precious gift-a gift that should never be squandered at any age.

Scottish Rite Extends Helping Hand To Alabama Schools

Since 1978, the Alabama Scottish Rite Foundation provided services for dyslexic children through the University of Montevallo. In September 2001, however, the Alabama Scottish Rite Foundation began a new program offering assistance to school systems in identifying and providing effective instruction to students with dyslexia. The Alabama Scottish Rite is offering, at no cost to schools, teacher training and dyslexia intervention materials. Teacher training includes workshops focusing upon identification of students with dyslexia, implementation of classroom accommodations needed by dyslexic students, and development of effective dyslexia intervention programs. Through the new program initiated by the Alabama Scottish Rite, students suspected of having dyslexia are provided with evaluations at no cost to families or schools.

During the first five months of this new program, workshops conducted by Dr. Denise P. Gibbs (pictured above) have provided teacher training to about 500 teachers, psychometrists, and administrators responsible for serving about 18,000 students each year, and more than 80 children suspected of having dyslexia were evaluated. As a result of teacher training provided during the first five months of this new program, dyslexia identification and intervention programs are being initiated in 16 school systems in Alabama. These workshops are held at the request of the local school system and are open to parents who live in the area.

Since they established the Alabama Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders at the University of Montevallo 24 years ago, Scottish Rite Masons have been assisting children with reading and language disabilities in Alabama. During the summer of 2001, the Alabama Scottish Rite decided to shift the focus of its service to children in Alabama by increasing efforts to work with local teachers in school systems throughout the state. Dr. Denise P. Gibbs, who retired from the University of Montevallo in August 2001 after serving for 10 years as Director of the Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders, was contracted by the Alabama Scottish Rite Foundation to begin this new program. Staff at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital welcomed Dr. Gibbs, in September 2001, for a week of intensive training in the area of dyslexia outreach and teacher training.

As a follow-up to the teacher training, the Alabama Scottish Rite is offering to provide each school system in Alabama with a copy of Texas Scottish Rite Hospital's Dyslexia Training Program along with Texas Scottish Rite Hospital's Literacy Program, should the school system wish to use these materials as part of their dyslexia intervention program. School systems are finding these materials to be extremely helpful as they make efforts to recognize and serve students with dyslexia.

The Alabama Scottish Rite Foundation maintains a web site at www.ALScottish RiteLearningCenters.com to provide families and educators with information about the services that are being offered. Dyslexia presentations, open to the public, have been offered in conjunction with Lodge meetings in several Scottish Rite Valleys in Alabama.

Submitted by: Ill. Horrall B. West, 33°
General Secretary, Valley of Birmingham, Ala.

Nashville Scottish Rite Tops Half Million In Center Support

A little over a decade ago, Scottish Rite Masons in Nashville established the Scottish Rite Masons Research Institute for Communication Disorders at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center. Their annual contributions to the Institute have helped provide speech and language services to hundreds of children over the last 10 years through the Speech and Language Clinic at Vanderbilt, a division of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center. In January 2001, the total contributions received exceeded the $500,000 mark.

The Institute now sees more than 100 families annually for treatment of speech and language disorders. Because the Institute was able to leverage the Scottish Rite funding into a $5.5 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health, they now see children from all over the country. In addition to Vanderbilt, research through the Institute is being conducted at Purdue University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Pennsylvania State University. These institutions perform more than 400 diagnostics a year.

Much of the Institute's research focuses on discovering which children with a communication delay will "catch up" without intervention and which will need help. The Institute's most important role, of course, is treating the children and their families.

Steve Camarata, Ph.D. (pictured in photo blowing bubbles with a young client) is the Director of the Scottish Rite Research Institute. He is in demand as a frequent speaker to public and professional groups and as a contributor to scholarly journals. Many popular magazines are also interested in his research.

Ill. Joseph O. Martin, Jr., 33°, former Chair of the Bill Wilkerson Center Board of Directors and S.G.I.G. in Tennessee, comments that the Center and the Scottish Rite Masons are partners in the same cause.

Dr. Camarata notes that the Scottish Rite Research Institute is particularly fortunate to operate in the midst of a virtual cornucopia of early intervention programs. Looking towards the next 10 years, Dr. Camarata hopes to extend his research and continue his determination to "get the word out" about language disorders. In addition, he is working to develop neurological and genetic predictors of language disorders in children. He also hopes to thank the Scottish Rite Foundation by participating in the now annual RiteCare conference. (See related article.) "After all," he comments, "none of this would be possible if the Scottish Rite Masons hadn't envisioned the Institute and put all their resources into making it a reality."

Reprinted, edited for length, with permission from the Communicator, Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences (Vol. 4, No. 1, 2001)

Photo: Dana Johnson, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Fund-raising Challenge Per Orient For Matching Funds

On February 12, 2002, Grand Commander Kleinknecht addressed the following memo to all Active Members and Deputies of Orients participating in the RiteCare Program:

Due to past successes, I am offering a fund-raising challenge of $5,000 from the Supreme Council's Language Disorders Special Fund to Orients where matching funds are raised by April 30. Checks will be issued as soon as word is received that this pledge has been matched or exceeded.

As you met my previous challenges, I have every confidence, again, in your fund-raising skills and hope that this challenge will generate an enthusiastic response of cash and pledges from Masons and non-Masons alike in support of Scottish Rite Clinics, Centers, and Programs throughout the Southern Jurisdiction.

I challenge you to use your good fund-raising skills to match or exceed my pledge of $5,000 for the special benefit of Scottish Rite Clinics, Centers, and Programs in each Orient.

A First For The Spokane, Washington, Center

The event, a first for the Scottish Rite Center for Childhood Language Disorders (SRCCLD) in Spokane, Washington, was every bit as exciting for those attending as going to your children's or your grandchildren's graduations from school. Four of the Center's children graduated the same day with a beautiful ceremony by two of the Center's speech pathologists and an assistant from a local college. The audience consisted of the children's parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends, and members of the Center's Board. It was truly a memorable occasion.

Submitted by Ill. Edwin E. Weber, 33° President, SRCCLD

Pictured at the recent graduation ceremony at the Scottish Rite Center for Childhood Language Disorders, Spokane, Washington, are (l. to r.): Sarah Sullivan, Student Volunteer; Nikki Cole, Speech Pathologist; Alyssa, Chris, Jeremiah, and Austin, Center clients; and Alice Burrows, Speech Pathologist.