LAMAR HONORS EVENING

Professor Mark A. Chancey, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University, is the recipient of the Lamar Award presented by Hillcrest Lodge on April 11. Hillcrest joined seventeen other lodges for a Lamar Honors Evening sponsored by the 14th Masonic District Masters, Wardens, and Secretaries Association and hosted at the Dallas Scottish Rite Cathedral. Valley of Dallas Chairman Wendell Miller and General Secretary Ed Kirkpatrick along with the Cooks and Busboys Committees provided a great dinner and outstanding service.

MWSA Vice-President Steve Rankin served as master-of-ceremonies, R:.W:. Boyd Patterson, PGM, gave the keynote address and R:.W:. David B. Dibrell, PGM made the presentations. The award is named in honor of Freemason, Texas Revolutionary War hero, and second President of the Republic of Texas Mirabeau B. Lamar whose proposal to set aside public lands to fund education earned him the title Father of Texas Education.

Recipients of the awards are outstanding students or women and men like Dr. Chancey who have contributed to students, teaching, and scholarship. Hillcrest Brothers Ben Brown and Kyle Wahlquist represented our lodge for the presentation to Dr. Chancey. Ben and Kyle, both SMU graduates, are his former students.

Like Lamar, Dr. Chancey grew-up in Milledgeville Georgia. He holds bachelor and masters degrees from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from Duke University.

He is the author of two monographs, Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus and The Myth of a Gentile Galilee, both published by the Cambridge University Press. Additionally he has published numerous articles including one that should be of interest particularly to Royal Arch Masons--"Second Temple Studies in the Light of Recent Archaeology." He has enthusiastically agreed to share this research with interested masons sometime in the future.

Dr. Chancey is a member of a number of learned societies including the American Academy of Religion and the American Schools for Oriental Research. He has delivered many scholarly papers and is a popular instructor on the SMU campus. A favorite professor of several lodge members, Hillcrest Lodge has proudly awarded him the Lamar Medal for 2008.

• Samuel K. Buckley by the Edwin J. Kiest Lodge #1310
• Professor Mark A. Chancey by the Hillcrest Lodge #1318
• Ivy May Fannin by the George B. Dealey Lodge #1312
• Tony Goolsby by the Pentagon Lodge #1080
• James Michael Hough by the Mike H. Thomas #1314
• Kyle L. Kyker by the Tannehill Lodge #52
• Janie Litchford by the Lebanon Lodge #837
• Anthony Jerome Maddox by the Hutchins Lodge #1154
• Fawn B. Martwick by the Lancaster Lodge #160
• Lauren Morzak by the Highland Park Lodge #1150
• Laurie Phillips by the John L. DeGraizer Lodge #1349
• Beth Ann McGaffey, PHD by the Vickery Lodge #1351
• Scott Puckett by the Tannehill Lodge #52
• Benjamin G. Scheve by the Highland Park Lodge #1150
• Charles Shepherd by the Highland Park Lodge #1150
• Katelyn F. Stanglin by the Lancaster Lodge #160
• Kathryn Gayle Wilburn by the Hutchins Lodge #1154

Special Thanks to

The Scottish Rite Valley of Dallas

Wendell Miller
Chairman of the Executive Committee

Ed Kirkpatrick
General Secretary

The Lamar Honors Committee

Father Richard Barnard
Jeff Brown
Ron McVey
Ryan Patton