Page 4 - Sojourner Newsletter-Spring 2023 v.3

4 THE SOJOURNER

NATIONAL COMMANDER’S MESSAGE

Lady Carol and I hope that you and your families are enjoying a lovely
Winter and are looking forward to a wonderful Spring. We are having a
delightful time in 2023 as we continue our celebration of the Heroes ’76
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Centennial.

We continue to be busy on the road, starting 2023 at our Mid-Winter
Meeting in Raleigh, NC. We then ventured to Alachua, Florida to attend
an interesting meeting with the members of the North Central Florida
Chapter #537. This was doable because we were on our way to attend the
Gulf AC&E in Pensacola Florida, where we initiated 1 new Hero and
1 new Camp Follower. The weather was delightful and the time together
very memorable. We returned to the East Coast to attend a fun-filled
Georgia AC&E, where we initiated 2 new Heroes and 2 new Camp
Followers. We continued on to Alexandria, VA to attend the Conference
of Grand Masters in North America (COGMINA) as well as the Centennial Celebration the
Cornerstone Laying of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (GWMNM). The weather
was challenging, but the fellowship superb. Our travels will continue as follows and we invite you to
join us whenever possible:

1) North Carolina Regional Encampment in Lafayette, NC, March 4, 2023, where our National
Chief of Staff, Brother Brian Coffey, will represent our National Heroes of ’76 .
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2) Northern California Area Encampment in Monterey, CA, March 11, 2023.
3) South Central Area Encampment in Austin, TX, March 18, 2023.
4) Wreath Laying ceremony for Brother Christopher Van Deventer (COL, USA, Ret.) in
Knoxville, TN, April 28, 2023.
5) Finally, our Annual Encampment and Bennington Banquet Celebration in Harrisburg, PA,
June 14, 2023, along with the Annual National Convention.

We encourage all new Centennial Camp Followers to send in their Order Forms to Janine Kovack at
National Headquarters for a Centennial Camp Follower Name Badge!

We have so much more Heroes of ’76 Centennial celebrating to enjoy, and I encourage everyone to
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get involved and get engaged in all this fun. Please thoroughly read and understand the Toolkit
prepared for you which is on the website in the Heroes Section. It has all the information that you
need to know and do to become a Centennial Hero, Camp and Chapter. This is your year, and it is a
once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate with your Heroes, Sojourners and Camp Followers, to
make the most of this great time together. We look forward to seeing each of you during our travels to
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close out this wonderful Heroes of ’76 Term, and we really look forward to seeing everyone in
Harrisburg, PA, for the culmination Van Deventer Bennington Banquet. You definitely DO NOT
want to miss that! May God Bless you.

EIAR
Randy Geck
National Commander