Thank God for giving us life and allowing us to share the bounities of the earth.

I express my sincere gratitude to the Companions of Kentucky for the faith and support.

I said when first elected that I wanted to get back to the basics. There will be no new program this year. I do believe that we need to increase membership. However, I feel that we need to invest some time on the Companions we already have. There are a lot of good reasons to attend our York Rite meetings. Let us do a better job of preparing for our meetings, streamline our routine business, and give our Companions something of interest when assembled. We need to read and study our ritual and become more proficient.

The one thing I will do is change our inspection process this year. We will continue to track the information on the same inspection forms, however, each Arch Deputy will submit a letter stating which of the Councils in his arch is the Council of Excellence. We will be looking at what Councils across the state are doing to keep interest high and members active. The arch deputies will be informing Councils of how this works.

I invite any Companion to make suggestions and speak up if he feels something needs to be changed. This is our fraternity and we all are responsible for its well being. With all of your help and the Grace of God we will make this a GREAT year for Cryptic Masonry in Kentucky.

Thanks to my wife, Kim, for all of her support for the last three years. I also thank the Grand York Rite Office and my fellow Grand Officers for all their help and support.

Thanks for being a part of this day.

May God bless and grant each traveling mercies as we leave here today.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert L. Stanford
M.I. Grand Master