Free Press –
Norm and Todd Baringer
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Twenty-one years after Norman Baringer became the Potentate of the Rajah Shrine, his son Todd received Free and Accepted Masonry’s highest honor. On August 26 in Providence (RI), the Supreme Council for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction conferred the 33rd Degree upon three members who were selected for their outstanding service to Scottish Rite Masonry or humanity. Todd Baringer was one of the three.
Todd joined the Quakertown Masonic lodge in 1987, the year his father presided over the Rajah Shrine and its 8,100 members. Norm Baringer became the second Quakertown area Potentate (Walter Cressman of Cress Gas in Richlandtown was Potentate in 1975). The Rajah Shrine jurisdiction includes Upper Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and parts of Berks Counties.
The Shrine is a fraternal service organization whose mission is caring for children, absolutely free of charge. There are 19 Shiners’ hospitals and three burn centers in America.
Paul Deaterly, one of Quakertown Lodge’s most popular members, was the common denominator for hundreds of local Masons, including the Baringers, to both the Rajah Shrine and Lehigh Consistory.
I remember Paul’s store in the 200 block of West Broad Street. It was he who encouraged Norm, and 20 years later, his son to join. Old timers will recall Paul Deaterly chauffeuring his wife and sister in law through the streets of Quakertown and the roads of Upper Bucks. The sisters sat together in the back seat of his Chrysler as Paul escorted them. He was immaculately dressed in an English tweed sports coat and driver’s cap. It was quite a site.
But I stray.
While Norm Baringer headed through the chairs at Rajah Shrine, Todd found the degree work at Lehigh Consistory more to his liking. Dyslexia and the 32nd degree Learning Center are the charities, which Lehigh Consistory supports. Both are free to the public.
There are four appending bodies within the Valley of Allentown, the official name for Lehigh Consistory. Todd became the Thrice Potent Master of the Muhlenberg Lodge of Perfection during 2006 and 2007. Many believe that he will someday become the Commander-In-Chief of the four bodies, which comprise the Valley of Allentown.
I called Larry Newhard, the Secretary of Lehigh Consistory, also a 33rd degree Mason, for more information. He identified six living 33rd degree Masons from Quakertown Lodge: Ronald Hilmer, Richard Horn, Kenneth Rinear, Kenneth Sutton, and now, Todd Baringer. You can understand how unique the honor is when you realize that Todd is one of 70 living 33rd Degree Masons from Lehigh Consistory, which has a membership of approximately 5,000.
Todd joins three other deceased 33rd degree Masons who were well known for their connections to the Quakertown Masonic Lodge: Harry Adams, a Quakertown engineer and active volunteer in the Bucks County Republican Party; Joseph Neidig, Quakertown’s first superintendent of schools and Quakertown Rotary’s only District Governor; and Jacob Stoneback, a Quakertown industrialist and banker.
Newhard told me that there are 29 degrees conferred at the Scottish Rite in Allentown. He described the work as “Ritualistic degree work presented on stage in dramatic form.”
The key to recognition as a 33rd degree Mason is service. At first, Todd participated in degree work, which the Quakertown Lodge performed. He expanded his dramatic roles with Doylestown Lodge and other teams. In the 20 years that Todd has worked at Lehigh Consistory, he has become the Assistant Director of Work.
The “Messenger” is the official periodical for Lehigh Consistory. “Professionally, Todd Baringer is Vice President of Baringer Associates, an independent insurance company which has been family owned and operated since 1953,” The Messenger reported in its Fall issue. “He is a licensed Pennsylvania Real Estate Broker and Insurance agent. He is a member of the Quakertown Rotary Club and a board member of the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce.” He and his wife are the parents of two daughters and a son.
Todd’s father and mother, Nancy, were thrilled with the news about Todd’s Masonic honor. “We were pleased and proud that Todd was selected in that small group to receive that honor,” Norm Baringer told me.
Congratulations Todd…and best wishes to Norm as well.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith