REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATE SUPREME GUARDIAN
When I was elected as
Supreme Outer Guard four years ago in Chicago, it seemed like my year as
Associate Supreme Guardian was a long time down the road. Well, the first three years in line flew by and it was a year
ago in Vancouver that I was installed as Associate Supreme Guardian.
As I stood at the altar to be installed, I was so thankful that I had the
total support of my wife, Carol, and our family.
I know I could not, and would not, have wanted it any other way.
I was also very thankful of the support I had received the first three
years from my Illinois Job’s Daughter family and that they would continue to
support me.
I wanted this year to be for
the daughters. I was very pleased
at the warm reception I received from the daughters throughout the Job’s
Daughter world. If the girls seemed
to be a little afraid of us, I would assure them that I had not bitten anyone
yet this year and then they would warm up to me very quickly. To those Bethels and Jurisdictions I was not able to visit, I
am very sorry. The month of January
I was unable to travel as I was receiving medical treatments daily.
However, I received good reports for each of you.
I would like to say thank
you to all of the wonderful people who have opened their homes to us and
provided us transportation. I have
met so many wonderful and friendly people this year and to say thank you just
doesn’t seem adequate. I am sure
I have made many lasting friendships as I have traveled.
I was very fortunate to have
had two very special young ladies to travel with us. I am sure that every Associate Supreme Guardian feels that
they had the best Miss International Job’s Daughter and Supreme Bethel Honored
Queen, but I know mine are the very best. How
ironic was it that I would get two Erin’s this year!
Miss Erin Leigh Weisshaar,
Miss International Job’s Daughter 2006-2007.
You have been an absolutely outstanding representative of our Order
wherever you have gone. As we
traveled together, you always had a smile on you face and a ready laugh
(whenever you were not on the cell phone to some young man back in Wyoming).
The daughters all over the Job’s Daughter world just loved you.
You always joined in whatever the activity was and even taught your
sisters in Brazil some new dance steps. You
will always have a special place in my book of memories and our home is always
open to you.
Miss Erin Nicole Duskey,
Supreme Bethel Honored Queen 2006-2007. You
also represented our Order well. I
am sorry that you have not been able to travel as much as I know you would have
liked, but we have enjoyed every minute you were able to be with us.
I know that you traveled and represented Job’s Daughters in your area
when you have not been with us. You have been loved by the daughters everywhere.
I appreciate the sacrifice you have made with your education and I am so
proud of you that you are going to return to school this fall to continue your
education. You too will have a special place in our book of memories and we
consider you part of our family.
I owe a lot of thanks you
for making this year special for me. First
and foremost is my wonderful wife, Carol. She
is my best friend and traveling companion, Without her I am sure I would have
arrived at many of our destinations without something.
She did most of our packing. When
we returned from Brazil, she had less than 36 hours to do the laundry, iron and
repack for our trip to Canada. She
has been at my side this entire year, encouraging me and keeping me on the right
track. I love her very much and am looking forward to being able to
spend more time with her in the coming months doing things that she has put off
for me.
I owe another big thank you
to our daughter-in-law, Amena, and son Eric for being our primary dog-sitters
for our 4 Yorkies while Carol and I have been traveling.
Without them, Carol would not have been able to travel with me all of the
time.
The Board of Trustees and
the other line officers have been very supportive of me and I thank them.
I hope the appointed Supreme Officers and Deputies have enjoyed their
year and thank them for accepting their positions.
And now for some
observations –
This is an organization for
our Daughters. We, as adults, are
here to advise them and give them direction.
The girls are soon to be the leaders of our world.
We need to give them our support and allow them to make decisions as to
what direction they want to go. Sure,
they are going to make mistakes, but they learn from those mistakes and become
stronger for them.
The most common complaint I
have heard from the Daughters this year has been that they feel that they have
no say in the decision making and that all of the decisions are made by the
adults. Unfortunately, this is true
in many areas. We need to allow our
Daughters to be more involved in the decisions at all levels that affect them.
How many of you here today discussed the proposed amendments with the
Daughters before you came to Session? I
have to confess that I did not this year.
I would like to know their feelings about these amendments.
Perhaps we need to allow one Daughter from each Jurisdiction, selected by
her Jurisdiction, to participate in the debates on the amendments, and perhaps,
even have a vote. I know this would
require a by-law amendment, but we need to listen, really hear and respect our
daughter’s thoughts. If they were
more involved in the decision making, they would truly believe that this is an
organization for them and would want to see it grow.
Almost all of the problems I
have seen in Bethels this year as I have traveled are the adults.
Many Grand Jurisdictions have serious splits among the adults, and this
only hurts the Daughters. We need to learn to communicate more and respect the opinions
of others. We can disagree on
issues but we need to compromise on a solution that is in the best interest of
our daughters. The girls are very
observant and can see the dissention among adults and it hurts the entire Order.
We have become an
organization that has become fixed on titles.
It seems that in this order to be important, we must have a title.
We should all be considered equal as we work for the growth of our Order.
As Associate Supreme Guardian, I feel that I am no more important than
the bethel council members working with our daughters or the parent sitting on
the side lines encouraging the daughters and acting as a chaperone.
We need to respect these hard working people just as much as the people
with fancy titles. I enjoyed
this past year traveling the Job’s Daughter world, but I am looking forward to
going back to being an Associate Bethel Guardian and working with the daughters
of the Bethel.
My report includes the
months and Jurisdictions visited this year but I am not going to name all of the
dates and places. I have
visited 21 states, including Alaska, two Provinces in Canada, six Jurisdictions
in Brazil and Australia.
My travels this year have
included the following:
August – Wisconsin and
Minnesota
September – Michigan, Washington (International Day with B.C.), Leadership
Workshop in Arizona and Illinois Grand Bethel
October – Illinois Grand Chapter, Illinois Grand Lodge, Brazil, Manitoba and
General Grand Chapter, Order of Eastern Star
November – California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and Delaware
December – Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky
January – (Unable to travel due to medical treatments)
February – Ohio, Colorado, reception for MIJD, Oregon and Conference of Grand
Masters
March – Mid-year meeting of the Board of Trustees, Las Vegas, Leadership
Workshop in Illinois, our reception in Peoria, Iowa and Missouri
April – Nebraska, Alaska and Hawaii
May – Australia
June – Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Illinois Grand Session, DeMolay International
and reception for SBHQ
July – Kansas, Supreme Session
I want to thank the voting
members of the Supreme Guardian Council for allowing me to serve our Order this
past year. I will never forget the
wonderful people I have met, more importantly, our beautiful Daughters
throughout the Job’s Daughter world.
What a thrill it is to end
my year having every country with Job’s Daughters represented at this Session!
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Sapp,
Associate Supreme Guardian
Past Associate Grand Guardian of Illinois
Published as received
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