Meet the Master of Ceremonies
Installations are always an exciting time as we get to see the new line of officers that will lead our organization. While it is always fun to get wrapped up in the enjoyment of a new Presiding Officer, it can be equally enjoyable to look at the beginning of the progressive line in anticipation. For Massachusetts Consistory, that position is held now by Bro. David Sterling Sewall, 32° MSA as the Master of Ceremonies.
Installations are always an exciting time as we get to see the new line of officers that will lead our organization. While it is always fun to get wrapped up in the enjoyment of a new Presiding Officer, it can be equally enjoyable to look at the beginning of the progressive line in anticipation. For Massachusetts Consistory, that position is held now by Bro. David Sterling Sewall, 32° MSA as the Master of Ceremonies.
David, born in 1972, grew up in Natick in a very masonic family. Throughout his youth he was involved in both the Boy Scouts and the Order of DeMolay. He is a Past Master Councilor of John Eliot Chapter in Natick. David graduated from Natick High School in 1990 where he was an athlete in both track and football. He attended Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT before settling down in Needham, MA with his wife, Cindy.
The Sewall clan was very active in the craft, reaching back to David’s great-grandfather (and perhaps even farther back). With DeMolay as his background and freemasonry in his blood, David knew it was a matter of “when” he would join, not “if.” It was a mere three days after his twenty-first birthday when Bro. Sewall was initiated an Entered Apprentice. On June 25, 1993, David was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Norfolk Lodge of Needham, MA on their Past Master’s Night. With the excitement of the craft fueling him forward, David rose up the ranks and became Worshipful Master of Norfolk Lodge and served the 2001-02 term. Bro. Sewall also affiliated with The Masters Lodge in 2008.
His efforts at his blue lodge got noticed by the then Grand Master, Donald Hicks Jr., who appointed him to serve as a Grand Steward in 2003. He would spend two extra years wearing purple as the Grand Pursuivant to the Senior Grand Warden, Donald Denning, in 2004 and then the Grand Standard Bearer in 2005. He currently serves as the Grand Representative to Idaho, and has done so for the past eight years.
David’s involvement in Scottish Rite was almost as automatic as it was for blue lodge. Norfolk Lodge has a long standing tradition of Past Masters being involved in Massachusetts Consistory. In the Spring Class of 1994, Bro. Sewall joined the Valley of Boston. It was especially sweet for David, as his father, Ill∴ Ralph I. Sewall, 33° was the 1st Lieutenant at the time under Commander-in-Chief Ill∴ Carl A. Gordon, 33° MSA.
After joining the rite, David immediately dove in and became a degree worker for Massachusetts Consistory. He spoke fondly of Consistory, considering it a hobby before work because of the friends and respected individuals he worked with. After serving as a worker for seven years, the then Commander-in-Chief Ill∴ William E. Holland 33° MSA appointed Bro. Sewall as an Assistant Master of Ceremonies. He would do his due diligence for fourteen years. In the spring of 2015 current Commander-in-Chief Ill∴ Roy J. Leone, 33° offered him the position he currently holds, Master of Ceremonies.
It has been a long and busy road for David, but would not have been possible without the love and support of his wife Cindy and their two young children, Nicholas and Josselyn. In between his day job and serving the craft, David spends time at home with his wife and children. He enjoys helping as an assistant coach on their sports teams and taking them fishing.
David has been involved with the craft in some aspect for almost all of his life. With his first step into the progressive line of Massachusetts Consistory now complete, we look for many more great things in the years to come. Good luck David! We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
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The Bodies of the Scottish Rite, sitting in the Valley of Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acknowledge and yield allegiance to the Supreme Council, 33°, of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America, whose Grand East is in Lexington, Massachusetts.