| In 1974
the Order of Eastern Star,Prince Hall Affiliation was
established in Barbados with the chartering of Sarah Memorial
Chapter # 78 by the Eureka Grand Chapter of the State of New
York and Jurisdiction. Sister Beryl Dottin and Brother Quintyne
A.L.Dottin were installed as Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron
respectively.
Sarah Memorial Chapter
continued its amicable relations with Eureka Grand Chapter for
the next two decades as the beacon for the Order of the Eastern
Star in the Eastern Caribbean. With the establishment of the
Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the Caribbean in
1993, the formation of a Grand Chapter in this jurisdiction was
suggested.
The then Grand Master
M.W. Desmond Whitehall advanced the idea that the time was now
right to do so and all avenues should be explored relative to
such an undertaking. In furtherance of this idea Grand Master
Whitehall convened a meeting on February 13,1996 in Barbados to
discuss this subject amongst interested persons.The general
consensus at that meeting was that all possiblities of
establishing a Grand Chapter,OES should be explored. As a
result,discussions were initiated with the Eureka Grand Chapter
and the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the State of
New York and Jurisdiction.The climax of these discussions was
the convening of an occasional Grand Chapter in Barbados on
April 23,1996,by the Eureka Grand Chapter. Grand Worthy Matron
Sister Vera H.Dikens and Grand Worthy Patron Floyd J.Lewis
assisted by other officers and members of the Eureka Grand
Chapter initiated eighty-five (85) ladies and thirty-nine (39)
brothers as members of the Order of Eastern Star.
The new initiates were
constituted into three additional Chapters,namely:- Beacon Light
, Electa of Judea and Halcyon Light and these along with Sarah
Memorial agreed on the formation of a Grand Chapter.Thus on the
following day April 24,1996,the Rita-G Grand Chapter,OES was
inaugurated,with Sister Erlene Clarke as Grand Worthy Matron and
Brother Orville Carter as Grand Worthy Patron.M.W. Desmond
Whitehall,Grand Master expressing the wish then that "the
light of the members of the Order of Eastern Star be spread
wider and wider over the Caribbean".
This Grand Chapter bears
the name of Sister Rita Gibbs-Goddard a Barbadian, who resided
in New York for several years.Sister Goddard is a Past Matron of
Fidelity Chapter #54, Past District Deputy Grand Matron for
District #2 and Past District Deputy Grand Lecturer for District
#8,Eureka Grand Chapter,State of New York and Jurisdiction.
Sister Goddard is
also a Licensed Lay Reader, Eucharistic Lay Minister and member
of Cursillo #40 in the Diocese of Long Island.
Rita-G Grand Chapter
was admitted as the forty-fourth (44th.) Grand Chapter of the
Order of the Eastern Star,Prince Hall Affiliation, at the
forty-eighth (48th.) Conference of Grand Chapters held at
St.Louis, Missouri on May 9,1996. |