HISTORY OF THE GRAND CHAPTER

HISTORY OF THE GRAND CHAPTER

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.

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