The Masonic pilot… A U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, who saw action from 1942 to 1946 in the Atlantic and South Pacific areas, declared: Over a span of centuries, our Fraternity has always stood at the forefront whenever and wherever freedom is threatened. Our history is one of militant protectionism over the rights of individuals under legally constituted authority. And whenever and wherever that legally constituted authority has itself been endangered, Masons have always had the courage and the ability and, above all, the responsibility to run to its assistance. This declaration from Joseph E. Schon, the 51st Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines, makes one feel that he was still waging war, for, strangely enough, it came from his inaugural address, entitled “A Call to Arms.” Impressive is the Masonic bio-data of him who was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on March 17, 1937, in Harmonic Lodge No. 356, St. Tomas, Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory. On October 11,1961, Schon affiliated with Mt. Kaladias Lodge No. 91, Dumaguete City, of which he became the Worshipful Master in 1963 and in 1964. An active Royal Arch, he was dubbed Knight Templar, York Rite on May 22, 1965, and then Red Cross of Constantine on April 22, 1968. He was, furthermore, a Worthy Patron of Josefa Llanes Escoda Center, Order of the Eastern Star at Dumaguete City in 1965. Aside from being a Shriner, Nile Temple, Seattle, USA, as well as an Honorary Member of Afifi Temple, Tacoma, Washington, this 33rd degree Scottish Rite Freemason was a member of the Lapu-Lapu Consistory A & ASR. Schon, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, on January 6, 1913, finished his secondary education at St. Joseph College and his tertiary education at the College of Engineering, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. Having been discharged from the U .S. Navy, he worked as Manager with Bull Insular Lines. Later he acted as Owner’s Representative, Pacific Far East Lines Inc. both in Hongkong and in the Philippines until 1948. Also in 1948 he married Helen Bennett and then became a Farmer Gentleman in Kanlaon City, Negros Oriental. Schon’s rise to the exalted position of Grand Master was, indeed, one long preparation. This can be gleaned from these lines in his inaugural address:: …My Brethren, the preparations for this flight have been long in the making, ever since the year 1937, when this wondrous Fraternity first opened its arms to me. However, my preparations must have been faulty during most of that time, because no vehicle to make the flight was ever entrusted to me until 1965 when you put me into intensive training for it – first as Flight Steward, or Junior Grand Warden. The Chief Pilot at that time was a man of great stature and nobility: Most Worshipful Serafin L. Teves, Grand Master of Serenity and Harmony… who, incidentally, is my guiding light in Masonry. My training continued more intensively when I was promoted to Flight Navigator, or Senior Grand Warden, under another great Pilot, the inestimable and lovable Raymond E. Wilmarth, Grand Master of Tact and Philosophy. The finishing touches to this training period were applied as Co-pilot, or Deputy Grand Master, by our stalwart, incomparable, strict but kindly task-master, Chief Pilot Mariano Q. Tinio, Grand Master of Labor and Achievement. Schon subsequently said that, with our vehicle – the Fraternity – about to take off on another trip, he was happy to observe that the crew – the Grand Lodge Officers – were the finest in the world and that the vehicle has had the most superb maintenance of any craft on the earth by our eminent Past Grand Masters, the ground crew. And he continued: “Now it is all up to the Pilot. Course, distance, and speed are his to determine. He prays to the Great Architect of the Universe that there shall be no Pilot error – that the Craft may reach its destination in safety .” Pilot Schon expertly guided the Craft to its destination. In the course of his pilotship, having fallen deeply in love with things Philippines and having imbibed traits deemed Filipino, he exhibited the courage and the ability and the responsibility to make this country his haven and our “heaven.”