Nobles and Ladies, this month we want to shine the spot light on a man who has mastered the art of maximizing the time given to him every day. Don’t confuse this last statement with being on time…I’m just saying he gets more done in a day for more people than I think is humanly possible. Faith, Family, Fellowship, Community and his Career. That is what he is about. That is why he gets very little push back when he shows up late to any event. We all know that he squeezes every second out of every day to make the lives of others better.
That starts with his number one passion, his family.
He and his lovely lady have three children, two daughters and a son. They have eight grandchildren and by the time you read this they will have hopefully had their ninth. This is where it starts for him. Taking care of the family, teaching them life lessons, sharing his experience and creating new ones with those grandkids. I have seen this in action plenty of times in a casual setting, many times if you want to talk with him or ask a question you better be mobile because you will have to sling a word in while running around playing catch or going for an educational walk with one of those little ones.
His commitment to Lodge and the Shrine are as clear as his other passions. His grandfather is a past potentate and always encouraged him to get involved in Lodge and the Shrine as a way to deepen his understanding of being his best self and broaden the scope to which he could share with others. This advice took hold of him in 1979 when he joined Trinity Lodge #200. After receiving his first three degrees in Masonry he needed a little more encouragement to take the next step and in 1988 he joined El Riad Shrine. In true fashion he flourished as a new noble. He became a member of the world famous Fife & Drum unit and the Legion of Honor. In 1999, he followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and lead El Riad Shrine as its Potentate.
After experiencing all the Shrine had to offer, he was convinced it had lived up to the promises given to him by his grandfather all those years ago. Now holding true to his commitment to broaden the scope to which he could help others, he began finding other good men that wanted to be better and helped them come to the same light as he had all those years ago. For those of you who think you know who I am talking about this will come as no surprise his name is, John Archer!
What? You’re kidding! Great! That ruins the surprise reveal I was leading up to. Well everyone, Rocky Hayes just told me that he is putting a picture with this article so you already know who I am talking about. Well, I will start referring to him as John now. John has shared his story with hundreds of young men and as a Shrine we have only been tracking these numbers since 2004. Since that time John Archer has top line signed Shrine petitions for 71 new nobles and second line signed for another 43. With his passion I have no idea how high the number really is. When I asked the Lodge about it the note I got back was “I would easily guess he has helped way over 100 get into Lodge”.
After displaying his passion for helping other see the light, Imperial took notice. John was Region Four Director from 2008–2010 and from 2010–2014 john was a Membership Development Specialist for Imperial. Some of the conversation and instructional tools that he used to help us were adopted by Imperial and used all over the country to help other Shrine Temples grow. With all that he still made time to go through the chairs at Trinity Lodge and was Master in 2014–2015.
You would think that all of these previously mentioned accomplishments would be his legacy. I think John’s legacy is still being written. I can tell you that among his greatest joys were helping his son Mike Archer, and his two son-in-laws Darrell Griggs and Nick Fosheim begin their journey with this great group.
You often times hear people say, “in my spare time I am going to work on this or do that or go there”. What I admire most about John and what I believe is his real true gift is that he never has spare time. He always has something that drives him to the next “can’t wait experience”. Being with his lovely bride, Lady Sherry, and the grandkids at Swan Lake, starting an amateur baseball team with Mike, helping his clients through his law practice, getting just one more person to see the joys of Masonry and then enlighten them to the Shrine, having a catch or reading a book with one of the grandkids.
I can tell you there are many great stories about John Archer that I had to leave out due to time and space. So from all of us to you John Archer, thanks for being the guy your grandfather always knew you would be.