Connecticut Prince Hall Scottish Rite Masons Honor
Four Role Models with the Silver Eagle Award
Farmington, CT — Carmen Colon, youth services administrator and executive director of CCC/ YMCA; Honorable Cynthia Jennings, councilwoman, City of Hartford; Katharine Chaney-Jones, financial services executive and philanthropist; and Walter Luckett Jr., entrepreneur, retired NBA basketball player and president of the Walter Luckett Foundation, have been named recipients of the Connecticut Prince Hall Scottish Rite Masons’ Silver Eagle Award. The four were honored and presented the award on June 25 during the Ninth Annual Celebration and Awards Banquet of the Commanders of the Rite of the Connecticut Council of Deliberation, held at the Farmington Marriott Hartford Hotel in Farmington. Fifth District State Rep. Brandon McGee delivered the keynote address.
The Silver Eagle Award is the highest public service award that the Prince Hall Scottish Rite Masons make to a person who is not a member of any Masonic Order. “This award recognizes and celebrates the selfless work being performed by our honorees,” said Floyd Bagwell, program chairperson and former Grand Master of the Connecticut Prince Hall Masons. “We want the public at large to know that the Prince Hall Scottish Rite membership is cognizant of the profound contributions these individuals and other people of color make over time to the life, image, and welfare of Connecticut in the legendary manner of our revered founder, Prince Hall.”
The concept of the Silver Eagle Award was conceived and established in 2007 by the Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodge, then adopted by the Scottish Rite Body. The Grand Lodge of Connecticut is a direct descendent of African Lodge #459, which was founded by Prince Hall, a prominent man of color in Colonial Boston, MA, who along with 14 other men of color, were made Masons by an Irish Lodge stationed there in 1776. When the Irish Lodge left the area, the African Americans applied for and received a Warrant or Charter from the “Mother Grand Lodge” of England in 1784. African Lodge #459 was established with Prince Hall as its first leader. ■