North Carolina Mason Jesse MacWatt is no stranger to service. A retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant, Brother Jesse actually served in both the Marine Corps and the Navy, over the course of his lengthy military career. “The service of being a military man was a major part of my life,” says Jesse. When pressed for detail, he acknowledges that his long record included combat duty in Desert Storm. But even so, Brother Jesse points to a different post as the most challenging one he ever faced: Dover Air Force Base, where the Marine Corps had set up a mortuary unit to receive casualties coming in from the Middle East. “That was a tough duty assignment,” Brother Jesse recalls, “the toughest assignment I ever had.”
With a lifetime record of such dedicated service, it was natural for Brother MacWatt to want to continue to seek opportunities to serve, even in retirement – and it was at that point that his thoughts turned back to Masonry. Freemasonry is a family tradition for him, going back to his grandfather’s days as a Mason in Lancaster, South Carolina. Brother Jesse himself (a Charlotte native) was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Steele Creek Lodge No. 737, in February 1975; he followed up immediately by joining the Shrine, and the Charlotte Valley AASR – in the Spring class of 1975. As so often happens, however, life intervened in the form of career and family, and he was pulled away from Masonry for a number of years. But in 2017, Brother Jesse found himself feeling the draw towards returning to the Craft – and particularly, toward the Scottish Rite. “As I get older I feel more connected,” Jesse says. “There’s so much that the Scottish Rite does for the community, and for Masons all over,” he explains, “so I really wanted to be a part of it…. that’s where my heart is.”
Yet with Brother MacWatt’s lifelong commitment to the ideal of service, he wanted to be more than just a card-carrying member. As Jesse himself he puts it, “I just had a strong feeling to take an active part.” So in 2018, he joined the Charlotte Chapter of the Knights of Saint Andrew, where he’s now serving in the officer line as Sentinel. “It was an opportunity for another degree of service, to continue to help the Valley grow,” he explains. “Besides,” he jokes concerning the Scottishthemed service organization: “with a name like Mac- Watt, how could I not join the KSA?!?”
Given that Brother MacWatt has such a strong connection to the AASR, then, it’s no surprise that when the call went out in April for KSA Knights to step up and help the Charlotte Valley with the Spring Reunion, Brother MacWatt answered the bell. He wasted no time in contacting the KSA Historian to offer to contribute in any way he could. But there was just one problem: he had recently undergone knee replacement surgery, and was forced to walk with a cane as a result. “I’m afraid I’m not too mobile these days,” he said at the time, “…but I can sure sit at the Tyling station if you need me to.” And so, despite his stiff knee – and a nearly four-hour drive to Charlotte for the Reunion – Jesse arrived at 6:30 am, and faithfully manned the front desk for several hours on both days of the Reunion, helping to check the brethren in as they arrived.
In fact, even after the Spring Reunion was drawn to a successful conclusion, Brother MacWatt has continued to live up to the KSA ideal of service to the Charlotte Valley. In just a short time, he has become a familiar and welcome presence to the brethren, at that same check-in desk. Yet what makes his service all the more remarkable is that Jesse has recently had to deal with a major family challenge: his stepson, Greg, was diagnosed with brain cancer back in March. Greg’s doctors initially gave him only 12 months to live. “It’s a real touchy situation,” Jesse says, as he describes the harrowing process of accompanying his stepson to countless appointments, and difficult treatments including radiation and chemotherapy. Nevertheless, Jesse and his wife Antoinette are strong in their faith that Greg will make an eventual full recovery, with the help of this vigorous treatment protocol. And still, amid all the difficulties of this painful situation, Brother Jesse has continued to honor his commitment to the KSA – making the long drive not only for Reunions, but also for regular monthly stated communications. When asked how he’s able to keep up with his service to the Valley and the KSA even during a time of such adversity, he replies with characteristic modesty: “It’s a matter of pride…. service has been pretty much my lifetime.”
Clearly Brother MacWatt exemplifies the KSA ideal: selfless dedication to the Rite, even in spite of obstacles and difficulties. So if you’re a 32nd-degree Mason, and this ideal of service resonates with you: please contact your Secretary, and ask him to put you in touch with the Knights of Saint Andrew chapter in your Valley. There’s always work to be done; and the KSA can always use more Knights like Brother Jesse MacWatt.
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