On November 16, 2013, a reception was held at Lozahatchee Lodge No. 97 F&AM in Piedmont, Alabama, to honor Lane Weatherbee, following his election and installation as the Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Alabama on November 13, 2013.

Lane was born in Gadsden, Etowah County, on May 11, 1943, to Cecil and Mabel Evelyn Lane Weatherbee. After graduating from Gadsden High School in 1961, he attended the University of
Alabama in 1961 and Jacksonville State University in 1962. He entered the work force as an insurance adjuster in 1963 with Gay and Taylor, Inc. He became manager of the Gay and Taylor office in Greenville, S.C., in 1964 and accepted the position of staff adjuster for Nationwide Insurance Co. in Birmingham in 1965. He left the insurance field to join his father at The Piedmont Journal, a weekly newspaper, in Piedmont, Ala.

He continued to work at this weekly newspaper until 1984, at which time he established The Piedmont Journal-Independent and served as the editor, publisher and CEO until March 2006 when
he retired and sold the business. He went to work for the City of Piedmont as the mayor’s administrative assistant. His duties consisted of creating and maintaining files on correspondence, industrial and commercial recruitment, actual recruiting of commercial and commercial prospects for Piedmont, providing creative financing for industrial and commercial projects, improving city
cemeteries, surveying streets, attending functions to represent the city in the mayor’s absence and any duties directed by the mayor. Following the employment with the city, he was the advertising agent for the state’s largest privately owned grocery chain. He gave up that position when he became the Right Worshipful Junior Grand Warden. He attended a number of insurance claims schools and many seminars on journalism, journalism liability and photography. He served on the Alabama Press Association’s team to judge other newspapers and prepared seminars on secondclass mailing alternatives.

Mr. Weatherbee married Carol Ann Harper on December 20, 1969. She passed away on October 20, 2005. They had three children, two sons, Greg and Scott, and a daughter, Missie, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Lane is a member of The First United Methodist Church of Piedmont where he serves as chairman of the Usher Committee, a member of the Finance Committee and Assistant Church Treasurer.

Lane was raised a Master Mason in November 1969 at Lozahatchee Lodge No. 97, Piedmont, where he served as Worshipful Master 1998-99. During that year, the lodge began the bi-annual barbecue program that continues to be the largest fund-raiser and source of money for the lodge’s scholarship program. He earned his Calhoun County Masonic Conference Certificate of Examination on April 8, 1995, and was awarded a Grand Lodge of Alabama Certificate of
Proficiency on November 2, 1998. He served as District Lecturer in Calhoun County from November 1998 until November 2004.

He then became Chairman of the Grand Lodge Trial Commission in 2004 and served in that capacity until 2009. He was named to the Grand Lodge Committee on Work in 2005 and continued as a member until 2010, serving as chairman for one year.

Lane joined the York Rite in Lozahatchee Lodge 1975 and became a life member of the York Rite bodies of Anniston in 1986. He served as Grand Marshall for the Grand Chapter in 2003. He joined the Birmingham Valley of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and became a 32° Scottish Rite Mason in 1989. He was named a Knight Commander Court of Honor in 2005.

In April 1988, Lane joined Zamora Shrine Temple and immediately became a member of the Directors Staff. He created the Shrine License Plate program for Alabama in 1994, a program that has contributed nearly $800,000 to the Shriners Hospitals. He was appointed editor of the Zamora News in 1993 and created the current format for that publication. Lane was honored by being 2013] GRAND LODGE OF ALABAMA 133 named Zamora’s Shriner of the Year in 1994 and was elected Director of the Directors Staff in 1995 and 1996. He was appointed to the Zamora Divan as Temple Director in December 1998 and served until 2010.

In 2007, he was named Director General of the Shrine Directors Association of North America in 2007 in Charleston, S.C. Three years later, he was elected President of the Shrine Directors Association in 2010 in Milwaukee, Wisc., and presided over the SDA proceedings in 2011 in Omaha, Neb.

Lane was elected Junior Grand Warden, Grand Lodge of Alabama in November 2010, in 2011 he was elected Senior Grand Warden, and in 2012, he became the Deputy Grand Master.  In 2012, David P. Rebmann, Grand Monarch of the Grottoes of North America, proclaimed Lane a Prophet In Situ in Dinar Grotto in Birmingham.

On February 6, 2013 Lane was awakened by a phone call at 4 a.m. informing him that Most Worshipful Grand Master Charles A. Booker had passed away. According to the Alabama Masonic Code, in the event of the death of a Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Master assumes the duties and responsibilities of the Grand Master. At that point, Lane became the Deputy Grand Master and Acting Grand Master. He served as Acting Grand Master until his election as Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Alabama.