It didn't take long for Jeff Thompson to realize something wasn't right about his introduction to the Masonic fraternity.

The meeting was not in a lodge setting, but a hotel conference room. There were only five "brothers" doing the degree work ... for all three degrees. The entire process lasted "a couple of hours." Within two months, Thompson was certain he had mistakenly joined a clandestine Masonic lodge in the area near Fort Lee, Va., where he was stationed as a soldier.

None of the ensuing meetings he attended were ever held at the same venue. His lodge suddenly seemed to have merged with another and a new Worshipful Master chosen without Thompson having ever been notified. During the degrees, "No one knew what they were doing. They didn't know how to do anything."

But in Thompson's defense, his mistake was an honest one.

"I didn't know then what looked right and what didn't. You don't know what you don't know, right?" he said. "The guys from work that recruited me into it told me it was legit. They had 'fake charters' that made it look legitimate. When we were done, they said, 'You're official,' and that was it."

Dismayed and feeling betrayed, Thompson forgot about Freemasonry for more than a dozen years and moved on with family and military life, deploying to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once. Retiring after 20 years in the service, Thompson, his wife and two sons settled near Stedman, North Carolina.

One day late in 2025, a simple conversation with a fellow Army retiree at a gym rekindled his interest. That man was Glenn Nieves, a member of Stedman Lodge No. 730 AF&AM that is located across the street from said gym. At the time, Thompson thought that having once been a clandestine Mason, he could never become a legitimate one.

That was an incorrect impression. Nieves asked his lodge secretary to reach out to Thompson, and in no time, he was filling out Form 40 – Renunciation of Clandestine Membership – to file with the Grand Lodge of North Carolina AF&AM. With that form approved by the Most Worshipful Grand Master and Grand Secretary, Thompson was allowed to petition Stedman No. 730 to seek Masonic membership in a legitimate, authorized lodge – one in possession of a real charter for more than 40 years, not some phony version concocted to fool newcomers.

On March 16, 2026, just 53 days after his initiation, Thompson became a Master Mason – this time, the right way. Before he left the lodge that night, he filed a petition to become a Scottish Rite member in the valleys of Fayetteville and New Bern. That was on a Monday night, and four days later, he was part of the class at New Bern's spring reunion, and the active candidate in the 6th and 20th degrees.

"I grew up not far from the old Scottish Rite temple in Portsmouth, Virginia. I saw it every day and on my way to church," said Thompson, whose great-uncle, Howard Hathaway III, had been a member of the Valley of Portsmouth." As I was going through the [blue lodge] degrees, I started watching videos on YouTube by Ill. Bro. Maynard Edwards and Ill. Bro. [Arturo] de Hoyos, Grand Cross, and those helped convince me I wanted to be part of Scottish Rite as soon as possible. It helped that the lodge brothers I feel closest to are all in the Scottish Rite.

"I was told by a brother that the lessons of the reunion would be like drinking from a firehose, there's so much information - and that's true. But I loved it all - the backdrops, the temple, how supportive everybody was, and how hard the degree teams were working."

Eager to become a part of one of those teams, Thompson will play a key role in the 7th Degree that Fayetteville will next perform at its fall reunion, Sept. 19th.

"I was able to get a copy of 'Morals and Dogma,' and I've been reading through 'A Bridge to Light.' Those definitely help, and I think I'll understand the lessons even more when I get to see them again. Scottish Rite definitely is the college of Freemasonry."