M.W. Simon R. LaPlace Biography 2013
Brother Simon R. LaPlace
Simon Royal LaPlace was born in Hartford, on February 7, 1950 to Jeanette (Owen) and William Bissell LaPlace. Simon’s first taste of Masonry was as a youngster when he would see his father on "lodge night." It was "don't ask, and I won't tell" back in the fifties. In the 1960's he briefly got acquainted with DeMolay when he took his initiatory degree. He wouldn't receive his DeMolay degree for another forty years, through special dispensation approved by Executive Officer Harry Needham.
In 1970, his uncle, Carl O. Carlson, drove around with "MWGM70" license plates, a "Most something or other." His aunt, "Didi" LaPlace Carlson was head dietician at the then Masonic Home, wherever that was.
What Simon didn't know then was that not only were his father and uncle Masons, but that his grandfather and greatgrandfather had also been raised in the same lodge, Trinity Lodge No. 43, Deep River. And from the early Bissells was an interesting character, Ozias, who was raised in 1756 at St. John's Lodge No. 2, Middleton, and a charter member of American Union Lodge during the Revolutionary War.
Simon grew up in Deep River and was educated at local schools. He went off to Ithaca, New York, to the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, graduating in 1972. A short career managing in a chain of restaurants convinced him it was better to come home and return to the family retail home furnishings business, established by his great-grandfather in 1897.
Great-grandfather William G. got as far as Senior Warden of Trinity Lodge No. 43 in 1897. The next year, on Dec. 23, 1898,Simon’s grandfather, also Simon Royal LaPlace, joined Trinity Lodge, and served as Master in 1915. Simon’s father, William B. LaPlace was also a Past Master of Trinity Lodge No. 43 in 1951.
In 1973, Simon married Deborah Kathryn Larson. After a while, their son, Julian Royal LaPlace, came along, and after his graduation from University of California at Berkeley, Simon had the pleasure of raising Julian a Master Mason in his lodge
On May 14, 1994, Simon was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. Freemasonry intrigued him, and he hardly missed a meeting. He voluntarily moved where the elders put him, first as Junior Deacon, the next year, Secretary, then Senior Warden and finally Worshipful Master in 1998, where he stayed for the next four years.
After his first two years in the East, he was appointed District Deputy by MW Leonard F. D'Amico, and reappointed by MW Gustaf R. Bodin, and MW Walter E. Kaechele. He is a member of Washington-Burning Bush Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, Middletown, where he is a Past High Priest. Simon is also a member of Columbia Council No. 9, Royal and Select Masters, Haddam; Connecticut College, Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis; and Nathan Hale Council No. 78, Allied Masonic Degrees.
He is a 32° Scottish Rite Mason in the Valleys of Hartford and Norwich.
In 2005, he was appointed Grand Junior Steward by MW George S. Greytak. Also, in 2005, he helped consolidate Pythagoras Lodge No. 45, Old Lyme; Siloam Lodge No. 32, Old Saybrook; and Trinity-Mt. Olive Lodge No. 43, Deep River, into Estuary Lodge No. 43, Old Saybrook, and served as Charter Master. In 2005, Simon closed the 108 year old family business, and he's been a full-time Mason ever since.
MW Simon has been active on Grand Lodge committees, and stops by all committee meetings whenever he can. In December 2006, MW Chuck Fowler appointed him Editor-in-Chief of Connecticut Freemasons, which he has successfully published.
MW Simon is proud to declare, "I am a Blue Lodge Mason." His travels as a Grand Lodge officer have taken him to all of the Blue Lodges in the state.
MW Brother Simon was installed as the 167th Grand Master of Connecticut on April 8, 2013.
