Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the Orient of Florida
We are pleased to announce that Ill⸫ Richard G. Hoover, 33° was unanimously elected and crowned as Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the Orient of Florida on Saturday, August 21, 2021, during the biennial session of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction.
Our new SGIG was born in Williamsport, PA, May 31, 1952. He attended the public schools in the area and graduated from Williamsport High School in 1970. After graduation, he worked in his father’s construction business for several years until moving to St. Petersburg, FL in 1977. Ill⸫ Rick returned to Williamsport to marry his high school sweetheart, Robyn (Bobby) L. Allen, on December 17, 1983. Together they have two sons, Richard A. and J. Ryan. Ill⸫ Hoover has a daughter, Tammie Hartland, from a previous marriage. Rick and Bobby enjoy spending time with their three beautiful granddaughters: Alexis, Marissa, and Audrey Rose.
Since moving to Florida, our SGIG has been employed in the Pest Control industry. He has worked with several of the largest firms in the Nation in management with duties including technician training, customer relations and retention, and management. In 1988, Ill⸫ Rick and Bobby incorporated All R’s Pest Management to give a type of service prospective customers look for, a company that cares. This business has been successfully serving customers for over thirty years.
Ill⸫ Hoover received the Three Symbolic Degrees of Freemasonry in Nitram Lodge No. 188 in St. Petersburg, FL in 1994. He served his Lodge as Worshipful Master in 1998 and as Secretary from 2004 – 2013. He has served his District in various committee chairmanships from 1997 through 2008.
Our SGIG has served the Grand Lodge of Florida as District Deputy Grand Master of the (old) 21st Masonic District in 2003 and served as District Instructor in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2013. In addition, he served as Grand Standard Bearer in 2007, five years as a member of the Masonic Jurisprudence Committee, the FA-100 Committee, Public Education & Citizenship Committee, Public Relations and Publicity Committee, and the Masonic Leadership Training Committee. In 2010 he was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Arizona near the Grand Lodge of Florida.
Ill⸫ Hoover was elected Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Florida in 2014, Senior Grand Warden in 2015, Deputy Grand Master in 2016, and elected Grand Master at the 188th Annual Grand Communication and then installed Grand Master on his 65th birthday, May 31, 2017.
Ill⸫ Hoover became a Master of the Royal Secret on May 6, 1995, in the Valley of Tampa. He has been an active member of the Valley, having served as Master of Kadosh in 2008 along with serving as President of the Past Masters Organization. He has served as the Valley of Tampa’s Trustee on the Scottish Rite Foundation of Florida’s Board of Trustees in 2012 – 2014. He was coroneted a Thirty-Third Scottish Rite Mason in November 2013.
Ill⸫ Rick is a member of the St. Petersburg York Rite Bodies, Selama Grotto, Egypt Shriners, Bethlehem Chapter No. 169, OES, and a member of the Royal Order of Scotland, Maxwell Clan.
In his spare time, he enjoys golf, trap and skeet shooting, bowling, and collecting Masonic paraphernalia and memorabilia.