Demands at Home Force Supreme Governor Scott Into Early Leave; Huggins Rises, Stands for Election June 29
> Supreme Governor William R. Scott of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Lodge 535, elected in May 2006 to a one-year term as the chief presiding officer of the Loyal Order of Moose, cited personal and professional reasons as he submitted an early resignation from the office Wednesday, Feb. 14, at the opening of the regular winter meeting of the Supreme Council.
The Council, the Order’s highest governing body, voted unanimously to accept Scott’s resignation “with regret.”
In accordance with the General Laws, Supreme Jr. Governor Eugene C. Huggins, of Batavia, IL Lodge 682, succeeded Scott as Supreme Governor, effective immediately. Huggins’s name is expected to be placed in nomination June 29 at the 2007 International Convention in Orlando, for a full-year term.
Scott, 57, a full-time practicing attorney in Sault Ste. Marie, said that he faces increasing professional demands, along with personal family responsibilities, which forced his decision to announce his early departure.
“The obligations of being a sole legal practitioner, and the extremely heavy travel schedule, made it increasingly difficult for me to attend all of the visitations and board meetings that are required of the Supreme Governor,” Scott said. “I love the Moose; I have been proud to serve the fraternity for 30 years -- and I intend to keep on serving it as a rank-and-file member. Gene Huggins is a good man, a fine Moose and a true fraternalist, whom I’ve come to know well over the last 15 years; I know he’ll do a fine job.”
Huggins, 66, joined Batavia Lodge 682 in 1967. He served on the Lodge’s Ritual Staff for 35 years, and is a Past District President of the Illinois Moose Association. A member of the 50 Division of the Moose 25 Club, Huggins received the Fellowship Degree of Honor in 1984 and was the Class Representative when the Pilgrim Degree of Merit was conferred upon him in 1994.
Huggins, retired from a management career in the wood-products industry, resides with his wife Diane in Canton, IL. They have two children and four grandchildren.
