THE NEW AGE--Article--May 1990     ARSISCEL.APR









              Leadership-Commitment-Service-Hard Work:

                 The Life of Walter Christian Ploeser


                        Dr. John W. Siscel, 33
       Executive Vice President, Plumbing Industry Council, Inc.
            4804 Marchwood Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63128


     America, since its founding, has been known as the land of 
opportunity.  Rich or poor, young or old, all have had the same 
chance to go as far as their abilities allow.  One young man took 
life's setbacks and expanded his opportunities far beyond most 
people's imagination.  That young man--orphaned at 7, raised by 
maternal and paternal aunts, hawking newspapers in Wyoming at 11, 
selling insurance at 15 and forming his own successful business 
at 26--was Walter Christian Ploeser.
     The common threads that continue to weave their way through 
the fabric of Walter's eventful and successful life are hard 
work, commitment, service and leadership.  They enabled and 
propelled Walter to become in 1931 the youngest man ever elected 
to the Missouri General Assembly, to form in 1938 the Insurance 
Institute of Missouri (serving as its President from 1938-1940) 
and to found in 1935 the Marine Underwriters Corporation (a 
subsidiary of Ploeser, Watts & Co. formed in 1933).
 
     Walter's ability to lead and to serve took him into arenas 
far beyond Jefferson City and St. Louis in Missouri.  He is a 
Past President of Grant, Ploeser & Associates, a Public Relations 
Firm which had offices not only in St. Louis, Missouri, but also 
in South Bend, Indiana, Washington, D.C., and Mexico City, 
Mexico.  This unique ability to serve also took him to our 
Nation's Capital on something other than business.
     The people of Missouri's 12th Congressional District sent 
Walter to represent them for four terms from the 77th through the 
80th Congresses from 1941 to 1949.  There Walter served with 
distinction through America's darkest hours.  He served on the 
Republican Steering Committee, was Chairman of the Subcommittee 
on Government Corporations, and in the 80th Congress became the 
Chairman of the Select Committee on Small Business.  Inspector 
Ploeser was rated one of Congress' six Best Orators in the 
1940's.
     The flair and ability of Illustrious Ploeser made him a 
success to be sure, but Walter's life never would have been what 
it was but for his greatest career choice--his marriage on August 
17, 1928, to Dorothy Mohrig.  It was truly a union "made in 
heaven."  Until her passing in May of 1985, Dorothy was with 
Walter every step of the way and made everyone whom she touched 
the better for it.  In addition, two fine daughters graced this 
union, Ann Ploeser Burgan and Sally Ploeser Chapel. 
     The Ploeser "team," Dorothy and Walter, traveled to Paraguay 
at President Eisenhower's appointment in 1957 and to Costa Rica 
at President Nixon's appointment in 1970 as this Nation's 
Ambassador.  In each instance Ambassador Ploeser was credited  
with stabilizing both nations' economies and, before leaving, was 
decorated with Paraguay's Grand Cross and awarded an Honorary 
Doctorate from the University of Asuncion in 1959.  For his 
services on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Congressman 
Ploeser received the Navy Certificate of Merit and an Honorary 
Doctorate from Norwich University in 1948.
     Hard work, service, commitment and leadership took deepest 
root in Walter through his work in DeMolay.  Walter rose rapidly 
to become Master Councilor of St. Louis Chapter, State Master 
Councilor of Missouri and the first Advisor to the Order of 
Chivalry in Kansas City.  A lifelong associate of DeMolay's 
founder, Illustrious Frank S. Land, 33, G...C... Walter received 
DeMolay's Legion of Honor, became in 1944 a Member of the Supreme 
Council (on which he still serves) and the first Senior DeMolay 
in its history to become Grand Master in 1952.  From 1944 until 
he went to Costa Rica in 1970, Walter served as Executive Officer 
in Eastern Missouri and later the entire State.  In 1986 he was 
inducted into DeMolay's Hall of Fame.
     Another area of service for Walter Ploeser has been his 
commitment to the Separation of Church and State.  That service 
has been recognized by the Freedoms Foundation in 1949 with its 
highest award and by Americans United in 1977 through its 
conferral on Brother Ploeser of The Religious Freedoms Award.
     The natural corollary for all of this dedication is Walter's 
deep devotion to Freemasonry.  A fifty-year-plus member and Past 
Master of Algabil Lodge No. 544, Walter was twice chosen to serve 
as Right Worshipful Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Missouri  
in 1967-68 and 1971-72.  For twenty years Right Worshipful 
Brother Ploeser served as Chairman of that Grand Lodge's 
Committee on Public Schools and in 1987 Walter was designated 
Chairman Emeritus.  He has been long associated with the unity 
and cooperation of Masonry's Appendant Bodies.  As a result, he 
received in 1983 The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar's 
highest award, The Knight Templar Cross of Honor.
     Also since 1944 Scottish Rite has occupied a prominent place 
in the life of Inspector Ploeser.  Coroneted a Thirty-third 
Degree Scottish Rite Mason in 1961 (the year he served as 
Illustrious Potentate of Moolah Shrine Temple), he has devoted 
much time to its service.  That leadership was recognized by 
Illustrious Luther A. Smith, 33, Sovereign Grand Commander, by 
his appointment of Brother Ploeser on January 1, 1967, as Deputy 
of the Supreme Council in Missouri.  Then on October 6, 1967, 
Walter was crowned an Active Member of the Supreme Council and 
Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Missouri.  Since that time 
Illustrious Ploeser has distinguished himself as Chairman of the 
Education and Americanism, Fraternal Relations and Insurance 
Committees of the Supreme Council and is its current Grand 
Chamberlain.
     The threads of Walter's life when woven together--those of 
leadership, commitment, service and hard work--have not created a 
perfect man, for no one is perfect.  Nor is he just a great man, 
or even a "Mason's Mason."  Rather, simply stated, he is one of 
Freemasonry's outstanding leaders of the 20th century.
     Yes, the young man orphaned at seven, at work at eleven, an 
insurance salesman at fifteen, Legislator at twenty, in business 
at twenty six, Congressman at thirty-four, Republican National 
Committeeman for Missouri at fifty-seven, United States 
Ambassador at fifty and at sixty-three, and fraternal leader 
since 1944, Brother Ploeser has come a long way and, in so doing, 
has left a mark on the world and those in it that will last so 
long as there are men to read it.  
     The tenets of Freemasonry, the work ethic, and the American 
dream have combined in Walter Christian Ploeser, and Freemasonry 
in Missouri and men throughout the world thank God that they did.

_________________________________________________________________
_
The threads of Walter's life when woven together--those of 
leadership, commitment, service and hard work--have not created a 
perfect man, for no one is perfect.  Nor is he just a great man, 
or even a "Mason's Mason."  Rather, simply stated, he is one of 
Freemasonry's outstanding leaders of the 20th century.        


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