. This is Jess Ewing. I can remember Jess being a clown in the late 1970's and early 1980's. I know that he served the unit as director at some point, but I don't know exactly which years. I can remember an outfit that he and some other guys used to wear where they painted their bellies to look like faces, and then they moved their bellies to make it look like they where whistling.
Pretty creative.
Sloppy Joe
Sloppy Joe joined our unit for a couple years in the early part of the 21st century. Pretty clever character clown costume.
2 Karat
A jeweler by trade, 2 Karat joined us for about a year in the early years of this century. Bill got a job in a different city and transferred to the temple in that city.
Flakey
Flakey - Frack. A very good clown. Loved by children and adults. Flakey and Sunny, also sometimes lovingly referred to as Frick and Frack. I don't know who was which one. Flakey worked tirelessly in support of fundraising and just general clowning around. Often served the unit as part of the chili cooking crew, and the grillmaster at the annual picnic. We keep hoping that Flakey will want to come play with us some more. The door is always open Flakey.
Sunny
The other member of Frick and Frack. Sunny gave countless hours to the temple in general and the unit in particular. When not volunteering with the shrine, he volunteered with a local hospice. His Sunny disposition is missed in our unit. Great clown. Silly as they come. When his mother's health started to fail, Sunny did the best thing for her and moved back to the east coast to help take care of her. We miss him, but understand why he had to go. We'd welcome him back in a heartbeat.
Apples
After earning his emeritus status as a clown, and after serving the unit as director for a couple of years, the potentate at the time approached Apples, and another emeritus clown, Mebob, and asked them to revive an oriental band that had declining numbers. Apples and Mebob and some others who were selected have done a tremendous job of revitalizing the Arab Oriental Band. The band has evolved into an award winning band wherever they compete.
Paddy
Paddy the clown. He's such a big Irishman, that we have a big parade each year in his honor on March 17th. Some call it St. Patrick's day, we just call it Paddy's day. Paddy is on loan to the Divan for a few more years, but this picture is from 2006 CSSCA in St Louis. We can always count on him to help us when we need for him to, whether cleaning tables and hawking bags of chili, or clowning up and helping compete in skits.
2007 Circus - all 6 performances, but not in makeup
2008 Circus - all 6 performances, but not in makeup
Mebob
After MeBob earned his emeritus status, the potentate at the time asked MeBob, and Apples, and some other selected nobles from various different units to revive an Oriental Band that had been in decline. This group of individuals have revived the Oriental Band very well. They win wherever they compete. We're sad that he isn't clowning around with us anymore, but glad that he is an active member of an award winning unit.
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Fuz
One of our senior most members who joined the unit in 1967. I believe that his clown name comes as the result of his profession as a police officer. After he was done putting on makeup, Fuz gave me my first pair of clown shoes. I used them for awhile before passing them on to Gumee, a character clown who dresses up as a Keystone Cop. I think they're the rights shoes for the costume. Fuz also gave me many of his old costumes and makeup. He started me out in pretty good shape. Thanks Fuz.
Fuz passed away in 2009.
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Gumee
Gumee transferred in to us from the Keystone Cops. He was an award winning clown in Des Moines before taking a leave as an active member of the unit to serve on the appointive Divan. We had hoped to get him back as an active member after his appointment ended, but he is concentrating a lot more time on his Scottish Rite duties.
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Fergie
A clown since 2002, Fergie and P J both joined the unit when they were still students at Kansas State University. Now that they've both graduated and have been working on their careers for a little while, our goal will be to find out how we can help them, and how they might be able to help us.
Update: August 2007, Fergie has accepted a position in Mississippi and reports to his new job in late September
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Slappy
Slappy the clown is another one of our new guys. He joined us in June and I think that he has paraded at least 4 times already and it's only mid August as I write this. Here he is in his first time in clown make up on July 4th in Wamego. Slappy sure does have a lot of fun clowning around.
2008 Circus - all performances
Resigned from the unit in 2008
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Kasey
Emeritus clown who joined in 1976. Kasey is a really big and tall man.
6' 6'' or 6' 7" easy. Whitey tells the story from days gone by, of when they were ordering jackets for all of the unit members. They tried a triple XL on him and it just barely fit !!! Kasey can't join us as often as any of us would like, but we're always glad to have him when he can make it.
Kasey has been sick and unable to join us since at least 2007.
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Sappy
Sappy the clown, our 2007 Potentate, got his name when he participated as the 'SAP' running thru the trees in our skit during the circus. That was the only time that we've been able to get him in costume so far. He started something that we hope will become a tradition with future Potentates by participating in the clown skit during the circus. He's been real supportive of the clowns and we appreciate it.
Sadly, we haven't been able to get Sappy back in costume since 2007. We haven't given up hope though
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Klik
He came into the Shrine in the Fall 2007 Ceremonial. He's been thinking about jopining ever since. This month, he decided to come to our meeting to see what we were about. That was two nights ago. He asked to join, we accepted him that night, he put on make up and took pictures last night, and I added him to the website tonight. Kip said he had a great time putting on and taking off makeup. I think that he have found himself a nice Shrine home.
I was wrong. This is the only time that Klik was in make up. He resigned from the unit in 2009