Warsaw resident Sonda Schapson was elected in June as the Worthy Grand Matron Order of the Eastern Star.
Schapson, 61, Warsaw, was elected at a Grand Chapter state convention meeting in Indianapolis.
She was elected by the subordinate chapter delegates of the Indiana Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star.
Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic, fraternal, Christian and philanthropic international organization whose mission is to better mankind.
The organization is for men and women beginning at age 18.
There are 188 Order of the Eastern Star chapters in Indiana.
There has not been anyone from Warsaw elected to the position since 1944, Schapson said.
Mildred Smith was the last Worthy Grand Matron to be elected from Warsaw. She served from 1944 to 1945.
Schapson’s one-year duties began in June, and will continue until June 2013.
Schapson said she is honored to be elected to the position.
“I am overwhelmed and humbled and I never thought a girl from Greenfield would be elected as the Grand Matron,” Schapson said during an interview at her home.
As Worthy Grand Matron, she is the principle worthy officer of the Indiana chapters of Order of the Eastern Star.
Her duties are to make sure the Eastern Star chapter members in Indiana follow the rules and regulations of the organization.
She also is responsible for inspecting the chapters, and audits the organization’s secretarial books.
She also presides over the Grand Chapter convention.
Worldwide, there are approximately 1 million members under the General Grand Chapter.
The organization also has youth groups called International Rainbow For Girls, a philanthropic group.
She said she was a member of the organization when she was a teenager.
Schapson is employed at DePuy in sales and administration and is married to Butch. The couple owns Sherman & Lin’s Discount Grocery and On The Grow, a resale shop in Warsaw for children’s clothing.
Since 1995, she has been a member of the Warsaw Chapter 88 Order of the Eastern Star, where there are 160 members currently.
The local chapter meets 12 times a year at the Masonic Lodge in Boggs Industrial Park in Warsaw.
The group bases its meetings around lectures about women from the Bible including Ada, Ruth, Esther and Martha.
One of the local chapter’s philanthropy projects is they give $500 a year to the American Legion Post 49 Auxiliary so they can mail packages overseas to servicemen for Christmas.
There is a Masonic retirement home and medical center in Franklin, Ind., and each Worthy Grand Matron has a project she completes for the building or residents.
Schapson’s project is to help raise funds to put in a four-hole putting green, Bocce ball and shuffle board court at the home so residents can have outdoor recreational opportunities.
She said one of her special projects as Grand Matron is called Wings of Hope.
She is raising funds for the organization that has an air ambulance plane organization.
The organization transports children with physical disabilities to the Shriner Hospital for Children in St. Louis, Mo.
Schapson’s grandson, Brady Clark, was born with club feet and he received treatment at the Shriners Hospital in St. Louis, when the Wings of Hope organization assisted him.
To become a member of Order of the Eastern Star a person must be related to someone who is a Mason.
For more information, visit www.warsawlodge73.com or call Schapson at 574-269-9572.
