The Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of the State of West Virginia are in Wheeling today and Saturday for its 143rd annual conclave.

Several hundred Knights Templar representing the 22 subordinate Commanderies in West Virginia will meet in business sessions today and Saturday at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. Wheeling hosted the first Grand Commandery held in West Virginia in 1874. Wheeling Commandery No. 1, the local commandery, has since been honored to host the Grand Commandery as it has met in Wheeling on 17 other occasions in the last 143 years.

The sessions of the Grand Commandery will be presided over by Right Eminent Grand Commander F. Paul Baker of Wheeling. Sir Knight Baker lived in West Virginia for the past41 years and now resides in Colerain. He is a retired Wheeling police officer. He was elected Grand Commander in 2016 following his progression in the Grand Commandery line since his initial appointment in 2010.

Sir Knights and distinguished visitors from sister Grand Commanderies in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky as well as Past Grand Commanders from the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania will attend. Most Excellent Companion, Daniel A. Witschey, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons of West Virginia, a resident of New Martinsville and Past Commander of Mount State Commandery will also be present among the distinguished visitors.

The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America was formed in 1816. The order of Knights Templar is the crowning portion of the York Rite of Freemasonry. Its membership is composed of Symbolic or Blue Lodge Master Masons who have become Royal Arch Masons and have subsequently petitioned for advancement in Chivalric or Templar Masonry. The modern Order of Knights Templar draws its name from the ancient military order of the Crusades.

The modern Order of Knights Templar has its ritualistic foundation in the New Testament of the Bible and is a fraternal Christian military order.

The Knights Templar have three major philanthropic activities in addition to their fraternal bonds of fellowship. The Knight Templar Eye foundation established in 1957 provides funds for research in pediatric eye disease. Financial grants of more than $6 million also have been given for institutional eye medical research.

The Knight Templar Educational Foundation, established in 1922, provides scholarship loans to deserving students in financial need for up to two years of college.

The Grand Commandery will conclude on Saturday with the installation of Very Eminent Deputy Grand Commander Ronald E. Jones as the new Grand Commander for West Virginia for 2017-2018.