A Huntingdon area resident and a native of Tyrone, where his business is headquartered, has been elected and installed as Chief Rabban, the second highest position in the Jaffa Shrine Divan in Altoona.
Darrel L. Bathurst has moved through the Jaffa Shrine ranks of some 3,700 members being elected Oriental Guide, High Priest and Prophet, Assistant Rabban and now Chief Rabban, ultimately Potentate.
The members of the Masonic assembly nominated, elected and installed Bathurst without opposition on January 6.
Active in the Tyrone and Huntingdon area communities, Bathurst also served in the political, fraternal and charity organizations.
He served 15 years with the Tyrone Lions as secretary-treasurer, vice president and president. He is also a former Huntingdon Lions member. He is a member of the B.P.O.E. Elks Lodge.
Among accolades accorded him for his civic and community services include Salvation Army Advisory chairman, Tyrone Chamber of Commerce, Tyrone Hospital, Benedicts of Tyrone, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Walker Township Planning Commission and International Sanitary Supply Association.
His community services include that of Tyrone Borough Council from 1963 to 1968, chairman of the Tyrone Borough Water Committee as well as serving time on park and recreation, finance, sewer and public utility committees.
The new Chief Rabban, celebrating his 66th birthday on January 22, moved to suburban Huntingdon in 1979. He graduated from Tyrone Area High School in 1959. He attended classes at Altoona-Penn State and Juniata College. He added to his education with computer classes at Huntingdon County Vo Tech.
Now the sole owner and administrator of Central Distributors, industrial chemicals and janitor supplies, his employment began as assistant Tyrone Borough secretary in 1959.
In March of 1962 he went to work as bookkeeper for Central Distributors and from there went to salesman, to sales manager, executive vice president in 1970. In 1989 he purchased his partner’s interests and became sole stockholder and president.
In Masonic and Shrine member he joined Tyrone Lodge No. 494 F & AM and became a dual member of Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 300 F & AM, where he served as treasurer the past seven years.
As a 36-year member of Jaffa Shrine he has been in the foreground in ceremonials, Hospital paper crusades, circuses and many of the fund raisers.
During the years he found time to be a member of the motor patrols for 12 years of participating with other Jaffa units in parades and ceremonials in a fire truck version. That in addition to attending six North American Imperial Shrine sessions and 16 Mid-Atlantic Shrine conventions.
In what others call their spare time, he is past president of the Huntingdon County Shrine Club and a member of the Morrisons Cove, Center County and other Shrine Clubs.
Other memberships include Quetzalcoatl, a group that brings Mexican orthopedic and burns victims to Shrine medical facilities in Mexico; the Kachina Klub, another benevolent charity, a permanent contributing member of Shriners hospitals of which there are 18 plus four burns centers.
His family consists of his wife, the former Linda McCracken, a retired banker who helps him in his sales office as well as accompaniment to various Shrine and Masonic functions.
There are four children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
As a member of the 12th Street United Methodist Church he has served seven years as chairman of the finance committee, three years as trustee and two years as chairman of the administrative council.
Serving with Bathurst will be Dale W. Hoover, Martinsburg, Potentate; Kenneth D. Conrad, Bellwood, Assistant Rabban; William G. Troxell, Hollidaysburg, High Priest and Prophet and John K. Reilly, Jr., Clearfield, Oriental Guide.
Also serving in elective offices include Richard J. Burgan, Jr., James Creek, treasurer and Leroy W. Kerns, Altoona, Recorder.
The next 12 months will find him attending Shrine functions in 18 counties throughout Central Pennsylvania. The Jaffa jurisdiction covers from Blairsville on the west to Lewistown on the east and from the New York border on the north to the Maryland border on the south.
In addition his travels will take him throughout the United States to represent Jaffa Shrine at conventions, training sessions, parades and hospital visits.
