The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-09-26
CHARLIE SEIFFERT COIN
STRONG; WORKING HARD
New Bern's Great Dynamo who
Keeps the Wheels Turning
For Shriners and 9th
err MasOns

NEW BERN, Sept. 70. - II
you're looking for proof of per-
petual motion, take a gander at
this towns Dutch windmill, IL
year-old Charlie Seifert.
He is known and loved by
members of the Masonic fraterni-
ty throughout Coastal Carolina.
Undaunted by a diabetic con-
dition that might shelve a man
of less energy and enthusiasm,
he continues undated his re-
markable career as the recorder
of Sudan Shrine Temple and sec
rotary of the New Bern Scottish
Rite Consistory.
Either job would have young
er fellow hanging on the ropes,
but Charlie is still going strong
after a strenuous span of more
than 20 years. He became the
Consistory's secretary on January
l, 1929, and took over the record
er's office for Sudan three years
later.
Today, thanks largely to his
unceasing activity, the Temple
has 5,687 Mobiles, and the Consis-
tory has a membership of 2,917.
AS a matter of fact. New Bern
has the largest consistory in the
State. Charlotte, its closest COM
petitor, trails with 378 members,
while Wilmington, Greensboro,
and Asheville bring up the rear
in that order.
Under his good natured prod
ding, new Scottish Rite Tenn
pie has been built and paid for
here at cost of close to 100000,
and the Mobiles of Sudan have
erected a Shrine auditorium at
an approximate cost of S165,000
that will seat 1000 persons COM
fortably.
Charlie would be the first to
deny that he deserves all the
credit for these and other accom-
plishments. But everyone in the
order agrees that without his col
orful flair for promotion they
would never have become rea1i-
ties.
Seifert comes in for a lot of
good natured ribbing about his
knack for extracting money from
members of the Temple and the
Consistory, but the results speak
for themselves.
He was a shrewd, highly sue
cessful business man when he re-
tired from his soft-drink bottling
concern to assume his present du-
ties more than two decades ago.
The booming-voiced moon-fac-
ed native of Clinton, Mass, had
been operating his pop plant here
since 1904, and had done better
than all right at it, too. When he
called it quits he was careful not
to bring along any bottlenecks to
his new job.
There hasn't been any red tape
cluttering up Charles desk, eth
er. He makes a point to get to
the point, and manages to get a
whale of a lot of work done de.
spite his frequent jaunts through
out Eastern Carolina.
He has been a 33rd degree Ma
son since 1927, the highest honor
that the order can confer on him.
In this connection, it's significant
to note that he declined to rest
on his laurels, so to speak, and
rendered the greatest service to
the Consistory and the Shrine
after receiving Masonry's high
est degree.
Charlie lived in Massachusetts,
until he was IS years old, when
he moved to Greensboro with his
family. After eight years he NOV
ed to Columbus, Ca, and then
came back to North Carolina in
1902 to reside at Wilmington.
He enrolled at State College in
1902, where he was an outstand-
ing football player for three
years. Following graduation he
came to New Bern and has been
here ever since.