James E. Morley Consistory No. 73 · Valley of Nassau · Orient of the Bahamas

Illustrious Sands is the first Sovereign Grand Commander to ascend to the seat from the Bahamas, and is the first non-American to do so. He is also our second foreign-born Sovereign Grand Commander. He devoted many, many years of service to this United Supreme Council in various capacities, most notably serving as the Deputy for the Orient of the Bahamas for 25 years. His focus was on restoring prestige to the purple crown of a Sovereign Grand Inspector General; arresting the membership slide; and improving the financial stability of the Supreme Council. He enjoyed the second longest membership in Scottish Rite of all our leaders—56 years. The Class of 2019 was named in his honor.