William Paul Wantzloeben

William Paul Wantzloeben was born in San Antonio on August 27, 1910. He came to Houston in the late 1920s and worked as an independent insurance agent.

He received his degrees in Gray Lodge in 1941: the Entered Apprentice on January 3, the Fellowcraft on February 12, and the Master Mason degree on March 29. He was appointed Junior Steward for 1941–1942 and Junior Deacon for 1942–1943, then left in October 1942 for military service. After the war he took up the Junior Deacon’s chair again in 1946–1947 and served as Senior Deacon, Junior Warden and Senior Warden. He was installed as the 79th Master in 1950 by Past Master Roe E. Brewer, assisted by Past Master Bryan Funderburke, Sr., and the Rev. M. M. Wolf, a retired Baptist minister and member of the lodge, spoke on Masonry and its application to daily life.

The Korean War began within days of his installation. Gray Lodge had grown from 865 members in 1940 to 1,431 in 1950. New collars and aprons were bought for the officers. On July 19, Past Grand Master John H. Crooker introduced Grand Master Albert J. DeLange, who urged the brethren to know the Grand Lodge laws and do creditable degree work, and explained the new rule that a Master Mason must wait six months before seeking the higher degrees. Randall E. Briscoe of the Grand Lodge Committee on Work led a question-and-answer session on the ritual in September and spoke on “The Five Points of Fellowship.”

The lodge lost the Rev. Brother Wolf on December 15 and its oldest Past Master, Jasper F. Massey, on December 14, 1950. That month Secretary Kurtz E. Gaugler was introduced as Most Excellent Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Texas, the second Gray Lodge member to hold that office. For Public Schools Week, Past Master J. P. Cornelius spoke on the public school’s place in American democracy before a gathering of principals and teachers, and Past Masters’ Night featured a barbecue banquet with Past Grand Master Crooker responding for the Past Masters. A long-running difference with Temple Lodge over the Gray-Temple Masonic Corporation accounts was settled in the spirit of brotherly love, with ownership confirmed on a fifty-fifty basis.

Brother Wantzloeben was exalted a Royal Arch Mason in Washington Chapter No. 2 on November 18, 1946, was a member of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, and was created a Knight Templar in Ruthven Commandery No. 2 on May 16, 1950. He was also a 32° Scottish Rite Mason. He later served as installing officer when A. C. Finn, Jr., became Master in 1953. He died on July 7, 1969, and was entombed in Sunnyside Mausoleum at Forest Park Lawndale with Masonic rites by Gray Lodge. He was survived by two sisters and a brother.