F. G. Belk

F. G. Belk was a native Houstonian, born on May 31, 1877. When he received his Masonic degrees he was a cashier in the Southern Pacific freight offices. He received his degrees in Gray Lodge in 1901: the Entered Apprentice on September 12, the Fellowcraft on October 16, and the Master Mason degree on November 22.

He was Senior Deacon in 1904–1905, was then elected Junior Warden and Senior Warden in turn, and was installed as the 36th Master in 1907 by Past Master J. S. Wilson, assisted by Past Master John W. Haskins. A few months into his term, a transfer or a change in his work schedule kept him from attending lodge, and he was able to preside at only five meetings. His Senior Warden, George H. Brown, carried the lodge through the year, and Brown followed him as Master.

The lodge remained busy in the new Holland-Gray Temple. The portraits of all the Past Masters, a tradition going back to 1871, were reframed that year. On August 21, 1907, Brother J. R. Brown presented the lodge with a gavel he had made in the Panama Canal Zone from a wagon tie laid by the French in 1850 and dug up by the Americans in 1907. The lodge bought another $1,000 in Masonic Building Association stock and joined Holland Lodge in fitting up a banquet hall in the Temple. Among those who received the degrees in 1908 was a young railway worker named John Henry Crooker, who went on to become Grand Master of Masons in Texas.

Brother Belk later moved to El Paso, where he ran the Belk Insurance Agency until his death on October 9, 1959.