Clifford E. Butler

Clifford E. Butler was born on February 3, 1893, at Tenaha, Texas. He was a railway clerk with the Southern Pacific when he petitioned Gray Lodge and was later associated with one of Houston’s major oil companies. He received his degrees in 1915: the Entered Apprentice on September 20, the Fellowcraft on October 28, and the Master Mason degree on December 3. He was appointed Junior Deacon for 1917–1918 and elected Junior Warden for 1918–1919 and Senior Warden for 1919–1920.

He was installed as the 49th Master, the first of Gray Lodge’s second half-century, at a joint installation with Holland and Reagan Lodges by Past Master F. G. Laeverenz of Holland No. 1, assisted by Past Master J. T. Slaughter. Houston was booming. The 1920 census counted 138,276 people, and the Post boasted that the city, with 18 railroads and its ship channel, was “the heart of the Gulf Coast oil industry.”

His term opened with a change in custom: the lambskin apron would now be presented at the close of the Master Mason degree rather than the Entered Apprentice. The lodge authorized oil portraits of Grand Masters Charles Stewart and A. S. Richardson, and a building committee pressed ahead on plans for a new Temple. In November 1920 the lodge lost its longtime Secretary, Past Master John H. Rothwell, who with J. R. Cade had kept the lodge’s records for more than 24 years. At Christmas the lodge distributed forty to fifty baskets of food to the needy.

Brother Butler presided at every meeting through December 15, 1920, with one exception, but was unable to attend for the rest of his term. His Senior Warden, Norman Atkinson, led the lodge through the remaining six months, which included the Golden Anniversary Observance at the City Auditorium on January 27, 1921. Brother Butler served on the committee for the new Temple site in March 1921.

He was a member of the York Rite bodies and a 32° Scottish Rite Mason. He died on September 17, 1951, and was buried with Masonic honors by Gray Lodge in Hollywood Cemetery. He was survived by his mother, Mrs. Louise E. Butler, and a sister, Mrs. Iva Alice Fields.