J. P. Cornelius

J. P. Cornelius was born at Commerce, Texas, on January 11, 1906. He was educated at Commerce, graduated from East Texas State Teachers College with a B.A. degree, and later earned his M.A. from the University of Houston. A teacher by profession, he began in 1926 as shop teacher at Jackson Junior High, then taught mathematics and coached football at San Jacinto High School. When Austin Senior High opened in 1937 he moved there to teach woodwork, and he was principal of Hartman Junior High at the time of his death.

He received his degrees in Gray Lodge: the Entered Apprentice on December 12, 1932, the Fellowcraft on January 9, 1933, and the Master Mason degree on March 17, 1933. He was Senior Steward in 1934–1935 and then served as Senior Deacon, Junior Warden and Senior Warden before his installation as the 67th Master in 1938 by District Deputy Grand Master Wm. G. Vollus, with Past Master Arthur H. Bloch as Marshal.

His year brought several questions of Masonic practice before the lodge. Grand Master John Temple Rice ruled in 1938 that Texas Masons could not belong to the newly formed Chinar Grotto, and Gray Lodge notified its members accordingly; the Grand Lodge later studied the matter and recognized the Grotto among the bodies permitted to meet in lodge rooms. On his official visit of November 2, District Deputy Vollus conveyed the Grand Master’s concern that the degrees be conferred with dignity and in a strictly Masonic, uplifting and instructive way, a discussion that led to set wording in the ritual.

Near the close of 1938 Sam Levy of Holland Lodge spoke on Masonry in Europe, where the Craft was hard pressed by the dictators. The lodge secured a $9,500 loan at 5 percent to clear the obligations of the Humphrey Benevolent Fund, and eighteen Past Masters attended Past Masters’ Night on March 29, 1939.

Worshipful Brother Cornelius died on August 8, 1957. A member of Riverside Methodist Church, he was buried in South Park Cemetery with Masonic rites by Gray Lodge. He was survived by his wife, a son, Patrick, and a daughter, Karen.