John Henry Crooker

John Henry Crooker was born on July 15, 1884, on a farm near Mobile, Alabama, the youngest of seven children of William Norman Crooker and Margaret Jane Kelton. His father died when he was two, and when he was eight his mother brought the family to Houston, just ahead of the Panic of 1893. His boyhood was one of hardship. He left school after the seventh grade to help support the family and went to work as a messenger boy at the Southern Pacific shops, continuing his education on his own and by correspondence.

He became a court clerk, then Justice of the Peace and Criminal District Court Clerk, and through his own study he passed the bar. He was elected District Attorney of Harris County, and his administration brought him wide respect. During World War I he resigned that office, enlisted as a private, and was soon commissioned in the Judge Advocate General’s Department, serving from August 1918 to May 1919 as Division Judge Advocate of the 16th Division with the rank of Major, and after the Armistice in the Judge Advocate General’s office in Washington. He then built one of the most distinguished trial practices in Texas, appearing before courts up to the United States Supreme Court. He married Marguerite Malsch on December 31, 1917, and they had two sons.

At the Southern Pacific shops the young messenger came to know J. R. Cade and J. H. Rothwell, both Past Masters of Gray Lodge, and their example drew him to Masonry. He petitioned Gray Lodge in 1908 and received the Entered Apprentice degree on April 7, the Fellowcraft on May 12, and the Master Mason degree on July 15, his 24th birthday. He earned a certificate of proficiency in the ritual work in 1915 and was elected Senior Warden in 1916.

He was installed as the 46th Master on June 25, 1917, in a joint installation with Holland No. 1 and Temple No. 4, and led the lodge through the war. Gray Lodge remitted the dues of members in the armed forces, kept a roll of honor that listed 46 members in service by June 1918, conferred courtesy degrees for soldiers from other states, and made a custom of pausing its meetings to welcome visiting Brethren in uniform. On August 23, 1917, while conferring a Master Mason degree, he was called from the lodge room to the police station as District Attorney when the Camp Logan riot broke out in Houston, and he later sat with the court-martial that followed. His year closed with a three-day raising day and a banquet for about 450 Brethren at the City Auditorium, at which he served as toastmaster.

Brother Crooker went on to serve the Craft statewide. Elected Grand Junior Warden in 1932, he was installed as the 97th Grand Master of Masons in Texas in December 1934 and served through 1935. With Texas lodges discouraged by the Depression, he required every lodge to adopt a program of work for the year, and the renewed interest helped the Grand Lodge return to membership gains by 1938. He was a member of Washington Chapter No. 2, R.A.M., Houston Council No. 1, R.&S.M., and Ruthven Commandery No. 2, K.T., and a 33° Scottish Rite Mason who served for years as Personal Representative of the Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Texas. He was also a vestryman of Trinity Church and Senior Warden of Christ Church Cathedral in 1954.