Dr. Fred H. Burkey

Fred H. Burkey was the son of Dr. and Mrs. Fred J. Burkey. Like his father he became a veterinarian, and the two practiced together in Houston.

He received the Entered Apprentice degree in Tarrant Lodge No. 942, and the Fellowcraft (December 27, 1910) and Master Mason (February 7, 1911) degrees in Gray Lodge. His rise was remarkably fast. Raised in 1911, he was elected Senior Warden in 1912 and was installed as the 42nd Master in 1913 by District Deputy Grand Master Andral Vann, with Past Master J. D. Smith as Marshal. He followed his father into the East just two years after his father’s own term.

His year brought several lasting customs. The lodge began presenting each new Entered Apprentice with an inscribed leather apron. On January 7, 1914, it held its first family night, with songs, piano selections, readings and refreshments. The minutes called it “a huge success both from attendance & pleasure,” and a second evening for “wives, daughters, sweethearts and Friends” followed in March. The lodge also required every new Master Mason to learn his obligation and be examined in open lodge within 30 days of being raised, a standard stricter than the Grand Lodge then required.

That fall the lodge adopted a resolution, moved by his father, that Masonic charity “means all that the term implies & should be dispensed to the needy, regardless of their Masonic affiliations.” In November 1913 Past Master Stephen Decatur Moore, Master in 1884–1885, returned from Los Angeles for a visit and was presented with a Past Master’s Jewel.

He died on January 25, 1955.