Roy Selby Raben Hall

Roy S. Hall was born in Hopkins County, Texas, on January 30, 1909, the son of Harvey Houston and Verna Jane Lennon Hall. After high school he worked in bookkeeping, general office work, and as an electrician and electronics technician before making his profession as a motion picture projectionist. He had a son, Harvey James Hall, and in 1936 married Charley Audrey Bellows. A gun collector and target shooter, he loved hunting and the outdoors.

He received the Entered Apprentice degree in Bruce Lodge No. 506 at Ardmore, Oklahoma, on November 10, 1931. During the Depression, before he could continue, Bruce Lodge consolidated with Ardmore Lodge No. 31, and he moved to Denison, Texas, in 1933 and to Houston on December 7, 1939. Gray Lodge conferred the Fellowcraft degree on February 21, 1944, and the Master Mason degree on March 27, 1944, as a courtesy to Ardmore Lodge No. 31, and he affiliated with Gray Lodge on June 7, 1944. Appointed Junior Steward for 1946–1947, he progressed regularly up the line. As Senior Warden he stepped in for Worshipful Master Fred W. Faris while Brother Faris’s work kept him out of town, and he was installed as the 81st Master on June 24, 1952, by Past Master E. C. Kimmons, Jr., with Past Master Wm. P. Wantzloeben as Marshal.

His year brought a heavy loss. Past Master Kurtz E. Gaugler, the lodge’s Secretary, died on October 16, 1952. Treasurer Arthur H. Bloch served as Secretary for a month, then Past Master John T. Cooper was appointed for the rest of the year with I. B. Rohrer as assistant, and Mrs. Vera Gaugler was thanked for her help with the records. The lodge approved Temple Lodge’s plan to air-condition its lodge room, gave $50 to the Chapel Fund of the Masonic Home and School, and received District Deputy Grand Master Robert R. Byers in April.

In 1953 Brother Hall was elected Secretary of Gray Lodge and served continuously from then on; the lodge history calls his long and faithful service of inestimable value. He was a member of the Building Committee that planned and built the lodge’s later home. Through his influence, some thirty or more motion picture projectionists became members of Gray Lodge.

He was a York Rite Mason, a member of Washington Chapter No. 2, R.A.M., Houston Council No. 1, R. & S.M., and Ruthven Commandery No. 2, where he was knighted on June 30, 1950, and a 32° Scottish Rite Mason of the Houston Bodies. He served as Associate Patron and Worthy Patron of Sunshine Chapter No. 399, Order of the Eastern Star, and on the board that planned and built the Eastern Star Temple at 4002 Browning Street in Houston.