Judge Robert Shearn Smith

Robert Shearn Smith was born at Port Arthur, Texas, on October 8, 1927, the son of J. B. and Beulah Floyce Smith. His father became a Master Mason in Gray Lodge in 1923, his great-grandfather, the Rev. Young Harrington Hamilton, was a Mason, and his brother, Judge Jackson B. Smith, Jr., was Master of Gray Lodge in 1960–1961. He graduated from Reagan High School in Houston, served in naval aviation during World War II, and earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston. He married Annell Schaefer, and they had four children: twins Ronald Weldon and Donald Sheldon, Cheryl Annel and Robert Shearn. At Faith American Lutheran Church in Bellaire he taught an adult Bible class and served as president of the Brotherhood.

A past president of the Trial Attorneys Association, a past director of Ben Taub County Hospital and a past member of the Governor’s Committee on Vocational Rehabilitation, he served as judge of the 61st District Court of Harris County. He belonged to the Houston, Texas and American Bar Associations, the Alpha Phi Omega scouting fraternity, in which he was a past regional director, Pi Kappa Alpha and Delta Theta Phi.

He received his degrees in Gray Lodge: the Entered Apprentice on October 11, 1950, the Fellowcraft on February 26, 1951, and the Master Mason degree on October 1, 1951. He was Chaplain in 1960–1961 while his brother was Master, Junior Deacon in 1966–1967, Junior Warden in 1967–1968 and Senior Warden in 1968–1969. On June 28, 1969, he was installed as the 98th Master of Gray Lodge for its Centennial Year by Grand Master J. Guy Smith, with his brother as Installing Marshal. The lodge room overflowed: extra chairs filled the floor, children sat on the steps of the East, and some fifteen of Judge Smith’s fellow judges were introduced.

The Centennial Year was full of history. In July the lodge honored Past Grand Master John H. Crooker on his 85th birthday with a cake bearing 85 candles and the gift of an old restored lodge gong, and the Chaplain prayed for the Apollo 11 astronauts, among them Brother Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., who carried a special deputation from the Grand Master of Texas to the Moon. The old Gray-Temple building at 1407 Fannin Street was sold, and the Gray-Temple Masonic Corporation was dissolved on January 21, 1970. The lodge sponsored the new Peter W. Gray Chapter of the Order of DeMolay, instituted January 10, 1970, and funded the printing of Dr. D. D. Tidwell’s history of the lodge. It mourned Past Master Arthur H. Bloch, Treasurer since 1940, and J. P. Veaner, Tiler since 1959.

The celebration reached its climax on May 20, 1970, when 520 Master Masons gathered for a steak dinner at Robert E. Lee High School, followed by a tiled meeting in the lodge room. Past Master William G. Vollus received his Fifty-Year Award from the Grand Master, Dr. Tidwell sketched the lodge’s hundred years, and roses were laid for every Past Master, white for the departed and red for the living. Using the Templar sword of Past Grand Master Peter W. Gray, lent by Gray Commandery No. 16 of Marshall, Past Grand Master J. W. Chandler led a rededication, with Worshipful Master Smith kneeling at the altar as he led the members of Gray Lodge in rededicating themselves to the ideals of Freemasonry. Grand Master Hal Burnett closed the Centennial with an address on his theme of Creation, Masonry and America.

Judge Smith was a 32° Scottish Rite Mason and held the Rank and Decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour; he served as Degree Master of the 12°, Supreme Judge in the 30° and Prior in the 32°. He was also a member of Arabia Temple.