George Minor Tidwell

George Minor Tidwell was born at Mexia, Texas, on January 17, 1914, the son of George Marion and Mary Priddy Tidwell, and came from a deeply Masonic family. His great-grandfather, Minor Tidwell, was a member of Springfield Lodge No. 74 in Limestone County; both of his grandfathers were Masons; his father and his brother Wyatt Rodney Tidwell were Past Masters of Springfield Lodge; and his brothers Marion Leonard and Wilmer Thurmond Tidwell were members there too. He graduated from Mexia High School in 1932, earned an A.A. from Westminster Junior College at Tehuacana in 1934 and a B.A. from Rice Institute in 1936, and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1942 to 1946. He married Beatrice Miles in 1941, and they had a son, George Miles Tidwell; in 1950 he married Dolores Wade, adopted her daughter, Cynthia, and they had a daughter, Mary Ruth. At Bethany Methodist Church he served on the Official Board, taught an adult class and chaired two commissions. His hobbies were the Little Theatre and photography.

He became an Entered Apprentice in Gray Lodge on January 24, 1944, a Fellowcraft on January 14, 1952, and a Master Mason on March 12, 1952. Shortly before he was raised, his brother Wilmer sent him the white leather apron given to their grandfather, Marcus Lafayette Priddy, when he affiliated with Groesbeck Lodge No. 354 in 1890. Brother Tidwell wore it the night he was raised, the night he was installed as Master, and when he was installed as District Deputy Grand Master of District 30-B. He was Chaplain in 1959–1960, then Junior Deacon, Junior Warden and Senior Warden, and he was installed as the 94th Master on June 25, 1965, by Past Master Noal E. Johnson, aided by Judge and Past Master Jackson B. Smith, Jr., with music by his daughter Mary Ruth.

His year proved the wisdom of the move to Hillcroft. After an appraisal, the lodge sold about 1.24 acres of its tract for $100,177.50, paying off the mortgage on the new building with more than $58,000 to spare. On May 11, 1966, a free and clear Gray Lodge watched Worshipful Master Tidwell and Past Grand Master John R. Collard, Jr., burn the cancelled note and mortgage; with much ceremony and good humor, Brother Collard was presented the rough old bricklayer’s trowel from the cornerstone, and then an engraved trowel of his own.

On November 29, 1965, Richard Q. Oldham, great-great-grandson of Dr. Anson Jones, the first Grand Master of Texas Masons, was raised in Gray Lodge and received his lambskin apron from Worshipful Master Tidwell. Scottish Rite Night that November honored three generations of Tracy T. Word, and Brother Severin Knutson was made a life member for outstanding service. The Tiler, J. P. Veaner, received a resolution of appreciation, new frames were built for the Past Masters’ portraits, and a candlelight Memorial Service on May 18, 1966, honored the brethren who had died. The lodge mourned Past Master Tom Sawyer, who died August 15, 1965.

From 1965 until its dissolution in 1970, Brother Tidwell was Trustee and Secretary-Treasurer of the Gray-Temple Masonic Corporation, and he served as Permanent Chairman of the Centennial Committee that planned the lodge’s hundredth anniversary. He was President of the Masters, Wardens and Secretaries Association of the 30th District and an instructor in its Institute of Masonic Proficiency. A York Rite Mason, he became a Royal Arch Mason in Washington Chapter No. 2 and a Knight Templar in Ruthven Commandery No. 2 in 1956, a Shriner in 1963 and the first President of the Past Masters Unit of Arabia Temple, and a 32° Scottish Rite Mason in 1968.