Difference between revisions of "GMACoolidge"

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=== SPEECHES ===
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==== FEAST OF ST. JOHN, DECEMBER 1947 ====
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''From Proceedings, Page 1947-484:''
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''Most Worshipful Grand Master and these distinguished guests with whom I have been hobnobbing as though they were ordinary individuals.  Brother Fred Willis is an associate of mine.''
 +
 +
The Governor found it was impossible for him to come tonight and delegated me to represent him. In the first place, he is a splendid boss to work for. That insured my getting in here — otherwise I might not have succeeded in making the grade.
 +
 +
I think some of the visiting Brothers know that the ceremonies which they saw exemplified today are the same under which [http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=GMRowe John Rowe] was installed as Grand Master in 1768, and he was followed by Henry Price. So these events and this historical procession which you saw today, some of you for the first time, have come down accurately from those times.
 +
 +
John Rowe, I am interested to speak a word about tonight, because he represents the same position I am in. He straddled two positions, representing both the city government and the Masonic Fraternity. He was not only a member of a Lodge, but Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. He was also interested in the city life of his time. He was a Selectman of the Town of Boston. He was a representative in the General Court for the Town of Boston. He was a successful merchant. He was the owner of a fleet of vessels which plied a successful trade between here and the West Indies.
 +
 +
As an official of the City of Boston and the State, he presided at the first meeting in the Old South Church and expressed indignation and protest against taxation without representation.
 +
 +
He was the owner of the sloop ''Arabelle'', which was loaded with tea. After closing the meeting with strict formality, he left and joined some of the others down on State Street and then joined the "Indians" who staged the Boston Tea Party. I am giving that to you as an illustration that civic activity and Masonic activity can be joined successfully in the same person.
 +
 +
Sometimes we who hold public office have rather intense action. I had occasion to attend a convention at the New Ocean House in Swampscott and the manager gave me a room in which to change my clothes. I did it in a very few minutes, and on the table beside me I saw a Gideon Bible. On the fly leaf there was this interesting reading: "If you are away from home, read Moses. If you are despondent, read the Psalms. If you are lonesome read about Joseph."  Underneath these words some one had written: "If you are still lonesome, call Lynn- —."
 +
 +
For one who has to appear before all sorts of audiences, you don't know what a comfort it is to be able to look around and see that you do not need to be lonesome. You do not even have to telephone home. That is one of the reasons I am delighted to be here tonight.
 +
 +
I do feel when I think of Paul Revere and the work which he did that the civic activity is not all in the past. It is never in the past. There are new heights that can be reached by any one who has the strength and determination to reach them.
 +
 +
I remember in 1944, on the evening before Washington's Birthday, a meeting of the Grand Masters of the country was being held in Washington. There was a dinner at which Grand Masters from all over the country were present. There were three unintroduced guests. They were General Marshall, Admiral King and General Arnold. They were there incognito, and as you looked at those men, you could sense the burden they were carrying — General Marshall, in  whose lap was placed the burden of creating an army from boys and girls, clerks and stenographers and people from every walk in life; Admiral King, who was handed the problem of literally creating after the disaster at Pearl Harbor a bridge of boats which would actually span the seven seas; General Arnold, holding an umbrella against the events which would cast a shadow over the world. Those men were enjoying the relief of getting away for a minute from those pressing duties, and as you saw them and sensed the atmosphere of certainty and confidence that they radiated, you realized that there was a conjunction of Masonic and civic activity operating in those individuals. So they carried on and the millions under them carried on successfully the great duties and responsibilities of war.
 +
 +
The golden age is never done; it is still before us, and the golden age is for us, if we can visualize it — if we build for peace, for freedom and for stable government. We can live in the golden age if we combine those factors, as did the great Masons whom we have known through the years.
 +
 +
Last summer in Cincinnati, at the meeting of the Supreme Council, Most Worshipful Brother [http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=GMMJohnson Johnson] thrilled the country by his message that Masonic activity might properly consider these problems of civic activity also, on the same basis and where they paralleled, to the same advantage to the government as ever.
 +
 +
Masonry needs, in order to be active and strong, the parade ground which government is giving, on which it can exercise and develop its ideas, its conceptions and its vision and continue in this dual capacity. Government needs the strong moral uplift which Masonry can give it, not acting as Masons, but as citizens.
 +
 +
So in the dual capacity of a former officer of this Grand Lodge and representing the Governor here tonight, I bring to this administration of this ancient institution the greetings of the Governor, and to you whose opportunity is before you to sense and realize and to reach the golden age with that same vision as this little poem which is on the back of your program represents, that we will work under one God, Whose glorious name we love and praise, through united Brotherhood, for united peace.
  
 
=== TERM ===
 
=== TERM ===

Revision as of 14:29, 5 February 2015

ARTHUR WILLIAM COOLIDGE 1881-1952

ArthurCoolidge1944.jpg

Deputy Grand Master, 1941
Grand Master, 1944

MEMORIAL

Born at Woodfords, Maine, October 13, 1881
Died at Reading, Massachusetts, January 22, 1952

Most Worshipful Arthur William Coolidge was Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts from December 27, 1943, until December 27, 1944. Normally, our Grand Master accepts election for three consecutive years, and it was with great regret on the part of our Brethren, as well as of Brother Coolidge himself, that he served only one term. A critical situation had arisen politically in Massachusetts and there was an urgent demand that he become a candidate for President of the State Senate, to which he was elected. Later, he yielded to a call to public service and was elected Lieutenant Governor, serving during the years 1947 to 1949. He declined re-election as Grand Master in the belief that it would be unwise to hold that office while a candidate in a state-wide campaign for the Lieutenant Governorship. His Masonic advisors reluctantly conceded the wisdom of his decision.

Brother Coolidge was born at Woodfords, Maine, October 13, 1881, being a ninth generation descendant of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony and of John and Mary Coolidge, who helped found Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1630. He also traced his ancestry to a sister of Charles Bulfinch, who designed our present State House. He was a fifth cousin of President Calvin Coolidge, and resembled him in many ways; both had a rugged character and sense of duty to serve their fellows.

Brother Coolidge was educated in the public schools of Deering, Maine; Westbrook Seminary ; Tufts College (A. B. 1903); and the Law School of Harvard University (LL.B. 1906). Thereafter, he practised law all his life, but devoted much time to altruistic and public service as follows:

  • Member Finance Commission, Norwood, Mass., 1920-1925
  • Member School Committee, Reading, Mass., 1927-1937
  • Representative, Massachusetts Legislature, 18th Middlesex District, 1937-1940
  • Senator, Massachusetts Senate, 7th Middlesex District, 1941-1946
  • President of Massachusetts Senate, 1945-1946 (elected on the first ballot, an unprecedented distinction)
  • Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. 1947-1949
  • Candidate for Republican Governor in 1950, but defeated

He was a member of the Massachusetts State Guard, Company H, 13th Regiment; Director Washingtonian Hospitai and the Massachusetts Tuberculosis League; Member Massachusetts, Middlesex and American Bar Associations, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, Mayflower Descendants and Theta Delta Chi; Director of the Reading Co-operative Bank; Trustee and member of the Investment Board of the Boston penny Savings Bank; and former Treasurer of the Massachusetts Sunday School Association.

Brother Coolidge's Masonic record is as follows:

  • Raised in Zetland, Lodge, A.F. & A.M., November 13, 1902, and became a member of The Harvard Lodge of Cambridge on February 17, 1927
  • Worshipful Master in 1925-26
  • Trustee, Permanent Fund, 1930
  • District Deputy Grand Master, Boston Second District, 1927-28
  • Deputy Grand Master, 1941
  • Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, 1943-44

Brother Coolidge was respected by all men who knew him, even by his political adversaries. He was a pure and upright man who put altruistic service above his own personal gain. Moreover, he was a friendly man among men, a sound adviser and a revered leader against whose life and character there was never adverse criticism.

Our beloved Brother was at his law office as usual the day of his death, and drove home. After dinner, he went to the garden at the rear of the house. When he failed to return, Mrs. Coolidge found him lying on the doorstep, and shortly thereafter. a medical examine-r pronounced death due to a coronary occlusion. Funeral services were held at the Reading Unitarian Church on Friday, January 25, 1952, of which Church he was a Trustee.

Brother Coolidge is survived by his wife and three children: Mrs. Dorothy B. Cox of Malden, Robert T, Coolidge, architect and member of the faculty of Yale School of Fine Arts, and Arthur W. Coolidge, Jr., of Schenectady, New York, an elecrricai engineer with the General Electric Company.

"Some must be great; great offices will have
Great talents. And God gives to every man
The virtue, temper understanding, taste
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill."
- Cowper

Fraternally submitted,
Melvin M. Johnson, Chairman
Claude L. Allen
Joseph Earl Perry
Roger Keith
Samuel H. Wragg
Committee

SPEECHES

FEAST OF ST. JOHN, DECEMBER 1947

From Proceedings, Page 1947-484:

Most Worshipful Grand Master and these distinguished guests with whom I have been hobnobbing as though they were ordinary individuals. Brother Fred Willis is an associate of mine.

The Governor found it was impossible for him to come tonight and delegated me to represent him. In the first place, he is a splendid boss to work for. That insured my getting in here — otherwise I might not have succeeded in making the grade.

I think some of the visiting Brothers know that the ceremonies which they saw exemplified today are the same under which John Rowe was installed as Grand Master in 1768, and he was followed by Henry Price. So these events and this historical procession which you saw today, some of you for the first time, have come down accurately from those times.

John Rowe, I am interested to speak a word about tonight, because he represents the same position I am in. He straddled two positions, representing both the city government and the Masonic Fraternity. He was not only a member of a Lodge, but Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. He was also interested in the city life of his time. He was a Selectman of the Town of Boston. He was a representative in the General Court for the Town of Boston. He was a successful merchant. He was the owner of a fleet of vessels which plied a successful trade between here and the West Indies.

As an official of the City of Boston and the State, he presided at the first meeting in the Old South Church and expressed indignation and protest against taxation without representation.

He was the owner of the sloop Arabelle, which was loaded with tea. After closing the meeting with strict formality, he left and joined some of the others down on State Street and then joined the "Indians" who staged the Boston Tea Party. I am giving that to you as an illustration that civic activity and Masonic activity can be joined successfully in the same person.

Sometimes we who hold public office have rather intense action. I had occasion to attend a convention at the New Ocean House in Swampscott and the manager gave me a room in which to change my clothes. I did it in a very few minutes, and on the table beside me I saw a Gideon Bible. On the fly leaf there was this interesting reading: "If you are away from home, read Moses. If you are despondent, read the Psalms. If you are lonesome read about Joseph." Underneath these words some one had written: "If you are still lonesome, call Lynn- —."

For one who has to appear before all sorts of audiences, you don't know what a comfort it is to be able to look around and see that you do not need to be lonesome. You do not even have to telephone home. That is one of the reasons I am delighted to be here tonight.

I do feel when I think of Paul Revere and the work which he did that the civic activity is not all in the past. It is never in the past. There are new heights that can be reached by any one who has the strength and determination to reach them.

I remember in 1944, on the evening before Washington's Birthday, a meeting of the Grand Masters of the country was being held in Washington. There was a dinner at which Grand Masters from all over the country were present. There were three unintroduced guests. They were General Marshall, Admiral King and General Arnold. They were there incognito, and as you looked at those men, you could sense the burden they were carrying — General Marshall, in whose lap was placed the burden of creating an army from boys and girls, clerks and stenographers and people from every walk in life; Admiral King, who was handed the problem of literally creating after the disaster at Pearl Harbor a bridge of boats which would actually span the seven seas; General Arnold, holding an umbrella against the events which would cast a shadow over the world. Those men were enjoying the relief of getting away for a minute from those pressing duties, and as you saw them and sensed the atmosphere of certainty and confidence that they radiated, you realized that there was a conjunction of Masonic and civic activity operating in those individuals. So they carried on and the millions under them carried on successfully the great duties and responsibilities of war.

The golden age is never done; it is still before us, and the golden age is for us, if we can visualize it — if we build for peace, for freedom and for stable government. We can live in the golden age if we combine those factors, as did the great Masons whom we have known through the years.

Last summer in Cincinnati, at the meeting of the Supreme Council, Most Worshipful Brother Johnson thrilled the country by his message that Masonic activity might properly consider these problems of civic activity also, on the same basis and where they paralleled, to the same advantage to the government as ever.

Masonry needs, in order to be active and strong, the parade ground which government is giving, on which it can exercise and develop its ideas, its conceptions and its vision and continue in this dual capacity. Government needs the strong moral uplift which Masonry can give it, not acting as Masons, but as citizens.

So in the dual capacity of a former officer of this Grand Lodge and representing the Governor here tonight, I bring to this administration of this ancient institution the greetings of the Governor, and to you whose opportunity is before you to sense and realize and to reach the golden age with that same vision as this little poem which is on the back of your program represents, that we will work under one God, Whose glorious name we love and praise, through united Brotherhood, for united peace.

TERM

1944

NOTES

CHARTERS GRANTED

None.

RULINGS


Grand Masters

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