GMPerry
Contents
JOSEPH EARL PERRY 1884-1983
Deputy Grand Master, 1936
Grand Master, 1938-1940
TERM
NOTES
MEMORIAL
From Proceedings, Page 1983-209:
Most Worshipful Joseph Earl Perry was born in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts on December30, 1884, and died at Shelburne Falls on November 3, 1983 in his ninety-ninth year, after a long and outstanding career as an educator, banker, and attorney.
A direct descendant of Francis Cook of the Mayflower, he was the son of Joseph Charles Perry and Miriam Holbrook (Packard) Perry. He married Bessie Luella Stanford on June 24, 1911 and had three children: Miriam Elizabeth (Mrs. Bennett D. Ball), Joseph Earl, Jr., and Walter Stanford Perry. Following the death of Mrs. Perry in 1968, he married Mrs. Florence S. Kuhn on May 24, 1969.
He was graduated from Arms Academy at Shelburne Falls in 1902, received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College in 1906, the Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Harvard Law School in 1909 and the Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Boston University in 1922. While at Williams College, he was president of the Y.M.C.A. and his senior class, and a member of Gargoyle (senior honorary society) and Phi Beta Kappa. Admitted to the Massachusetts State Bar in 1908, he became a member of the Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts and American Bar Associations. As a resident of Belmont, Massachusetts for many years, he continued his active association with the legal profession in the Boston area until 1977 when he retired from the firm of Perry, Saunders and Cheney.
In addition to his practice of law, Dr. Perry took an active interest in the field of education, particularly with reference to law, banking and taxation. He served as a member of the faculty at Boston University, Northeastern University, Rutgers University Graduate School of Banking and as a member of the Council of the Harvard Law School Association. other academic positions held include trustee, member of the executive committee and treasurer of Boston University and trustee of International College Beirut, Lebanon. ln 1943 he declined the offer of the presidency of Middlesex University.
As a lawyer, he spent many years as a bank conveyancer and in behalf of the Massachusetts Bankers Association he carried to a successful conclusion in the Supreme Court a landmark case relating to bank taxation. He was an incorporator of the Belmont Savings Bank, a director of the Belmont Trust Company and director, counsel, vice-president and acting president of the Waverly Cooperative Bank. In 1940 he was appointed Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks and. served also as Chairman of the Board of Bank Incorporation. In 1944, he resigned as Commissioner of Banks to become president of the Newton Savings Bank (now Mutual Bank for Savings).
His civic activities also included service as Massachusetts Income Tax Attorney in the Department of Corporations and Taxation, and as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he was Chairman of the Committees on Constitutional Law and on Taxation. During World War I he served with the First Corps of Cadets, Professional and Business Men's Training School, Company F, 11th Regiment, Massachusetts State Guard. Throughout his long and distinguished career he served as an officer or director of many educational, legal, banking, community, and charitable associations.
The following is a summary of Most Worshipful Brother Perry's impressive and unique Masonic record:
- Mountain Lodge Shelburne Falls - Initiated, Passed and Raised, 1909
- Belmont Lodge Belmont - Affiliated 1919, Worshipful Master, 1929
- Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts:
- District Deputy Grand Master, Brighton Fifth Masonic District, 1933-1934
- Deputy Grand Master, 1936
- Judge Advocate, 1937
- Most Worshipful Grand Master, 1938, 1939, 1940
- Grand Representative of South Carolina, 1938-1967
- Board of Directors, 194l-1972
- Board of Trial Commissioners, 1950-1960
- Trustee, Masonic Education and Charity Trust, 1951-1972
- Grand Representative of lreland, 1967-1983
- He received the Fifty-Year Veteran's Medal and the Henry Price Medal from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and was an Honorary Member of many Lodges and Grand Lodges in the United States and abroad.
- York Rite:
- Belmont Royal Arch Chapter, Belmont - Exalted 1921
- Adoniram Council, Royal & Select Masters, Waltham - Greeted 1937
- Boston Commandery No. 2, K.T., Boston - Knighted 1924
- Scottish Rite:
- Received the degrees from the Fourth to the Thirty-Second in the four Bodies in the Valley of Boston - 1937
- Created an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, Thirty-third degree - 1939
He was a noted Masonic author, and in addition to his numerous articles on law and banking, published many pamphlets and brochures on Freemasonry. His book, The Masonic Way of Life, printed in 1968, is a collection of his Grand Lodge and other Masonic addresses and is widely known for its depth in Masonic history and philosophy. In the Foreword to this volume Brother Perry, following a review of the highlights of his professional career and other diverse activities, closes with: "The point of relevancy arises from the fact that in each of these fields I found that the teachings of Freemasonry were fundamental to the practical, everyday problems of successful operation. So, also, in my lifelong experience as a lawyer and in my observation of business clients I have found the teachings of Freemasonry to be no mere theoretical philosophy but a very practical formula for the best type of successful living. And why not, since they are the findings of one of the oldest and largest human laboratories for the mastery of the art of living."
Most Worshipful Brother Perry is survived by his wife and three children and by several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A memorial service for this distinguished lawyer, banker, humanitarian and Mason was held at Shelburne Falls on Sunday, November 6, 1983.
Fraternally submitted,
Whitfield W. Johnson
Manson H. Carter
Peter J. Cornell
Committee
CHARTERS GRANTED
None.
RULINGS
