Brother Thomas Roy Shields has been a Master Mason for 65 years.

He was initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason on May 20, 1940, passed to the degree of Fellowcraft on June 20, 1940 and raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason on July 20, 1940 in Mt. Hecia Lodge #701 in Bryson, Texas (Merged with Ft. Richardson #320 in 1990)

Being a salesman most of his working life, Brother Roy had moved often. He had traveled in every state in the continental United States except the state of Washington.

Because of those frequent moves he had been a member of four different Lodges. Although he had started to work through the chairs many times, in different Lodges, his journey was always interrupted by another job transfer.

When Brother Roy retired in 1981 he moved to Hempstead and joined the Hempstead Masonic Lodge. A couple of years ago, he became a dual member with Waller Lodge #808

Brother Roy was finally able to work his way through the chairs in Hempstead Lodge and was elected Worshipful Master for the 2002/2003 Masonic Year.

He was recognized for his dedication to the Lodge in 1996 by being honored with the Golden Trowel Award.

Brother Roy was one of the Brothers who worked to save the Hempstead Lodge in 1996 when it almost lost the Charter.

I don’t think we could find many Brothers in any Lodge that has been more dedicated to his Lodge then Brother Roy has to Hempstead Lodge in every task including cutting the grass, doing maintenance work on the building, cooking meals for meetings, cleaning the building, working in fundraisers.

And, he has been guilty of working behind the scenes buying things that were needed for the Lodge or donating money when it was needed and even paying a few Brothers dues when they were hard up. His favorite saying is, “You can only get out of Masonry what you are willing to put into it.”

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