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ROBERT PRESTON BEACH 1916-2007

RobertBeach.JPG

  • MM 1945, Beth-Horon
  • WM 1961, The Harvard
  • Grand Marshal, 1963-1965
  • Senior Grand Warden, 1966
  • Grand Secretary, 1969-1988

BIOGRAPHY

RETIREMENT, 1989

From TROWEL, Summer 1989, Page 31:

Masonry Tributes Retiring Robert Preston Beach

RobertBeach1989.jpg
R. W. Robert P. Beach

Massachusetts Masonry paid tribute to the 25 years of Grand Lodge service by Robert P. Beach at a testimonial held in the Grand Master's Banquet Hall of Grand Lodge on April 8. Guests included his wife Barbara and Rev. Bro. Peter H. Meek and his wife Barbara. The latter is the daughter of Bob and Barbara Beach, and Bro. Meek is a Grand Lodge Chaplain.

M. W. Albert T. Ames presided at the affair and introduced Past Grand Masters Whitfield M. Johnson, Donald W. Vose, Stanley F. Maxwell, Arthur H. Melanson, J. Philip Berquist, and David B. Richardson, all of whom paid tribute to Bro. Beach's long service for Grand Lodge that began when he was Grand Marshal for the late M. W. A. Neill Osgood, 1963-65. A State Senate citation was presented to the honored guest, along with a purse of money to help ease the expense of a planned trip to the Orient.

A native of Portland, OR, and educated in the West Coast and at Harvard, Bro. Beach had World War II service as an officer in the Navy, most of which was in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Raised in Beth-Horon Lodge in Brookline in 1945, he is an affiliate of The Harvard Lodge where he was Master in 1961, Meridian Lodge of Natick, and a charter member of Maugus Hill, DeMolay, and the Masters Lodges. He holds Honorary membership in Sibert Lodge of the Canal Zone.

Senior Grand Warden in 1966 and assistant to Grand Secretary Earl W. Taylor in 1968, Bro. Bob was elected Grand Secretary in 1969 and served through 1988. He is a member of the Library, Museum, and Foreign Relations committees, and Grand Representative to the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. He was secretary for several years of the Grand Secretaries Association of the U.S. and Canada.

Holder of the two most prestigious honors given by our Grand Lodge, he received the Joseph Warren Medal in 1963 and the Henry Price Medal in 1966. He was honored by the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire with the presentation of the Jeremy L. Cross Medal. A Certified Public Accountant, Bro. Beach maintains a business office in Boston.

MEMORIAL

OBITUARY, 2007

Obituary, obtained at Legacy.com:

Age 91 of Bedford, March 9, 2007. Husband of Barbara (Harvey) Beach. Father of Barbara B. Meek and her husband Rev. Peter H. Meek of Lexington. Grandfather of Amy Meek. Memorial Service, Friday, March 16 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Carleton Willard Village, 100 Old Billerica Rd., Bedford. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Interment private.

COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION, 2007

From Proceedings of the Massachusetts Council of Deliberation AASR NMJ 2007, Page 26:

Ill. Robert Preston Beach, 33°
Born in Portland, Oregon, January 29, 1916
Died in Bedford, Massachusetts, March 9, 2007

Ill. Robert Preston Beach was the son of Henry and Olga (Linblad) Beach. He graduated from high school in San Francisco, the University of California (B.S.) in 1938, and Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) in 1940. A Certified Public Accountant, he was employed in turn by Coopers and Lybrand, Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co. (Secretary), Metcalf & Eddy, Engineers (Business Manager), and Sears & Nyberg, accountants, before being appointed Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1968.

On July 12, 1941, he married Barbara F. Harvey of Brookline who, together with their daughter Barbara A. Beach (now Mrs. Peter H. Meek), survives him.

In World War II he saw active duty in Washington, D.C., and the Pacific Theater, retiring as a Lieut. Cmdr., USNR.

He and his wife were members of the First Congregational Church in Wellesley Hills, Mass. (He was a Trustee, Treasurer, and Clerk.) He also served as a Trustee of Leonard Morse Hospital and later of New England Baptist Hospital.

Ill:. Brother Beach was raised a Master Mason in Beth-horon Lodge, later affiliating with Meridian Lodge and The Harvard Lodge (Master 1960-1961), and was a Charter Member of Maugus Hill Lodge (Treasurer). He was Grand Marshal (1962-1965) and Senior Grand Warden (1966) of the Grand Lodge. He received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Henry Price Medal, and was an Honorary Member of the DeMolay Legion of Honor.

He joined the York Rite: St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter in 1947, St. Bernard Commandery No.12 in 1960 (Commander 1965-1966) , and Boston Council in 1962. In 1958 he was initiated in the Scottish Rite and became a Life Member of the Valley of Boston bodies. He was Sovereign Prince of Giles F. Yates Council. Princes of Jerusalem 1974-1977. He received the 33° in Boston on September 24, 1975.

He was also a member of Aleppo Temple and Abou Saad Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., the Royal Order of Scotland, Societas Rosicruciana, Damascus Tabernacle No. XXVI (Preceptor),the Red Cross of Constantine (Junior General), and the National Sojourners (President of the local chapter).

Funeral services for him were conducted in Bedford, Mass. on March 16, 2007 in Carlton-Willard, the retirement community where Ill.. Brother Beach and his wife lived. His body was cremated.

PROCEEDINGS, 2017

From Proceedings, Page 2017-241:

Robert P. Beach, a Past Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, died in Bedford, Massachusetts, in March 2007. The following memorial is provided as a supplement to the 2017 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge.

Any Mason of a certain age would remember R. W. Brother Robert Preston Beach. He was a fixture at Grand Lodge and well-known throughout the jurisdiction from the middle 1950s until his retirement in 1988 after twenty years’ service as Grand Secretary. In April 1989, to commemorate the conclusion of his long career of service, Grand Master Albert T. Ames hosted a testimonial dinner for him at Grand Lodge, with six Past Grand Masters in attendance; he was presented with a citation from the Senate of the Commonwealth, and all in attendance – including his son-in-law, Rev. Peter H. Meek, one of the Grand Chaplains – lauded his many accomplishments and his character.

R. W. Bro. Beach was born in Portland, Oregon in 1916, and was educated on the West Coast and at Harvard University. He served in the Second World War as an officer in the U. S. Navy, primarily in the Pacific Theater. At the conclusion of the war he had relocated to the Boston area, and was brought to Masonic light in 1945 in Beth-horon Lodge of Brookline, taking his three degrees in rapid succession (in accordance with Section 405 of the Grand Constitutions, which permits servicemen to receive Masonic work without the customary wait times.) In 1951 he affiliated with Meridian Lodge of Natick, and was a charter member of Maugus Hill Lodge of that city; in 1954 he affiliated with The Harvard Lodge, serving as its Worshipful Master in 1961. He was also a charter member of The DeMolay Lodge in 1975.

In 1963 M. W. A. Neill Osgood, who had been Master of Maugus Hill Lodge in the same year as Bro. Beach’s service, chose him as his Grand Marshal for the years 1963-1965. The records of the Grand Lodge for those years show that the Grand Master and his Grand Marshal traveled extensively, including a week-long trip to the Panama Canal Zone District in 1965 which entailed visits to all seven lodges, at which degree work was performed, the 50th Anniversary of Army Lodge was celebrated, and the Massachusetts contingent was received by M. W. José Villareal, Grand Master of Panama. The many lodge anniversaries, cornerstone layings and the chartering of a new lodge – Daniel Webster – made M. W. Brother Osgood and R. W. Brother Beach very busy indeed.

In 1966 R. W. Brother Beach was elected Senior Grand Warden according to custom, serving with M. W. Thomas A. Booth. After his term, he began service as an assistant to Grand Secretary Earl W. Taylor; when R. W. Brother Taylor retired in 1969, Brother Beach became Grand Secretary, in which position he served until his own retirement in 1988.

During his long career, R. W. Brother Beach received many honors, including the Joseph Warren Medal in 1963 and the Henry Price Medal in 1966. He received the Jeremy Cross Medal from the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire. For many years he was secretary of the Grand Secretaries’ Association of the United States and Canada, and was Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia near the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.


Distinguished Brothers