MAGLGWinsor
GEORGE RYDER WINSOR 1860-1952
Senior Grand Warden, 1930
MEMORIAL
From Proceedings, Page 1952-87:
There comes a time when the brittle thread of life breaks and launches us into eternity. For some the journey is cut short in the midst of usefulness, while greatness is still unfolding. For others it comes after alifetime of joys and vicissitudes in which one's contemporaries, earlier conceived dreams and choicest contacts have faded into but memories.
When R.W. George Ryder Winsor crossed the invisible threshold to the promised realm of rest and peace in God's Universe, he had lived to the ripe old age of 91 years, 1 month and fourteen days. He was privileged to have been happily married over 67 years; to have held membership in the Masonic Fraternity 56 years; and at his death, had the distinction of being the oldest living "permanent Member" of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
R.W. Brother Winsor was born October 24, 1860, at Plymouth, Massachusetts. On December 2, 1895, he received his Entered Apprentice Degree, on January 6, 1896, his Fellow Craft, and on February 3, 1896, his Master Mason Degree in Excelsior Lodge of Franklin, Massachusetts, over which, in 1900-1901, he presided as Worshipful Master. In 1906 he was honored by Grand Lodge in being appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the 20th Masonic District, in which this Lodge was situated. On June 8, 1897, he was exalted in Miller Royal Arch Chapter of Franklin, over which he became High Priest in 1904, and from which, in 1947, he received a 50 year Medal. On May 17, 1898, he was greeted into Woonsocket Royal and Select Masters Council, Woonsocket, Rhode Island; and knighted in Milford Commandery No. 11, Milford. He also held membership in the Scottish Rite Bodies and the shrine. In 1921 he became a Charter Member of both Brookline Lodge of Brookline and Noddle's Island Lodge of East Boston. He served ten years as Marshal, fifteen years as Trustee, and in 1944, was elected an Honorary Member of Brookline Lodge. In 1930 R.W. Brother Winsor was elected Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and received the Henry Price Medal, the highest distinction the Grand Lodge can confer on a member of the Fraternity. In 1946 he received a Veteran's Medal for having been a Mason for fifty years. He was further honored by Grand Lodge by being appointed, in 1929, the Grand Representarive of ihe Grand Lodge of Utah near the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
His parents were William H. and Helen M. Ryder Winsor. He received his education in the public schools and was a cotton waste broker until his retirement, with offices for many years at 146 Summer Street, Boston. He died December 14, 1951, in Reading and is survived by his wife, Addie Ray Winsor, now in her 93rd year.
R.W. George R. Winsor loved his Masonry. He made a host of friends and followed the affairs of each branch of the Fraternity in which he was associated with the keenest interest right up to the last. He wanted to see the fellowship and philosophy of Masonry reach into the lives of our time and fervently hoped others might experience, as he had, the joy of these bonds.
To those whose lives overlap many years, there is an understandable broadness of experience drawn from seeing many changes in the customs, habits and the thinking of people, as a result of developments in science and technological changes. He was born just before the Civil War - before the advent of the telephone, automobile, airplane, radio, television or electricity. Life is one of transition, rebirth - reaching beyond horizons into new fields of exploration and miraculous unfoldment. So is the life of anyone of us one of transition, rebirth, reaching beyond horizons into something spiritual - in the life beyond this material pilgrimage and mortal span.
"They are not lost, who find the sunset gate, the goal of all their faithful years.
Nor lost are they who reach the summit of their climb, the peak
above the clouds and storms.
They are not lost who find the light of Sun and Stars and God."
Fraternally submitted,
Frank H. Hilton
Carl C. Peterson
Henry S.C. Cummings
Committee
