Page 196 - PGM Compendium

of promise and hope alive and shining brightly for all humanity."

M⸫W⸫ Walter H. Steffey was one of those great souls who kept alive that hope for all of us by
his devoted work in Freemasonry.
The wonder of Walter Steffey was not alone his almost 60 years of Masonic faith and dedication,
but that he stood ever ready to heed the call of the Craft and to help those who asked for his help.
I am one who was most grateful for his help in all the high positions in Masonry that I have been
given the honor of holding.

Our eternal hope was expressed in the epitaph that Benjamin Franklin wrote for his own
tombstone: "The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer, Uke the cover of an old book, its contents
torn and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies herein, food for worms; but the work shall not be
lost, for it would, as he believed, appear once more in a more elegant edition, revised and corrected
by the Author."
This is how Walter believed and as all of us must believe with our faith in the teachings of
Masonry. For it is written at the end of the chapter, with our eyes full of hope and faith, "To be
continued".

It was low twelve for Freemasonry in Washington when, on February 19, 1972, M⸫W⸫ Walter
left to continue his good works in another sphere. His Brethren grieve at their loss and extend
sincere fraternal love to his faithful and loving wife Lillian and W⸫ Hugh Steffey and to the other
members of Walter's family. We pray for them to have faith as we extend our sympathy.

We Masons in this Grand Jurisdiction will greatly miss Brother Walter. Truly, we shall cherish his
memory in our hearts.
The subject of this sketch, M⸫W⸫ Walter Harrison Steffey, was born on a farm near Ozawkie,
Jefferson County, Kansas, October 6. 1888, the son of Silas H. and Carrie A. (Snapp) Steffey. His
father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother in Illinois. His parents settled on a farm in Kansas
at the close of the Civil War. Here Walter, with one sister and his parents, spent his boyhood days.
He attended the grade schools of Ozawkie, and in the fall of 1908, he entered the State College at
Manhattan, Kansas, where he attended for several years. It was here that he met Miss Lillian
Clemmons, who was destined to become his wife.
In the spring of 1909, he first came to Seattle and was employed by the Seattle-Tacoma Power
Company, but in the fall, he returned again to his college at Manhattan, Kansas. Having had a taste
of the Pacific Northwest, he again came back to the Puget Sound district in 1911, and re-entered
the employ of the Seattle-Tacoma Power Company, which was afterwards absorbed by the Puget
Sound Traction Light & Power Company, in the employ of which he remained until April, 1919,
when he entered upon his own business as an electrical contractor, in which business he has
continued, except for a period of four years, from 1920 to 1924, when he was in the employ of the
Standard Oil Company at Point Wells in King County, Washington.

After M⸫W⸫ Steffey had come west the second time and secured employment, he sent for his
fiancée and, on July 8, 1911, in Seattle, he inter-married with Miss Clemmons, who is a descendant
of the Benjamin Culver family of New York of Revolutionary fame. Of this marriage three children