Page 205 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of
M⸫W⸫ Thomas M. Askren

1931-1932

Most Worshipful Brother Thomas Merle Askren was born on
the 27th day of April, 1883, and spent his boyhood days in
Mount Ayr, Iowa. After graduating from high school he taught
a rural school for one year before moving to Norman,
Oklahoma, where he resided for some eighteen months. In
1902 he moved to Tacoma and spent his freshman year in
Whitworth College. The following two years he was employed
as an accountant and bookkeeper by the Carbon Coal Company
in Carbonado, Washington, where he earned sufficient funds to
complete his education. He then entered the University of
Washington and graduated from the Law School in 1908.
During his Senior year he served as President of the Associated Students of the University of
Washington.
He was admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of Washington in 1908, and practiced before
both the Federal and State courts, including the United States Supreme Court. His clear, analytical
mind, his thorough knowledge of the law, his sincerity, and his exceptional ability to express
himself, made him one of the State's leading lawyers and trial attorneys. He was most kind, gentle
and courteous; yet no lawyer championed the cause of his client with more fervor or vigor than he,
or with greater success. He was one of the few members of the profession who practiced law not
merely for remuneration.
More than half of each day was devoted to the problems and troubles of his brother Masons, the
poor and the needy, all of whom he considered entitled to and worthy of his service and very best
efforts. He represented the finest qualities that characterize a high-class lawyer.

He was made a Master Mason in Cascade Lodge No. 61, of Cascade, Washington, on the 22nd
day of April, 1905. He dimitted on the 7th day of February, 1906, and affiliated with Arcana Lodge
No. 87, on the 12th day of March, 1906, from which Lodge he dimitted in 1921 to Lafayette Lodge
No. 241, of which Lodge he became charter member No. 2, and its second Worshipful Master. He
was appointed to the Committee on Jurisprudence at the Annual Communication in June 1923,
and was reappointed at each Annual Session until he was installed as Junior Grand Warden of the
Grand Lodge on June 21, 1928. He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington
in June of 1931. During the years that he was a member of the Jurisprudence Committee, he served
as the legal adviser for the Masonic Home Building Committee.

He received the degrees of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in 1908 in Seattle; and for an
honorable and successful service in that body he was, in 1913, honored by being elected as Wise
Master of Washington Chapter of Rose Croix; and, in 1920, Commander-in-Chief of Lawson