Page 227 - PGM Compendium

mission and philosophy of our great universal institution. You have already manifested so clear a
conception of this paramount duty that there is no need to do more than barely mention it in this
message."

The insight into his views upon this subject given by this passage was amplified by his subsequent
work on the committee having it in special charge, and I am sure his efforts along this line have
produced a lasting influence upon the members of our Institution in this Jurisdiction.

Our Most Worshipful Brother’s service extended beyond the Blue Lodge. He served as High Priest
of Seattle Chapter, No. 3, Royal Arch Masons; Illustrious Master of Seattle Council, No. 6, Royal
and Select Masters; and Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council of Washington; Wise
Master of Washington Chapter of Rose Croix, and Commander-in-Chief of Lawson (now
Washington) Consistory, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. He was elected to
receive the rights and honors of a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, October 21, 1919,
and was coroneted an Inspector General Honorary of the Thirty-third Degree February 16, 1924.
Most Worship James Howarth Begg was called form labor on June 18, 1932. These words were
written in tribute as an obituary:

"When a man has given virtually all the years of his adult life to the service of a single worthy
cause, his name deserves all the reverence that can be paid to it; his memory must be forever
enshrined in the hearts of his friends. It matters not that he may have attained neither to riches nor
to such public honors as fall within the grasp of men whose diversified efforts cover a more general
scope. To have established a fixed course in life, a course of service to others, and to have held it
to the last,is a record worthy of enduring and grateful remembrance.

James Howarth Begg leaves such a record. In early manhood he became a Mason. The ancient
landmarks of the Craft and its ritualistic nobility made instant appeal to his fine mind and
sensibilities; he adopted its principles as rules for his personal guidance; he became at once the
student and in time an outstanding exemplar of its philosophy. He lived, acted, worked and talked
accordingly. For many years and to the time of his passing away, he was recognized as the Pacific
Northwest's foremost authority on Masonic history, law and morals.

Free of all prejudice, broadly tolerant of beliefs and opinions running contrary to his own, he lived
simply, gently, usefully. His helpful admonition, his wise counsel, available to all within his reach,
have smoothed the pathway for many. He was a scholar who ever felt his studies to be unfinished,
and so kept on. Even with illness gradually mastering a naturally frail physique, his work, of
special value to the order of which he was an ornament, was no less well done. Masonry will miss
him sorely; and in his death all Seattle suffers the loss of a citizen of the best type, high-minded,
diligent in duty, faithful to the end.