Page 185 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of
M⸫W⸫ Ralph E. Tieje: 1936-1937

Dr. and Most Worshipful Brother Ralph Earl Tieje was born on
January 24, 1887, in Dayton, Ohio, to Henry A. Tieje, of German
descent, and Katherine (Bell) Tieje. He was educated in the public
schools of Dayton, and the University of Illinois, from which he
received his Bachelor’s degree in 1910, Master’s degree in 1912,
and Ph.D. in 1917.

He served Illinois University as assistant instructor in English from
1910-1912; he was instructor in English and Debate at Oklahoma
A. & M. College from 1912-1913; instructor in English and Debate
at Washington State College from 1913-1914; instructor in English
at his Alma Mater from 1914-1916, as well as a Fellow in English
at the same university from 1916-1917. A Shakespearean scholar
and actor, he became Head of the Department of Language and
Literature at the Eastern Washington College of Education in 1917,
and its President – the first to have a Ph.D. – in 1939, from which
position he retired in 1945.

Presently, the English Department at Eastern Washington University offers a scholarship in his name for
upcoming seniors and English majors.

After his retirement from Eastern, he taught at the New York State College at Champlain, and also at the
College of the Ozarks, in Arkansas. Later he spent 11 years in England.

Dr. Tieje came to his Masonic ideals and purposes, in part, through inheritance. His great grandfather,
John N. Bell and his grandfather, John H. Bell, were prominent in Masonic circles, as well as in political
and business circles in Montgomery County, Ohio.

He was Initiated, Passed and Raised in Temple Lodge No. 42, receiving his degree of Master Mason on
May 21st, 1921, and was installed as Master of Temple Lodge in 1926, afterwards serving as Secretary of
Temple Lodge from 1927 until June, 1936.

He served the Grand Lodge of Washington as Junior Grand Steward, 1926-27; Committee on Charity,
1929; Committee on Credentials, 1931; Junior Grand Warden, 1933; Senior Grand Warden, 1934; Deputy
Grand Master, 1935, and was installed as Grand Master in 1936.
It is said that his scholarly attainments were manifest in his presentation of the purposes and principles of
our Craft, in his profound understanding of Masonic philosophy. His thorough training in speech was
shown in his inspirational interpretations of the meanings and values of Masonic living, as his experience
as head of a department for twenty years in one of our State Colleges prepared him as a successful
administrator of the affairs of the Grand Lodge of Washington.

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