Page 197 - 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 Consistory. In 1915
he was designated Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, and on January 31st, 1920, coroneted 33°

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