IN CHERISHED MEMORY
In Cherished Memory Perry Allen Lester 1928~2006
initial position to become Secretary-Treasurer and then General Manager and Vice President of the company. He retired from that position in 2003.
he Grand Lodge mourns the death of Past Grand Master and Past Trustee of the Grand Lodge, F.A.A.M., of the District of Columbia, Perry Allen Lester, on Sunday, September 24, 2006. Last Masonic rites were conducted at the Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Thursday evening, September 28, 2006, when MWB Mansour Hatefi delivered the memorial oration.
Brother Lester was devoted to his family, his church, his business, and to the Masonic fraternity, which he served faithfully from the time of his initiation in Harmony Lodge No. 17 in 1953 until his death. Up until the time of his death, in fact, he always looked forward to receiving visiting brethren in his home, as they called just to pay their respects to an ailing brother.
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A religious service for Brother Lester was conducted the following day, on September 29, 2006, at the Christ Episcopal Church in Kensington, Maryland. Immediately after the conclusion of the religious service, a procession of family and friends accompanied the body to the Parklawn Memorial Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland, for internment. Brother Lester is survived by his wife of 50 years, Geneva; a son, Scott; daughters Jean Ann Krueger (David) and Susan E. King (William); grandchildren Christopher, Kaitlyn, and Erik Krueger, Collin and Nathan Lester, and Emily, Madeleine, and Corbin King; and three brothers, Guy M., Maurice C., and Harry K. Lester. Brother Lester was one of the eight children born to John and Bessie Lester in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public schools of that community, graduating from high school in January of 1946. Thereupon he became a member of Army Air Corps, from which he was honorably discharged in 1947. On his return to civilian life Brother Lester was employed by Acme Supermarkets in his home town, where he served as produce manager. His aptitude for business was quickly recognized, however, and it was not long before he was promoted to Assistant Store Manager in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and then Store Manager in Ridgeway, Indiana. By 1949 he decided to further his education by enrolling in Boyds Business School in Washington, D.C. Following completion of his courses at Boyds, he was hired as office manager of the William W. Kendricks Company, where he spent the rest of his working life. Early on he also completed courses at the Benjamin Franklin University, as he rose from his The Voice of Freemasonry
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Three years after he became a Master Mason, Brother Lester was elected Junior Deacon of his lodge, and in that same year, he received the Grand Lodge Certificate of Proficiency, which was presented to him on his 31st birthday, on October 14, 1959. He served as Master of Harmony Lodge in 1963, in which year he also served as treasurer of the Master’s Association. During the period 1964-1968 Brother Lester assisted the ailing lodge secretary, Brother Johnston R. Zimmerman. In December of 1968 he was elected secretary of the lodge in his own right and he served continuously in that position until 1977, when because of increasing responsibilities in the Grand Lodge, he stepped down temporarily. Following his service as Grand Master he resumed his secretarial duties, serving in that capacity until his retirement at the annual communication of his lodge in the year 2000. Brother Lester was appointed Grand Pursuivant of the Grand Lodge in 1971 and in 1972 he was elected Junior Grand Steward. He advanced through all of the elected progressive offices of the Grand Lodge until he was elected, on December 27, 1979, Grand Master for the Masonic year of 1980. Upon his installation as Grand Master, Brother Lester announced his theme for the year would be one that proclaimed, “Fellowship is the Crown of the Craft.” In working to this theme, he said, “it is my hope to put first things first” in the Craft. Brother Lester’s year as Grand Master was very eventful for him and beneficial for the Craft as a whole. During the year he was afforded the privilege of welcoming the Conference of Grand Masters to its annual meeting in the Shoreham Hotel. At that conference Brother Lester delivered one of the discussion papers, a work in which he presented a scholarly analysis of the practice of making a Mason at sight, and he was also one of a small group of Grand Masters selected to be received by President Jimmy Carter in the White House. The Masonic labors of Brother Lester were not confined solely to his lodge and the Grand Lodge, for he was an active mem-
