Robert G. Davis, 33°
Except for Albert Pike, Ill.William Busby was probably the largest single benefactor to the Library of the Supreme Council.
Flanked by the numerals 1907, a letter "B" on a white stone oval stands alone at the second-story level of a downtown building in McAlester, Oklahoma. In McAlester, as in many towns and cities across America, most local residents don’t know what such architectural embellishments mean. In this case, the letter stands for Busby, more precisely Ill. William Busby, 33°, S.G.I.G. in Oklahoma. He was known affectionately as the "Colonel," this was his building, and he was a giant of his time.
It is particularly relevant to honor him in this special Library of the Supreme Council issue of the Scottish Rite Journal because of his generous attention and devotion to the Council’s collections in the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. A lover of books and a friend of literature, Busby donated a personal library of over 8,000 volumes to the Supreme Council. With perhaps the one exception of Albert Pike himself, Busby was the largest single benefactor to the Supreme Council Library. Members and researchers at the House of the Temple continue to benefit from the generosity of this outstanding Oklahoma Freemason.
Ill. Busby received his Craft Degrees in McCune, Kansas, his York Degrees in Parsons, and his Consistory Degrees in Topeka. The lure of economic opportunity led him to relocate at the turn of this century to McAlester, Oklahoma, which was then a thriving metropolis at the center of coal fields in Indian Territory. Taking a job as a coal salesman for what is now the Rock Island Railway Company, he soon turned to his own coal mining business. In a few short years, Ill. Busby amassed a fortune in the mining industry and employed nearly 4,000 employees.
As might be expected, Busby used his solid business sense to develop what is now downtown McAlester. But he also gave much of his time to public ventures for which he received no compensation. He was a member of the State Executive Committee of the YMCA, president of the McAlester public library, and held offices in many community and civic endeavors.
He was also prominent in the Scottish Rite. In fact, it was largely through his efforts that the McAlester Masonic Temple, a huge red brick and white stone structure which served from 1907 through 1930, was built. The present commodious Temple at McAlester rests upon its framework. In recognition of his many services to the Rite, Bro. Busby was invested with the Rank and Decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour on October 19, 1897, and he was coroneted an Honorary Inspector General of the Thirty-third Degree by the Supreme Council on October 20, 1899. When Harper Cunningham (who had made the Oklahoma Land Run a decade earlier to establish the Rite in Oklahoma Territory and was its first S.G.I.G.) decided to change his residence to New Mexico to set up the Rite in that Territory, the Supreme Council was not five minutes in electing Busby an Active Member on October 22, 1909. The Active Members knew that no mistake would be made in Ill. Busby’s elevation to govern the affairs of the Rite in Oklahoma. He had traveled extensively with Cunningham and was well known in Supreme Council circles. Busby never missed a Session of the Supreme Council, acted as the Council’s Grand Representative to Chile, and served as President of the Board of Trustees of the "New Age," then the official organ of the Southern Jurisdiction. He also served on the Committee on Subordinate Bodies and the State of the Order.
The legacy of this outstanding Scottish Rite Brother lives on in Oklahoma and in the Library of the Supreme Council which benefited so strongly from his dedication to the literature of our Fraternity.
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Robert G. Davis is the Secretary of the Scottish Rite Bodies in Guthrie, Okla. He is Past Master of two Oklahoma Lodges, serves as editor of the Oklahoma Scottish Rite Mason, is actively involved with Masonic education and renewal programs both in Oklahoma and nationally, and presently serves as President of the International Philalethes Society. |