01/30/2022
A TRIBUTE TO OUR DEPARTED COMPANION AND BROTHER - WILLIAM L. HONDERD
If it can be said that masonry has pillars, then surely brother and companion Bill Honderd was such. He aspired to perfection, and led those who might follow to achieve their very best and to learn and experience the humble gratification that comes from a job well done, in whatever form it may be, and learning at the end that the true reward comes from the perfection of the effort and not from any perceived perfection in the result.
Brother and companion Honderd was initiated into masonry in November 1995, and then passed in September 1996 and raised to the sublime degree of a master mason in October 1996 and the rest, as they say, is history. He went into the officer line the next year as Junior Deacon and worked his way through the line to become Worshipful Master of Helotes Masonic Lodge #1429 in June, 2007.
In his quest for knowledge and expertise in the ritual, Bro. Honderd earned his first certificate of instruction just two years after he was raised in 1998 and, with only one gap, still held an active 3-Year "A" Certificate on the day he passed. His drive to learn and teach eventually earned him recognition by Helotes Lodge in 2013 when he was awarded the highest award a subordinate lodge of the Grand Lodge of Texas can award, the "Golden Trowel". There is no award higher that can be bestowed on a Texas mason because this award comes from his brothers in his lodge in appreciation of his energy and efforts to make Helotes Lodge and its brethren be the best at what they do and the best masons they can be.
Companion Honderd was equally active in the York Rite, joining Helotes Chapter #444 on October 22, 1997 and completing his Council degrees with Helotes Council #362 on March 28, 1998. He took on several lengthy, difficult degree roles, excelling in his performance of them while impressing many, many candidates and went on to work his way through the officer lines of both, serving as Most Excellent High Priest in the chapter in 2011 and Thrice Illustrious Master in the council in 2012. He was also recognized with the York Rite equivalents of the Golden Trowel Award when he was presented the Chapter Cornerstone Award and the Council Cryptic Triangle on April 13, 2015. The companions of Helotes York Rite are very grateful for Bill's hard work, excellent instruction, experience, and his friendship, all of which will be sorely missed.
Few masons have launched and guided as many masonic journeys as Bro. Honderd. Through his conferral of degrees, his instruction of candidates, and several roles in the degrees of the York Rite he has helped shape the paths of hundreds of brothers and companions. Bro. Bill traveled frequently to Valley-Hi lodge to confer and assist in the initiation, passing, and raising of new masons while spreading the mortar of brotherly love and affection, binding Helotes and Valley-Hi Lodges together in strong fraternal ties.
Bro. Bill was a quiet worker who mostly shunned the bright light, but he was almost single-handedly responsible for raising the money and funding two educational finance programs supporting the award of scholarships and grants to local high school students. He created, organized and ran an annual golf tournament for Helotes Lodge and it created a pool of funds that the lodge used to fund many years of scholarships for students of the local high schools. In the York Rite he designed, organized and ran the annual Spring Social which raised the money every year to fund two grants for vocational students at the local Construction Careers Academy. Over the course of the most recent 10 years, it is safe to say that Bro. Honderd's organizing and fundraising efforts raised more than $20,000 that went directly to worthy and well-qualified students beginning their life's journeys.
Brother and companion Honderd was a passionate ritualist, so it is appropriate to remember him with this passage from the York Rite ritual and to think of him whenever we hear it in the future:
"...when the sun of your life is fast declining beneath the horizon, and but a few more grains of sand shall remain in your glass, may you have so lived as to have an abiding hope in an eternal inheritance through the merits of the lion of the tribe of judah; and may you be able to look forward with confidence toward that king of kings who has ascended into heaven to prepare a mansion for you."
