The lodge loses James F. Helms

James Frank Helms, charter member and the lodge’s secretary since about 1916, died on Monday, September 12, 1932, aged 65; the Chronicle put the news on its front page. Two days later his body lay in state in the lodge room, and the funeral was held at 4 p.m. “in the lodge auditorium, Eleventh and Harvard,” with the Rev. Orin M. Helvey officiating and burial at Rest Haven under the lodge’s auspices.

His obituary called him the lodge’s first Worshipful Master; the Grand Lodge returns give that office to J. M. French, and the conflict stands. Helms had also served thirteen years as president of the Heights school board during the town’s independence. Helms School on Eighteenth Street carries his name to this day.