Brother Harold Davidson, the longtime Librarian for the Philalethes Society, passed away yesterday. Brother Ed Halpaus, President of the Philalethes, posted this moving tribute to him on Facebook. If you are not a member of Facebook, here is the complete post:
It was with great sadness that we learned today (April 13, 2015) of the passing of our good Brother Harold Davidson, FPS. Harold passed to the Celestial lodge above on Friday, April 10th.
I met Brother Harold Davidson soon after I became a member of The Philalethes Society a long time ago. He was a good friend, and one of the best people one could hope to have in his life. I will miss him and our phone conversations.
Brother Harold was the only librarian The Philalethes Society has had. He served as our Librarian for over 30 years. If I remember correctly he mentioned to me that Brother Allen Roberts asked him to be the Librarian when Harold was about 53 years old - he had been doing the job for about 3 years, before the office was created to make him the Librarian. Harold passed at age 86, so that is a long time to serve the members of our society, and he did serve all of us willingly and capably.
I spoke with Brother Harold’s son Scott today, and he told me that his Dad was very proud to be the librarian of The Philalethes, and was also extremely proud that he was elected a Fellow of The Philalethes.
Anyone who ever contacted Harold with questions relating to Masonic Research knew in short order that he had a friend in Harold Davidson (Brother Dave, as his email address said.) I once, as he answered the phone, said ‘hi, Brother Dave’ and then started to apologize for not calling him Harold. I could almost see his smile as he said that’s O.K. I’ve been called Dave since I was a kid, and Brother Dave since I was made Mason.
Brother Harold Davidson began the Billings Masonic Library soon after he retired as a professor of library science, and he was one of the best people one could hope to deal with on used Masonic Books; and when a Mason needed help with research Harold was not only eager to help, he was extremely capable. He would search his memory and his library to find the information needed, he would photocopy it and mail it to the Brother with no charge for postage or copying. As far as I’m concerned Harold was a Mason’s Mason - he was the kind of friend we all hope to be and hope to have.
I will miss him, but I’m not the only one. He will be greatly missed by his family of course, but he will be missed by Masons throughout Montana, and by countless Masons worldwide.
Ed Halpaus
President, The Philalethes Society
There is also an obituary here: http://www.michelottisawyers.com/harold-l-davidson/ .
