In memoriam of Bro. Valentin Montes

Title

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow Volume XXXIX (Issue No. 3) September 1963

Year

1963

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

In Memoriam Of Bro. Valentin Montes Mount Huraw Lodge No, 98 F. & A.M, By TEODORICO NOBLE Secretary Mount Huraw Lodge No. 98 pREEMASONRY has had the dis tinction, from time immemorial, of being blessed with outsanding members, men who lead the life of usefulness to their fellowmen One such contribution of Mount Huraw Lodge No- 9«, F&AM, to the Craft, modest as it might have been and perhaps inappreciable to many, was Bro. Valentin G. Montes, whose un expected death had left a void diffi cult to fill in our Lodge and in the hearts of his friends. The violent and untimely demise of Bro. Valentin G. Monies caused by a jetliner crash somewhere near Bombay, India (in which all 94 passengers and crew died) on the night of July (i, 1962 was indeed a painful shock to the members of Mount Huraw Lodge No. 98, a sad blow to his many friends and an ir reparable loss to his congenial family. We have known Bro. Montes as a sincere and amiable friend with kindly disposition; we have known Bro. Monies as an attorney, worthy and well qualified and respected by his fellow barristers who had the chance to assess his capability: wc have known Bro. Montes as a cham pion of the common masses when liis legal services were sought by a mine labor union and a group of small farmers to help elevate the living standard and welfare of the backbone of the country; we have known Bro. Montes as a duly and truly prepared educator esteemed bv the youth; we have known Bro. Montes as a consistent Christian lay leader who had travelled far and wide in the interest of his church; we have known Bro. Montes as a devoted husband and as an affec tionate fathet of four bright boys 86 The Cabletow who arc all Sillimanites; and we have known Bro. Montes to be obssessed with a feeling of brotherly love towards his fellowmen with a great desire to commune in frater nal fellowship with brother Masons. Bro. Montes was on his way to Europe when he met his tragic death. He was scheduled to attend a meeting of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in Paris; he was to attend a confer ence on “The Role of the Churches in Social Service” in Germany; and he would end his European tour after attending the Graduate School for Ecumenical Studies in Bossey, Switzerland. From Europe Bro. Montes would continue his world travel in 1963 to the United States where lie was billed for observation and speaking tour before American Evangelical Churches. He had pre viously attended conferences of the Evangelical Church in Japan. Hong kong, India and other Far Eastern and Southeast Asian countries. He studied in the public schools of Samar and when he finished the secondary education from the Samar High School, he went to Silliman University to take up theology and was conferred the degree of Bachelor of Theology, cmn laude, in 1937. He continued his studies in liberal arts while at the same time working un der Silliman University President Arthur Carson. He further pursued studies at the Union College in Ma nila and later took up law at the Jose Abad Santos Law School and in due time he became a full-fledged lawyer in 1919. Bro. Montes was a member of a number of organizations which are all devoted to the service of God, country and fellowmen. He was the chairman of the board of trustees of the Philippine Christian Colleges in Manila, and a board of trustee of the Silliman University where he was awarded a plaque of apprecia tion for services well done and a posthumous award for “outstanding contribution in the Lord’s service.” He was the Secretary of the Depart ment of Public Welfare of the Unit ed Church of Christ of the Philip pines, and was elected member of the Committee of the World Coun cil of Church during the third world assembly at New Delhi in 1961. After passing the bar examination when he went to Borongan to en gage in the practice of his law pro fession, he saw an opportunity to promote the well-being of the chil dren in the hope that they will be come better citizens tomorrow and lend themselves exemplary in the discharge ol their civil duties in the years to come. He then founded the Eastern Samar Academy which to day still there stands in its avowed mission of educating the hope of our fatherland. He was not con tented with serving the youth alone; he was al-o concerned with the pub lic allairs ol the town as he was fascinated with the growing ambi tion of carsing for himself public service to the community in which he lived. lie saw a challenge of participation in community affairs, and when he was drafted to run as municipal councilor of Borongan, he was catapulted by the electorate to the position that lie sought in the 1954 election. That was the last and only stint with politics that lie had in his life for even if he was pressed bv his friends to continue in his political ascendancy by run September 1963 87 ning for Congress, he refused to bi' dragged further into the political game that he believed should not be handled with kill gloves. A native of I.lorente, Samar, where he saw the first of the world on No. 3, 1912, Vai Montes, who was then known for his tongue of good report and coming well recom mended, some time after liberation, knocked at the portal of Mount Huraw Lodge No. 98 for admission; he was initiated (by courtesy) by High Twelve Lodge No. 82 in Manila, and subsequently passed to the FC degree and finally raised to MM degree by his mother Lodge. (Our Lodge records were all burned in the Catbalogan conflagration ol April 1, 1957, hence, no dates are available of his degree conferral.) His zeal for the masonic fraternity was redoubled when he affiliated as a dual member ol Keystone Lodge No. 100, F&AM, in Manila oil Au gust 12, 1961. Survived by his wife Amparo Solinap-Montcs and his four sons — Roy, 19, Victor, 17, Cesar, 15 and z\lexis, 14 — Bro. Valentin G. Mon tes is now gone — gone to that un discovered country from whose bourn no traveller has ever return ed. We had high expectations of Bro. Montes but the Lord in His inlinite wisdom had willed to take him away from our midst. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken a wav; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We of Mount Huraw Lodge No. 98, F&AM, deeply mourn the loss ol so good a man as Bro. Mon tes. With the ashes of his cremated body in a sealed box from India placed atop the catafalque, a Lodge of Sorrow was held, in cooperation with United Church of Christ of Catbalogan, on July 28, 1962 to of fer to his memory the sad tribute of our affection. The present instance of mortality only proves that Bro. Valentin G. Montes is not dead in the fidl hope of resurrection for “lost Friends are not dead, but gone before, ad vanced a stage or two upon that toad which you must travel in the steps they trod.” Man that is born of woman hath a short time to live and is full of misery; He cometh forth and is cut down like a Hower; He fleeth as it were a shadow and continueth not. A It is not enough that in the lodge room or among Freemasons the badge of brotherhood should hold. It is the mission of tho craft Io spread the gospel of human kinship that all the world will acknowxdgo the bonds of amity and accord. Froemasonry is no longer an exclusive and withdrawn body, doing good by stealth or concerned only for its own. Its principles are blazoned for all men Io behold; if now we fail to match fair professions with worthy deeds the fraternity will be brought into contempt and will deservo the condemnation of mankind. — ANONYMOUS 88 The Cabletow

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