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James Tracy Tresner © Enid News and Eagle 07-2018 Submitted by: Glenn
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November 11, 1941 - July 12, 2018
James Tracy Tresner (Jim) passed away on Thursday, July 12, 2018. He was born November 11, 1941, in Enid to Margaret and Jack Tresner. He attended grade school through high school in the Enid Public School system.
He attended several colleges and earned two masters degrees and a PhD in Business Communications. He was a long-time member of Mensa.
Following college, Jim was a professor of drama and speech at Connors State College. He spent the next several years as the chief underwriter at the family insurance company.
Jim loved reading, cooking, writing, and entertaining his friends at the Tresner cabin in Colorado.
Dr. Tresner was internationally known as a Masonic author, writer, speaker and scholar. He joined the youth group of the fraternity, the Order of DeMolay, at the age of 12 while living in Enid. He became a member of the Masonic fraternity in 1963 in Garfield #501 in Enid. He was asked to move to Guthrie in 1987 to use his considerable skills in behalf of the fraternity. He was appointed a consultant to the Oklahoma Grand Lodge, the Oklahoma Masonic Charity Foundation, the Scottish Rite in Oklahoma, and the House of the Temple, the national Scottish Rite headquarters in Washington, DC. He was the book review editor of the Scottish Rite Journal, the national organ of the Scottish Rite, and was a recipient of the 33°, Grand Cross, the highest honor the Rite can give to a Scottish Rite mason. Dr. Tresner also served on the Masonic Information Center of the United States and was recently named an emeritus member of the Board of Directors of the Scottish Rite Research Society. He was elected a Blue Friar by the Society of Masonic authors worldwide in 1999.
In Oklahoma, he also belonged to the York Rite Bodies and the Oklahoma Lodge of Research. He was appointed the director of the degree work for the Guthrie Scottish Rite soon after he arrived in Guthrie and continued in that role until his death. Through his own community theatre experience, he brought an understanding of the theatre form of education to a level unsurpassed in the fraternity. Dr. Tresner inspired almost every man who knew him to make the study of Freemasonry a lifelong love and experience.
He served as the worshipful master of Albert Pike #162 in Guthrie in 1995 and was honored with 50 years of service to Masonry in 2013. Jim held many committee appointments for the Oklahoma Grand Lodge. In 1996, he was awarded the medal of honor, the highest honor a member can receive in Oklahoma Masonry. He had the rare distinction of being named an Honorary Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma. Upon his passing, he was the editor of the Oklahoma Mason and the Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma.
Dr. Tresner was the author of several books, including "Albert Pike: The Man Behind the Monument," "Vested in Glory: The Aprons, Collars, Caps, and Jewels of the Degrees of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry," "From Sacrifice to Symbol: The Story of Cornerstones and Stability Rites," and "But I Digress." In addition, he wrote extensively on all of the Masonic Rites and penned many educational papers, brochures, articles, and booklets on Freemasonry.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
He is survived by his two brothers, John of Placitas, NM, and Jack of Edmond: two nephews, Jevon of Oklahoma City and Jeff of Edmond; four great-nieces and great-nephews, Payden and Rhonan, daughter and son of Jevon and Cheryl; and Jester and Jovy, son and daughter of Jeff.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Grand Lodge Library and Museum, which will house the collection of the Tresner Library.
A funeral service is 10:00 a.m. Thursday, July 19, 2018, at the Church of the Servant, 14343 N. MacArthur in Oklahoma City. Graveside service follows in Enid at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Viewing will be available 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. July 16-18, 2018, at the Community Funeral Home, 1624 N. Pine, Guthrie, OK.
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