V∴W∴ JAMES R. MAHER C.F.A. – TREASURER
Some members claim that lodge treasurer Jim Maher has one slight defect, as a Washington State University grad he is a Cougar, a fact the lodge really doesn’t hold against him too much because he is an outstanding treasurer and financial manager of the lodge funds. He may have been born in “Mile High City”, Denver Colorado on December 14, 1962, but he is really a Washingtonian to the core. He comes from a family with Masonic roots in the Bellingham area, his grandfather having served as Master of Fairhaven Lodge №. 73.
He took his Masonic degrees in the small Renton Lodge Tyee №. 115 completing them on January 11, 1989. Hardly dry behind the ears as a Mason he promptly left for the British Isles where he visited lodges including the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Shortly after his return he took a plural membership in Daylight Lodge. He was one of several members of his mother lodge now called Tyee No. 115, the Wayfarer’s Daylight Lodge who proposed that it become a daytime lodge like Daylight.
A good ritualist and solid leader he served two terms as Daylight’s Master, first in 1993-94 and again 1997-98. He was Master when Daylight’s current Master Anthony Monaco received his initial degree in Masonry. In the summer of 1999 V\W\ Don Ward the lodge’s treasurer suffered a stroke and died; Maher was appointed to fill the office and has been reelected yearly since. His expertise as a Chartered Financial Analyst [CFA] has proven to be a valuable asset to the financial well being of Daylight Lodge. In 2001 his value in this field was also recognized on the Grand Lodge level and he was appointed as ad-hoc member of the Masonic Retirement Center Board of Trustees, the following year he became a full member and was also named to the Grand Lodge Finance Committee. He continues to serve on both committees. As a member of the MRC Trustees, he was a member of a sub-committee responsible for the re-development of the Center as the Landmark on the Sound. Traveling around the state as well as to various Masonic retirement facilities around the nation, he spent many hours in the planning to bring the historical 1926 building up the date as a 21st Century retirement community of which Masonry can be proud.
On June 9, 2006 he was installed for the first of two years as Deputy of the Grand Master in District No. 5 representing the Grand Master to eight lodges in the Seattle area. The current Grand Master re-appointed him on June 15th for a second year. He joins six other, three living, Daylight Past Masters who have held the office. In his spare time he is a devoted father to a young daughter who is a member of the Masonic youth group Rainbow for Girls and like all such fathers, serves on the Rainbow Advisory Council. He is also active in his local church keeping their finances in shape; volunteers part time at the South King County 911 Center. The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras has been a major part of Daylight Lodge’s community support for many years. He is member of the Board of Trustees for the organization serving along with Daylight’s Honorary Past Master M\W\ Sat Tashiro as a member of the finance committee.
