
               THE SAVIOR OF THE PHILALETHES: LEE E. WELLS
                      June 1, 1907 - April 29, 1982                              

                        by - Allen E. Roberts, FPS

    In the beginning The Philalethes Society was a one-man operation. This 

created an almost insurmountable problem in 1952. Walter A. Quincke, who 

had been the President and Editor of the publication since 1945, died 

suddenly in 1952. His protege, Harold H. Kinney, took over as Editor and 

was elected President. A short time later he died unexpectedly. The 

Society came to a standstill. 


    Lee Edwin Wells, the First Vice President, could get no cooperation 

from the remaining officers or the Executive Secretary. A member of the 

Society took advantage of the turmoil, solicited dues from the Fellows and 

members, and planned to take over The Philalethes magazine and Society. 

Wells determined something must be done to preserve what had been started 

in 1928. After a meeting with Elbert Bede, Wells assumed the office of 

President and immediately called together several of the Fellows of the 

Society. 


    Wells was no stranger to the Society. He had been elected a Fellow in 

1947, and in the same year he told the readers of The Philalethes: "Since 

the war The Philalethes Society has gone through a reformation. We of the 

Executive Committee feel that the information we have, the papers that are 

written for us, should not be confined to the few. Therefore, we have 

opened the membership to every Master Mason in good standing in a just and 

legal jurisdiction, wherever it might be in the world. We realize that not 

all of us can write papers on Masonic subjects or devote our lives to 

research. But the knowledge gained by those who can is, of right, the 

property of all Masons everywhere." 


    He observed that members of The Philalethes Society were better 

informed than most people because "our membership covers the world ... and 

Masons are not divorced from world currents.... If we are divorced from 

world events why has a church hurled interdicts and bulls against us for 

two hundred years? If we are only a social band of men, why then has 

revolutionary Russia banned us, and continues to do so wherever her power 

extends?" His answer: because Freemasons believe in Brotherly Love, Relief 

and Truth. No dictator "can tolerate these great principles that are the 

very heart of our Fraternity -- the life blood of its tradition." 


    If this doesn't sound like a man who loved the Craft and wanted to 

serve it, I've missed the meaning of the whole concept of Freemasonry. 

Yet, he was cast aside eight years later by his lodge in California. This 

crime becomes even more despicable when we learn more of the story. 

 

    As the First Vice President of the Society, Wells wrote in the 

February 1951 issue of The Philalethes, of his concern about the Grand 

Lodge of China. He said: "The Chinese Communists have taken the world to 

the very brink of another holocaust." He was also disturbed about what had 

happened, and was happening, to Freemasonry everywhere. "I think of the 

Greater and Lesser Lights that have been extinguished over the past three 

decades," he wrote.


    He added: "We must soberly look back and evaluate our Fraternity and 

ourselves. We must honestly weigh the value of our ideals and [those] of 

our fraternity and squarely face the part we have played in it.


    "Are we 'pin' Masons? Do we feel that we can face persecution, perhaps 

death, as so many of our brethren have done before, for the basic ideas 

and ideals of our Fraternity? Or will we abandon it, since -- to us -- it 

was only another social aspect of our lives?


    "Some three years ago, I tried very hard, in a speech delivered to a 

Lodge at Oxnard, California, to point ahead to this very problem that 

seems so close upon us now. I begged that new members, and old as well, be 

given a thorough grounding in the traditions and history of our Craft, 

that they may learn something more of its Symbols. Otherwise, we weaken 

ourselves; we may have many members but few followers, many 'pin' wearers, 

but few living stones that have made our Fraternity great. I am afraid 

that my warning fell on deaf ears."


    Wells also feared Continental Masons didn't understand the American 

system of Freemasonry. In an attempt to rectify this, he had written an 

article on "American Freemasonry. It appeared in "La Chaine d'Union of 

Paris, then translated into Dutch and printed in "Algemeen Maconnick 

Tydschrift" in Holland. 


    In February 1954, when The Philalethes resumed publication, Wells 

spoke of the chaos in the Temple. He told of the deaths of Quincke and 

Kinney. The Executive Secretary was no help. So, Wells, on the advice of 

Bede and others, assumed the Presidency. He appointed Alphonse Cerza of 

Illinois as First Vice President and Arthur Triggs of California as Second 

Vice President. Lawton Meyer of Missouri was appointed Executive 

Secretary. 


    The fellow who had illegally collected dues from the members refused 

to release those funds until Wells strongly suggested he do just that. 

Wells immediately appointed a committee to write a constitution and bylaws 

for the Society, charging it to make certain there would no longer be any 

loose ends. He then called for an election of officers. 


    Wells, although he was on the ballot for President, wasn't elected; 

Cerza became the President. Why was Wells, the long-time member and 

Fellow, passed over for a new member and a new Fellow? The answer isn't 

known, although the word was passed that Wells didn't want the job; that 

he was a full-time professional writer and wanted to devote his time to 

his vocation. Is this true? 


    The mystery thickens. Why did he leave the Society which he 

undoubtedly loved? In 1955 Wells's California lodge suspended him for non-

payment of dues! Why would a man who apparently loved Freemasonry let his 

dues lapse? Why would a lodge suspend a man as brilliant as Wells was? 

Could it be because of that brilliance? We can only make assumptions, but 

Freemasonry has changed little over the decades. Most lodges and Grand 

Lodges usually welcome ritualists with open arms; the writers and 

educators, for the most part, are ignored. 


    Did Wells really love the Craft? Read again the words he wrote in 1947 

and 1951, and there are many more that will appear in Seekers of Truth to 

be published later in 1988. Was he brilliant? When his lodge suspended him 

eleven of his novels had been published; and there would be over twenty-

nine more. Although he made his living writing for the secular world, it 

was evident he loved Freemasonry and particularly The Philalethes Society, 

at least until 1954. Unfortunately, at this late date, many questions must 

remain unanswered. 


    Alphonse Cerza wrote about Wells in October 1954: "As a professional 

writer, and one whose time was not his own, he called on those whom he 

knew would accomplish the purpose sought; contacted key men in all parts 

of the country, and set the wheels in motion that resulted in the writing 

and adoption of a Constitution and By-Laws, and the selection, nomination 

and election of permanent officers who would take over the reins of the 

Society, and make it active and aggressive in Masonic research. 


    "Little credit has been given this ardent Mason for his work. His 

personal and professional obligations preventing him from accepting the 

Presidency of the Society, which he so richly deserved, he stepped down 

from that position and continued his labors for the good of the Society, 

without thought of personal advancement or honors.... [The Society's] 

present state of activity will be forever a monument and tribute to his 

devotion and love of Masonry." 


    Over a year ago, when I started writing the history of The Philalethes 

Society, I began a search for Lee Edwin Wells. Everywhere I turned I met a 

dead end. Reference books on writers and authors contained little or 

nothing concerning him. I did find he was a member of a California lodge, 

but had been dropped for non-payment of dues in 1955. This was 

unbelievable, but unhappily true. 


    Later I learned Wells had been made a Master Mason in North Park Lodge 

No. 646, Indianapolis, Indiana, on February 26, 1944. He had born in that 

city on June 1, 1907. On August 1, 1945 he affiliated with Centre Lodge 

No. 23. In 1950 he demitted from this lodge to become a member of the 

California lodge. 


    Wells lived for a time in Arizona, then for several years in New York. 

During this period he wrote over forty western novels, screen plays and 

segments of television shows. Three of his books became motion pictures. 

He was a vice president of the Mystery Writers of America, and it is from 

this organization I finally received a clue that sent me searching once 

again in California -- this time in San Diego. 


    Captain Frederick Kleyn, Jr., MPS, Secretary of the San Diego Chapter 

of The Philalethes Society tracked Wells down. To my sorrow I learned that 

Wells had died in that city on April 29, 1982. My long, long search had 

come to an end. 


    Lee Edwin Wells is with his Maker. But we can be grateful that he 

worked for Freemasonry and the Society when he did. I hope that before he 

passed on he knew how well he had performed for us during the short period 

he was permitted to work in the quarries of Freemasonry. How much more he 

would have done, how much better the Craft would be if he had been allowed 

to continue, we will never know. 


    I, for one, say: "Thank you! Thank you, Brother Wells. Rest in peace." 

     