Twice in the same year the invisible arm of Death flashed from out of the darkness and each time struck a Past Grand Master of this Jurisdiction.
All through the years he fought a sturdy, unyielding battle with insidious disease, the call finally came to Abbot Rodney Heywood, at the end of only a few days of illness. He was in his place as head of the State Utilities Commission on Saturday before his death on Tuesday. (January 9, 1923, Ogden, Utah) That was as it should be, for he came of Pilgrim stock, in direct line, eighth in succession from John Alden—whose life and love the poet has embalmed for all time.

Brother Heywood was born in Grafton, Mass., September 16, 1855. He was educated in the elementary and high schools of his native place. Coming to Utah about the time he had attained his majority he took up the study of law in the office of Robertson and Longstreet, and three years later, in January, 1879, he was admitted to the bar.

R.H. Robertson, the senior member of the firm in whose offices our Brother pursued his legal studies, was the second Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Utah, and he, and O. F. Strickland, the first Grand Master , were close friends, members and Past Masters, of the same Lodge—Wasatch Lodge No. 1—and earlier, associates in the practice of their profession. Brother Heywood referred to those early days and characters in his “Reminiscences” given on the occasion of the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Grand Lodge. He thus had known every one of the Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Utah, although he himself did not become a Mason till some years after his student days.

In 1879 he went to Ogden in the employ of the Government, being connected with the office of the Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Utah. Later he went to Corinne, Utah, where he met the one whom he afterwards married. In 1880 he entered into a law partnership with Judge James U. Kinball, which continued until 1886. A term as city attorney followed and afterwards he practiced law until 1902. In the meantime he had become interested in banking and for seven years was cashier and Vice President of the Commercial National Bank of Ogden, retiring from this position in 1913. He served Ogden as Mayor from 1916 to 1918, during which time he was also Chairman of the Draft Board. For the last two years of his life he was Chairman of the State Utilities Commission, and as such gave to its affairs the benefit of his legal training and wide experience in business affairs.

But space does not permit, if the necessary information were at hand, of a record of all his varied activities. He was a zealous party worker in politics, interested in all civic affairs, a staunch and generous supporter of the Public Library, a philanthropist of many unheralded benefactions. A writer in an Ogden paper characterized his as a “public spirited citizen, man of affairs, public benefactor and home man,” and after referring to the poor health which our Brother faced for so many years, the same writer declared:

“An ordinary man would have given up the struggle long ago, but Abbot R. Heywood had a masterful will and endless courage and so he fought on, not purely for the pleasure of living, but to serve to the best of his ability those who might lean upon him. He possessed high sense of duty and a keen understanding of every obligation placed at his door, and so he labored to the last, determined to perform a noble part in life’s responsibilities.
Our Brother was married to Miss Elizabeth Guthre, in Ogden, April 16, 1885, and she and an only child, a son survive him.

Brother Heywood was made a Mason in Weber Lodge No. 6, Ogden, Utah, June 3, 1880, and was Master of that Lodge in 1887. In the Grand Lodge of Utah, he was Grand Orator in 1883, and on January 16, 1889, was elected Grand Master. He was a member of the Jurisprudence Committee, 1891 and 1892, and when Past Grand Master Louis Cohn resigned as Chairman of this Committee, owing to the pressure of business—at the Annual Communication of 1893, Grand Master Shilling appointed Brother Heywood Chairman, and in that position he served, by reappointment, annually, till the end came, only a few days short of thirty years.

He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Ogden Chapter No. 2, May 21, 1881, and later was the presiding officer of his Chapter. In 1914 he was Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter R. A. M., of Utah, but in spite of the earnest solicitations of the Companions, he declined to accept the election of Grand High Priest owing to the uncertain state of his health.

He was Knighted in Utah Commandery No. 1, K. T., and was a charter member and Past Eminent Commander of El Monte Commandrey No. 2, of Ogden.

On January 25, 1883, he received the degrees of the A. & A. S. Rite, from the 4th to the 32nd inclusive, from the then Deputy Inspector General for Wyoming and Utah, Brother Frank Foote. On Oct. 24, 1907, he was given the rank and decoration of K. C. C. H., and in Washington D. C., October 21, 1921, he was duly invested a Mason of the thirty-third Degree, and proclaimed an Inspector General Honorary of the Supreme Council, S. J. His was the privilege of voicing Utah’s welcome to the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction in August last (1922) when that Body assembled in Salt Lake City, for its Annual Session.

Brother Heywood had come to be regarded as a fixture in Masonic gatherings, especially in Grand Lodge, and few, if any, in the Jurisdiction would be missed as he will be missed from our gatherings. He loved to put snap and sparkle, and the smile, into the communications of Grand Lodge, and this he never failed to do, somewhere along the way, and these sallies came to be looked for, and fully appreciated by the brethren.
A kindly courageous sprit; a sturdy contender for what he held true; a wise counselor; a very human and humane man; a loyal friend; a citizen of high ideals; a lover of home and family, passed on the never-ending trail with the going of Abbot Rodney Heywood.