It is with deep sadness that we record the passing of Bro James Huey, who died at his home in the U.S.A. on Friday the 10th November 2023. Bro James joined Moyarget Masonic lodge No 280 in April 1952 and earlier this year, in April, he received his fifty-year jewel complete with 20-year bar from Rt Wor Bro John McLarnon, Provincial Grand Master of The Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim. In 1958 James had become a member of Ballycastle Royal Arch Chapter No 89 and two years later set off to America where he and his wife, Irene, a Donegal lass from Ramelton built up a successful business in the manufacturing sector.
They were frequent visitors back home to Ireland over the years and James was a familiar face at our annual Installation and Closing Night meetings in the Moyarget Hall. Indeed it has been said before that James attendance at Lodge in Moyarget was probably more frequent each year, than some of our more locally based Brethren.
James was also a very active Mason in his new homeland in Pennsylvania. He was active in many branches of Freemasonry, becoming a 32nd Degree Mason in the Ancient & Accepted Rite there and very involved with the charitable works of the Shriners. He will be missed by all the Lodge members of Moyarget and the Companions of Ballycastle Royal Arch Chapter. And on behalf of us all, we would extend our prayers and deepest sympathy to Irene, and the rest of the family circle at this difficult time. We understand that the Shriners are holding a funeral service in Pennsylvania this Friday and then James’s body will be flown back to Belfast for burial at Bushvale Presbyterian Church sometime next week. We hope to see a goodly number present at the service and commitment to mark the contribution that this Brother has made to Freemasonry over the past seventy years.
Robert Bashford