Looking back, it was a serendipitous discovery. In late 2024 I mentioned to the curator of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Colorado museum my desire to locate and build up a collection of unique and interesting artwork and photography for our lodge building. One of my favorite things about visiting lodges is seeing the various artwork gracing their walls. Some are quite common, others capturing the imagination and wonderment of a curious mind. The latter was the case with the portrait of Brother Hezekiah Coe.

I received a text from the curator just days before the annual communication informing me that she had found some interesting photographs of a Mason in a small shop in Florence, Colorado and wanted to know if I wanted them. There were handwritten notes on the back, and the large photos seemed to be in good shape aside from wear along the unframed edges. There was something about the image that immediately caught my attention, and I eagerly agreed to buy them.

The penetrating gaze of Hezekiah hangs on my conscious like a shroud. It seems to catch my eye after every lodge event, mostly conveying how unimpressed he is with my efforts. Understandable considering his remarkable life. Bro. “Hez” was born June 10, 1844, in Ross County, Ohio. Little is known about his early years, but when the Civil War broke out, Hezekiah signed up in Company “K” of the 63 rd Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Union Army. He saw combat throughout the Confederate states and was made a Master Mason “in the swamps of North Carolina in 1863 to likely a Military Lodge. 

Bro. Hez earned the rank of Corporal, scout, and spy under General Logan and he was at one point captured and imprisoned in the infamous Libby Prison which he escaped in 1864 during the famed “Libby Prison Escape”. He went North and served under General Sherman on his historic “March to the Sea” and took part in the Grand Review through the streets of Washington when the war ended.

A family “note” attached to the back of his photograph relayed a remarkable story from the war. While serving as a sentry one day he was startled by a Dove who “kicked up a fuss”, and when Bro. Hez looked in the direction of the ruckus, he saw a Rebel soldier aiming a rifle at him but Bro. Hez was able to shoot the Rebel first. After the war he asked his family never to shoot any Doves, believing them to be messengers of God. Thinking of this story I am reminded of Pslams 55:5-6:

“Fearfulness and Trembling are come unto upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.”

Following the war, Hezekiah returned to the mid-west and served as Sheriff of Macon County, Illinois for many years, later serving as a Deputy US Marshal. He was a member in good standing with Bement lodge No. 365 in Illinois until “retiring” to Kansas where he affiliated with Rising Sun Lodge No. 8 until his death in February of 1910. 

Brother Hez, through his gaze and pose, suggests a yet unimpressed man of great accomplishment, asking those standing before him a simple question; “What deeds will mark your life with consequence to be remembered by?” He offers an inspiring challenge to be better men than we think possible and to build a life worth remembering. Bro. Hezekiah was posthumously made an “Honorary” member of Douglas Lodge No. 153 in 2025 in the hopes his story can be rescued from forgetfulness to inspire generations to come.