One of the Panhandles most outstanding Masons
Pampa Lodge No. 966 enjoyed the membership of the Founders of Pampa, and each one of them contributed significantly to growth and success of the Pampa Community, and to the Lodge and to the Masonic Fraternity. Cecil Payne Buckler certainly did, and at the same time rose through the ranks of Masonry to become an outstanding leading Mason, known across the state of Texas. He excelled in every Masonic Order, serving Masonry until his passing in 1967. His service was exemplary, and he embodied the core tenets of Masonry, eventually attaining Masonry’s highest honors. Known and admired by Masons throughout Texas, he was a Masons Mason.
When T.D. Hobart was in London in 1904, he was asked to find employment for two young clients of an attorney who handled affairs of White Deer Lands. The two young Englishmen, Cecil Payne Buckler and his cousin Maurice Buckler, soon sailed from Liverpool in March, 1905. Arriving in Pampa three weeks later on March 22, with less than $20.00 dollars in his pocket, C P and his cousin Maurice discovered Pampa was a settlement of fewer than 50 people scattered around a boxcar depot on a siding of the Santa Fe Railroad…in the middle of the Texas prairie.
C. P. Buckler, Panhandle ranch manager and civic leader and 33rd Degree Mason, was born in England in 1885 and educated in English private schools. His father was a member of the London Stock Exchange. He was 19 years old when he traveled to Texas, having lost both his parents, and his brother having moved to Egypt.
Starting out as a ranch hand digging post holes and stretching barbed wire for $18.00 per month with board, it was soon discovered that C P could type and take shorthand. Hobart moved Buckler into the office of White Deer Land Company as the bookkeeper. C P’s cousin Maurice soon returned to England. Mr. Buckler stayed in the office and never returned to being ranch hand.
In 1909 he married Annie Thut at her home in LeFors. This was the first marriage ceremony performed in LeFors. M K Brown was his best man and Mava LeFors, daughter of Perry LeFors, was her bridesmaid.
In 1914, Buckler and Brown became naturalized citizens of the United States. In 1924, upon T D Hobart’s resignation from Whit Deer Land Company to manage the JA Ranch, Buckler and Brown became co-managers of the Company. After Brown retired from the Company in 1935, Buckler became sole Manager for the Company.
By 1949, Buckler was among a group of American investors who purchased most of the British interests in the Corporation. He served as its Vice President and Texas agent until it’s liquidation in 1957.
Bucklers civic leadership includes being a Trustee for Pampa Independent School District, often using his own money for temporary buildings. He was active in the Fairview Cemetery Association, Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge, Gray County Selective Service Board, Pampa Country Club, First National Bank, Security Federal Savings and Loan Association, Panhandle-Plains Historical Society in Canyon and the Carson County Square House Museum in Panhandle. In 1959 he was selected to be Pampa’s “Man of the Year.”
On April 24th, 1925 the first officially recorded Episcopalian Church Service was held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. C P Buckler.
C P Buckler, M K Brown and Mrs. Elizabeth Gething, were instrumental in the founding and construction of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Pampa. On April 24th, 1925 the first officially recorded Episcopalian Church Service was held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. C P Buckler. Future services were regularly held in various residences and buildings in Pampa until the consecration of a new Chapel and Parish Hall in 1932, shown at left, on two lots donated by M K Brown and the White Deer Land Company.
St. Matthew’s grew and flourished and eventually built their current building in 1955. Built in the traditional style, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church is a beautiful Church, and still flourishes in the Pampa Community. Built in the style of an English Country Church, St. Matthew’s is a landmark in Pampa. It’s dark oak interior and hand crafted stained glass windows from England, memorialize Pampa’s founding fathers dedication to God and our community.
The long ago dream of one English woman and two English men, who traveled from London, then later imagined an Episcopal Parish in Pampa, thankfully planted a seed that has since provided the community with the time-honored reverence for traditional Episcopal worship. As time has marched forward, St. Matthew’s has grown in spirit and service, while its members continue to respond to the many religious and cooperative needs in the area.
In his lifetime Buckler saw Pampa grow from a frontier community of fewer than fifty persons to a progressive industrial center. Summing up Buckler’s career, in the June 24th 1965 Congressional Record, United States Congressman Walter Rogers said of him:
“Due to his fine leadership, outstanding efforts and sustaining courage, many joined with him in building one of the outstanding Cities of the Great Plains area.”
His Masonic accomplishments were as impressive. To name but a few-Charter member and Past Master of Pampa Masonic Lodge No. 966, Past Commander of Miami and Pampa Knight Templar Commandries, and Past Sovereign of Llano Estacado Conclave of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine. A detailed record keeper, below is his own type written list of “Masonic Activities” as he called them.
Cecil Payne Buckler passed away on December 27, 1967, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery. His wife Annie Thut Buckler had preceded him in death, ten years before, on December 25th, 1957. He was survived by his three daughters, Margaret Buckler Allen, Marjorie Buckler Guill, and Anne Cecilia Green. Buckler Street, where his home was, is named after him. He was laid to rest next to Anne at Fairview Cemetery in Pampa. Their headstone references Revelation 14:13, and appropriate Bible reference for two of Pampa’s finest citizens:
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
