The American “probinciano” … He was born in the country village of Redruth, Cornwall, England on March 8, 1910. When he was five years old, he travelled with his parents to the “new” world on the last voyage of the Lusitania before it sank. The Hick family settled at Easton, Pennsylvania, where the young Howard got his early education. After his graduation from Wilson High School in 1928, he enrolled in New York University where he got his BS in Aeronautical Engineering in 1932. He was very active in co-curriculars. In fact, he became the captain of his school’s track team and a member of the track team that went to Los Angeles, California for the Olympic tryouts. Since his academic degree was not quite popular at that time, he started as an athletic coach and mathematics instructor at the Pacific Military Academy and then at Elsinore Naval Academy. In 1933, he became a citizen of the United States of America. His first engineering assignment was with Babcock & Wilcox Company at Boulder Dam, Nevada in 1934. It was in this company that he fell in love with beauteous Jean Brown, whom he later married at Las Vegas. After two years in the employ of Babcock & Wilcox, he went on a research work in Greece. On January 2, 1938, he arrived in the Philippines to work with the then General Foods Corporation, Franklin Baker Division. He fell in love with this country and therefore decided to stay. He devoted much of his time to civic organizations. When he became President and General Manager of Peter Paul Philippine Corporation, he decided to stay in Candelaria, Quezon. He was actually proud to be a “probinciano.” He would tell the Brethren, “My heart is with the probinciano, for am I not one, a Quezonian? And oddly enough, in American my surname is synonymous with country boy -’tagalalawigan’ -provincian: Hick.” In his inaugural address as the 41st Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines, he declared: On June 18, 1946 I entered a Masonic Lodge for the first time and I thought then that as far as Freemasonry was concerned, I had enjoyed one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. In 1949, I was elected Master of Manila Lodge No.1 and I believe that nothing could surpass that gratifying experience. Tonight, I have been installed Grand Master, and frankly, I cannot believe that such an honor, the highest within the gift of masons to bestow upon one of their members, could come to me. It proves the democratic way of their great Fraternity. With this high honor goes great responsibility and at least until I finish my term, God willing, I look upon my Stewardship not as a reward, but rather as a trust – a trust to serve the members of my Grand Lodge with every fiber of my mind and body. Besides serving as Master of Manila Lodge No.1, Hick became Grand Pursuivant in the Grand Lodge. Then he served as Grand Marshal twice before he was elected to the positions of Junior Grand Warden, Senior Grand Warden, and Deputy Grand Master. Although he had non-Masonic activities – he was past President of the Rotary, member of the National Board of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and member of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement – his heart was with the Masonic Fraternity. His rank did not bar him from associating with people ordinary .He said once: I want you to know that I shall always be available to our members. The Grand Master’s door will always be open. Come in and discuss any problem with me. Remember that although in Lodges and in the Grand Lodge I may be Grand Master, or “Most Worshipful Sir,” outside of the Lodge and in my office I am and will only be Howard, one of you. Howard later became a Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Supreme Council, Scottish Rite Freemasonry. This honor was in recognition of his active participation in the Fraternity. He was both a Brother and a friend to the rich and to the poor, for all men were, to him, equal. “Underneath our skin,” he said; “is one blood.” Like many of his predecessors, Howard was a humble, affable, lovable person with one ambition: to serve human kind with dedication, so that soon equality would prevail.