George W. Vallery was born in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on January 24, 1861, the son of German parentage. He was educated in the public schools and upon graduation from Plattsmouth High School, he entered employment with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad as a telegraph operator. This started his career in the railroad business, which took him to Denver in 1882, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1888, to Salt Lake City as General Agent in 1889, and back to Denver in 1891. In 1904 he became General Manager of the Colorado Midland Railroad and in 1911 was elected president of the company. When he retired from the railroad business he established an investment and brokerage business of which he was head at the time of his death.
In 1891 while General Agent of the C. B. & 0. Railroad, in Salt Lake City, he married Miss Martha E. Pickard, the daughter of a prominent merchant of that city.
Sir Knight Vallery died on December 29, 1933. He had not been well following an operation performed the year before, and had been confined for three months to his apartment in the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver where he had made his home for years.
The funeral was held at Denver on January 2, 1934, and was attended by acting Grand Master Andrew Agnew and Grand Recorder Adrian Hamersly, as well as by Past Grand Commanders of the Grand Commandery of Colorado. After the religious services, a final tribute was given by Past Grand Commander Stanley C. Warner.
Sir Knight Vallery was made a Mason in Oriental Lodge No. 87 in Denver on June 28, 1893. He was exalted in Colorado Chapter No. 29 at Denver on September 11, 1893. He was greeted in Denver Council No. 1 at Denver on August 27, 1906.
He received the 32° of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Denver in January, 1884. In 1909 he was elected a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, and in 1911 he was coronetted a 330 Honorary Inspector General of the Southern Jurisdiction.
He was Knighted in Denver Commandery No. 25 of Denver, Colorado, on September 11, 1894. He was elected Eminent Commander in 1901. He was appointed Grand Sword Bearer of the Grand Commandery of Colorado in 1895 and was elected Grand Commander on September 23, 1910.
At the Triennial Conclave in Denver in 1913, he was appointed Grand Warder of the Grand Encampment, and in 1925 was elected Grand Master.
Sir Knight Vallery possessed rare executive ability which enabled him to handle with efficiency the duties of the office of Grand Master. He was affable and courteous, and numbered his friends by the thousands.

Reference: From Dr. Francis J. Scully's...History of the Grand Encampment, Chapter XXIII, Biographies Of The Grand Masters, as published in the Knight Templar Magazine, January 1995 Edition, page 16, and the February 1995 Edition, page 16


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