John Ramon Mason

John was born September 3, 1946 in Lincoln, IL, the first child of Ramon Hawes and Mary Alice (Thompson) Mason. He grew up in Morton, IL, where his father was the first lawyer to open an office in town. In 1962-63, John’s family was the first to host a foreign exchange student in Morton; John maintained a friendship with his ‘brother’ Fritz Mattejat (Germany) throughout his life. John graduated Morton Township Highschool in 1964. From there he left one small midwestern town for another, enrolling at Carleton College, in Northfield, MN. During the summer of 1966, he worked as an Election Coordinator for the Philadelphia Anti-Poverty Action Committee. In 1968, he graduated from Carleton with a B.A. in Religion with Departmental Distinction. The summer post-graduation, John served as interim pastor of the Community Church (United Church of Christ) in Morton. That fall, he briefly dabbled in seminary, attending Vanderbilt Divinity School, before dropping out to pursue a M.A. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York City in 1970. During that time he worked as a factotum at the Richard W. Baron Publishing House.

John was a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War; having a low draft number, he petitioned the Selective Service committee and served two years of civil rather than military service, working as an attendant in the Massachusetts mental health system. He graduated from Boston University Law School in 1975, then moved to California to begin his career as an attorney.

In his early legal work, John served as general counsel for a non-profit health planning agency and worked in a County Affirmative Action office, specializing in the rights of the handicapped. Although he was the first to make a lawyer joke at his own expense, he truly believed that the profession could serve the public and demonstrated these values throughout his career. After moving to DC in 1978, he took a federal position at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, which shortly thereafter became the Department of Education. During his 33 year-career with the Department, John worked as principal lawyer for a half-billion dollar grant program, conducted complex financial litigation for Alaska Public School system, and helped represent the government in cases before several Federal Appeals Courts. He spent time advising the National Adult Education Program, which grants funding to states to teach basic skills, provide GEDs and teach English as a Second Language, and worked with the Federal Impact Aid program.

Although his career focused on service through the law, John was a student, author, theologian and critical thinker at heart. He completed non-degree coursework at Harvard University, San Diego State University, Brandeis University, Howard University, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. He graduated with an M.A in Religion in 1992 from Catholic University of America. He was a published author of articles in multiple journals on topics including patient rights, psychosurgery, regulation of health care, religion and culture, economics ethics, spiritual disciplines, theology and history of religions. He delivered a paper at the American Academy of Religion Conference in New Orleans in 1990, and published his first book, Reading and Responding to Mircea Eliade's History of Religious Ideas: The Lure of the Late Eliade in 1993. He retained lifelong membership in the American Academy of Religion and Society of Christian Ethics. John valued diversity in religion and through his last years, attended myriad lectures on religion, weekly services at his own congregation, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, and Zoom services at a Jewish synagogue. He was unwaveringly committed to learning “how to be a person of faith in a pluralistic, ideologically divided world.” He spent years post-retirement volunteering with the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington, and became a benefactor of the United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, PA.

John was predeceased in death by his parents, and infant brother, Robert.

John is survived by his daughter, Tomiko, and son-in-law Kenneth Bennett of Quincy, MA, his brother Craig Mason of Morton, IL, as well as many dear family members and friends all over the world. His first grandchild is expected this month.

John will be remembered for his love of music, books, basketball (especially D3 March Madness and the Washington Mystics), religion, and his family and friends. He once shared in a letter a favorite quote, from the French philosopher Montaigne: “I am but a garland of other men’s flowers.” And so he was–but he was also much more than that to so many. Last year, remarking on the advancement of the James Webb Space Telescope, he expressed a continued sense of “awe and humility in creation” which he hoped would “induce progress in attending to climate change, social justice, and the other big challenges we are trying to confront.” May we, in his memory, continue his hope, and “proceed with the tasks before us in the spirit of the book of Micah to show mercy, enact justice, and walk humbly with our God.”

A Celebration of Life service will be held in the Fall of this year at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Washington, DC. Details will be posted here when available; if you wish to be contacted with updates, please leave your contact information in a message to the family. His ashes will then be interred in the family plot in Atlanta, IL, his ancestral home.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in memoriam to the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington (https://ifcmw.org/) or a charity of the donor’s choice