The Rev. Travis Smith, Class of 2005, after three years as Rector of Grace Church in Elkridge, Maryland, has led a turnaround in the parish’s financial and missional stability. Grace is made up of two properties, the Historic Stone Church consecrated in 1911, and a new facility, built in 2002 to house an Early Childhood Center. When he arrived in 2013, he found a $91,000 operating deficit and their bank calling the remaining $700,000 on the loan taken out to create the school. Read more...
The Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija has been named Chief Development Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, effective January 1, 2018. As a member of the bishop’s senior staff, he will also work closely with the ongoing stewardship efforts for the congregations of the Diocese. Lebrija is currently the bishop’s officer for development, as well as pastor to St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Bernardino, CA, where his final mass will be Christmas Eve. Read more...
The Rev. Henry Cornick Coke, III, Class of 1954, a fourth generation Dallasite, died at home on Wednesday, November 15, 2017. Born September 6, 1928, he was also educated at The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut, Yale College, and The Perkins School of Theology.
Ordained in 1954, Coke served Episcopal churches in Wichita Falls, Texas, Santa Barbara, California, and at St. Michael and All Angels Church Dallas. Read more...
We heard from the Rev. Thomas N. Rightmyer, Class of 1966, that at age 78 he has been called to be part-time Pastor/Priest at The Church of the Savior, Newland, NC.
“Episcopalians and Lutherans have been worshipping together in the High Country of North Carolina since 1983,” Rightmyer reports. “First and second Sundays we use the Book of Common Prayer and the Hymnal 1982; third and fourth Sundays we use the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal. Read more...
The Rev. Donald Edward Grayston, Class of 1963, died October 23, 2017 in Vancouver, B.C., after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Born August 31, 1939 to Marion Houston Macdonald Grayston and Edward Walter Grayston, he is survived by children, Megan (Rick Bohonis), Rebekah (Mark Edwin) and Jonathan, sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Douglas Williams, other relatives and friends. Grayston was married to Mary-Virginia (Ginger) Shaw, a lay minister at the American Episcopal church in Geneva from 1969 until 1992. Read more...
Amanda Larson, Class of 2003, has joined the Masonic Charitable Foundation of the Grand Lodge of Maine as Executive Director.
Larson will be responsible for managing a number of initiatives, including charitable fundraising and the introduction and expansion of the Model Student Assistance Program throughout the state. A large part of her job will also be helping lodges statewide with charitable efforts in their communities.
Larson joins the foundation after a long career in development and communications. Read more...
The Rev. Stephen Applegate M.Div. cum laude ’80, began an 18 month – 2 year assignment as Interim at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Carmel, IN on October 1st.
He recently completed a fourteen-year tenure at St. Luke’s Church, Granville, Ohio, in the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Granville is the home of Denison University, where Father Applegate also served as Adjunct Episcopal Chaplain. St. Christopher’s is a 1,000 member congregation in the Diocese of Indianapolis. Read more...
The Alumni Executive Committee of The General Theological Seminary is delighted to announce that the Rev. Deacon Geraldine Swanson, Class of 2008, is the recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award. Swanson is the deacon to the Richmond Episcopal Ministry overseeing the development of new ministries on Staten Island, NY and helping existing congregations revamp their vision for the future due to changing demographics and resources. Read more...
At our Thursday, October 19th Evensong, our special annual observance will take place offering Prayer for the Commemoration of our Benefactors. All members of The General Theological Seminary community–students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends–are warmly invited.
The annual Commemoration of Benefactors has been observed at General Theological Seminary since the Eve of All Saints 1890. It is a time when we remember with gratitude those who have given generously to the Seminary and who have cared that it be worthy of its mission. Read more...
The Very Rev. Mark Goodman, Class of 1991 and a member of the Alumni Executive Committee, has accepted a call to be the Corporate Director of Community Development at Haverland Carter Lifestyle Group, a local aging services corporation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His final Sunday at The Cathedral of Saint John in Albuquerque, where he has been Dean since 2007, will be November 5.
Goodman previously served for eight and a half years as Rector of Trinity Church, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and before that as Rector of Trinity Church in Hamilton, Ohio. Read more...
The life and ministry of the Rev. Dr. William Wipfler, Class of 1955, is featured in a new video series by Fr. Joseph Mulligan, SJ. The video series can serve as an introduction to the Church in Latin America and its participation in struggles of solidarity, justice, and peace.
Wipfler is the former Director of the Caribbean and Latin American Department of the National Council of Churches (NCC) (1968-1977), the Director of the Human Rights Office of the National Council of Churches (1977-1988) and an Episcopal Priest who served many parishes in the United States as well as missionary in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Read more...
The Rev. Daniel B. Kunhardt, Class of 1952, 90, died on August 10, 2017 at home in Brunswick, ME, after a short illness.
Born on September 21, 1926 in Lawrence, MA, he was the son of George and Joan Kunhardt. He was predeceased by Margaret Hale Kunhardt in 2004, and is survived by Mary Lou Lavallee, his children Elizabeth, Daniel, Susan and Amelia, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Read more...
The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews, Class of 2012, will begin his cure as Vicar of St. Joseph-St. John, Lakewood, WA on September 17, 2017. He was ordained deacon in the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast in December 2011. He was ordained priest in San Francisco in December 2012. From September 2012 through December 2016 he served as the Working Group Head for Communications for the Diocese of California. Read more...
The Rev. M. Dion Thompson, Class of 2007, has joined St. Anne’s Episcopal Church of Annapolis, MD as the Associate Priest for Pastoral Care.
Thompson previously served for eight and a half years as the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Covenant in Baltimore City and immediately prior to St. Anne’s, he served as interim rector of Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Darlington, Maryland. Read more...
Canon Janice Morrison Overfield Rusack, widow of the late fourth Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. Robert Claflin Rusack, Class of 1951 and a former chairman of our Board of Trustees, died Aug. 29. She was 97, and had been in declining health in recent years.
Survivors include her son and daughter-in-law Geoffrey Claflin Rusack and Alison Wrigley Rusack, who were great benefactors of our Desmond Tutu Center, and daughter and son-in-law, Rebecca Rusack Waycott and Richard Waycott. Read more...
The Rev. Deacon Geraldine Swanson, Class of 2008, has been appointed the deacon to the Richmond Episcopal Ministry which is overseeing the development of new ministries on Staten Island, NY and helping existing congregations revamp their vision for the future due to changing demographics and resources.
Swanson has served over 25 years as an educator in both public and private schools in New York City, both in the classroom and as a mentor to new teachers, trainer of teacher mentors, and staff developer. Read more...
Lucinda Mosher, Th.D., 2002 has recently finished the most recent in her Building Bridges series, co-edited with David Marshall: God’s Creativity and Human Action: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. It has been published by Georgetown University Press and is available from the publisher or through Amazon.com.
A record of the 2015 Building Bridges Seminar for leading Christian and Muslim scholars, this collection of essays explores the nature of divine and human agency through themes of creation’s goal, humankind’s dignity and task, and notions of sovereignty. Read more...
The Rev. Thomas Droppers, Class of 1956, widely known throughout North Carolina for his passion and commitment for the environment, died July 21, 2017, following a period of declining health. Fr. Droppers, 86, was retired after 61 years of service in the Episcopal ministry.
Droppers was born in Albany, NY March 30, 1931, the son of Seton Rand Droppers and Margaret Evelyn Droppers. He was a 1953 graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, NY before attending General. Read more...
