"THE BISHOP"

WILLIAM J. GORDON, JR.

and

THE CALL TO MINISTRY

On a weekday morning near the end of August, 1974, the usually quiet, small Wednesday Morning Eucharist at St. Matthew's was filled with close to 400 people. The celebrant, the Rt. Rev. William J. Gordon, Jr., and his family, were leaving near the end of the week and people had come to say "good-bye".

Since 1948, Gordon had been "The Bishop". By his Vision, tireless determination, and Ministry, he had changed the shaped profoundly the Church, in the Interior and throughout the State, nationally, and internationally.

Gordon, a native North Carolinian, arrived in Alaska as a young missionary in 1943. On board ship he had met Shirley Lewis of Washington. They were married in Seward in July, 1943. After their wedding, they moved to the villages of Point Hope, where he was the missionary-in-charge for 5 years. During those years he traveled 6,000 miles by dog team between the Arctic Coast villages, and learned lessons from the Arctic and its people that shaped the rest of his life.

At the age of 29, while he was camped in an abandoned igloo between Kivalina and Point Hope, with the dog team resting outside, the House of Bishops elected him to be the next Bishop of Alaska, succeeding Bishop John Bentley. He was the youngest person in the history of the Anglican Communion ever to be called to be a bishop.

Following his consecration in 1948, he and his family moved from Point Hope to Fairbanks, moving into the house purchased for them (located at 903 Kellum) and using rooms at St. Matthew's for his offices. This arrangement continued until the construction of the Bishop Rowe House Diocesan offices in 1964 (located at 1205 Denali Way).

In 1949, he earned his private pilot's license and took to the air to cover and visit his churches, from the Arctic Coast to Ketchikan. He was soon know nationally as the "Flying Bishop of Alaska". (In 1952, the Episcopal Church Women raised money nationally to buy him a new airplane (a Cessna 170), which became known as the "Blue Box" (from the United Thank Offering mite boxes). By the time of his retirement in 1974, he had logged over one million flying hours in Alaska.

In 1953, he was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in the U. S. and, in 1963, he was selected to the Alaska Hall of Fame. In the course of his episcopacy, the National Church made three movies about his life and ministry in Alaska and a biography, An Angel On His Wing by Tay Thomas, was published in 1989.

A strong proponent of the rights of Alaskan Native people, his Vision of the Church emphasized the call of all people, lay or ordained, to ministry, wherever and whoever they were. This emphasis led to significant changes in national church canons, to allow for the ordination of "sacramentalist or local" clergy, and a national/international interest in "Total Ministry". Under his episcopacy, a number of Alaskan Natives, beginning with David Paul of Tanacross, were ordained.

Resigning from Alaska in 1974, he became assistant Bishop in Michigan in 1985 and died there January 4, 1994. A memorial service was held here at St. Matthew's, January 12^th, timed to coincide with services in Michigan. On Thursday, June 16^th of that year a final gathering/picnic/potlatch in his memory was held here, and, on Saturday, June 18^th, his final services and burial were held now in Point Hope, where it all began.

Though he resigned and left in 1974, he never really left. Alaska, and particularly the North, was always really his home. Family members and grandchildren continue to reside in Fairbanks to this day. Again and again, he and Shirley had returned to visit over the years, last returning in the summer of 1993 for a gala 50^th wedding anniversary party on the riverboat "Discovery", which drew friends from throughout the State.

Even today, particularly in the Interior or Arctic, when people refer to "The Bishop", they are referring to him. It is his Spirit that has shaped the present day Church in Alaska.

It was his practice, throughout all the years of his episcopacy, to celebrate the Midnight Christmas Eve service at St. Matthew's.

This stained glass window, created and designed by Debbie Matthews of Expressions in Glass, is a gift to St. Matthew's and the Community from the Gordon family. The figure with the characteristic red hat, the traditional Alaskan fireweed, the plane (with the blue box on the side) coming in across an interior forest, are all designed to evoke his memory and give thanks to God for his life with us.

- The Rt. Rev. William J. Gordon

July 18, 1993

His last sermon at St. Matthew's

The traditional beaded cross, dedicated to his memory, was crafted by Mrs. Charlotte Adam of Beaver, his friend.