William Hawley Clark

William Hawley Clark (May 10, 1919 – March 7, 1997) was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, serving as diocesan from 1975 to 1985. He was elected January 24, 1975, consecrated on May 16, 1975, and installed on May 18, 1975. Clark retired on December 31, 1985.

The Right Reverend William Hawley Clark (1919-1997) was the eighth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware and in retirement served as an Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

He was born in Escanaba, Michigan on May 10, 1919, the third child and only son of William James Clark and Elsie Hawley Clark. He graduated from Escanaba High School in 1937 and enrolled at the University of Michigan.

In August 1939 he attended the World Conference of Christian Youth in Amsterdam. The onset of World War II held up his plans to study for his junior year abroad at the American University in Beirut. However, after spending the first months of the war in Normandy, France, he eventually made his way to the middle east.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan in 1942. While there he was president of the religious society where he met his future wife. On June 12, 1943 Clark married Rosemary Ellen Lehman of Fort Wayne, Indiana at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Clark attended Chicago Theological School and Episcopal Theological School. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity from ETS in 1945. He was ordained to the priesthood that year

He served the Episcopal parishes of St Paul’s Flint, and Trinity, Flushing in the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan from 1945 to 1949. From 1949 to 1951 he served the parishes of St Peter’s, Monroe and St Andrew’s in Madison, Connecticut

In 1951 he was called to be rector of Trinity Church in Concord, Massachusetts. During his time there he taught at Episcopal Theological School, served on the standing committee of the diocese, and oversaw plans to expand Trinity in Concord by the building of a new church next to the older one.

During the academic year of 1960-1961, he took a family sabbatical with his wife and three children to Canterbury, England. He studied at St Augustine’s Abbey.

After one more year at Trinity, Concord, he joined the staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland in 1962. He was Secretary of the Department of Cooperation Between Men and Women in Church, Family, and Society. His travels in this position took him throughout Europe as well as trips to India, Pakistan and Africa.

In 1965 he was called to be rector of St. Andrews Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts. During his time there he again served on the standing committee of the diocese. He also fostered communication and cooperation between all the churches of the town.

In 1973 he accepted a position as Executive Director of the Worcester County Ecumenical Council in Worcester, Massachusetts.

...
Wikipedia