tarcone
07-26-2010, 02:35 PM
My Uncle Bill was an amazing guy. He is dead now, but I was fortunate enough to learn some things about him this summer on a visit to my Moms.
Uncle Bill was an Episcopalian priest. He started in New York and eventually wound up in Washington D.C. The church he took over had a large but stagnant congregation. They ha money but the church had no life. It wasnt a church that did much. Uncle Bill was heavy into civil rights. He welcomed the down troddened into his church. Drug adicts, gays, poor, black, etc. were all welcome. These were the people my Uncle Bill tried to bring to God. He changed the church and it became a vibrant church.
He was in Mississippi during the 60s, leading civil rights marches. He was always looking out for the mistreated.
In the 70s he allowed a woman to preach in his church. At that time a big no-no in the Episcopalian church. He went in front of the Church and was admonished for allowing this. 2 years later, the episcopalian church allowed women to become ministers.
He then became interested in death and dying. He set up an institute in D.C. that dealt specifically with treating the dying with dignity. He made the cover of People for this. He made pine boxes for people. They bought them and used them for book shelves and things like that. When they died, they were buried in them.
He was also a pilot in WW2. He flew over 90 missions against the Germans. One interesting thing was he was sent on a bombing mission over Romania. The mission was to bomb an oil field. The Oil field was set up by my Great Grandfather, wjo was a chemical engineer.
The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing is one of his legacies.
hxxp://www.wendtcenter.org/about2/wendt-center-history.html
I wish I had gotten to know him better.
Uncle Bill was an Episcopalian priest. He started in New York and eventually wound up in Washington D.C. The church he took over had a large but stagnant congregation. They ha money but the church had no life. It wasnt a church that did much. Uncle Bill was heavy into civil rights. He welcomed the down troddened into his church. Drug adicts, gays, poor, black, etc. were all welcome. These were the people my Uncle Bill tried to bring to God. He changed the church and it became a vibrant church.
He was in Mississippi during the 60s, leading civil rights marches. He was always looking out for the mistreated.
In the 70s he allowed a woman to preach in his church. At that time a big no-no in the Episcopalian church. He went in front of the Church and was admonished for allowing this. 2 years later, the episcopalian church allowed women to become ministers.
He then became interested in death and dying. He set up an institute in D.C. that dealt specifically with treating the dying with dignity. He made the cover of People for this. He made pine boxes for people. They bought them and used them for book shelves and things like that. When they died, they were buried in them.
He was also a pilot in WW2. He flew over 90 missions against the Germans. One interesting thing was he was sent on a bombing mission over Romania. The mission was to bomb an oil field. The Oil field was set up by my Great Grandfather, wjo was a chemical engineer.
The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing is one of his legacies.
hxxp://www.wendtcenter.org/about2/wendt-center-history.html
I wish I had gotten to know him better.