Stanley J. McKay (1942-) was born and raised on Fisher River Indian Reserve. He attended Fisher River Indian Day School until he was 13 years old, then was sent to Birtle Indian Residential School to complete High School. After a year at the Manitoba Teacher’s College he taught at Norway House, Manitoba from 1962-1964. In 1967, McKay graduated with a B.D. from United College in Winnipeg, and married his wife, Dorothy. In 1971, he was ordained, the ceremony being held at Stevens Memorial Church on the reservation where he grew up. McKay served Fisher River from 1971-1975, and Norway House from 1975-1982 before being hired to coordinate the developments of the United Church’s national consultation process for the National Native Council, 1982-1987. During that time, McKay successfully advocated for the Church’s apology for it’s role in culture oppression of First Nations peoples in 1986. From 1987-1988 he served in Native Ministry at Winnipeg Presbytery and in 1988 was hired as the director of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource Centre, a training centre for native ministries. McKay served as Moderator from 1992-1994.
William Phipps was born in 1942 in Toronto, Ontario. He earned his B.A. at Victoria College, his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1965 and his Bachelor of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago in 1968. While studying in Chicago he worked for the social activist, Saul Alinsky. Bill Phipps was ordained by Toronto Conference in 1969 and was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1970.
He served at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto from 1974-1983, Alberta Northwest Conference as Conference Executive Secretary, 1983-1993 and at Scarboro United Church in Calgary, 1993-2007, from where he took a three-year leave of absence when he was elected Moderator in 1997. In 1998, he issued the second formal apology to the First Nations people for all the sufferings they endured because of the church’s participation in the residential school system.
From 1999-2006 he was International President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. He has also worked as a poverty lawyer, community organizer, hospital chaplain and adult educator. Rev. Phipps retired from ministry in 2007 but continues to be active in social justice, the defence of Aboriginal rights and peace issues. He is married to Carolyn Pogue, a writer.
James Gareth Endicott (1898-1993) was a United Church minister and missionary to China. The son of James Endicott, he was born in China. He studied at Victoria College, where he was a student leader in the Student Volunteer Movement, the Student Christian Movement, and the Student Council. He was a missionary in China, starting in 1925. He resigned his ministry in 1946. In 1952 he was censured by The United Church of Canada for supporting the Chinese revolution and for accusing the United States of using germ warfare in Korea. He was Chairman of the Canadian Peace Congress from 1948 to 1971, and a member of the World Council of Peace. He was awarded the International Peace Prize by the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and he received an official apology from the United Church in 1982.
Thomas Albert Moore (1860-1940) was a Methodist/United Church minister and administrator and Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Acton, Ontario. He studied at McGill University and Wesleyan College, Montreal, was ordained in 1884, and served Methodist circuits in Ontario. He was Secretary of the Lord's Day Alliance of Ontario, 1903-1906; Secretary of the Methodist General Conference, 1906-1925; Secretary of the Methodist Board of Temperance and Moral Reform/Evangelism and Social Service, 1910-1925; Secretary of the General Council of the United Church, 1925-1936; and Moderator of the United Church, 1932-1934. He also served in several other positions, including committees relating to church union (1925).
Richard Roberts (1874-1945) was a Presbyterian/United Church minister and Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Wales, where he also studied. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1897, and ministered in England until he resigned as a result of his pacifist views in 1915. He ministered in Brooklyn, New York, 1917-1921; and in Toronto and Montreal, 1922-1938. He was Moderator of the United Church, 1934-1936. He lectured briefly in Halifax before moving back to the United States in 1940.
Peter Bryce (1877-1950) was a Methodist/United Church minister, administrator and Moderator. He was born in Scotland in 1877. He did mission work in Newfoundland in 1903; in 1906 he moved to Toronto and Victoria University. He was active in Earlscourt and other Sunday School and urban mission work. He later served as Secretary of Missionary and Maintenance (1927-1936), Moderator (1936-1938), and Minister at Metropolitan United Church in Toronto (1938-1950). He died in 1950.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1938-1940
Aubrey Stephen Tuttle (1874-1949) was a Methodist/United Church minister, educator and Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, graduated from Mount Allison University and entered the ministry of the Methodist Church in 1897. He served churches in Western Canada. He married Mary Anna (Mollie) Johnson in 1910. In 1919, he was appointed Principal of Alberta College, South. Later, he was Principal of St. Stephen's College. He served as Moderator of The United Church of Canada from 1940 to 1942.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1928-1930
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1932-1934
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1942-1944
Jesse H. Arnup, (1881-1965) was a minister and Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Norfolk County, Ontario in 1881. He graduated from Victoria College in 1909 and received his D.D. from Wesley College, Winnipeg, in 1924. From 1910 to 1912 he was Secretary of the Layman's Missionary Movement of the Methodist Church, Assistant Secretary of Overseas Missions from 1913 to 1925, and Secretary of United Church of Canada Foreign Missions from 1925 to 1952. He served as Moderator from 1944 to 1946.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1946-1948
Rev. Dr. Willard Brewing was born in Sussex Corners, N.B. He trained for the ministry in the United States and served the Reformed Episcopal Church in Canada as minister and bishop. In 1929, he accepted a call to St. Andrew's - Wesley United Church, Vancouver, where he remained until moving to St. George's United Church, Toronto, in 1938. He was elected as Moderator in 1948 and served until his retirement in 1951. He died in Toronto on August 13, 1960.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1952-1954
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1956-1958
Angus James MacQueen (1912-) was a United Church minister and Moderator. He was born in Cape Breton, and was educated at Mount Allison University (B.A.) and Pine Hill Divinity Hall (B.D. and D.D.). After graduation Rev. MacQueen held pastorates in the Maritimes (1935-1946), Edmonton (1946-1951), London (1951-1964), and Toronto (1964-1980). He was elected Moderator in 1958.
Hugh Alexander McLeod (1894-1992) was a Presbyterian/United Church minister and Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Owen Sound, Ontario. Originally planning to pursue a career in law, he worked his way through university as a helmsman on the Great Lakes' steamboats. He served as a quartermaster aboard barges crossing the English Channel with ammunition during World War I. In 1921, he married Doreen Taggart. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister in Luseland, Saskatchewan, in 1920 and served various charges in Western Canada. In 1960, he was elected Moderator of the United Church.
James Ralph Mutchmor (1892-1980) was a United Church minister, administrator and Moderator. He was born on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He served in the Canadian Field Artillery in World War I, and returned home after being wounded at Vimy Ridge. After the war, he studied economics and theology in Toronto and New York. He was ordained a Presbyterian Minister in 1920, and ministered in Winnipeg, first at Robertson Memorial Church and House (1920-1932), then at John Black Memorial Church (1932-1936). During his residence in Winnipeg he was also the Secretary of the Manitoba Welfare Supervision Board from 1926-1936, and of its Child Welfare Board from 1934-1936. He served as the Secretary of the United Church Board of Evangelism and Social Service from 1938 to his retirement in 1963, was the Moderator of the 20th General Council of the United Church, 1962-1964, and the Secretary of the United Church Committee on Church and International Affairs, 1938-1964. During World War II he was Chairman of Chaplaincy Services and Secretary of its War Services Committee. He also served other Church and ecumenical organizations. He was secretary of the National Religious Advisory Council of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for 24 years, being responsible for the United Church broadcasts on Religious Period and Church of the Air on Sunday Afternoons, and was a recognized television personality. Mutchmor died on May 17, 1980.
Ernest Marshall Frazer Howse (1902-1993), minister, author, and journalist, was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland and educated in Belleville, Ontario, and at Dalhousie University (B.A. 1929), Pine Hill Divinity College (B.D. 1931), Union Theological Seminary (S.T.M. 1932), and the University of Edinborough (PhD 1934). He served charges in Beverly Hills, California (1934-1935), Westminster United Church in Winnipeg (1935-1948), and Bloor Street United Church in Toronto (1948-1970). He served as Moderator of the United Church of Canada (1964-1966). Howse was the author of several books including, 'Saints in politics' (1952), 'Spiritual values in Shakespeare,'(1955) and 'Roses in December,'(1981). His journalism appeared in several major Canadian newspapers, including the Toronto Star and Toronto Telegram, the Winnipeg Free Press and Victoria Sun-Times. In addition, he wrote columns for the United Church Observer, and served on the editorial board of the Christian Century.
Arthur Bruce Barbour Moore (1906-2004) was born in Keswick Ridge, New Brunswick. He received his early education in New Brunswick and Quebec and graduated from McGill in 1927 with honours in English and History. In 1930, he graduated from United Theological College in Montreal with his Bachelor of Divinity. Following graduation, he spent seven years as a minister in Quebec (Amherst Park United Church, Howick United Church) and four years as a minister of College Hill Church in Easton, Pennsylvania. From 1940-1942 he supplied at Parkdale United Church in Ottawa, then served at Westminster United Church in Saskatoon until 1946 when he was appointed Principal of St. Andrew’s college. He received a Doctor of Divinity in 1947, and was elected President of the Saskatchewan Conference of The United Church of Canada in 1949. In 1950 he was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University. In 1952 he received his Doctor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan and a Doctor of Divinity from Trinity College in Toronto. From 1954-1958 he was Chairman of the Board of Overseas Missions of the United Church. In 1969, he was appointed President of the Canadian Council of Churches. From 1971-1972 he served as Moderator of the United Church. From 1973-1974 he served as an Interim Minister at St. Andrews Kirk in Nassau, Bahamas. In 1976 he served as Interim General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches and was also named to the Order of Canada. From 1977-1980 he served as Chancellor of the University of Toronto. Moore died in 2004. He was married to Margaret Moore who died in 2004.
Lois Miriam Freeman was born in 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of Rev. E.G.D. Freeman. She earned her B.A. and Bachelor of Divinity degrees at the University of Winnipeg. She married Rev. Roy Wilson in 1950. Lois Wilson was ordained in Winnipeg in 1965 and shared team ministries with her husband in Thunder Bay, Kingston and Hamilton before becoming first woman president of the Canadian Council of Churches in 1976. In 1980, she was elected the first woman Moderator of the United Church. From 1983 to 1991 she served as one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches, the first Canadian to do so. She travelled extensively to visit member churches in all continents and was central to initiating the Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women. She was appointed to the Senate in 1998, retiring in 2002. She was Ecumenist in Residence at the Toronto School of Theology from 2006-2009 and is currently Distinguished Minister-in-Residence at the Emmanuel College in the University of Toronto. She has the received the following honours and awards: the Queen’s 25th Anniversary Medal, 1977; The Pearson Peace Medal, 1985; Officer of the Order of Canada, 1984; Order of Ontario, 1991; Companion of the Order of Canada, 2003; Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Award for Christian Unity, 2010; and the Heart and Vision Award, 2011.
Sang Chul Lee (1924-) was born in Siberia, a son of Korean immigrants. At seven, he moved to Manchuria and while there, attended a school operated by the Canadian Mission Board. After World War II he moved to South Korea, and received his theological education there and in Switzerland and Vancouver, Canada. His ordination was in the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK), a partner church of the United Church. With his family, Lee emigrated to Canada in 1965; serving a three-point charge in Vancouver. He came to Toronto in 1969 and for twenty years was pastor of the Toronto Korean United Church. Lee served as Moderator of the United Church from 1988-1990. He served as Chancellor of Victoria University, Toronto from 1992-1998.
Walter Henry Farquharson (1936-) was born in Rosetown, Saskatchewan. He received a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1957, and received a B.D. in 1961 and a D.D. in 1975 from St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon. He married Joan Casswell in Saskatchewan in 1958 and was ordained by Saskatchewan Conference in 1960. From 1960-1961, he was an assistant at Morningside Parish in Edinburgh, and from 1961-1976 as minister at Saltcoats in Bredenbury Pastoral Charge. In 1966 when Saltcoats had a crisis in their school he took up the challenge of teaching. He was appointed Principal of Saltcoats Junior High, completed his diploma in Education and taught at the Yorkton School Unit over seven years. Walter Farquharson served as Moderator from 1990-1992. Farquharson was also involved in many committees, he chaired Yorkton Presbytery, was President of the Saskatchewan Conference, Senate at St. Andrew’s College, Board of Directors at the Prairie Christian Training Centre. He was a prolific writer of hymns, publishing over 60.
Marion Best was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. She received Nurse Training at the Royal Columbian Hospital, then worked there from 1968-1975. In 1977, she and her husband Jack Best received a joint call to the Naramata Centre in British Columbia, where she worked on programs and he worked on public relations and finances. She continued work there until 1987 when she began freelance consulting work with church and community groups, in the healthcare field. For many years, she was on the Executive of the World Council of Churches. She was also President of the British Columbia Conference, and on the United Church’s General Council Executive. A lay-leader, she served as Moderator of the United Church from 1994-1997, and in 1998 began serving as Vice-Moderator of the World Council of Churches. Best was Chair of the sessional committee that produced the 1988 recommendations on opening the ministry to gays and lesbians, in the report Toward a Christian Understanding of Sexual Orientation Lifestyles and Ministry.
Marion Pardy (1942-) was born in Gander, Newfoundland. She graduated from Covenant College (Centre for Christian Studies) and holds a B.A. (Honours) and a Masters degree from York University. She earned Doctor of Ministry from Boston University School of Theology in 1997. In 1968, she was ordained as a diaconal minister by Hamilton Conference and designated as a deaconess at Gower Street United Church (St. John’s). She was Director of Christian Education for Yorkton Presbytery from 1968-1970, Team Minister and Minister in Birtle Presbytery (1970-1973), Program Resource Field Staff for Manitoba Conference (1973-1975), Pastoral Assistant, Forest Grove United Church (1975-1977), and Team Minister at Cliffcrest United Church (1977-1981). She was ordained in 1982. Pardy has served the United Church General Council Office as well, she was a contributing writer for Loaves and Fishes, Religion and Life, Worldwind and Exchange, served on the Celebration Committee, Christian Initiation Task Force, Loaves and Fishes Committee, and was chairperson of the Ministry with Children Working Unit. In 1982, she was appointed as Special Assistant, Children in the Division of Mission in Canada. From 1990 she was pastor of Gower Street United Church in St. John’s. Pardy served as Moderator from 2000-2003, and was the first diaconal minister to do so. Following her term as Moderator, she represented the United Church on the Governing Board of the Canadian Council of Churches, where she served as Vice-President from 2004-2009.
Peter Short (1948-) was born in Kingston, Ontario. He married his wife, Susan in 1953. He graduated from York University in 1973, Emmanuel College in 1977 and was ordained by the Maritime Conference in 1978. He served at Yellowknife United Church from 1983-1990, Beaconsfield United Church, Montreal 1990-1999, Wilmot, in Fredericton from 1999-2008. Short served as Moderator from 2003-2006. He also served the General Council office as a member of the Executive of the Department of Stewardship Services (1993-1998), chair of the Moderator’s Advisory Committee for the Very Reverend Bill Phipps (1997-2000), Chair of the Business Committee of the Executive of General Council (2000-2002), and Chair of the Agenda and Planning Committee for the 38th General Council. Short retired in 2010.
Mardi Tindal, a layperson, was an administrator and a Moderator of The United Church of Canada (2009-2012). She was born in 1952 and grew up in Victoria Square, Ontario (now part of Markham). She graduated from York University with a B.A. psychology and holds an M.A. in educational psychology from the University of Toronto. She worked as a consultant on leadership and program development and Coordinator of recreational ministries and youth resources with the Division of Mission in Canada at the General Council Office. She also served as Communication and Stewardship officer at Hamilton Conference, director of Camp Big Canoe and was executive director of Five Oaks Centre before becoming Moderator. From the 1980s to the 1990 she was co-host, producer and writer of Spirit Connection. Mardi Tindal served as Moderator from 2009-2012. She is married to Douglas Tindal.
Gary J. Paterson (1949-) was born in Whitehorse Yukon, and as an ‘army brat’ lived in Toronto and Germany before his family settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. He earned a B.A. in English Literature at the University of British Columbia and an M.A. in English from Queen’s University before becoming a sessional lecturer at the University of British Columbia. He then studied theology at Andover Theological School in Boston and the Vancouver School of Theology. He was ordained in 1977. He was a minister at Marpole United Church in Vancouver from 1979-1981. He served as minister in Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery from 1982-1989, First United in Vancouver from 1989-1993, Ryerson in Vancouver from 1993-2005, and St. Andrew’s-Wesley, Vancouver from 2005-2011. Paterson served as Moderator of the United Church from 2012-2015, and was the first openly gay person to do so. His spouse, Tim Stevenson, a Vancouver City Councillor is the first openly gay male to be ordained by the United Church.
Jordan Cantwell was born in New York in 1967; as a child her parents moved to the Canadian Prairies. She was involved with social justice movements in the 1980s and the United Church of Canada sent her to South Africa in 1993 as an Observer through the World Council of Churches. She officially joined the United Church in the late 1990s, and prior to being ordained worked at The Centre for Christian Studies when it first moved to Winnipeg. She also worked as a staff associate at Augustine United where she served the Oak Table outreach ministry. She earned her Master of Divinity at St. Andrew’s College, and was ordained in 2010. She interned at Delisle-Vanscoy United Church, and served there for seven years before becoming elected as Moderator in 2015. Cantwell’s spouse, Laura Fouhse is a diaconal minister in the United Church. Cantwell served as Moderator from 2015-2018.
Robert Frederick ("Bob") Smith was born in Montreal in 1934. After receiving his B.A. from the University of Alberta in 1956, he earned a diploma in Theology at St. Stephen’s College (1958), a B.D. from the University of Alberta (1964), and a Th.D. at Boston University School of Theology (1973). He was ordained by the Alberta Conference of the United Church in 1958, and married Margaret Ellen Maguire that year. After ordination, he served in pastoral ministry at St. Luke's, Fort St. John, British Columbia (1958-1961); Trinity, Edmonton (1961-1965); Memorial Congregational Church of Atlantic, Quincy, Massachusetts (1965-1968); Richmond Hill (1968-1974); Eglinton, Toronto (1974-1982); Shaughnessy Heights, Vancouver (1982-1993); and First, Vancouver (1993-1998).
Throughout his ministry, Smith has served on numerous committees, including the Doctrinal Commission; General Commission on Church Union; Committee on Union and Joint Mission; Co-Chair of Roman Catholic-United Church Dialogue; the Committee on Theology and Faith; the Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee, and the Division of Mission in Canada's Advisory Group on Residential Schools.
Smith has also served as head of several church courts: as chair of York Presbytery (1972-1974) and Toronto Area Presbytery (1977-1979); President of Toronto Conference (1981-1982); and as Moderator of the United Church of Canada (1984-1986). As Moderator, he made the Apology to First Nations Peoples on behalf of the Church in 1986.
Mary Violet Deeprose was born in Stockdale, Ontario on February 11, 1903. She attended the United Church Training School in Toronto, 1938-1940, and was designated a deaconess by Alberta Conference, August 18, 1941. She was appointed by the Woman’s Missionary Society to the Crosby Girls’ Home in Lax Kw’alaams (then known as Port Simpson), 1940-1944. She left the work due to a family illness. From 1946-1949, she was employed as superintendent of the Mountview Social Service Home (Calgary). She taught in the public school system in Alberta from 1953 until her retirement in 1962. Violet Deeprose died at Drumheller, Alberta on February 22, 1991.
Rodney M. Booth was born in Arvida, Quebec. He obtained a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological College (UTC). He was later awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from UTC. Booth was ordained by Montreal-Ottawa Conference in 1957 and served congregations in Nakusp (1957-1959) and East Trail (1960-1966). He became the first Director of Student Affairs at Selkirk College, Castlegar in 1966. The following year, he became Director of Broadcasting for BC Conference, pioneering the church's venture into television. In 1984, he moved to Toronto to serve as Media Director/Executive Producer of United Church Television with the National Division of Communication. Booth was Chairperson of the World Council of Churches' Communicators' Network, and over the years provided resources and media coverage for three Assemblies. He also participated in co-productions of documentaries with the BBC, NBC, and CBC, and earned numerous international awards for his writing and documentaries. Booth retired to Surrey, B.C. in 1999 and continued consulting in the field of broadcasting and communications for several years.
Grant Bracewell was born in Penticton, B.C. After studying at the University of British Columbia and Union College, he was ordained by The United Church of Canada, BC Conference in 1955. He served in pastoral ministry first as a student at Honeymoon Bay, B.C., and post-ordination at Bella Coola, Trinity (Merritt), and Royal Heights (Delta). Having received a testamur in 1955, he completed the thesis requirement for his Bachelor of Divinity degree while in pastoral ministry. In 1967, he earned his Master of Library Science degree and the following year became the first theological librarian at Emmanuel College (University of Toronto) and coordinator of all the libraries of the Toronto Schools of Theology. He retired with his wife, Eleanor, in 1993 to South Surrey, B.C., where both were involved at Crescent United Church.
Bracewell served the United Church in various capacities throughout his life, both in Ontario and B.C. Among his many contributions were: Boys' Work Secretary for the BC Conference Christian Education Committee; chair of the Bella Coola General Hospital Board (1955-1958); chair of Toronto Scarborough Presbytery (1986-1987); chair of the General Council Manual Committee (1980-1986); and chair of the BC Conference Archives and History Committee (1996-2005). He was a member of numerous university and church committees, but most relevant to the archival materials was his work on the Research Committee for the Working Unit on Sexuality, Marriage, and Family (Division of Mission in Canada, 1982). In retirement, Bracewell served on the Board of the Camp Kwomais Society (1994-2004) and volunteered at the BC Conference Archives for 25 years (1993-2018).
Rev. Charles “Charlie” Alfred Bridgman (1882-1978) was a missionary in West China who served there for thirty-five years. He was born in Winona, Ontario on March 20, 1882. He graduated from Victoria College in 1910. In 1912, he was ordained by the Methodist church and was appointed as a missionary in West China. He arrived in West China in 1913 and thereafter specialized in rural work where he ministered and also introduced new types of fruits and vegetables to the region. On June 20, 1917, he married Margaret Jean Modeland, a missionary nurse who specialized in child welfare. They had three children: Christy Jean, Donald Charles, and Elizabeth Ruth. He retired from missionary work in 1948 and returned to his hometown of Winona.
George Edgar was born on August 24, 1854 on Gabriola Island. He was of Scottish and Tsimshian parentage. He grew up in Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson), and served the Hudson's Bay Company on its coastal steamers. In 1877, he responded to the Methodist Church's appeal for a teacher at Kitamaat and began his long association with the coastal mission work headed up by the Rev. Thomas Crosby. From Kitamaat, Edgar's mission work took him to Gitwinksihlkw (Canyon City) and Gitlakdamix (New Aiyansh) on the Nass River, Gold Harbour on Haida Gwaii; Hagwilget and Kitsegucla on the Skeena River; and Hartley Bay and Klemtu on the coast. He was ordained in 1909 by BC Conference of the Methodist Church, in consideration of his years of service. Edgar died on November 7, 1931.
Wayne Oliver MacKenzie was born at Riparia, Washington. He was ordained in The United Church of Canada by BC Conference in 1958. He served pastoral charges in Alert Bay (1958-1961); Bamfield (1962-1963); North Kamloops (1964-1966); Enderby (1967-1971); Squamish (1972-1974); and Revelstoke (1975-1976). MacKenzie retired in 1976 and served the church at Kaslo as retired supply (1978). In his early charges, he served as skipper of the “Robert C. Scott” and pilot of a Cessna, both part of the marine mission work of the Church on the coast. In his later years, he was a vocal member of the Community of Concern, an organization that arose in response to the Church’s decision to ordain qualified candidates regardless of sexual orientation. MacKenzie died in 2000.
W. Clarke MacDonald (1920-1993) was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia. MacDonald graduated from Dalhousie University in 1941. Afterwards, he took his theological training at Pine Hill Divinity Hall in Halifax, was ordained by the Maritime Conference in 1943. In 1944, he received his Bachelor of Divinity from Pine Hill, and married Muriel MacDonald. From 1944-1962, he served pastorates including West Bay (Cape Breton), Black River Ridge (New Brunswick), Port Hawkesbury and Trinity Church (Cape Breton) and also served as Secretary of the Maritime Conference from 1961-1962. From 1962-1971 he was minister at St. Luke’s in Toronto, then, was appointed Secretary of the Board of Evangelism and Social Service in 1971. He served as Moderator of the United Church from 1982-1984. After serving as Moderator, he returned to his position of Deputy Secretary of the Division of Mission in Canada, with the responsibility for the Office of Church in Society and also, was chairman of the ecumenical Project Ploughshares. He retired in 1986 and died in 1993.
Wilfred Cornett Lockard (1906-1991) was born in Dundalk, Ontario. He received a B.A. from Victoria College, at the University of Toronto in 1929, and a M.A. from Emmanuel College in 1932. He was ordained by Toronto Conference in 1933, and also married his wife, Margaret that year. He served as minister in North Leith Parish, Edinburg from 1933-1935 while earning his Ph.D. in Church History. Following that, he was Secretary of The Student Christian Movement and Padre of Hart House at the University of Toronto from 1935-1940, during which time he was also the first Secretary of the Canadian Committee of the World Council of Churches. He was Minister of Sherbourne Street United in Toronto from 1940-1942, and Kingsway Lambton in Toronto from 1942-1955. He was the first Principal of United College, Winnipeg from 1955-1967, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg from 1967-1971. He served as Moderator of the United Church from 1966-1968, and also served the General Council office as Chairman of Toronto West Presbytery, the Board of Schools and Colleges of the United Church (1946-1955), the Department of Ecumenical Affairs for the Canadian Council of Churches (1946-1955), Winnipeg Presbytery (1962-1963). Lockhart died in 1991.
George Milledge Tuttle (1915-) was a United Church minister, administrator and Moderator. He was born at Medicine Hat, Alberta, the son of Methodist minister Aubrey Stephen Tuttle. He obtained a doctorate in theology from Victoria University. He had several mission fields, a pastorate in Sangudo, Alberta and a term as assistant minister in Toronto. As well, he served as National Director of Youth Work, Professor at Union College, Vancouver, 1951-1966, and Principal of St. Stephen's College, Edmonton, 1966-1979. He was President of British Columbia Conference in 1963, on the Executive of General Council in 1974 and served as Moderator from 1977 to his retirement in 1980.
J.G. Brown was born September 6, 1880 in Lakefield, Ontario. He received his university and theological education in Toronto at Victoria College. He was ordained by the Bay of Quinte Conference of the Methodist Church in 1908. After a few years in pastoral work in Ontario, he came to British Columbia in 1912 and ministered at Enderby and Vancouver (including Turner Institute, Ryerson, and Kitsilano Methodist congregations). He was appointed Principal of the newly chartered Ryerson Theological College in 1923. When, in 1927, Ryerson College and Westminster Hall were merged (following church union), Brown became the first Principal of Union College of British Columbia, affiliated with UBC. Under his administration, the main Union College buildings on campus were erected. He had the task of guiding the College through the Depression and then through World War II. Principal Brown also served as President of BC Conference of The United Church of Canada, 1936-1937. After his retirement in 1948, he lived for three years in Oxford, England, until his return to British Columbia, where he assumed the pastorate of the Church of Our Lord in Victoria. J.G. Brown died October 15, 1956.
George Affleck was born in Lanark, Ontario on March 7, 1912. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Emmanuel College, and St. Andrew's University in Scotland. He was ordained in the United Church in 1939 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Union College (Vancouver) in 1969. George Affleck and his wife, Fronia, served United Church congregations in British Columbia, including Skidegate, Kimberley, Vernon, Crescent Beach (Surrey), Powell River, Port Alberni, and Parksville. From 1972 to 1977, he was Presbytery Officer for the Vancouver Island Presbytery. George Affleck died July 15, 2000 at Nanaimo, B.C.
Lloyd Hooper was born Jan. 25, 1916, in Salford, Ontario. He was ordained in 1954 and served as a minister of the United Church of Canada in many small towns in B.C. including Cape Mudge, Skidegate, Fruitvale, Brentwood Bay, Greenwood, Chemainus, Tahsis, and the West Coast of Vancouver Island. He was involved in youth work in all these places in Scouting, 4-H, church youth groups and camps. He died at Nanaimo on October 14, 2009.
Harold M. Wingfield was born at Wanstead, England on April 12, 1912. He received his schooling in Alberta and was ordained by Alberta Conference of the United Church of Canada in 1941. He served nine pastoral charges in Alberta and B.C., including Fort Saskatchewan, Thorhild, Edson, Queen Charlottee City, Ocean Falls, Halibruton (Nanaimo), Squamish, and Lake Cowichan. He died January 11, 1997 at Cowichan Lake, B.C.
Barnabas Courtland Freeman was born in Frontenac County, Ontario, in July, 1869. He went to Saskatchewan as a missionary in 1891, was ordained by the Manitoba and Northwest Conference of the Methodist Church in 1892, and was married to Ida Lawson of Frontenac County the same year. In 1893, he travelled west to British Columbia, serving among the Indigenous peoples at Skidegate, Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson), Port Essington, and Cape Mudge. In 1910 he ventured south to serve pastorates in Cumberland, Revelstoke, Port Coquitlam, and Vancouver. He was elected President of B.C. Conference in 1920. Freeman died at Cape Mudge in 1935. Throughout most of his career, he wrote poetry, short stories and essays. His poetry was published in The New Outlook, The Christian Guardian, and other church periodicals.
Rev. Thomas M. Talbot (1856-1926) was born in Guelph. He entered ministry with the Methodist Church in Canada in the Toronto Conference in 1887, and was ordained in 1891. He earned a B.D. and a B.A. in Manitoba. After his graduation in Arts, he pursued a course in Philosophy in Boston University, eventually earning a Doctor of Philosophy. He was elected Chaplain of the Grand Council of Manitoba, and Superintendent of the Social Purity Department of the Royal Templars of Temperance. He published books and wrote manuscripts on philosophy, such as “A Compendium of the Christian Religion”, “Psychology of Mental Faculties”, “Categorical Theory” and a voluminous manuscript “Philosophical Theories”. Upon retirement he lived in Winnipeg, and died in 1926.
Rev. Selby Jefferson (1866-1946) was born at Gosforth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England on the 12th of November, 1866. As a young gentleman he became involved with the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School, and eventually became a local preacher. In 1890 he was received into the ministry of The Methodist Church of Canada in the Newfoundland Conference where he spent 9 years. Two of those years were spent on the northernmost mission of Hamilton Inlet in Labrador. Following this, he was transferred to Nova Scotia Conference where from 1902-1905 he was at a congregation in Louisburg, from 1905-1908 he was at Grafton Street, and from 1908-1910 served the Wesley Church in Hamilton, Bermuda. At Union, Jefferson became a minister with the United Church of Canada. The later years of his active ministry were spent in London Conference, from 1925-1926 at Victoria Street U.C. in Goderich, from 1927-1929 at Brownsville, then 1930 in Salford. In 1931 he was transferred at Superannuation to Toronto Conference for retirement and he died in 1946.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 2018 to 2022.
Dr. Helen Isabel Huston (1927-) was a medical missionary to India and Nepal for 39 years with The United Church of Canada. She was born in Innisfail, Alberta and graduated from the University of Alberta in Medicine in 1951. She interned for a year at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and another at Vancouver General Hospital before leaving for India in 1953. In 1960 she was one of the first WMS missionaries to enter Nepal, working in Katmandu as a partner with the United Mission to Nepal. She remained in Nepal for 32 years, working primarily in the village of Amp Pipal where she was directly involved in the building of the Amp Pipal Hospital. Helen won many accolades and awards for her work, including an honorary life membership in the Nepal Medical Association of Kathmandu in 1980, the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation Award for Humanitarian Services in 1991, the Alberta Order of Excellence and the Order of Canada in 1994. Huston retired in October, 1992.
Emily Elizabeth Boggis Anderson was a church organist of The Zion Methodist Church, Bracondale.