Item 1993.133AV/1 - Orders of Ontario

The Very Rev. Dr. Wilbur Kenneth Howard (1912-2001) was a minister and the 26th Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Toronto. He spent his undergraduate years at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, completing his Bachelor of Arts in 1938. In 1941, he became the first Black graduate in Theology at Emmanuel College, receiving his Bachelor of Divinity. He was ordained by Toronto Conference the same year. He later did post-graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York and, in 1969, received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Emmanuel College. In 1975, he was given an LL.D. degree from the University of Winnipeg. Howard had a wide-ranging career before receiving a settlement, serving as Boys' Work Secretary for the Ontario Religious Education Council (1941-1949), Christian Education Secretary for Manitoba Conference (1949-1953) and Associate Editor of Sunday School Publications at the General Council Office (1953-1965) where he helped shape The New Curriculum. In 1965 he got the call to team ministry at Dominion-Chalmers in Ottawa, serving there until 1970, then Emmanuel United in Ottawa until 1981. While in Ottawa, he was at one time president of the Montreal and Ottawa Conference, and was also a member of the Refugee Status Committee through the department of Employment and Immigration for the Federal Government. He was also a member, then President of the John Milton Society for the Blind in Canada, and Chairman of the Ontario Advisory Council, Alcohol and Drug Concerns, Inc. In 1974, Howard became the first Black Moderator of The United Church of Canada, elected at the 26th General Council to serve the 1974-1977 triennium. After serving as Moderator, Howard returned to Emmanuel United in Ottawa until he retired in 1981. In 1991 he was received into the Order of Ontario. In 2001, Wilbur K. Howard passed away.