Arthur E. Walmsley

1928 - 2017

DEERING – The Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley, 89, died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, at home after a short illness. He was a native of Masachussetts. An honors graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., he was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1951. For more than 60 years of ministry, he gave active leadership to the Episcopal Church's work in urban areas, serving city parishes in St. Louis, Mo., New York City and New Haven, Conn.

For a decade, he worked as a staff aid to three Presiding Bishops, and gave oversight to the church's social witness during the turbulent civil rights and Vietnam struggles of the 1960s. He marched in Selma and Washington. Later, he served as director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. In 1979, he was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Church of Connecticut and was 12th Bishop Diocesan from 1981 to 1993. He was on the Board of Trustees of his Alma Mater, devoting his energies to the college's efforts to increase the racial and gender diversity of the faculty. He served on the Board of Berkley Divinity School at Yale. He climbed all of the Appalachian Mountain Club's 4000 Footers.

After resigning as bishop diocesan, Walmsley had a vocation as a spiritual director for lay people and clergy, serving as episcopal visitor to the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Mass., and co-founding Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. He and his wife made their home in New Hampshire, where they worked on environmental concerns and programs in the arts.

He is survived by his wife, Roberta, and their children, Elizabeth and John; his brother, Douglas and his wife, Anne; many nieces and nephews, and colleagues and friends worldwide.

A Requiem Eucharist will be held on Friday, Oct. 27, at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Conn.

Gifts in thanksgiving for the life and ministry of Bishop Walmsley may be made to the following, Episcopal Service Corps of The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire - Checks should be made out to the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, 63 Green St., Concord, NH 03301 with "Assisi Program" in the memo line; Camp Washington - Checks should be made out to the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, The Commons, 290 Pratt St., Meriden, CT 06450 with "Camp Washington/Walmsley Memorial" in the memo line.