Ambrose Lampen

Ambrose Maynard Dudley Lampen June 29, 1911 - February 8, 2010 Ambrose Maynard Dudley Lampen was the son of the Rev. Canon C. Dudley Lampen and Isobel Maynard of England. Ambrose spent his childhood in the Bahamas, where his father was acting dean of the cathedral. On returning to England, he entered the Royal Navy at age 13, where he served for thirty-two years. In early 1941, following damage to the cruiser HMS Orion in the Mediterranean, the ship limped across the ocean and through the Panama Canal to be repaired at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, near San Francisco. At a pre-war officers party given by novelist C. S. Forester in Berkeley, he met his future wife Elizabeth Betty Grubb. In the Normandy D-Day invasion of 1944 he served as planter of block ships and concrete units for Project Mulberry, the British artificial harbor, which became the main supply port for the allied armies. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for this work. In 1945 Lieutenant Commander Lampen married Elizabeth Grubb at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. He was loaned to the Australian Navy at Sydney, where he and his wife settled and his two sons were born. He was placed in command of their damage control training school. On his naval retirement in 1956, the family settled in San Francisco. He served at Grace Cathedral as bursar, superintendent, Greeting Card director/Canon Publisher and retired in 1976. He became an American citizen in 1979. He was installed as the cathedrals first Lay Canon in 1966, probably the first in the Episcopal Church. He later taught the cathedrals senior Bible Class and regularly led Evening Prayers. He self-published an autobiography, The Gilded Image, in 1978. A man of wit and charm, the Lampen family genealogist, a talented artist and calligrapher, a writer and armchair golfer, he remained unabashedly in the pre-computer age, except for a rarely-used cell phone! A. M. D. Lampen, Michael to close friends, is survived by his wife of 64 years, Betty, and sons, Michael and Stephen (Debra), and grandson Harrison. A Memorial service is planned at Grace Cathedral, in the Chapel of Grace at 2 PM on Saturday, March 6, 2010. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Grace Cathedral or Hospice of Marin. HALSTED N. GRAY CAREW & ENGLISH (415) 673-3000