Right Rev. John B. Coburn

John Bowen Coburn died August 8, 2009 in Bedford, Massachusetts. Born September 27, 1914, in Danbury, Connecticut, he graduated from Wooster School in Danbury, an Episcopal independent school founded by his father, and proceeded to Princeton Universtiy where he majored in politics, played on the lacrosse team, and captained the 150-pound football team graduating in 1936. He taught biology at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey for three years, where he met Ruth Alvord Barnum. They married in 1941 after their return to New York City where he was a student at Union Theological Seminary. After ordination as a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1943, he served on the staff of Grace Church, New York City, and then joined the United States Navy serving as a chaplain aboard a destroyer escort in the Pacific. After the war he began a distinguished career in the Episcopal Church, first as Rector of Grace Church in Amherst, Massachusetts, a position in which he also served as Chaplain at Amherst College, establishing and coaching the first lacrossse team at the college. From 1953 - 1957 he served as Dean of the Trinity Episcopal Catherdral in Newark, New Jersey. In 1956 he was co-founder with James Pike, of the Chapel of Saint James the Fisherman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. In 1958 he was elected Dean of the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, guiding that school for more than a decade through much expansion and the entry of the school's first women students. After a year teaching English in a Street Academy in Harlem, he became Rector of Saint James' Church, Madison Avenue, New York City where he served from 1969 - 1976. From 1967 to 1976 he served as President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, in which position he guided the church through very difficult controversies concerning issues of race and social justice, the adoption of a new Book of Common Prayer, and the ordination of women to the priesthood. He was widely regarded as a trustworthy reconciler who could bring people of very divergent points of view together for the sake of the Church. In 1976 he was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and served in that position for ten years. He received honorary degrees from a dozen universities including Harvard, the University of Kent in Canterbury, and Princeton University, on whose Board of Trustees he served for twenty years. In retirement he lived in Boston, Brewster, Massachusetts, and, for the last twelve years of his life at Carlton Willard Village in Bedford, Massachusetts. He was the author of a dozen books, including Prayer and Personal Religion, a seminal book on spirituality first published in 1953 and recently re-issued, Feeding Fire, a collection of his poems, and Anne and the Sand Dobbies, a story about death for children and their parents. Bishop Coburn was predeceased by his wife, Ruth, in 2002, and by a daughter Cynthia Anne, in 1956. Bishop Coburn is survived by Thomas B. Coburn of Warren, Rhode Island, Judith Coburn Klein of Truro, Massachusetts, Michael C. Coburn of Providence, Rhode Island and Sarah Coburn Borgeson of Sherborn, Massachusetts as well as nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren. FUNERAL SERVICE Friday - August 14, 2009 - 3:00 p.m. ST. ANNE'S IN-THE-FIELDS EPISCOPAL CHURCH 147 Concord Road - Rte 126 Lincoln, MA 01773 781/259-8834 www.stanneslincoln.org SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING Saturday - October 3, 2009 - 3:00 p.m. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 138 Tremont St. Boston, MA 617-482-5800 www.stpaulboston.org INTERMENT ~Private~ Mt. Auburn Cemetery Cambridge, MA GIFTS IN HIS NAME MAY BE MADE TO: Saint Stephen's Youth Programs 419 Shawmut Avenue Boston, MA 02118 www.ststephensbos.org BOSTON GLOBE OBITUARY - Thursday - August 13, 2009 http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/08/13/john_coburn_94_episcopal_bishop_leading_force_in_ordinating_women/?page=1 NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARY - Friday - August 14, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/us/15coburn.html Arrangements under the care of Glenn D. Burlamachi CONCORD FUNERAL HOME 74 Belknap St. Concord, MA 01742 978/369-3388 www.concordfuneral.com Proud to be family owned, operated and occupied since 1936