Richard Mitchell Trelease Jr.

Richard Mitchell Trelease, Jr., retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, died Friday, Feb. 25, 2005. Trelease was bishop when the Diocese of the Rio Grande voted in 1975, in favor of the ordination of women. Even before the resolution was passed, he endorsed the hiring of two women priests ordained by the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. He had been elected bishop of the diocese, serving New Mexico and part of Texas, in 1971. He retired in 1988. Trelease was born April 16, 1921, in Berkeley, Calif., and grew up in Kansas City, MO, where his father was rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He began his ministry in Hawaii, where he was curate at the cathedral in Honolulu and the first rector of St. Christopher's in Kailua. He served eight years as rector of an Episcopal church in Wilmington, Del. and eight years as a rector in Akron, Ohio. Trelease is survived by his wife, Carol; his children, Richard Mitchell Trelease III, Christopher Walker Trelease & Phyllis Trelease Bess; his stepchildren, Ada Tuchler Portman, Ann Tuchler & Sarah Tuchler; a brother, the Rev. Murray Trelease; a sister, Rosemary Trelease; seven grandchildren; & 2 great-grandchildren.