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Edward Witker Jones |
| Edward Witker Jones, IX Bishop
of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, died at Meadowood Health Pavilion
in Bloomington on Saturday, July 28, 2007. Bishop Jones was born in Toledo, Ohio, on March 25, 1929. He attended Toledo public schools, graduated from Western Reserve Academy (1947) and Williams College (1951). He attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City (1951-53) and graduated from The Virginia Theological Seminary in 1954. Bishop Jones served as assistant minister at Grace Episcopal Church, Sandusky, Ohio (1954-57); rector of Christ Church, Oberlin, Ohio, and Episcopal Chaplain to Oberlin College (1957-68); assistant to the Bishop of Ohio in Cleveland (1968-71); and rector of St. James Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1971-77). He was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Indianapolis in March, 1977; consecrated on September 10, 1977; and retired from that position twenty years later on September 10, 1997. Bishop Jones was active in community affairs. He was a chaplain to the Sandusky Fire Department, and, in Oberlin, co-sponsored the first fair housing ordinance in the state of Ohio. He cherished ecumenical and inter-faith relationships, working closely with Christian and Jewish laity and clergy in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. He served as the national Co-chair of the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue, celebrating the fruit of that work when the resulting agreement was affirmed by the church’s General Convention in Philadelphia in 1997, and represented the church when the concordat was celebrated in England with the Scandinavian Lutheran churches. He worked with others on the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops which presented the case of the ordination of women to the Episcopate to the International Lambeth Conference in England in 1988. He served as Chief Judge of the national church’s Ecclesiastical Court. He traveled with other clergy and laity to Nigeria, supporting a companion relationship there with the Dioceses of Aba And Niger Delta. He was the Episcopal Church’s representative to the 25th anniversary celebration of the Ecumenical Church of South India. He was honored by several colleges and his own seminary with honorary degrees, and the Governor of Indiana conferred the title Sagamore of the Wabash for his contributions in the state. Married to Martha Ann Shelburne on July 13, 1963, he is survived by her and their three children and their spouses and families: Martha (Jones) and Mark Patricof, and their daughters Lily and Nina; Caroline (Jones) and Peter Hubbell, and their son Teddy (all of New York City); and David Edward Jones, his wife Elise, and their children, Jasper and Summer, of Farnham, Surrey, England. He is also survived by his brother Samuel and sister-in-law Rebecca Halbrook, of Phippsburg, Maine; brother-and sister-in-law Robert and Elisabeth Shelburne of Sacramento, California; sister-in-law Elizabeth Shelburne of Washington, D.C.; and nine nieces and nephews. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be sent in Bishop Jones’ name to: Trinity Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 336, Bloomington, Indiana 47402-0336. Memorial services will be held at Trinity Church, 111 South Grant Street, on Friday, September 7, at 2 p.m., and at Christ Church Cathedral, Monument Circle, Indianapolis, on Saturday, September 8, at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in the columbarium of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 4600 East 46th Street, Indianapolis. |
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Online condolences can be expressed to the bereaved family. |