Emmanuel Episcopal Church to celebrate 60th ordination anniversary for two members
PETOSKEY — The Emmanuel Episcopal Church of Petoskey will be celebrating the 60th ordination anniversary of two of its members on Sunday, June 12 at 4 p.m. with a service of Choral Evensong, followed by a reception at the church. The reverend James Breese Hempstead and the reverend Dr. William Nicholson are the two honorees.
The reverend Kay M. Houck, rector of Emmanuel, reverend Dr. Barrington Bates, and the right reverend Prince Singh, Bishop Provisional of the Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan will be officiating.
Hempstead was born on January 25, 1936 in Saginaw, Michigan. He James he received his bachelors degree from Alma College in 1958, and his MDIV VTS in 1962. He was ordained a deacon on June 29, 1962 by bishop Robert Lionne DeWitt and ordained a priest on February 8, 1963 by Bishop Richard Stanley Merrill Emrich.
For 36 years, the very reverend James Hempstead served as a Parish Priest for Michigan churches in Lincoln Park/Taylor, Flint/Swartz Creek, Petoskey, and Boyne City. He served as the Dean of Christ the King Cathedral, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Dean Hempstead retired after eight years in Evansville, Indiana. He served as a Sunday supply priest, accompanied by his wife Susanne, for 16 years following his retirement.
Nicholson was born on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1936, to James and Hazel Nicholson in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up there and was graduated from Cass Technical in 1955, majoring in aeronautical engineering, and playing the trombone in both the concert and marching band. He then went to Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, majoring in philosophy. He also met a fellow student there, Nancy Ann Marshall, whom he married in 1957.
After college he went to the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he sang in the seminary choir, and was graduated in 1962. He was ordained by the Michigan Synod on May 15, 1962. He was the sixth of eight men to enter the ordained ministry from his home parish. Bill served as the parish pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Saginaw, MI, from 1962 to 1969. He was instrumental in the organization of the Saginaw Metropolitan Ministry, which coordinated the ministry of eight ELCA churches in the Saginaw area. He went to Michigan State University and earned his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1972. During these years, his first two children were born.
Nicholson served under bishop Ed Liedel of the Eastern Diocese of Michigan. He was part of the Bishop’s Advisory Council on Ministry for seven years, interviewing candidates for the Episcopal priesthood and deaconate. During this time, he also served as a trouble shooter for the churches of the Eastern Diocese. Bill was an organizer of LARC, a retreat for Lutheran, Anglican (Episcopal), and Roman Catholic clergy and laity, and has been active in it for the past 23 years.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Local church to celebrate 60th ordination anniversary for two members
