McAllister to Head Oklahoma Diocese
Episcopal News Service. November 30, 1976 [76365]
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- A well known priest in the Diocese of West Texas has been elected to be the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma.
The Rev. Gerald N. McAllister of San Antonio, Tex., will become the head of the diocese of 25,000 Episcopalians upon the retirement of the Rt. Rev. Chilton Powell next April. Fr. McAllister has indicated his acceptance of the election subject to the required canonical consents of bishops and standing committees of the Church.
Rector of St. David's Episcopal Church in San Antonio since 1970, Fr. McAllister, 53, was elected on the 10th ballot at a special convention on November 20 in St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma City. He won election over three other finalists -- the Rev. Nicholas Kouletsis, 53, of Altadena, Calif.; the Rt. Rev. Frederick W. Putnam, 59, Suffragan Bishop of Oklahoma; and the Rev. Patrick H. Sanders, 55, of Leland, Miss. -- who had been chosen by a Bishop Search Committee of clergy and laity. The committee had cut its list of candidates from 61 to 10 and then to four finalists over a period of a year.
Fr. McAllister, a native of San Antonio, was educated at the University of Texas and Virginia Theological Seminary. He served in congregations at Raymondville, Corpus Christi, and Victoria, all in Texas, before becoming canon to the Bishop of West Texas, where he served in 1963-67.
He was a member of the national Executive Council from 1970 to 1976, serving during the latter part of his term as chairman of the Mission Committee. In addition to many responsible positions in the Diocese of West Texas, he has served as president of the Texas Council of Churches and as a representative of the Episcopal Church on the governing board of the National Council of Churches.
In 1967, Fr. McAllister officiated at the White House wedding of Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of the late President, to Marine Capt. Charles Robb.
Two days after his ordination to the diaconate in 1953, he was married to Helen Black Teague of Georgetown. They are the parents of four children who are in high school and college.