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Chinnis Elected First Woman President of Deputies; Frey is Vice President; Other Elections Posted

Episcopal News Service. July 25, 1991 [91156]

With three standing ovations and by acclamation, the House of Deputies of the 70th General Convention elected Pamela Chinnis of Washington, D.C., to be the first woman ever to sit as its president.

Chinnis thanked the deputies' current president, the Very Rev. David Collins, and the deputies "for being willing to take a chance on me." She expressed hope that the deputies "can make a difference in the church and in the world."

Three times the House of Deputies rose to its feet in applause, first when Judge Charles Crump of West Tennessee suggested Chinnis be elected by acclamation, when Chinnis was escorted forward, and finally when she ended her short acceptance speech.

Chinnis, a native of Missouri, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary. Majoring in psychology, she did research for the Air Force and later returned the college as an instructor in psychology. She also has served a term on Executive Council and was presiding officer of Episcopal Church Women. She has been a delegate to the Anglican Consultative Council, an advisory council comprised of the 29 international Anglican provinces, and a member of the governing board and executive committee of the National Council of Churches.

Chinnis was the first woman to be elected senior warden of the Church of the Epiphany in Washington.

Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, commenting in a written statement, said, "I'm absolutely delighted at the election of Pam Chinnis. She has a deep understanding of this church, and of the life and workings of the house she has been elected to lead. Pam has already brought significant leadership to our church, to the Anglican Communion, and to our ecumenical partners," Browning said.

The Rev. Wallace A. Frey of Central New York and rector of St. David's Church in DeWitt, N.Y., was elected vice president of the House of Deputies. "I will simply try my very best to serve this house, this church, and the one we name as Lord," Frey told deputies upon his election on the fourth ballot in a voting process that began Wednesday. Frey, 55, succeeds Chinnis as vice president.

Frey has been a deputy to General Convention since 1970, and served this convention and the one previous as chair of the House of Deputies Committee on Ministry -- a body that grappled with issues of sexuality and the ordination process.

In other national church roles, Frey has served as a member of Executive Council and as vice chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission, as a trustee of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and as a mentor of the Education for Ministry program of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He also has chaired the national Board for Theological Education and was active in developing the churchwide policy that each congregation give 1 percent of its net disposable budget income to the seminary of its choice.

Also elected by the deputies were the Rev. Canon Donald Nickerson as secretary of General Convention for the next triennium, and Ellen F. Cooke as treasurer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society PECUSA (the corporate name of the Episcopal Church).

Other elections

The following persons were also elected during General Convention:

  • General Board of Examining Chaplains: Bishop James B. Brown of Louisiana, and Bishop Robert Ladehoff of Oregon; The Rev. Robert William Duncan of Delaware, the Rev. Wallace A. Frey of Central New York, and the Rev. Ann Wilson Robbins of Southern Ohio; The Very Rev. Guy F. Lytle, dean of St. Luke's Theological Seminary, Sewanee, Tennessee; the Very Rev. William H. Peterson, dean of Bexley Hall, Rochester, N.Y.; and the Rev. Ellen K. Wondra, professor, Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, N.Y.; Pamela W. Darling, of Bethelehem, Pennsylvania; Warren C. Ramshaw of Central New York; and John C. Wolf of Northwest Texas.
  • Trustees of the Church Pension Fund: Bishop William A. Beckham of Upper South Carolina, Bishop Herbert Thompson, Jr., of Southern Ohio, and Bishop Oris G. Walker, Jr., of Long Island; the Rev. Donald E. Bitsberger of Virginia, the Rev. Canon James R. Gundrum of South Dakota, and the Rev. Noreen Suriner Craley of Maryland; Vincent Currie, Jr., of Central Gulf Coast, Robert M. Gordon of Utah, the Hon. Joseph E. Michael, Jr., of New Hampshire, Clay Myers of Oregon, Samuel F. Pryor III of New York, and Prezell R. Robinson of North Carolina.
  • Board of Trustees of General Theological Seminary: Bishop Mellick Belshaw of New Jersey, and Bishop Andrew F. Wissemann of Western Massachusetts.
  • Executive Council: (elected by the House of Bishops) Bishop Calvin Schofield, Jr., of Southeast Florida and Bishop Sam Hulsey of Northwest Texas; (elected by the House of Deputies) the Rev. J. Earl Cavanaugh of West Missouri; the Rev. Benjamin Pao of Los Angeles; and the Rev. Fran Toy of California; Margaret Anderson of Arizona; Joyce Phillips Austin of New York; Sally Bucklee of Washington, D.C.; John McCann of Lexington, Kentucky; George Shields of Spokane, Washington; and Timothy Wittlinger of Michigan.
  • Nominating Committee for a Presiding Bishop (one cleric, one layperson per province): Canon Roger Smith of Maine and Albert Mollegen of Connecticut (I); the Rev. Thomas Pike of New York and Diane Pollard of New York (II); the Rev. John Guernsey of Virginia and Iris Harris of Washington, D.C. (III); the Very Rev. Henry Louttit of Georgia and Charles Crump of West Tennessee (IV); the Rev. Virginia Hunt of Chicago and John Cannon of Michigan (V); the Rev. Philip Allen of Minnesota and Judy Amber of Nebraska (VI); the Rev. Rayford High of Texas and Glennes Clifford of Oklahoma (VII); the Rev. Warner Traynham of Los Angeles and Bettye Jo Harris of Hawaii (VIII); the Rev. Lloyd Allen of Honduras and Jose Ramero Chavez of El Salvador (IX).
  • Episcopal Church Women: Ginger Paul of West Louisiana, president; Mary Leigh Armstrong of Virginia, vice president for program; Helen Young of California, vice president for information; Sybil Fickle of Georgia, treasurer, and Emily Wilson of Connecticut, secretary.
  • National Altar Guild Association: Barbara Wilson of Texas, president, Ruth Sickel of Southern Ohio, first vice president; Sally Boom of Central Gulf Coast, Florida, second vice president; Barbara Dewey of Washington, secretary; Eileen Hartin of Arizona, treasurer; and Nancy Grandfield of California, nominating chair