People
Episcopal News Service. January 13, 1994 [94005G]
The Rt. Rev. William Jones Gordon, Jr., retired bishop of Alaska and former assistant bishop of Michigan, died January 4 of prostate cancer. He was 75. Gordon was elected bishop in 1948 before the required age of 30 and had to wait until his birthday to be consecrated. In the following 26 years, he became known throughout the church as an advocate for training lay people to serve as sacramental priests in isolated rural churches financially unable to support clergy. He ordained indigenous priests in many Alaskan congregations. After resigning his post in 1974, he traveled throughout the world speaking on his concept of TEAM (Teach Each a Ministry). "He had such a deep faith," said Rt. Rev. Coleman McGehee, retired bishop of Michigan. "Everywhere I go I meet people, not just clergy but lay people, who were influenced by his personal witness."
The Rev. Keith Lynn Ackerman, rector of St. Mark's Church in Arlington, Texas, was elected eighth bishop of Quincy on the third ballot on January 8. Ackerman received his Master of Divinity degree from Nashotah House and was ordained to the priesthood in 1974. He has served as a counselor with St. Francis Boys Home in Ellsworth, Kansas, a tutor in Anglo-Catholic studies at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and as rector of St. Mary's Church, Charleroi, Pennsylvania.
The Rev. Russell Edward Jacobus, rector of Saint Matthias in Waukesha, Wisconsin, was elected sixth bishop of Fond du Lac on the tenth ballot on January 8. Jacobus received his Master of Divinity degree from Nashotah House and was ordained to the priesthood in 1970. He has served as a vicar at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in North Lake, Wisconsin, a curate at Trinity Episcopal Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and has been a member of the Diocese of Milwaukee's Standing Committee and Executive Council.
The Rev. Creighton L. Robertson, priest-in-charge of the Santee Episcopal Mission in Niobrara, Nebraska, was elected ninth bishop of South Dakota on the eleventh ballot on January 8. Robertson received his Master of Divinity degree from the University of the South and was ordained to the priesthood in 1990. He is the first Native American diocesan bishop in the diocese of South Dakota and is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Nation.