As fifth dean of Washington National Cathedral for 27 years, the Very Rev. Francis Bowes Sayre, Jr., gave his rich talents and strong beliefs to his country and his church. His footsteps still echo on the marble floors of the cathedral and in the corridors of power on Capitol Hill.

When he went to Washington in 1951, it was not as a stranger. He had been born there, in the White House, on Jan. 17, 1915. His father was a diplomat and law professor, his mother President Woodrow Wilson's daughter, Jessie.

Educated at Williams College, Union Theological Seminary and Episcopal Divinity School, Dean Sayre grew up in the worlds of academia, politics and privilege. Perhaps it was the year as a working cowboy on a Montana ranch, or the four years he spent as chaplain on the USS San Francisco in World War II, but he had a deep empathy with "all sorts and conditions" of people. It may have been the years in Cleveland as rector of an inner-city church which provided his commitment to the underprivileged.

Whatever the cause, the amalgam of inheritance, education and experience produced a man equipped to take on the multi-faceted work of dean of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. He had the vision to fulfill the cathedral founders' dreams of "a great church for national purposes." It was he who insisted that the central tower must be built before the nave, believing that once the tower stood high on the Washington skyline, the rest of the nave would come.

He was right. Although many gifted and able people helped to build Washington National Cathedral, there are those who believe it would never have been completed without Dean Sayre's forcefulness and courage. Under his aegis, 50 percent of the cathedral's stained glass was created and installed, including the space window and the west rose. As the cathedral's iconographer, he worked with sculptors, stained glass artists and the architects to create a modern Gothic masterpiece.

However, building a cathedral was not his only work. He served on President Eisenhower's Committee on World Refugees. President Kennedy recruited him for the Committee on Equal Employment, later the Human Rights Commission. When the historic march, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., took place in Selma, Ala., Dean Sayre was there. They had been acquainted since they were students in Cambridge. The dean invited him to preach at the cathedral. It was the last Sunday sermon the great civil rights leader was to give and thousands came to hear him.

The dean himself frequently strode up the steps of the cathedral's Canterbury pulpit to preach about world issues. He was among the first to challenge Sen. Joseph McCarthy in his destructive inquisition; he spoke out against apartheid in South Africa; he proclaimed the gospel and decried the plight of the poor and the disenfranchised. As the war in Vietnam levied its deadly toll, Dean Sayre came to believe it was wrong and said so.

Shortly after he became dean in Washington, he organized the first meeting of cathedral deans in this country. Known in the Episcopal Church as "dean of the deans," he enlarged the organization to include deans of Canadian cathedrals. The North American Deans Conference convenes regularly and often includes deans from other parts of the Anglican Communion.

The greatest tribute to Frank Sayre is constructed of marble, stone and stained glass, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. When his creative talents were needed, God sent him there. Whether demanding justice for the oppressed or telescoping his great height down to a child's level to give her a balloon, Dean Sayre has striven to do God's work where and when he is called.

Now in retirement on Martha's Vineyard, Frank and Harriet Sayre make frequent pilgrimages to their cathedral in Washington. Their lives are ineluctably woven into its fabric. o

Nancy S. Montgomery, communications director and editor of Cathedral Age magazine at Washington National Cathedral until her retirement in 1986, is a writer living in Washington.